Fascinating....

Monday I spent the day at a conference for Children. The objective was to bring together NGOs and churches for stronger collaboration. Oasis gave a presentation to the church pastors in hopes of building awareness of trafficking to help aid prevention. I spoke to a few Indian pastors/NGO leaders, all of whom amazingly had been to Dallas and/or St. Louis. It’s such a small world!

In the afternoon we tried to have small group discussions on what the church could be doing better to help children, but everyone spoke so many different languages that it was challenging! Many people here speak 5 languages, but some only speak 1 or 2 and occasionally they don’t overlap.

Some things I’ve found interesting here:
1. People have no issue answering their cell phones in meetings.
2. Whenever I ask people for silverware, they bring me a spoon. Since rice is the staple dish, wouldn’t you expect a fork?
3. The divorce rate is increasing here dramatically with the younger generation. While the church is upset about this, the women I’ve spoken to strongly support it. Previously women accepted beatings, (husband’s) alcoholism, etc…(in fact, one of the women in our vocational program has a husband who has told her he will kill her but she chooses to stay with him) … but now many women believe they have a way to escape a bad situation.
4. Gandhi is (not surprisingly) a very big deal here. His birthday is a huge holiday, and Dana happens to share it! (Oct 2)
5. When Indians says “yes”, they shake their heads from side to side. It’s extremely confusing because it looks like they’re saying “no”, but they’re not.
6. Even in a city as metropolitan as Bangalore, the church says that child marriages are still rampant. The age is dropping to as young as 9 because girls are reaching puberty younger (supposedly due to GMO modified foods).
7. Social drinking is rare (I’ve only had 1 glass of wine here thus far and I really miss it), but (hidden) alcoholism is quite common.
8. People apparently own these cows that roam the streets and look homeless. The cows know to go to their “owners” in the morning to be milked.
9. Saris tend to be worn everyday by the older generation, and more for special occasions by the younger generation. I’ve been told that the women who wear them daily even sleep in them!
This is a pic of a security guard at one of the fancy hotels where I've been checking out gift shops (looking for outlets to sell our fair-trade handbags).