The Green Tara Project

…that I really haven’t missed my ankles and fingers being swollen, but they are back again with this trip?

…that the weather here is (unseasonally) beautiful, sunny days with temperatures in the 70s, and a few rainy days to keep down the dust?

…that if you look up the word ‘humble’ in the dictionary, there will be a picture of me, bending over a bucket in the KGBV girls’ dorm courtyard, struggling with washing a pair of pants (to the amusement of my young onlookers) and having said pants snatched out of my hands by a 10 year old who proceeds to pound them into cleanliness within seconds?

…that the girls put on a lovely program for visiting dignitaries the other day, including the karate girls whose performance, though maybe not technically magical, performed with all their heart?

Electricity here is unreliable.  I may be one sentence away from finishing a post, and the power goes out.  And then it could be several hours before the electricity returns, and by that time I am somewhere else, or someone else has the computer (I am reliant on the generosity of my host, Apne Aap, as I cannot find my power adapter (maybe on the counter at home?), and my own computer lies useless for now).  So if you are a stickler for pure chronology, not likely to happen.  Just saying.

(Written on 4/6/12) — After my first night at KGBV (where, incidentally, I now have a room to myself – not sharing with the girls like before – AND have my own mosquito net), I woke up at about 4:30 am.  My friend Sharda was actually up, too, getting ready for a trip home.  After seeing her off, I was still awake, and was kind of in a stupor of not knowing what to do when two little girls appeared, Sahlini and Kalpana, two of the new ones.  Dusk pushed into the courtyard, and I asked them my universal question:  “Karate?”  Oh my, their eyes lit up and their smiles blossomed and they just nodded their heads.  And so began a 30 minute lesson, just the three of us, me showing them how to make a proper fist, how to keep their elbows in while they punched, how to steady and strengthen themselves with a proper stance…and how not to wake up others when being silly.

I sense a theme of crying here, but it can’t be helped, the natural result of heart strings being tugged.  Last night when I was watching some of the girls rehearsing a karate demo (let me just say this demo has been being rehearsed for weeks – I was really just watching), they wanted me to help with their self defense section.  As I watched, one of the girls, Shavana, came over to me and said, “Sister, you teach me this?” and then proceeded to show me a wrist grab escape, not part of the demo, but just to show me she remembered.  Something I had taught her from 18 months ago.  I mean, my jaw just dropped.  This is why I came.  This is why I’m doing this.

Well, there have been so many changes here since the 2010 trip.  In the area in general, many of the roads have been improved, and, dare I say it, but I think the horn blowing has decreased.  At KGBV dorm itself, how surprised was I that they had installed a solar streetlight in the middle of my beloved courtyard with the water pump.  This light provides illumination for the girls to study or other things without having to be confined to their rooms when dusk falls and the electricity fails.  It is amazing the difference in the feel of the place now, more lively at night.  And it is safer since a girl has some light if needing to make a midnight trip to the lavatory.

Hmmm, what other changes?  The building itself has had a partial second story added.  In about a month, another 50 girls will be added to the dorm and will occupy this space.  It will be very interesting to see that many girls added.  Still only one kitchen, manned by the ever domineering Sabira Ji.

Oh, Sabira Ji, my dear friend.  How wonderful to finally see her again.  I nearly cried, but remembered that she hates crying, at least real crying (she LOVES my fake crying, which I do to amuse her often).  She has not changed at all, still has a megawatt smile, still has a booming voice, and still will put me in my place…or try.  I have missed her, and am so glad to be in her presence once again.

KGBV has a new face:  house mother Rheetu Jha.  She has lovely green eyes in a sea of caramel skin, with a slight gap between her two front teeth reminding me of Lauren Hutton.  She has been quietly watching me over the passed few days, but this morning came into my room and bowled me over with a mind blowing whistle-and-table-top-drum performance.  All the while, her eyes transfixed mine, and I was utterly captivated.  A beautiful talent like this in a girls dorm in the middle of nowhere.  And such is India, full of hidden gems just waiting for light to shine.

I am going to write as much as possible here because in a few hours I will be returning to KGBV dorm and the Girls, and will not have access to internet for the next few days.

Got into Forbesgunge yesterday, exhausted.  It is a hot and dry time of the year, averaging high 80s during the day.  But the nights are cool, which I discovered in an unusual way.  So, from the airport in Baghdogra, I came to Apne Aap headquarters in Forbesgunge where much work is going on.  In a few days, a contingent of people, including Gloria Steinem, will be visiting, and so preparations for these visitors is under way.  Everything is looking very nice.  But, it is also crowded, and that is how I ended up in the Jyoti Hotel.  For those of you who missed my 2010 trip here, let me remind you that there is no love lost between me and the hotel, and, with last night’s experience, the sentiment remains unchanged.  However, I did discover, upon the air conditioning quitting at 2 am, that, despite how hot it was in my room, the night air outside was quite lovely.  Wish I could sleep outside.

So, this morning it was decided that I would go to KGBV, first for a quick visit, and then return to spend the next few days there.  Because of the spontaneity of the decision, no one at KGBV knew I was coming, and were so surprised when I pushed open the gate.  One after another, old faces greeted me, old faces that used to be much smaller.  The first was Khusboo, just a fantastic girl. And then came Baybee, Amrita, Nisha, Rashem, oh, on and on.  But about half of the girls that I taught in 2010 have graduated and gone on, and in their place are many new ones.  I will be doing the ‘Sister, remember MY name’ game tonight.  So pleased.

Once again, I’m in the land of saris, and a river of the gorgeous garments parades past my seat int the terminal.  I haven’t seen this many sequins and make up outside of Vegas.  Big, small, plump, thin, old, young – doesn’t matter, these sari-bearers pull off this look in a way a drag queen pulls off thigh high, 5 inch platform boots.  How do they make it look so effortless and elegant?  Draped in soft pastels, or deep saturated gem hues, some hemmed in brocade, others in simple print, and yet others of an iridescent hue reminiscent of a dragonfly wing.  There are polka dots, stripes, florals, solids.  I am trying to keep from staring – they just rivet my attention.

Well, boarding now.  On to Kolkata.  Woo-and-hoo.

Heavens. Okay, crying babies. That sound will be ringing in my ears for hours. Not complaining, mind you; just stating a fact.  Add the transatlantic flight from Chicago to Munich with a very sad little guy who randomly erupted into screaming fits throughout the entire flight together with the ardent cries of a new born during my six hour wait in Mumbai Domestic terminal, it’s no mystery why.  I wonder what the next 13 hours of travel will bring for my ears?

Am currently flagging as I languish in the gate area, bathed in bright fluorescent lights and blasted by blaring flight announcements.  Nowhere to escape this and take a nap; believe me, I’ve tried.  Anyone who knows me knows that sleeping in unusual places is not a problem for me.  So, I’m going on day two without more than 2 hours of sleep in a row.  Every time I stand up, my exhausted brain plays tricks on me and the floor underneath my feet feels like the deck of a boat on the rolling sea.  Weird.

Okay, just caught the word ‘Kolkata’ in one of the blaring announcements. Must go check.

I have just finished packing my second roll of toilet paper, which entails rewinding the toilet paper, free form, off of its cardboard tube and into organized wads.  These are then placed in plastic baggies, the air squeezed out of them, and then sealed.  Not an item most travelers would think about packing.  But then again, most travelers are not preparing for their second trip to India.

In 36 hours, I will be at O’Hare Airport, bags piled around me, in a daze for the sprinted marathon I have pulled over the last few months.  When I started planning this second trip to do volunteer work in January, I thought it would be good to not only return to India to follow up with my original group of girls in Bihar, but to do some outreach to organizations in cities.  This was far easier to dream about than to execute.  But, guess what?, here I am, about to embark on a trip that will take me to Bihar for two weeks to do a follow up, and then two weeks with three organizations in Mumbai.  Number of girls anticipated to be reached with this trip:  90 in Bihar; 100 in Mumbai, for a grand total of 190.  If you checked in with this blog in January, you’ll see that Green Tara Project set a goal for this year of 200 girls.  We (GTP) are going to achieve that in just this one trip.  We’re excited.

I hope you’ll follow me in the coming weeks in my endeavors with these girls.  I am very interested to see this time out who learns more:  me or them.

The beginning of a new year is an excellent time to look toward the future and  imagine what could be accomplished.  At our last meeting, the GTP Board did just that.  Here is a summary of the goals we’ve set for GTP in the coming year:

1.  Train more girls.  We have the goal of training another 300 girls this year, focusing our efforts in India for now.  Why India?  The short answer is this:

While India, like many other parts of the world, has economic factors that lead to women and children being trafficked, it also has fairly unique societal (i.e. caste system; intergenerational prostitution) and cultural (e.g. devadesis) attitudes that make enslavement not only accepted, but, in some areas, even expected.  GTP wants to reach out and positively impact the live of women and girls who suffer in particular because of these circumstances.

However, GTP also recognizes that human trafficking happens right in our own backyard, so this year we have set a goal to begin outreach to local anti-trafficking programs.

2.  Revisit Girls Trained in 2010.  We want to go back to follow up with the 100 girls who were trained initially in 2010 in order to assess what impact those efforts had, and how we might improve in our approach and service.  And it has to be said:  there is not a day that goes by that those girls are not thought of.  So, this goal ties in with both Goal #1 and Goal #3.

3.  Two More Project Trips.  To achieve our goal to train more girls, and do follow up, we are looking to have two trips in 2012.  The first one has already started to be arranged and will be in April.  More details to follow in a later post.

4.  Recruit Trainers.  As a newly-formed non-profit, we wrestle with the divide between what we want to do and what is doable with what we have.  We would like to have ‘clearinghouse’ type of centers in major trafficking areas all over the world that provide hands-on training.  However, right now, it is only Belle who has the hands-on training experience.  Short of cloning her, we want to start bringing others on to do this work, too, and have set a goal for 2012 to start a recruitment effort.  To that end, we are drafting a recruitment process and figuring out by what criteria people will be recruited.

5.  Have Predator Identification Materials Translated and Illustrated.  This is one of those things I thought would be so easy, and which has proven so hard.  We are working on locating resources.  If you know of anyone, please contact us.

6.  Website.  While this blog has been a nice place, we all know that a website would be more useful.  We hope to have a skeleton site done by the summer, with a final done by fall.  Hey, this may seem like a long time, but since this is work that is being done in sparcely available spare time, it’s what we can do.  Again, if anyone can help with this to expedite our efforts, woo and hoo and please contact us. : )

All for now.  Check back to get more news of the April trip which we should be announcing shortly.