Playing Chicken

I've been on the road the past few days.

First I went to another city to have meetings with the police and NGOs. We are looking into setting up a new team there to fight human trafficking so we are gathering information on whether there is an unmet need in that city.

Then I went to visit "Potter's Wheel", a safe house (in the middle of nowhere) that Oasis is planning to open for girls who are rescued from brothel raids. Like the home I visited for children with HIV, the land was beautiful and the building was very nice. It had been a gift from a very generous donor - (I hope one day I can be that generous!) They will open it in the Spring if they can raise additional funding and find good staff.

The drive to Potter's Wheel was pretty much insane and we almost died several times. The drivers here are maniacs! We pray every time we get in the car. It's like an intense game of chicken - with drivers heading straight at each other at times driving 60 m/p/h until one veers off at the last second. It's pretty horrifying - but on the flip side it does make me feel closer to God : ) On the way home we took a detour and ended up in Vellore so I briefly saw the famous medical hospital there where Dana's grandfather used to work.

Today I'm working on arranging a seminar for Oasis workers and pastors in this area to train them on counseling trafficking victims. I'm also supposed to be writing a brief for a Marketing brochure, but the funny thing is it seems like it's the "Marketing" part of my volunteer role that I keep procrastinating on! I'll have to do it tomorrow (after I explore Bangalore's botanical gardens)

Tonight I'm going to a church conference. It's the 3rd time I've been to church this week and I have to say I love having all this time to really dive into my faith.

Some things I’ve found interesting lately...

·People who live in makeshift tents in the dirtiest slum areas will still make the effort to sweep the dirt from their doorway each morning

·It’s not uncommon for people to sleep on mats on the floor here or for waiters not to wear shoes

·People in India put ketchup on pizza and fried rice

·In Mumbai, people prefer to bring their lunch from home but the food isn't prepared by the time they leave for work. To compensate for this, many people hire someone to go to your house, pick up your lunch and bring it to you at work.

·I’m not sure if safety pins are available here, because they literally sew ID labels into my clothes each time I have them laundered

·“Underwear” is called “Inner Wear”

·Diet Soda is not widely offered or consumed. McDonalds charges extra if you order it!

·People share water bottles, so they don't touch their mouths to the bottles when they drink from them

·There is no formal recycling program here. You just throw everything out, and then poor people go through the trash to find recyclables they can turn in for money.

·Drivers do not stay in their lanes. People tend to drive in the middle of 2 lanes or even directly into oncoming traffic if that lane is less congested. You say A LOT of prayers on the road in India!

·In foreign countries, you can’t assume that a manicure and pedicure involves nail polish

·It’s incredibly easy to fall into the “anti-Atkins” diet here. Basically I consume carbs (rice) and sugar (no splenda here!) and avoid most protein (meat). This combined with the fact that it’s quite difficult to “workout” here makes me glad I’m only here temporarily. Otherwise I might double in size : )

·Hindi soap operas can be pretty engrossing (and you can even make up your own storyline since you can’t follow the language). What impresses me the most though (from both a Marketing & NGO perspective) is that one popular show features a child with autism and during commercial breaks they educate viewers on autism and even feature the work of a NGO that works with autistic kids. What a unique way to build awareness!

·The pants here have such a funny fit. Huge at the top and tapered at the ankles. I call them "MC Hammer" pants. Check them out... They look ridiculous, but are really comfortable.

Teddy Roosevelt & Christine...

Just saw a friend posting a great Teddy Roosevelt quote that speaks very well to Christine's approach to life, and especially her trip in India. I hope that each of us can live this out in our daily lives in accordance with our personal values and whatever we are doing...


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of the high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt

Would you like some Hot Milk with that?

I find it fascinating that despite how hot this country is, people in India drink all of their liquids lukewarm or hot. In fact, they believe that drinking cold drinks actually gives you a cold. Foreigners are the only people who order cold water at restaurants!

Although you can buy it at the store, most families still have milk home-delivered (like we used to in the US a long time ago). Each morning, I’m served hot milk (either to drink alone or to pour into my cereal or porridge). It was strange at first to have cereal with hot milk, but if you can get past soggy corn flakes, it’s really quite good. When the milk in my cup starts to cool it congeals across the top and gets this gooey film. They call this the “cream” and they really seem to enjoy it. I subtly remove it and set it aside, which they once caught me doing and think is weird behavior.

On a different note, have I mentioned that eggs are sold unrefrigerated here? It’s odd to see stacks of eggs on the end of the aisle at the store or out in the open at a market. Yet when they bring them home, they do refrigerate them. Interesting…

And finally, it seems to be the trend to paint your fingernails on just one hand here. I’ve seen 3 people with it like that. And ironically the hand that they choose to paint is the one they consider “dirty” (because they use their left hand instead of toilet paper and eat with their right hand). Makes no sense to me…

Having Fun as a Tourist in Mumbai

I’ve had a fun (and much less emotional) couple of days. I had one informative business meeting on fair trade distribution (and due to traffic here it took me FIVE hours to complete it – crazy, how do you get anything done here?). My other meetings were cancelled and I got stuck here an extra day (it is Diwali this weekend – the Hindu version of Christmas – and plane ticket prices skyrocketed before I bought a ticket home) so I decided to enjoy some sightseeing in Mumbai.

I did some shopping, ate at McD’s again (yum! I prefer the McVeggie to the chicken version of the Big Mac that I tried last time), watched the local fisherman haul in their fish (again, not a sight that makes me want to eat fish here), visited a Gandhi museum, the Gateway to India, the outside of the Taj Palace hotel (which has been closed for the past year since the tourist shootings), the Hanging Gardens (very pretty) and the Jain temple (which is the best temple I’ve probably ever visited). My tour guide said that devout Hindus visit the temple every day!An interesting sign at the temple said “Ladies in monthly period are not allowed”.
I also viewed the outside of a tower where Parsi (a unique group of people in India) take their dead to decompose in the open and be eaten by eagles and vultures. Parsis are into that method, while Hindus still burn the bodies of the dead and Christians… I think they just bury or cremate them.

India is so fascinating because the diversity is like nothing you’ll experience anywhere else! I also visited the city Laundry area. Apparently when I turned in laundry at my hotel (and thought they stuck it in a machine somewhere), it ended up here at the city Laundry – being washed by hand on rocks with dirty water. Nice…. Glad I paid for that service. And I was wondering why I didn’t smell any laundry detergent : ) (thankfully my host family back in Bangalore DOES have a washing machine and they use detergent – but no one owns a dryer so everything is still hung to dry). While I’d prefer my clothes to not be washed here, witnessing the hundreds of people doing laundry by hand at this place was a really interesting experience – one that I definitely recommend if you’re ever in Mumbai.

Later I caved in when I ran into a spa. I got a mani/pedi (sans polish) and a massage. The mani/pedi not half as good as home (but boy did my feet need it since the streets of India are GROSS), but the aromatherapy massage was incredible. Ahhhh – what a treat!

Tonight I met Padmini’s brother-in-law for a nice dinner (Padmini is a coworker and friend from back home who kindly put me in touch with her friends and family in India). Indian hospitality is so incredible that even though he had never met me, he drove 2 hours to come take me to dinner!!! Amazing… We had a very interesting conversation on why arranged marriages (such as his) tend to work out. He said that if you fall in love first you have high expectations that you’ll always be treated well and you are often let down. But in an arranged marriage, you go in with absolutely no expectations so you can’t be disappointed (and you may be pleasantly surprised). While I still would choose the love option, I agree with him that much of happiness is dependant on where you set your expectations.


Tomorrow I head back to Bangalore, so I’ll miss the big night of fireworks – they call them “crackers’ - here in the city for Diwali (the festival of Lights).

It's a Small World

While I was eating breakfast at the YWCA, an older Malaysian man asked if he could join me. When we started talking, we realized we had both attended Wash U (Washington University in St. Louis)! Ray seemed really smart – he had been getting a Physics degree and MBA (funded by the Malaysian government). Such a small, small world! We enjoyed talking about the beautiful campus and how much had changed since he had last visited.

Brothels and Bollywood

So much good and so much bad has happened today that I really don’t know what I’m feeling at the end of it all. It’s truly been an intense rollercoaster of emotions.

Let me start with the good: I checked into the YWCA and I couldn’t be happier. While the $24 per night expense is a lot comparatively for what I’ve been paying, it includes breakfast, dinner, air conditioning, a western toilet, a standing shower (no buckets!) and most of all… no bugs! I feel like I’m staying at a 5-star hotel for 2 days, and it’s awesome.

In other big news, I was asked to be an extra in a Bollywood film with the biggest star in Bollywoood!!! So exciting. I would have thought it was a scam, but just this morning I was reading in my Lonely Planet guidebook that Westerners are often stopped and asked to be extras for Bollywood. They offered to dress me in a costume, do my hair and makeup, feed me all day and pay me! But unfortunately I have a meeting with a Fair Trade buyer tomorrow that I couldn’t rescheduled… so no Bollywood fame for me : ( (That would have been such a fun fact for when I play “2 truths and a Lie”)

Now the bad: Today I visited 2 brothels in Mumbai. It was an incredible, eye-opening experience that will likely haunt me for life. It was sort of like watching “Schindler’s List” – horribly depressing but you’re glad that you’re more aware of what’s going on in the world after doing it.

What surprised me was that it really was worse than anything I had seen in movies or read about in books. I didn’t think anything could be worse…

The 1st brothel was enormous. It must have been 10 levels high with girls standing everywhere. The girls were wearing (easy to remove) dresses or mini skirts and all wore heavy makeup. The NGO workers told us that until recently the girls walked around undressed. The girls live in cramped rooms with 2+ beds that have sheets hung that you can pull around to hide what is happening in your bed. There were condoms and condom wrappers littered everywhere (which I guess is a good thing, but hard to see). The bunks have plastic tarp on them. I was invited by one prostitute to sit on her bed, and it gave me the heebie-jeebies to think about what took place there. 3 of the 4 girls we talked to there were clearly minors, and it broke my heart to see them in that disgusting place. One had just arrived 2 months before after being tricked (she thought she was coming to the city for a factory job). Unfortunately, even after just a few days of being gone, most families won’t take their daughters back if they are returned, because they are ashamed and worried about the family reputation. Another thing that surprised me was that the older prostitutes were getting in on the action by actually buying girls themselves (from broker “pimps”) or renting out their beds when they weren’t using them to street prostitutes who don’t have their own rooms to use for sex. Girls in this brothel cost $6-10.

The 2nd brothel was much smaller, dirtier, darker and more disgusting. Imagine finding a really gross abandoned building and moving in. It would have been the perfect scene for a scary movie… Unlike the 1st brothel (where the women are hidden inside), women at this brothel can stand on the street to beckon you in, and cost as little as $1. The women I spoke to at this brothel were actually MARRIED and their husbands supported them doing this for money. It’s amazing how extreme poverty can change the way you view your choices.

The whole experience made me want to throw up because I was so sickened by the brokenness in this world. But we have to see this stuff so that our hearts can be broken like God’s, and we can work for change.

Later a 15-yr old beggar girl came up to me with a baby. People here say not to give to them, because (just like in “Slumdog Millionaire”) they belong to begging groups that essentially rent and drug the babies they hold and then give any money them make to their “pimp” (that might not be the right word – but you get what I mean). But this girl asked for milk and rice for the baby and that threw me because I wasn’t sure what to do. The baby really did seem drugged, but food seems harmless to give. So in the end I bought her the rice and baby formula and spent a small fortune on it (by Indian standards). I’ll never know if it was wise or if I was being a sucker, but I’d rather have a clear conscience and know that at least I tried to help.

Thankful for a New Day

Last night was rough. First, I squashed a huge cockroach as it was crawling into my shoe. Then I watched about a hundred killer ants devour it… right by my bed. It was incredibly disgusting. This room is infested with critters so I’m going to move out tonight and move to the YWCA in Mumbai. I also had horrible nightmares. I dreamed that this psycho-killer was chasing me and my friends back home and that one of the girls in my book club was murdered. I felt this terrible pain and sadness and I was mourning her death when I woke up to the killer ants – it reminded me of losing Lindsey all over again. I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or not, but I had nightmares last Tuesday when I took my weekly malaria medicine. (Strange dreams can be a side effect of the medicine). However, last time I took it on a trip my dreams were wonderful, fun and creative… so this is disturbing. A friend back home who recently traveled to India mentioned that she felt that evil forces lurked here waiting to spiritually attack Christians – so that’s in the back of my mind as well. But today is a new day so I have hope it will all turn around!

Veggies are my friend...

I’m now 1-hour outside Mumbai at a home for HIV+ women who have left the red-light district and are trying to get off the streets for good through counseling and job training.

The language barrier is much higher here than with the kids, because at least the children all wanted to learn English. I spent the afternoon teaching a 20-yr old woman how to use Microsoft Excel and how to type properly, as she would like to eventually do bookkeeping.

I really enjoyed watching the women cook their native dishes. However, once again I went with someone to buy fish and once again, I swore I was only going to eat vegetables and rice for the rest of my time here! You have to trust me that I AM being low-maintenance while I’m here, but it is so incredibly unsanitary. They chop it up for you on the street corner and there are flies and blood everywhere. Ugh!

The home currently has 2 staff and 5 former prostitutes living here. This month, they had a $200 budget to pay salaries, utilities, food, etc. and it’s just not enough. Normally they get $400 and make it work. Tomorrow is (yet another) national holiday so I’m taking everyone out for lunch at a restaurant, because it’s a treat they just can’t afford themselves.

I spent some time hanging out at a phone store this evening. They are SO different than in the US. They are little hole-in-the-wall shops where people come to recharge their SIM cards (so essentially everything is prepaid). Today I loaded 1000 rupees on my phone (~$20) but people were coming in charging 20-40 rupees – less than $1! Most people in India must literally live day-to-day on what they make. These phone stores are the busiest places around – if I lived here (doing non-NGO work) I think I’d open a phone store. I bet they make a load of money...

A Time to Grow

This adventure is making me much more confident in my ability to travel independently. I really don’t like traveling by myself, and I tend to let Dana take the lead when we travel because he’s excellent with directions and navigation. However, Dana is not here and as my dear friend Susie warned me, plans don’t always work out the way they are supposed to in India. People say they’ll meet you and for some reason or another, they often don’t show up. So you always have to have contingency plans in place and be confident that you can find a way to figure it out yourself if need be.

My overarching contingency plan is that if all else fails, I’m going to whip out my Amex and check into a Starwood hotel until someone finds me. and believe me I’ve come close - but so far I’ve been able to be resourceful in more budget-friendly ways : )