----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 1:43 AM
Subject: Re: Aimee and Katrina
Dear famlia
We have MADE it yeah!!!! The train ride was relaxing and not too long, only 11 hours. Oh yes the temple was wonderful. We are keeping this email short because we are on Janaks’ computer. Also, reply only to our email accounts. The people at the Bahai house treated us wonderfully and we were able to meet a member of the NSA. Also, we talked to the director of the temple and are going to put an application in to serve our last month at the temple!!
Ok, love and miss you all,
Aimee and Katrina
Pls forward this to the rest of the family please i.e. Matt and Ju … Sarah.. and who ever else
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2003 2:01 AM
Subject: India update
Hello!!!!
Life in India is going good!! We went to our first Indian Bahai Feast last night it was GREAT. One of the Indian friends dressed me up. She lent me her pajabi (native dress it is like a long dress with matching pants.) Then she gave me a scarf, rings, earrings, bangles and a tikia ( the Muslim dot that goes between your eyes, however all the women wear them and some men - Muslim or not. It went great. Three more volunteers have joined us: one from Australia, one from Brazil and the last from Venezuela. They are really nice girls. For the past week we have been teaching the girls how to make flowers and working on the brochure for the institute. Oh yes, we also made jam!!!! Hopefully, next week we will be able to start helping in the literacy classes, this way we will be teaching the girls and at the same time be learning Hindi. We are already starting get to know the students and they are wonderful. They stare at us quite often though. We will be in our room and look out the window and there are like 10 girls staring in our window I guess we our pretty amusing. We usually eat with them as well and they just stare at us then too. However I am sure we look funny. They eat sitting on the ground cross legs and then they eat without any silverware. Then there is us, we don't cross our legs it is to uncomfortable, we eat with spoons and keep our plates on our laps so we don't have to bend down. We are starting to get use to it all and it is great. Ok, I think that I am going to go. Hope all is going great with you all.
love
Aimee
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2003 10:35 PM
Dearest Loved ones,
Today I was listening to the CD Voices of Baha and the song "We are family" really stuck with me. Throughout our trip in India it is so wonderful to be part of this global community. When we arrived into Delhi at 2 am we had to take a taxi to the Bahai house and the taxi driver drove around for an hour looking for it and when we finally saw the sign that said "Bahá'í," it brought such a warm feeling to our hearts. Here we are, on the other side of the world, yet we have found our family. Each time that we get in a little rough spot, it seems like the faith is there to bring us right out of it. When we were in Delhi we were only scheduled to stay there until 10 p that night and then we had to take the train to Indore. We really wanted to see the temple before we left Delhi but everyone at the Bahá'í house was being so hospitable to us that they wouldn’t let us leave. First they made us eat breakfast, then they wanted to help us get our train tickets, then we had to meet with a member of the NSA, and the NSA member told the workers there to take a ½ day off to take us to the temple because our first visit should be done properly. By now it was 1 pm, so then of course they said that we had to have lunch. Finally, at 3:30 we were able to go to the temple!
One of the workers brought us and introduced us to everyone and told them to take care of us while we were there. Then, he left us and arranged for us to be picked up later. We were also introduced and had a meeting with the director of the temple, Mr. Javid. His secretary gave us tea and a bunch of prayer cards with the temple on them and a prayer in both Hindi and English. The temple closes at 5:30, however, they allowed us to stay, watch it light up and say prayers by ourselves inside the House of Worship. Then, we were picked up by a different volunteer from the Bahai House/ National Office and he took us back and made us dinner and then a few volunteers took us out to tea and to the train station. It was such a nice welcome into India! All these busy busy people just taking time to welcome us.
Another example of the warm love that we get here is the Warden for all of the girls here. her name is My (mom in Hindi), and she is the sweetest dearest person. She does not speak English but just the smile she gives is wonderful and just the way in which she speaks you feel like you can understand everything she is saying. If she thinks that we are not eating right she will bring food to us and if we waste food she looks at us sternly. The morning of the 28th Kat and I made arrangements to wake up at 1 am with a few other Bahá'í girls and say prayers together for the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. We had to wake some girls up that share a room with My and she forgot about the Ascension, however when she found out why we were waking them up she was so grateful and happy that we reminded her. The way she said her prayers was with so much love in her heart, it was so touching.
I just wanted to share those few stories with you all. Oh, I don't think that I have told any of you that the place that we are volunteering is the only place in this part of India that uses solar cookers to prepare their meals. It really is amazing the type of things that they do on these cookers, and they cook for, like, 70 people! Any ways, starting tomorrow there is going to be a convention to learn how to make the solar cookers with most of the participants being Bahá’ís so we will get to meet Bahá’ís from different parts of India!!! It will be pretty exciting.
Ok, talk to you all later!
Much, much love,
Aimee
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 9:11 AM
Subject: Fw: photos of India!
My dearest friends and family,
I hope you receive this ok. If you get a chance please forward to everyone who would appreciate it!
So times are great here in India and here are some photos to prove it! One is of my chance encounter with a fellow Baha'i youth whom I met on the Marion Jack teaching project in Russia. Her name is Gloria and this was taken outside of the Lotus Temple in Delhi (at night!). Unfortunately, none of the photos of Aimee and I in the same location turned out! Sorry, but we have a whole month at the end of our stay to make up for that. Next is the photo of Aimee, Nur and Sophia. This was taken the night of NDF (nineteen day feast as the Indians call it!). Sophia had dressed Aimee up for the occasion and adorned us both with a 'tea-ka', the shiny thing in the middle of their foreheads. These two sisters are Baha'i girls from "Panigodgy"**. Oh, I know I am butchering that word! Anyways, it is near the west coast and south of us. We hope to visit them for two weeks at the end of January. There are also 2 Baha'i schools in that area.
The last photo is of a group of the girls at the Barli Developmental Institute for Rural Women. We have just finished teaching them our newly learned trade of nylon flower making! So, with excitement they share their products (and some utensils) with you! They are all thrilled to hear about and see photos of all our friends and family back home. Of course there are many more photos but not as much time to send them email to you. But, know in your hearts that you will get to see them, again and again and again! Hee hee!
Much love you everyone!
Trina and Aimee
** Editors note- She meant Panchgani.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 4:30 AM
Subject: howdy
Hey Family!
Wow, it has been a very very busy last few days. The reason that we did not call or email you on Sunday was because we worked. So sorry. There is a half yearly board meeting tomorrow and we had so much work to do for it that some days I worked from 8:30am - 11 pm. We edited a 400 page health manual that they want to publish. The four of us (volunteers) had to read 20 chapters, twice, and check for grammar mistakes and then we had to teach ourselves how to use page maker and enter the changes into it. It was a very good learning experience we learned how to be better editors (please do not use this email as an example lol) and also a lot about health!!!! Then, for the last two days I have been acting as the Director's secretary and that is very exhausting w/ the cultural differences but it all ended up fine and we get tomorrow off!! So we will probably be calling you but I do not know what time.
Oh yeah, you remember that we told you about editing the brochure and getting it all ready. Will, it was all completed and took to a professional to print off and we got 3000 copies of it!! All of them had an up side down box of text on the second page. Yikes, then that same night we received a message from the Bahai world center about the brochure and they said that it was good however it should include a line that states that the Institute is Bahai Inspired. So we called the people and they reprinted it and added the line. So it all worked out for the best.
We went to feast the other night and I wore a Sari. I was afraid that it was going to fall off. However, do not worry, I did not shame the family in that aspect. We met a member of the National Youth Committee and the same person is also a member of the local one so he invited us to a meeting to introduce ourselves. We attended it there we three other people and we decided to have picnic and invite all of the Bahai youth in the area this Sunday!! So we will see how that turns out!
How is papa doing? Please, copy this off and give it to him!! Thank you. I miss you all soooo very much! I can’t believe that we have already been gone for a month. And Christmas is coming up and we will not be there with you all. Ok, we are going to try and call you tomorrow after a good night sleep. I love and miss you all and would love an email from each of you.
love
Aimee
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2003 9:59 AM
Subject: Fw: Hello India
Dec, 22nd 2003
Dearest Ones,
Lets see, where to start, so much has happened in the last few days! We have been so busy that we couldn't get to a phone or computer to email or call anyone on Sunday. Who knows when we will be able to send this letter out but as soon as we get the chance you'll have plenty to read about!
Ok so here is the story:
On Saturday night after work we went to the movies (Rs 50) with two local Baha'i youth. In English the movies is called "Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring" in Hindi it is called "Kal Ho Naa Ho". It was a Hindi film based in New York so there was some English in it. With that and the classic Bollywood 'dramatic acting' we where able to understand a great majority of the film. The parts that we could not read by expressions or English words our friends translated (which was, surprisingly, very little). It was fun to see what their view of America or New York was. The Indian characters went to these outrageous night clubs with girls (in little clothing). Later, in the middle of an acting scene, they would break into the song and dance Bollywood is famous for, plus an added bonus of break-dancing in front of a huge American flag! During the intermission (of the 3 ½ hour film) we saw previews for a serious prison film and the people that we were with told us that such a movie would have at least 6 song & dance scenes! Just imagine Sean Connery in a rainy prison yard, about to knife a guard, then his shoulders start to wiggle and his shaky voice turns into a choir of 20 with a full orchestra! Now that is entertainment! These films also have a way of tapping into all of your emotions, since most the movies are at least three hours long they have plenty of time to put drama, comedy, romance, suspense and action into it.
This movie was about an unusual love triangle. Two guys fell in love with this plain girl. Yes, she had glasses and a ponytail. Yuck! But, just wait. One of the men was very ill so he did not want to take the girl in fear that he might die and not be able to be with her. Of course this is the one she deeply loves. (Why? Because he is the one to show her that a ponytail and glasses conceal her beauty!) With great courage he hid his true, powerful, feelings from her. What self-sacrifice! Now the second guy is in the role of 'best-friend with unrecognized love for the plain girl he always knew was “beautiful'. To complete the triangle these two guys turned into quite good friends. As any noble man would do, the sick guy helped the other guy get the girl. But can one toy with true love? Does the sick guy really KNOW he is going to die? What if the girl loses her contacts and has to wear glasses for a day, will the love spell be broken? Could Molly Ringwald rekindle her typecast character with an added song and dance twist? Well, that is the gist of the movie and if that I'm sure the anticipation is killing you, so just wait 5 more months until we get home and we can all watch it together! Again and again and again!
After the movie we all went out for dinner at our favorite restaurant, "Celebrity". Our own bit of drama included a curfew of 10 pm, sharp, (because the Institute gates close) but the movie got over at 9:15. This lead to some nervous Indian youth whom were quite worried that they were going to get in trouble for taking us back late. So we hurried with dinner (Rs45) and sacrificed desert (which would have cost Rs40-50). Even with the fastest auto rickshaw (3 wheeled covered taxi like thing) in town, when we got to the Institute the gates were locked. In the end, it was not a big deal and no one got into trouble. We just had to knock on a few windows for people to open the gates for us. And everyone apologized for locking us out.
Then Sunday, it was the last day that 4 of the volunteers were going to be here so we all went out shopping together. Two of the girls (Safia and Nur) were trainees and volunteers so they were not allowed to go out previously, however, since it was their last day they were able to come with us. Our grand shopping trip included a couple sets of bangles (bracelets) for Katrina and I. Nur got her nose pierced and they tried to get us to get ours done as well, but we had to explain that since we have big noses they would not look good. Even if we were slightly tempted the piercing method cured that quickly, the way that they do it is pay a guy Rs 20 to just stick the unsharpened stud in your nose and then twist it in. YIKES!!!! The part of town that we went to was a very very busy part that was like a half hour away, by auto rickshaw (Rs 30), from where we live. The trip was pretty neat but hectic at the same time because the attention girls receive from males here is staggering and when it is coupled with a foreign female, it can be overwhelming. The attention is mostly staring and some comments, so no need to fear for our safety. Then, that night we went to the Institute's cook's (Monju-aunty as she likes to be called) home and she made us a wonderful dinner. Preonka's (her daughter) teacher also came with her son and they were very kind and helped serve us! Then when we got back home Safia (one of the girls leaving) did Henna on our hands (front and back) until 1am! It looks really cool. Of course Aimee did something goofy, (since I seem to be really good at that). Safia finished her hands at like 12:30 am and had to leave the Henna mud on so Aimee went to bed with it on and kept her hand out of the covers. At some point the mud met her face and now she has Henna marks on her cheek.
It is not very noticeable, however a few people saw it and laughed. The Henna here is really neat it just comes in this tube/cone pre made and you cut the bottom open and then the end is pointy so you can trace it directly on the hand! That covers our Sunday.
Today (Monday at least that is the day we are writing this who knows when we'll email it) was a sad yet busy day. All of the other volunteers left except us. We worked until about 12:30, then we had a staff meeting to say good bye to Lia, Jessica (the Maxwell/Canadian girls), Safia and Nur (Panjigony girls we hope to visit). After the goodbyes at the Institute, we went to the train station with them and Germane (the driver). The train station is an experience in itself. It is so busy and there are a bunch of different platforms and overpasses to get to them. We have to find the correct area for the proper train and then the train itself is huge and you have to find the proper seats. Mean while we are the only white girls there, even with our newly tailored Punjobi outfits we don't blend in. So the stares, comments and beggers slow us down a little. But it is all ok and understandable. Eventually we finally found their train and seats as well as a quick second say our good byes before the train pulled away. After that we went with the driver to help him buy some more train tickets for other people. This trip included a 40 min wait in line as the employees had an extended lunch break, but we did not have to stand in that long of a line since we were foreigners. Since we split up for the ticket purchasing it cut the wait time in half because you are only aloud one ticket purchase per person per spot in line. Germane was quite thrilled to have our assistance since he would have had to wait in line for each ticket himself! After that we came back to the Institute to work some more.
Oh yeah, in just a few days it is Christmas, we hope that you all have wonderful time! We will go to Leela's home (a Bahá'í sewing teacher at the BDIRW) for her 9th wedding anniversary dinner, that should be pretty nice for us! We found some stuff that resembles brown sugar in block form (jaggery- cooked sugar cane?) and we hope to make candied yams to bring to the dinner. Then on New Years Eve we will have feast! Oh yes, and this Sunday we are going to have a picnic with all of the local youth!! Fellowship, fellowship makes for unity, unity! We are trying to help activate the youth in this area, and reactivate the Youth Association, so this is going to be really exciting for us. We hope to establish sincere connections first, then we can inspire each other for service.
Wow, this is a really long email, but it has just dawned on us that we didn't shared with you all the demographics of the girls that train here. All of them are from villages, most of them are from the lowest caste (untouchables) and this is the first time that they are interacted with people from other castes. There are 2 different programs. The first one is six months long. The girls that participate in this one are not very educated. They may have gone to school for a few years however they are illiterate or semi-literate. Some of them only speak their tribal language and do not know Hindi. The other program is one year long and these girls learn how train other girls (here and in their villages when then return). They are literate and are either high school drop-outs or have graduated from high school. There are a total of about 75 girls here, 15 of them are probably in the second program and the other 60 are in the first. All of the girls that come here are from economically disadvantaged families. Some were married as young as 14, however they are allowed to stay at their parent's house until they are 18 or 21 (depending on the family). In the tribal societies there is still the wide spread belief that woman do not need an education since they are just going to get married and go to live with their in-laws. So, it is a very big accomplishment that these girls were allowed to leave their families (some even have children) for 6 months to a year in order for them to get some sort of an education. Here is an example of how hard this is for some of the girls is. There is this one girl here who about 16yrs. Her father is dead, her mother is very ill and she has an older brother. Her tribe is still very male dominated so her bother has authority over her. When she heard of BDIRW she was thrilled and was given permission by her mother to come here, however her brother said no. Overwhelmed with excitement for the opportunity to learn, she ran away with her friend to come to the Institute. Then a week later her brother called and said that she had to come home because he was arranging a marriage for her and the husband's family would not accept her if they found out that she was away getting an education. Our trainee describes the reason as being her brother's need for another worker in the field. The director told the brother the she couldn't send the girl away he had to come here to get her and then they could talk. He came with the future husband's parents and met with the director. The story ended happy she was allowed to stay! We are still not to sure how it all worked out but she is still here.
We have read and re-read the latest brochure, health manual, personality development curriculum and over 100 success stories of the girls (all to be published soon!) and could write plenty more about BDIRW. BUT this email is getting too long and we have 5 more months to share it all with you (plus a lifetime when we get back home)! We hope that you are all doing GREAT.
Please forward this to anyone we may have missed that would enjoy hearing from us.
Much love,
Aimee and Katrina
Volunteers
Barli Development Institute for Rural Women
180 Bhamori, New Dewas Road
Indore 452 010 (M.P)
India
PS All gifts should be sent via UPS or Fedex, just incase Santa didn't get our change of address! Please include the Ayyamiha Camel in the forward ... Yes a letter can be considered a gift!
PPS It is Katrina's captions that include the estimated Rs for various items. Don't ask why I felt it was important to note it, I just did. 45 Rupees=1 dollar. It will cost us Rs20 for the hour at the internet place to send this, but the memories you are sharing with us are priceless!
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2004 4:53 PM
Subject: Fw: Happy New year from India
Written on Dec 28th 2003
Hey! Hey!
Our Christmas turned out lovely! As we mentioned we were invited to spend the evening at Leela's home. She cooked a delicious dinner and it was accompanied by my cooked jaggery (brown sugar) carrots (no sweet potatoes to be found!). The meal was preceded by a welcome from the landlord and his family. We were explained to (with limited English and Hindi on our part) to this gentleman, who was a wonderful piano player as well as singer who had performed many places through out India. His children came to get us from Leela's home and took us next door to theirs. Just a quick description of our hosts: the gentleman was about 75yrs and his wife 65yrs, they had two children at home: older boy about 13yrs and younger about 10yrs. Their home was quite large with about five open rooms. The living room walls were decorated with various pictures of Krishna. In the middle of the room his mother laid in a bed, she was quite ill as they explained. No piano to be seen, yet. Leela stayed back at her home to finish cooking dinner and her husband had not returned home from work, so it was just Aimee and I with our current hosts. The boys pulled some chairs in front of the wooden entertainment center and prompted us to sit. With excitement they popped in a DVD and played some clips from some old Bollywood (or the like) films. The first of them started with a man lip singing with a piano in the background. We were surrounded by our hosts' smiles and nods. In fact when the more elaborate singing part of the female came up, one of the little boys in the back of the room could be heard copying the vocalist note for note. So with my elaborate imagination I decided that our host had composed and provided the voice for the enchanting actor that danced before us. And I think for I brief moment I may have been able to convince Aimee of this as well! Come to think of it, it was never confirmed or denied, so I think I'll just go right ahead and keep believing it!
Will, after a few short clips, Leela's husband came over and our host brought us to another room. Here, he pulled out a little piano with a hand pump on the back. Picture an accordion like contraption. He started of with a jazzy little piece on the piano, with out singing. Leela's husband (as you can probably guess by now, I can't remember his name!) used this moment to try and explain some of the cities he has preformed in. I also tried to use this moment to confirm by hypothesis (our host's Bollywood career) this was to no avail and that is why we are left up to our on conclusions on that matter. After that little warm up, he was open to requests. Leela's husband seemed quite fond of a Hindu chant our host was famous for, so that was the next selection. Now take a moment to think of the appeal musicians have, especially when you put them on a stage in front of a crowd. The best of them will provide unabashed, heartfilled music. You can walk away feeling as if you had made a personal connection with them. Oh, and if you are close enough to the stage and actually make eye contact, the connection is sealed for life (cut me some slack, I just recently left my teenage years!). So now here we are, back in India, in a small room with our 75yr old host and family. He started his lovely chant, with a twinkle in his eyes -like grandpa Roy can get sometimes when he talks about the Coast Guard. And that twinkle met with my eyes for the whole song. Will, the connection was made and sealed for life! Now, it must be confirmed at this point that the connection was not a romantic one and it has nothing to do with my belief that he is some how connected to the Bollywood film industry!
After the performance we were guided back to Leela's home and enjoyed that wonderful dinner I referred to. To Aimee's embarrassment I brought my photo album (creative memories) to share with their family. In my defense, the first time we went to their home they shared their albums with us, and in all my travels album sharing has transcended all language barriers and entertained company for quite a bit to time. As it so happens the album was well received by all and the biggest fan was their 4yr daughter who had great interest in EVERY person's name in the book. Leela's family consists of her husband and 3 children: an 8yrs, 4yrs and 6mnth (her name I remember, Asha) all girls. When the 4yrs reached the page with some baby faces (Patrick, Joshua and Mason's) she pointed and squealed with excitement, "Asha! Asha!" My 4year old Indian friend has recognized one of her family members
in my album! Yes 'a child will lead them' and as she so kindly pointed out, we are ONE recognizable family! HA, Aimee my album can provide great entertainment, it has even gone beyond language barriers and transcended nationality and racial boundaries as well!
That was my Christmas, my friends! What more could one ask for then a lifetime connection with a 75yr old Hindu musician, retired from the film industry, and the confirmation that mankind is indeed ONE family? There are many experiences that traveling abroad can bring you. For me, some of the greatest are as result of being completely cut off from relying on spoken language as my medium for communication. The concrete interpretation that spoken language can offer is lost and all experiences are based on the interpretation of kinetics (or body language). It is with this medium (mainly) that Aimee and I can be in the same room and 'see' the same things but walk away with COMPLETELY different interpretations. So, I walked away with my Bollywood musician as well as an extended family. Aimee ended her evening with a full belly, slight cotton mouth from naming and renaming EVERY one in the album and serious doubts about our 75yr old host's connection to the Bollywood film industry! Keep this in mind next time we share a story with you!
Today, we are wrapping up our free day quite nicely. After some long overdue hand washing of clothes (too much information?) and a scrub down of floors and bathroom (Chanda Mia strongly suggested it!) we were invited by the girls/trainees to dance. Those who know Aimee and I well, know we have absolutely no rhythm or coordination. But, if left alone in a room with some Alanis Morrisette in the background, jumping around and uncoordinated clapping might spontaneously breakout. To our surprise some Indian dancing include just that! In fact, amongst 75 (teenage to early 20 yr old) girls, coordination of clapping does not have to take place, either! Once again Aimee and I had different experiences. I felt the jumping-clapping-occasional-high-five of my line dancing neighbor-combo blended in quite well with the music and my fellow dancers. Aimee, not suffering from the whiplashed brain such a combo can produce, was cognizant enough to know we were not blending in. I think she was a little jealous that her shy partner did not possess a high-five move in her combo, as a result Aimee had no one to follow! At the end of the dance I was requested, on a later occasion, to perform my dance again (my favorite communication medium -imagination- was used to convey this request!).
As I finish this email I am enjoying a hot cup of turmeric, milk and sugar. This was suggested to Aimee by Janak (the director here at BDIRW) to soothe her sore throat and cold symptoms. One teaspoon of turmeric, 3 teaspoons of sugar to 1 cup of water and 1 cup of milk. Aimee hates the taste of it, and as I currently don't feel ill, the only reason I am drinking it is because I think it is quite tasty! We'll let you know how that goes. The Health Curriculum the Institute is publishing is full of these home remedies. I think it is quite beneficial, especially for the population the curriculum targets. Hopefully, by the time Aimee and I get back we will be full of these helpful home remedies for all our ailing friends and family. And since India is revered for the spiritual wisdom it bestows on those who visit the land, you will have to respect and listen to us. With that I will close this long letter
I send my love to you all!
Trina
PS: Our New Year was fine, just curled up with a good book and watched the surrounding firework shows!
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 11:17 AM
Subject: An India Update from Katrina/Aimee
Jan, 9th 2004
Well we are sitting here with cramped hands, a bloated brain and slight cottonmouth. What is the cause of such ailments? Practicing literacy. In a complete contradiction to Katrina’s favorite medium of communication (kinetics) we have both decided to learn how to read and write Hindi.
As we may have explained in an earlier letter, the Institute we are serving at educates rural women on various topics. These topics include: health and hygiene, vocational skills (agricultural, batik and block printing, cutting and tailoring, machine and hand embroidery, weaving and misc crafts), personality development, math and (our recent enrollment in) literacy. Our typical workday is 10am-6pm (now this is if no publishing deadlines are looming close by, those tend to keep us until 12am). Normally our days are filled with office tasks of editing and formatting the recently printed brochure, the soon to be published Health Curriculum, 100 Success Stories of Barli Graduates as well as The Personality Development Curriculum. Many hours in front of a computer screen deciphering between three kinds of English: Indian, British and the normal kind (American) welcomes the needed break away from any familiar language (semi)! and the glare of a computer screen. This break comes one hour a day, when we get to learn with the girls, at almost the same starting point.
For the sake of clarity you should understand that all citizens of India do not know Hindi. In fact, the diversity of tribal languages spoken here is amazing. With that in mind, most of the girls are just learning the spoken language of Hindi when they arrive (at Barli) as well as taking the one hour literacy class each day for the written portion. The levels of education when they arrive can be anywhere from no schooling at all to completing 10th standard (grade). The classes are mostly in Hindi and broken up into small groups. Each group then has a trainer that is 1 of the 15 girls (completing the higher level of schooling) we described in an earlier letter as staying for the full year to learn how to train all the classes. These trainers usually have groups that speak the same tribal language as her, so subjects can be covered in both tongues.
As the senior to Aimee by two days of classes, I am beginning to feel the excitement of becoming literate, again. Both of us have tried to learn Spanish (Katrina some Russian, Aimee some German) and have taken a full year in American Sign Language, this experience is nothing like those. As many of you know, speaking a new language as well as reading and writing it can be difficult. Of course it depends on who is learning it, but it always seems to us as if it is easier for everyone else (considering the fact the we are still trying to get the 3 Englishes down)! Now we had to establish that before you assumed these world travelers had a pocket full of languages to go with their pocket full of international experiences.
We enter the classroom and look for the ‘tribal language of English’ group. Yep, it was not to be found, must be out shopping. So, we join two of the warmest (and patient) looking groups. This is when we start to realize how much we have in common with our fellow students. The curriculum used is designed for the needs of adult students so it has a different format than that appealing to children. Consequently, we jump right into reading a short paragraph. It is mostly composed with the 4 new ‘letters’ (or symbols, lack of a better word at the moment, sorry!) we learned 10 mins prior. Each letter (consonant) has various accent marks (I believe they are called ‘madtha’s) that act as attached vowels. All the swooshing, squiggles and lines look intimidating at first. I relate this experience very much to that of when I was first learning how to write my name and always mistook an “x” for a “k” (hey they looked almost the same!). But, as the girl to my left (Seema -as she repeated to me many times) sounded out each part of the word, I began to match the sound to the letter, consistently. Then our partners would let us try, it was still a little intimidating, but the fact that they too struggled with the sounds made it more comfortable. Seema is a very eager teacher and as I stuttered to get out my sounds to the corresponding letter and accent, she is already finishing the word for me. Oh, the frustrated blonde in pigtails (ok, light brown! Yes, I can accept that I am not a natural blonde!) almost shouts in her whiny 5 year old voice “LET ME DO IT!” But then realizes that her tribal language group was out for the day and no one could understand her! Really though, Seema was quite patient with me, but just wanted to help me out a little. What it really did is encourage me to pick up my pace and forget being “sure” before I tried pronouncing! it. Now “I am doing it all by myself” (my pigtailed, innerchild would be so proud!). “Look what I can do!” I feel like grabbing “The Hindustan Times” and climbing in my daddy’s lap to read out my new found knowledge. At this point now, I may as well pick out the stock market pages because I may be able to sound them out but I can’t tell you (or daddy) what they mean! Soon, hopefully! Either way, the letters are looking far less intimidating and in fact they have a calligraphy kind of beauty to them.
That beauty is now spread all over our room with a version of English to give a name to objects we know, then English pronunciation of the word in Hindi, and at the bottom of each decorative label is the Hindi spelling. The only disappointment I have found is when I get excited to label another item and find the British have left their mark, and the item is recognized by the same name! Even then it gets at least its Hindi spelling affixed to it!
We are borrowing this “Teach yourself Hindi” book and in it they have created their own phonics, so when we were trying to label our room we would see the phonetical spelling and try to sound it out for 5 minutes only to realize that all it said was “cup”. At this point we were glad that there were not fellow native English speakers around to laugh at us.
Like Katrina, I too feel as if I am in Kindergarten when I go to literacy class and we are the “special” kids in class. In my literacy group I get to sit by one of the girls who is literate enough in Hindi to be helping the other girls (Lexmay). As Katrina explained for the first ten minutes of class we learn our new letters, then my group goes into spelling with those letters. So it is kind of like a spelling bee, the group leader will read a word out loud and then the trainees are suppose to sound it out and then write it down. This proves to be difficult for most of the girls, and they will sit there for a few minutes repeating the word to themselves and then try their best at writing it down. Then there is me, who listens to the word with a complete blank face, so Lexmay writes it down for me on her board and hides it so the other girls can not see it. Then, I proceed to try and copy it. Mind you, it takes me awhile to write the words (however now I am getting familiar with the letters and am able to write/draw them faster!). After writing the word in Hindi I try and write the pronunciation as I would say it in English. At this point all of the girls become baffled as to what I am doing, I hear them all talking and I could understand them asking each other what I was writing and then the group leader (Carona, a Baha’i who knows English) explained I was writing the word in English so I would know how to pronounce it. Then she decided to see if I was writing down the right pronunciation, and I was not. So I was reprimanded (mind you this is a 15 year old girl) for not doing it right (I still think that I wrote it down correctly). All of the girls in my group try to tell me what the word means through visual aid, so at one point the word was peen (I think) and it means “safety pen,” so the group leader was talking to all of the girls and then all of a sudden five girls show me their safety pens, it is so nice to have 75 teachers (at times).
I say "at times" because today we were not able to go to class because we had to get some office work done. I took a break right when the girls were getting out of class making me feel like a little kid who skipped class and is just about to get caught. So, I sneak past the girls without any of my group noticing me. Whoa, I am almost feeling as if I got away with doing something wrong. But then on the way back both Corona and Lexmay see me and they stop me to ask why I was not in class. I think that they may not have accepted my answer, however, I redeemed my self by telling them that I have been studying. The literacy class had given us a new way to connect with the girls and I think through this we have created some more bonds!!
A quick note on how the literacy classes are set up. Since these girls arrive illiterate and NEED to know how to read and write Hindi by the end of their six months here so that they can participate in the national exams, Barli (and other Indian Bahai projects) have developed their own curriculum to get the girls to successfully learn Hindi in six months. So the girls do not learn the alphabet first and then go from there. Rather, they learn one sound at a time (along with all of the accent marks that can go along with it) and they read a passage that has that sound in it! Like we said earlier, the year long trainees teach the 6 month trainees. So they learn the lesson (for the 2nd time) the night before and then teach it the next day. The trainees are teaching each other, it really is an amazing program that is proving to work for the past 20 years! In the last group of girls 95% of them that attended the National Exams passed (that was the h highest in the Institute’s history).
Just know that at 11am our time, maybe 9:30pm your time, Aimee and Katrina are on their magic school bus to the world of literacy in Hindi! (Make sure you picture a little light brown haired girl in pigtails sitting right next to the teacher in the front of the bus, Aimee next to her with the same hairdo, such a copy cat, oh and of course the 75 tribal Indian girls filling the rest of the bus!) (Who’s the copy cat? I do believe that I, Aimee, did my hair FIRST that day)
Much love to you all!
Trina and Aimee
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2004 2:08 AM
Subject: India Update
Dearest Ones,
Here goes another one of our long novels about our adventures in India. For the last two Sundays we have been teaching some local Bahá'í children ‘Alláh'u'Abhá Around the World' the song and dance! This song is about the many different ways people greet each other in different countries, but in every corner of the world there are Bahá’ís who use the greeting "Alláh'u'Abhá” (meaning God is most glorious).
Now the song itself – (including the dance Black Rose Chiildren’s Theater –1992- made up with input from Citadel’s summer team: Levi, Mary, Erica, Sholeh, Táhirih) is making its way all around the world from America to Belize and now India! The kids range in age from 4-13 and all of them did such a wonderful job. During our practice in the morning the kids self-assigned positions to stand in so they wouldn't have troubles with who's hand they should shake, for a certain part of the dance. With that all figured out nothing could stop us for the performance that evening. As we were called on stage and began getting into position, panic ran across the 2nd and 3rd row faces (1st row consisted of the smallest/youngest kids who were too busy struggling with their caps to catch on). It was realized that one dancer was missing, "Who hand should I shake?" "Should we just sing another song?" "The front row isn't wearing their caps right!" Meanwhile 40 on lookers were eagerly awaiting the show, we were just hoping that they thought the chaos was apart of the script. In the confusion it was not clear who had the brilliant idea, but it was suggested that the person who was now left partnerless just substitute hugging herself for the handshake. In the end it all turned out great plus we had a little 3 year old guest performer in the dance, who's star role consisted of walking around on stage between all of the dancers, but being the professionals that we trained them to be, they all just ignored him. So we discovered that they work great under pressure and are sure that they are ready for Broadway (or Ballywood))!
It was kind of funny when we started teaching it to the kids they asked if they could perform it at the next feast (Bahá'í ‘feast for the soul' every 19 days)! And we said to ask their main teacher, who was a little worried that these 30 kids might be to many too all perform this dance at once and so soon. When we told her that 200 children, who did NOT get appointed
positions or caps, performed it in Belize that seemed comfort her.
On Sunday we also went Sari shopping. Since we were in the Indian culture we decided that maybe we should try buying some Sari's. They look so beautiful on the women here. When we first came we thought that there was no way that we would buy one, because our body shapes may not be conducive for sari wearing, and mid-drift showing. However, our new roommate (Katherine from Massachusetts) convinced us that we could wrap them in such a way that
our stomachs would not show. With a little prodding and a lot of complementing of our body types from her we were off with two of the staff here (Puman and Tara) and went out to buy some Saris. Since we were shopping with a group of great bargainers we each ended up buying 2 very nice pieces and saved 400 rupees! A quick note about buying clothes in India: first you
buy the sheet of fabric then you bring it to a tailor to be fitted and stitched. Thus, the rush of excitement one gets when purchasing a new piece of clothing (doesn't everyone feel this way?) is dampened by the week wait for the clothing to be completed and wearable.
Those of you who are familiar with the sari may be aware that it is one long piece of material that is wrapped in a flowing manner, with a small blouse underneath. Although it is not as much tailoring as a full Punjabi top and bottom outfit, it still takes one week to be stitched. With all the excitement we couldn't wait until Friday to finally wear our saris, and with the special occasion of feast as well as a performance, we decided to wear them to feast that night!
The problem of saris with no blouses was easily solved by the girls eager to see us in a sari, who just rounded some up from each other. In a group of 75 girls one is bound to have your size! The wrapping process of a Sari takes very long and we had to stand there while someone wrapped a 6.5 meters (I think) of fabric around us. They ended up doing a very nice job and we will have to learn how to wrap them our selves so that when we get home we can teach the girls how to wear them and we can all go out in Sari's!!!! Or at least have a dinner party and cook Indian food!
Oh, we went to our first Indian wedding! It was a Bahá'í wedding held at the Bahá'í house and conducted by the director of BARLI. At first we felt a little weird going because we were invited by the director, not by the bride and groom, in fact we did not know that bride and groom. Plus it was Katherine's first night here and she was sick so we wanted to take care of
her and get to know her. We told Janak (the director) that we were not going and she said in her matter of fact manner "yes you are". So, we got ready to go and were about to leave when we got wrapped up in conversation with Katherine. Soon it was 8 pm and the wedding was suppose to start at 7:30 (the Bahá'í house is one the same piece of property as BARLI) so we decided that it was too late. Just then we heard our door being knocked down by a rowdy band of kids (who could greet us in a variety of languages) claiming in a convincing tone that the wedding would not start with out us and every one was waiting for us. While still becoming adjusted to the culture, we were not sure if it was true or not, so we scrambled out of the room and headed over to the weeding, accompanied by a band of now rowdy & giggling kids.
Of course, when we arrived at the Bahá'í center we found out the hold up was due to the true guests of honor, Bride and "Bride-groom"! Anyhow, they got us to go and we were not late. As the pre-wedding mingling commenced, everyone was saying how of course we should have come even though we did not know the bride and groom, because we knew all of the Bahá’ís. It is only natural that we attend the Bahá'í wedding. Then one lady, who got married the day before we arrived in India, asked us why we did not attend her wedding (this was the first time that we had ever talked to her) but was comforted to know that we had the good excuse of not even being in the city at that time.
The wedding was real nice, and attended by a lot of Bahá’ís. It was relatively small compared to other Indian (Hindu) wedding parties, we hear over the Institute cement walls until 1am (some of which include firework shows). Since it was a Bahá'í wedding it was very similar to our [Bahá'í] weddings back home, at least it appeared that way but it was in Hindi. However, there were a few things that stood out to be different, one being that the bride wore pure
red. Then also, before they put rings on each others fingers they put flowers around each others necks. Another thing is, at the wedding ceremony the bride and groom are not suppose to smile, so both of them looked very serious. Those were a few observations that we made. It was all very nice and we enjoyed our very first Indian wedding!
One last quick event. Two Sundays ago we took a long walk with most the trainees here to the craft fair that BARLI had a booth at. Picture a group of 70 rural and tribal women (as well as 2 Americans and 1 visiting Irish woman) walking down a few miles of bustling streets. The scariest thing was trying to get this whole group across the swarming rows of traffic. But it
turned out good because cars have no other option but to stop when there are 70 girls in front of them, so for once in India the walkers had control of the road! Once we got to the fair we bought some nice gifts for some of you, and enjoyed the nearby park with all of the girls. Those have been some of our most recent adventures! We love and miss you all! We have a cell phone now so if anyone wants to call (or text) they can, the number is 989-332-0946 I think that you may have to dial 011-91- before that from the States. All incoming calls are free for us (as well as text messaging) and feel free to call us any time, we are allowed to bring it to work with us. But, remember that there is a 13.5 hour time difference between the US west coast and Indore, but if you call in the middle of the night we would still love to hear from you!
Ok we miss you all!
Love
Aimee and Trina
