The best day so far....

Today was my most amazing day in India so far. It actually began last night. My colleague and I visited the Hindu temple across the street from the office. It was so incredibly peaceful and serene. There were beautiful sculptures in the gods and goddesses various avatars. Incense and oil was burning. Swamis were sitting in front of various sculptures. Chanting was playing over the loud speakers. When we initially walked in, there was a stand on our right. In this stand were the wreath makers, who constructed the flower wreaths that the worshippers give to the gods and goddesses. There is also a store selling fruit that is given to the gods and goddesses. Allegedly, if you go to one of the shrines (not sure which one) and break a coconut, it will increase fertility. They also had bananas - not sure what those do - male virility? Who knows.

On to today. Today I went with the Quality Education team (meaning is the learning environment conducive to the students needs and ability to learn) to conduct a site visit at some of our programs in a slum in Delhi. The people living in this so called "formal slum" (deemed formal because the government put in open sewers and some bricks for a walkway, as opposed to informal where piss and shit became the walkway) were the most impovershed I've encountered. This counts street children in Guatemala City and very remote villages in Senegal. The organizations with which we work have learning centers (classrooms) at various locations throughout the slum. These are kids who cannot otherwise go to a government school because a.) it costs 70 rupees per child per year + the cost of uniforms (70 rupees = $1.50, yes, $1.50), b.) both parents work and one of the kids has to take care of the other kids and c.) the kids work themselves and government school time doesn't fit with their work schedule.

It is quite a great project - the kids are developing literacy and numeracy skills that they would otherwise never receive. The teachers are quite devoted - they visit each child's house one time per week (there are between 30 and 40 kids in one learning center). I fell in love with all the children and wanted to adopt them. They were all so excited about learning. And I was greeted with a roaring "Namaste Miss Kelly!" at almost every classroom I entered. Truly wonderful.