The Reality of Kidderpore

By Lindsay

So I’ve just had a major eye opener. And it was expected. Yet it was harder to see than I thought it would be. Let me explain.

Last weekend we travelled to the Sunderbans, which is the rural region located in the Ganges River Delta just south of Kolkata. The Sunderbans is comprised of a few hundred small islands, some inhabited some not. The villages in the Sunderbans lack electricity and running water, and many of the villages were completely devastated by Cyclone Aila in 2009. The Sunderbans is also home to the world famous Bengal Tiger, which we spent the weekend diligently searching for, but despite our efforts we failed to see one.

Even though we didn’t see a tiger, we did see something else amazing! Our lost stop for the weekend was at a village where Destiny Reflection sponsors a Coaching Center (like a tutoring center). It was a Sunday, so the kids specifically came to the center that day to see us. They sang us songs and performed skits for us, and then we played soccer and Duck Duck Goose, and a stand-up/sit-down game that left me realizing just how out of shape I am. Haha. Anyways, while we were playing, Dr. Ro was talking with the teacher. Here are some facts:

• Girls in the village are married between the age of 12 and 17. Maximum (MAXIMUM!) age for a girl to get married is 17.

• Girls between 12 and 15 are often sent to the city to make money doing “domestic work”.

•  The mother’s of the children attend the Coaching Center are likely younger that I am.

I would like to focus on the second point. The people in the village often send their girls to Kolkata to earn money for the family doing domestic work, such as working as a maid or a cook. A small percentage of those girls may actually be cooking and cleaning and earning an honest living (though I feel like no child should have to earn an honest living at age 12), but the reality is that most of these girls have been sold. Sold. Sold for less than 1000 rupees (~$20 Cdn) into the Kolkata sex trade. But, even that is uncertain. Who can say if these girls are even in Kolkata? It’s likely that they have been sent across the country to Mumbai or over the border to Bangladesh.

So I’ve spent most of the week processing this reality, but there was still a bit of a disconnect until tonight. 

This afternoon, we treated all women from Destiny to a Bollywood movie. This was our first Bollywood movie experience in the cinema, and we had a great time! It was so different to the Canadian movie experience. The cinema looked more like the Vogue Theatre in downtown Vancouver than a movie theatre, and everyone cheered and clapped and laughed through the whole movie. People were answering their phones in the middle of the movie, and true to Bengali culture, half the theatre showed up late. The whole movie was in Hindi, so of course I didn’t understand anything. However, when I laughed at something I did get or the pure cheesiness of the movie, the girl sitting beside me kept laughing at me laughing at the movie. Oh man, hilarious!

After the movie one young lady from Destiny (who for our purposes I will call Sarah) was unsure how to bus to her home in Kidderpore from Gariahat, so Martyna and I offered to taxi with her to her house, and then take a cab back to Gariahat. When I offered to accompany Sarah I knew that Kidderpore is one of Kolkata’s red-light districts, so I had an idea of the types of things I would see going there after dark. However, I can say that seeing those things with my own eyes hit me harder than expected.

We were driving in the taxi when we turned off the main road into the neighbourhood. First we passed a number of smaller market-type shops and grocers. Perfectly normal. Then came the brothels. They were generally indistinguishable from regular homes, but in front of each one was a line-up of young women. I didn’t see any that looked as young as 12, but I would say that the large majority of the women I saw were younger than I am. And there they were with their make-up and their jewellery and their tight-fitting clothing just waiting. Waiting for some disgusting pig of a man to choose her, take her inside, and do the unimaginable. And as soon as the first is finished, out she would be again waiting in the line. Can you imagine standing in a line waiting to be repeatedly raped night after night?

This is the reality of Kidderpore.

After passing a number of brothels we turned a corner and drove a little ways and dropped Sarah off at her home. So here is Sarah, a beautiful young lady living right smack in the middle of Kidderpore. Thanks to Destiny Reflection, Sarah is not one of the young women waiting in line, and I pray that she never will be.

It was in the taxi home when the reality of the situation really hit me. Those young women standing in line, those are the young women missing from the village in the Sunderbans we visited last week. There they were - the missing young women - right in front of me. So much for domestic work...

And now I am sitting comfortably in Debjani’s beautiful home writing this blog post to the world, mostly as a way for me to process and explain to you the things I have just seen. Now my heart is breaking and I am crying and I am left wondering what can I possibly do to change the reality of Kidderpore?

Lunch Time Bonding

 By Martyna 

Already three months has passed since we arrived in India. The four of us constantly talk amongst ourselves how we have become expert travelers. We no longer freak out when we have to take the train. We know how to negotiate with taxi drivers, buy veggies and fruit off the street and have finally figured out how the transit system operates (figuring the bus out was an accomplishment considering that there are no bus stops and sometimes you need to jump on the bus while it is still moving). We all think that we have come a long way from the time we arrived in Mumbai at 3am, had 14 taxi drivers surrounding us and were trying to attempt to get a ride to some girl’s house who we have never met before (Anu we all love you and can’t wait to see you again). However, we feel that the greatest strives that we have made is bonding with the girls who we work with. When we first arrived at Destiny everyone was very accommodating; however, the language barrier limited our interaction. Furthermore, Destiny started receiving more orders. This is super awesome, but it was difficult to spend time together because they work so hard. In the past two months we have made a conscious effort to eat lunch with the girls every day. It is the only time that we get away from our computers and they take a break on their sewing machines. We have learned to communicate through alternative means. We are pretty sure that most of the time the girls are laughing at us, and not with us. Over the past few weeks the girls have become completely comfortable with us. We all watch Indian Bollywood music videos on Youtube together, we show them pictures of our families, we observe their creativity, and each work day we have fruit hour. The most beneficial experience with these remarkable women has been seeing them interact with one another. Having lunch a few weeks I couldn’t stop thinking how these women are so similar to us, but stronger. These are young women, who have experienced the worst atrocity imaginable, and here they are now being economically empowered, they are the breadwinners in their families, they give to their workplace community, and they are constantly laughing. They arrive at work every morning ready to be productive, and they don’t let their pasts get them down. They are happy, and this positive attitude radiates on all of us in the office. It is as a result of these amazing amazing amazing women that we have become more appreciative of our lives, realize our opportunities and are willing to use our blessings to empower other women.

From Amritsar to Sonagachi

By Lindsay

Hello blogosphere! 

I haven’t written a blog post of my own since September, so I thought it was about time I give you an update. Right now, life in India is great! There is so much I want to tell you I’m not sure where to start...

Since I last wrote we have seen and experienced many amazing things. Here are a few of them:

The Victoria Memorial

Durga Puja Festival

Our kitty

A Canadian style pancake breakfast with all the women from Destiny Reflection

Participating in the first ever Relief Society meeting in Kolkata

The Dakshineswar Kali Temple

Really really really good chocolate!

The overnight train

The view from our hotel in Varanasi

Rowing a boat down the Ganges River in Varanasi

Cows

 

Good food

The Taj Mahal

A snake charmer in Jaipur

The Golden Temple in Amritsar

The Sun Temple in Konark

The Bay of Bengal 

The village of Raghurajpur

The Jagannath Temple in Puri

And that only scratches the surface of the awesome things we have been so blessed to experience in India! 

I also had my first experience with food poisoning when we were in Jaipur. We ate at a really nice restaurant full of tourists located at the City Palace, but I still ended up almost vomiting on the platform at the train station in Jaipur. I did end up eventually getting sick, and I spent 14 hours on the train from Jaipur to Amritsar in the nasty train bathroom vomiting.  By the time we arrived in Amritsar I was feeling much better, so I decided to go to the border closing ceremony at the India/Pakistan border that evening. However, on the way there I got hungry and decided to eat a bag of chips. Let’s just say I am now regretting that decision. I ended up throwing up in a parking lot full of cars and people at the India/Pakistan border. Looking back, it’s actually quite an entertaining story, but at the time it was most unpleasant.

On Friday we went to visit Freeset, which is another organization like Destiny Reflection. It is located in Sonagachi – Kolkata’s largest red-light district – and employs 180 women who were previously sexually exploited. They specialize in making t-shirts and jute bags. It was incredible being there! They grew from an organization of 20 women to 180 women in just 10 years, and it really showed me the potential that Destiny Reflection has to grow! With approximately 9000 women working in Sonagachi, there is a lot of work still to be done!

Disasters in the Hotels

By Martyna 

In India there are places where you can stay for 50 Rs/- which is roughly 1 Canadian dollar. On our trip we decided to go a little upper class and paid between 200- 500 Rs/- each per night, which amounts to 4- 10 Canadian dollars. Overall our hotel rooms were awesome, but there were slight mishaps that when we look back at the experience we find comical, and so we would like to share these with all of you.

Varanasi – Puja Guest House

-          When Lindsay opened the bathroom door the toilet literally fell of the wall. 

Agra- Jouti Continental

-           In order to get hot water you had to turn on the water heater. The electrical system was not wired properly, so when you turned on the water heater you could not touch the shower knobs, the faucet and the marble countertop or you would get electrocuted. We all learned the hard way. Lindsay didn’t realize she was getting electrocuted and could not figure out why her hand kept falling asleep.

Jaipur – Satcar Hotel

-          Surprisingly this was the only hotel where we didn’t have any problem; however Jaipur was another story.

Amritsar – Sita Niwas

-          We had a massive ant problem in our room. The beds, couch and the dresser were invested with these little creatures. We sprayed insect replant all over our belongings. This tactic may have been bad for our health, but it did the trick. Well mostly. The next morning while taking a shower there were lots of ant going down the drain. We also had cockroaches that lived in the pipe of the sink. The pervert only came out when we were showering.

You Can’t Escape the Sick Bug

By Martyna

As many of you are aware we just recently returned from a 10 day trip around North West India. We all agree that it was a remarkable trip as we saw things that we never imagined until retirement; being broke students and all. The unfortunate aspect of our trip was that we all got quite ill. Before I left on this India adventure, my best friend Piper recommended that I bring Pepto-Bismol. Best idea ever!!! Christine was the first victim to experience digestive problems in Varanasi. We have not yet figured out what meal contributed to this discomfort. In Agra I got mild diarrhea after eat at the Taj guesthouse. I was actually quite upset considering that I played it safe and ate rice that day. I really never thought that anyone could screw up rice, but I guess it happens. The worst bug got contracted in Jaipur.  After shopping for a few hours, which entails a lot of haggling, yelling, sometimes throwing, and then eventually a compromise, we decided to seek refuge in a quite bistro outdoor restaurant. Let’s just say that it was second nicest place where we ate. All of us got really excited about the chicken burgers. We don’t usually eat meat, but we were craving western food and the place seemed legitimately sanitary. We were wrong. Lindsay started feeling ill almost right away but did not have any digestive problems quite yet.

Getting onto the platform of the train station after an hour plus rickshaw ride through unpaved roads Lindsay is on her knees ready to vomit in the garbage, rat invested tracks while our train is pulling up to the station. We quickly took her to our compartment. The unfortunate aspect of this train ride was that this was the only time that we were in 3A tier, rather than our regular 2A. This meant that we were all together but we had two potential strangers which where joining us and had reserved the bottom bunks. Oh ya, the train ride from Jaipur to Amritsar is 14 hours. We managed to communicate with the guy to switch bunks with us. Poor Lindsay was up most of the night with vomiting and diarrhea.  Around 4 am the bug finally hit me as well. To our surprise Silvia never got ill although she at the burger as well. I am attributing this to her stomach of steal and her Colombian genes.

I think after a while the people on the train figured out what was going on as Lindsay and I raced to the bathroom every 15 minutes. We both agreed that this was the worst case of digestive problems we ever had; the state of the washrooms (one western toilet, the other squatting where the waste is deposited on the tracks) did not help.  Finally arriving at our hotel room in Amritsar we passed out until 3PM. We decided that if we were feeling better than we would go see the border ceremony at the Pakistan- India border. It was a really interesting experience therefore we were happy we went. Half way through the ceremony Lindsay started feeling nauseous. On our way back to the car, in the middle of the parking lot surrounded by hundreds of people Lindsay vomits on the pavement, which is when we decided that she baptized India. She felt better afterwards, but the other family in the car did not seem keen on driving back with us.  

On our way back from the border ceremony Lindsay developed a fever, so we decided that it was time she be put on antibiotics. It helped and we all were able to enjoy the golden temple the next day. Back in Kolkata Lindsay went to the doctor. The doctor has his practice around the corner of our house; it is on our running route. Recognizing the only white people that live in the neighborhood he commented on how he uses us as an example to all his patients about getting more exercise. We tend to be a spectacle when we exercise. People come out of their houses to watch us run and some people even yell at us to figure out what we are doing.  

Overall we are all doing a-lot better now, thanks to modern medicine and the Sunday that we had to recuperate and watch a season of ER!

The Archana School for Girls

By Martyna 

A few weeks ago Dr. Ro invited us to attend a performance at the Loretta School for Girls. It was parent’s day, so to show their appreciation the students dedicated a dance show to their loved ones. The children were brave (as for many it was their first time on stage) and very meticulous in their movements. The main message portrayed was the importance of educating girls. A play was enacted throughout the dance routines of a young girl who was forced into an arranged marriage. This couple later in life had a daughter who they enrolled in school. However, the father got into a car accident and lost his arm and was not able to provide for the family. Nonetheless, the parents recognized the value of education and kept their child in the institution.

            After this performance Dr. Ro gave us a tour around the building. In the attic was a subsequent classroom. A few years ago a remarkable woman striving for social justice, Alka, founded the Archana School for Girls in the attic of the Loretta School. This school is special from any other. The girls that attend this school are destitute. They are children between the ages of 6-16 that are living on the street, and have been abandoned by their families. Many of them have experiences the suffering of repeated torture and rapes.

            The Archana School is not simply and educational haven, but also their home. The attic is a large space covered with a tin roof. A breeze continuously circulates through the room as there are no windows to withstand the elements. The attic is arranged into two sections. One area is decorated with brightly colour desks segregated into educational levels. Students are surrounded by paintings and motivational quotes on the concrete walls, blackboards and sufficient school supplies. A barrier separates the classroom from the living quarters. Roughly 100+ students live in the attic. Each student is given a cubicle where they store all their cherished belongings. The school provides them with a safe place to sleep, a washroom to bath and nutritious meals. But most importantly these girls are receiving a gift which is unconceivable by many females, an education. These children who were destine for poverty stricken conditions finally have the opportunity to pursue their dreams. What I found most astonishing was to educate, feed, bath, foster an environment of positive social reintegration and save one girl from the vulnerable streets of Kolkata costs fifty Canadian dollars annually.

SFU is AWESOME!

By Christine

Today marks 5 weeks since we have been in Kolkata – although to me it feels like it has been much longer.

Already we have seen many new places and learned so much through experience that I am constantly processing new thoughts, opinions and ideas in my mind. I am having difficulty recording all of them in my journal.

I really appreciate living, working, studying, and traveling with 3 other friends/students in Kolkata. Our learning experiences are often brought up in our conversations, which helps me to process them better.

Before we left for India, Faye – our co-op coordinator – called all of us to her office for a last minute check-in to make sure we were ready to embark on our international internship. She asked each of us to voice any concerns or feelings we were experiencing before our departure for India. This was fantastic because Faye created an opportunity for clear communication. Since then, we often have “Faye Feeling Circles” over breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anytime in between. The four of us reflect upon the experiences and feelings we have had throughout our day. Open communication constructs a healthy, co-operative, and supportive living, working, and learning environment. THANK YOU FAYE!

I love Silvia, Lindsay and Martyna very much! The four of us are like a special family that does everything together. Any other family does not necessarily do everything together. Imagine a nuclear family -- the kids go to school, the parents go to work -- everyone has their own busy schedule. But, the four of us are a special family because we do everything together. We live, cook, eat, clean, shop, commute, work, study, attend class, exercise, dance, travel, go out, and watch “ER” together. We are together ALL the time. We have got so used to it that it is weird when one of us is not around. 

I value the fact that at least one of us often has an opposing opinion because we question each other and talk about topics further. For example, when we first came to Kolkata Martyna noticed advertisements for health clinics that did CT scans and ultrasounds. She said that these clinics must be for sex determination of unborn children so that girls could be aborted. I have learned about fetal sex selection, but I did not want to believe it. I responded to Martyna’s observation by explaining that ultrasounds are also used for reasons other than fetal sex determination.

It is a huge advantage that Dr. Rochelle Tucker (aka Dr. Ro) has offered to teach us a “Directed Readings: Gender and Health” seminar while we are in Kolkata. I look forward to her seminar every week. She has selected readings that focus on gender and health both in Canada as well as India. We are learning about how social and cultural norms construct gender roles, which influences policy, social systems, and behaviour that result in individual health outcomes. Experiences from our new environment are often brought up in class discussions which helps us better understand Indian culture. THANK YOU DR. RO!

During one of our first “Gender and Health” seminar, Martyna brought up the topic of fetal sex selection in India. Dr. Ro confirmed that Martyna was correct about the advertisements created by the “All Asia Medial Institute” that advertise ultrasounds. I admire Martyna for being informed, but it is unfortunate that she was right because it means that the abortion of females is actively advertised in the community in which we currently live.

This picture is taken about 100 m away from our flat on Dover Lane.

It's a Girl! Documentary Film - Official Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISme5-9orR0&feature=player_embedded

Lindsay, Martyna, Sivia and I thank both Dr. Ro and Faye for your caring and support. Thanks to your passion and commitment to student’s learning, you have created this incredible opportunity for us to live, volunteer, study and travel in India. All four of us appreciate it so much and agree that SFU is AWESOME!