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Archive for category: Blogs

India, Kashmir 2018, News, Sidebar News Posts

GCJ delegation to Kashmir in 2018!

Global Citizen Journey returns to India with ambitious and adventurous plans to visit one of the most beautiful, diverse, and contested areas of India in September 2018.   Most of us know little about Kashmir beyond a vague awareness that it is embroiled in intractable conflict. We will be guided by our local sponsor ELFA International (Education and Livelihood For All) who will connect us with local Kashmiri leaders, nonprofits and organizations so that we can learn, explore, and listen together.

Our goal is to foster dialogue and relationship building and find bases of unity, a common purpose, and a creative process as well as a project that will be meaningful to the Kashmiri people.  Read more.

October 9, 2017/by Susan Partnow
India, India 2017 Journey Blog, News

On a Global Citizen Journey in My Own Hometown

For someone like me – a somewhat ordinary woman – thinking globally has been a relatively new experience. Cocooned in my comfort zone, I spent most of my life commuting between work and home, until work made me travel and explore my own country, quite late, in my early thirties. The nature of my work made me more ambitious enough to even travel to the United States for an advanced degree. It was then that migration, refugees, conflict, disparity, racism sounded like real words for me; but so did globalization, interconnectedness, peace, and justice. In these past two or three years, I have oscillated several times between momentary greatness, reflecting on global issues and my comfort zone; job, home, and family. And then, I got the opportunity to embark on a global citizen journey in my own hometown as an Indian delegate.

So, this diverse crowd of strangers with unknown pasts, unknown political leanings and religious sentiments embarked on a journey to live and travel together for eight days. There would not have been a more appropriate place for our stay than ‘Maher’ – a home for mentally-disturbed women and destitute children. We lived with the inmates under the same roof, yet we were from different worlds and separated by our privileges. However, living close to those women and children gave us the opportunity to understand their lives, know a bit of their past, the ordeals they survived and witness the magical happiness they have created in their home of about 150 family members. Their enthusiasm and hopes are so contagious that one can hardly avoid being affected. We visited more such Maher homes in different villages witnessing the difference Maher made in the lives of so many children. It was overwhelming to hear of the dreams and aspirations of children who would have otherwise lived a life of destitution and neglect on the streets. Some would have begged, some abused, and some would have not lived for long.

Meena is on the far end wearing a blue scarf and Susan, Founder and Executive Director, is kneeling and surrounded by several Indian delegates.

The GCJ delegation was a motley crowd of eight American women, a young Spanish woman, a young man from Venezuela, a teen from Germany, and nine Indian delegates – six women and eight men – and a wonderful Jewish-American woman leading the team. They were of different age, profession, experience and probably the only thing that was common among them was that they belonged to the same planet, same globe. Though interacting with a person from a different country and skin color was not a new experience for me professionally, but I wondered how it would be like to interact with them on a personal level. How scary would it be to reveal our personal choices, thoughts, feelings, fears and even prejudices? Would they like me? Would I like them? What would we do for a whole eight days together? And then, very gently, we were exposed to the techniques of compassionate listening that soon bridged the distance between hearts, patched up the differences or at least expanded our capacity to accept and include thoughts and people that differed from us. For example, an intense debate on how to fight sexual violence ended in accepting all views from changing the way we bring up our children, being vigilant, self-defense, pepper sprays and even spiritual intervention.

There was so much to learn, experience, reflect and absorb. How could we not have been transformed by this experience? An exercise that particularly comes to mind is when I was paired with a stranger and we had to share our feelings and thoughts at that exact moment and the other person would listen compassionately, without reacting or judging and with full attention. For me, it was a great feeling to know that no matter what the person in front of me said, I had the power to react and make the other person feel listened to without having to react. Many such interactions involved diving into the deepest and some dark corners of my mind and re-surfacing feelings that had not yet died but still buried deep into oblivion. For someone like me who is very selective about what I am sharing and with whom, it was a great churning of emotions and a whole lot of extra effort to open up. It made me wonder how inept I was at openly accepting my feelings, showing my wounds and weaknesses, letting go and being able to talk calmly about the most disturbing facts of my life. Some wounds never heal, but it was nice to have someone to listen to me and acknowledge the pain especially when there was a safe space to open up. It is true that life hardens us as it subjects us to traumas and troubles over time and to protect ourselves from being hurt, we build walls around us – walls of indifference, insensitivity, and aversion to everything that may expose our weaknesses. Special efforts are surely needed to cultivate compassion in hearts hardened by misery and distrust.

There were some light moments as well with cooking and serving Jewish delicacies, American apple pie, Indian street food and some green smoothies by an Indian delegate, who is a passionate proponent of organic farming. Some witty delegates lightened the air by punctuating intense moments with their humor. A dance program with the children and women of Maher, however, stole the show revealing a bit of Maher’s recipe of creating joy by people who once had nothing. Most of us, especially the foreign delegates could not have enough of the beautiful things made at the Maher production house – purses and bags of flamboyant colors and elegant designs, candles, greeting cards and spicy Indian masalas.

Being a learning maniac, I was enthused with the Open-Space Technology and World Café that were on the agenda towards the end. Did I wonder how chaotic it would be when 150 people discussed equity, justice and empowerment in a not so big hall of a local college? But the day dawned to put all my apprehensions and anxieties to rest as a team of Maher volunteers dressed in bright yellow that we fondly refer to as the ‘Yellow Brigade’ made it happen. In no time, 150 people were organized into groups to collectively harvest ideas, dreams, ambitions and plans toward advancing humanity to a more just, equal and empowered society.

Then came the final day, the day of adjourning, that left us marveling at the countless deep interactions we had among ourselves. We would go back into our smaller, individual worlds but not without realizing that all these small individual worlds collectively made up the larger one and in knowing that we are connected. That no matter how different our citizenship, skin color, language or lifestyles were, we share common values of justice, equity and compassion. That the injustice to one community was an injustice to all and the suffering of some people would leave scars on all humanity and that humanity on earth shared a common global future.

GCJ is not about crossing borders or traveling for me, it is about breaking barriers of fear, distrust, indifference between me and people who were not like me and thus being a Global Citizen.

– Meena Jadhav, Indian delegate 

January 31, 2017/by Susan Partnow
Blogs, India, India 2017 Journey Blog, News

GCJ India 2017 delegation is complete!

The weeks were so packed and amazing that I never got to blog during the delegation itself! Now the US delegates have departed and I am alone for a few days in the beautiful hill station of Panchgani at a wonderful conference center and headquarters for Initiatives of Change (IofC) — an organization that was once called Moral Re-Armament (MRA),  an international moral and spiritual movement founded in 1938 by Frank Buchman as Europe was re-arming militarily. Look it up on Wikipedia – a remarkable organization that has nurtured many ‘global citizens’ for so many years. Like Compassionate Listening, they believe change arises from the inside out. They identify four absolute values: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love.

Parag (with his lovely wife Asma) works at Panchgani. He arranged many of our Delhi-Agra-Pune logistics

Who needs a conference room for a meeting in this lovely place


It has been wonderful to have the beauty of this refuge filled with calm and green trees, flowers, and positive vibrations — before I rejoin Maher with all its vibrant life, chaos, and the noise of streets and many children – all bathed in love and compassion.


Our GCJ delegation was filled with 24 extraordinary people. Of course, I knew our awesome 8 US women well – and felt so deeply supported and appreciated by them. Then we had 3 internationals – a German young woman of just 18 years who is on her gap year as a volunteer in Pune, a lovely young man from Venezuela who has been volunteering at Maher, and a Spanish woman who had been an intern in Pune as a social worker. Then we had our amazing Indian delegates – 5 women and 4 men plus 3 Maher guys (Mangesh, Gaus and their dear friend Nikhil). So in all, the delegation comprised 8 men and 16 women (including me!). We had about a dozen circles – including team building, compassionate listening. and a powerful gender dialogue. Fascinating discussions! Of course, we had a lot of explaining to do about our new US administration. Many of us made traditional home-cooked dishes for each other: I made matzoh ball chicken soup, Irene managed to make apple crisp, and Liz stuffed us with her amazing self-caught and smoked salmon plus more.

While together at Maher – we stayed at Vatsalydam. It is one of the largest homes, a big property with gardens and smaller homes for grandmas, boys, and mentally-disturbed persons, and elderly men. The main house had over 100 mentally ill or developmentally-delayed women on the ground floor and several homes for girls on the upstairs. It was so beautiful to see the interactions between these different groups – filled with loving compassion, patience, and affection. Some of my favorite times were singing and dancing joyously together, playing with the kids, and hugging the women. Some of our most exhausting moments were the trying, long, bumpy, and dusty bus rides to many outlying Maher homes. When I have a chance to debrief with Gaus, Mangesh, and Sister Lucy we will explore the question of ‘quantity’ vs ‘quality’ of these visits from the delegates perspective. We longed for more time to interact with the residents but often these visits were mainly being very, very warmly greeted – with song and ritual (incense and bindi marking with red vermillon or gold turmeric powder, perhaps a cup of tea or water, a short talk, occasional performance by students, possibly very short Q&A, etc). Before we knew it, we were back on to the bus to yet another location. Of particular interest was the tribal village that has been transformed by the relationship developed with Maher. Now they are growing many acres of veggies and children are going to school.

We saw the slum where the ‘Fun School’ attracts little ones with games and food as they wouldn’t be sent to school. Also, after ten long and patient years they now have a computer lab for the older children. What a struggle of love, after building relationship and trust (15 years ago or so, Sister Lucy actually moved in to live in the village for several months – they were so wary, thinking she was coming to convert them to Catholicism or trick them and take their land which had happened by others) the Fun School started. Some of the school-aged children were brought to live at Maher so they could go to school. They began to show the value and the culture changed to where school was appealing.  One of the school girls has now become a policewoman and another one a social worker! They started the computer lab about 10 years ago: at first it wasn’t valued – no one knew anything about computers. They were all stolen. Sr Lucy persevered and put replacements in. After a while again they were stolen. Again she put in replacements… by now some of the kids were learning and appreciating and the community came to value them and trust her sincerity. So at last, the community itself guards them and calls as soon as there is any trouble. One of my most striking insights or lessons as a global citizen came on that visit day: one of the delegates said, well why don’t they just put in a security camera! Mangesh, dear one who grew up at Maher and says, ‘love is my religion’, quickly responded: that would be materialistic instead of heart-fullistic. Wow! In our western world we value the thing – the property – and I realized I was blind to the message hidden in a security camera which is that we don’t trust you and we value this property way more than our relationship or connection with you.

I am fatiguing so that’s all for now! I’ll hope to get to write more soon about our amazing Delhi visits with the likes of Vandana Shiva and Swanu Agnivesh as well as several extraordinary NGOs, our tourist adventures in Old Delhi and Agra and so much more about Maher and the delegation. Write to me! Tell me the news and spirit and arising movement!

January 28, 2017/by Susan Partnow
India 2017 Journey Blog, News, Sidebar News Posts

US delegation departing January 9 !

NEWS FLASH:  GCJ Delegation departs on January 9!  Stay tuned for blog entries from India.

We will begin in Delhi: all 11 US delegates will gather by Thursday evening, January 12.  We’ll spend the weekend enjoying visits to historical sites, such as temples, fortes, Old City, the museum at the site of Gandhi’s assassination — and a trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.  We will also visit several NGO’s and meet local leaders.

Then on to Pune where we’ll join our 11 Indian delegates plus 2 Maher hosts and spend 8 days in the rural areas of Maher homes, interacting with the women and children of our home site (Vatsalyadham) as well as visiting the many varied aspects of Maher activities, including the self help groups, preschool in the slum, women’s vocational training, etc.

We’ll also visit Pragati Leadership in Pune, to discover how they combine western results-orientation training with spirituality, as well as their small foundation that supports and empowers urban women.  The US delegates will spend our last days up in the Hill Station of Panchagani, partaking in the international program of Initiatives of Change in the morning and spending the afternoon reflecting and harvesting on all our learning.  The program ends in Pune, on Friday afternoon, January 27.

Sister Lucy Love is my Religion Maher girls dance Maher celebration Gaus Manges at Sanctuary

September 22, 2016/by Susan Partnow
India

Meet Sister Lucy on her visit to Seattle! Tuesday, September 20

We are thrilled to welcome Sister Lucy.  Come join us Tuesday evening, September 20, at the Phinney neighborhood center.  She’ll be accompanied by two extraordinary young men who grew up at Maher – Gaus Sayyad and Mangesh Pol.  We’ll gather at 6:45 and begin the program by 7 pm.  What a night!

SisterLucyatPNA

September 3, 2016/by Susan Partnow
India, Personal Journey

India Blog 12: Holiest of Holies – Varanesi

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January 14, 2016/by Susan Partnow
Blogs, India, News

India Blog 11: The Planet’s Favorite World Heritage Site – Taj Mahal and other Agra sites

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We headed out early towards Agra in an especially comfortable and spacious car for the three of us, arranged by a travel agent.  Interesting that all the stops were now at much more upscale (and expensive) restaurants that were also filled with overpriced souvenirs to buy.  I kind of missed our more low-keyed grassroots experiences.

We stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, built by Emperor Akbar, capital of Moghul empire during its hay day in the 16th century.  This spot was chosen as the Emperor made a pilgrimage to a saint in hopes of a blessing for fertility so he would have a male heir – when his hopes were fulfilled, he moved the capitol and built this splendid City (such were the riches of Emperors), soon to become a ghost town as there were difficulties with the water supply.  Akbar was a fascinating character:  Muslim but extremely devoted to inter-faith (indeed, he developed a new religion called “Deen Ilahi” to try to synthesize all faiths.  His palace included fabulous structures for Hindi and Christian as well as Muslim. Read more

August 5, 2013/by Susan Partnow
India, News

India Blog 10: The Pink City of Jaipur and Ranthambhore National Park

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Oh my.  Jaipur was astonishing.  Take a few moments to fantasize what a fabulously wealthy and artistic lineage of maharajas would create… and now multiple it up by several powers of ten and you may begin to imagine some of the wonders we saw.  The older Amber Palace atop a mountain – multiple courtyards – a brilliantly designed system of air/water cooling and plumbing from the 16th century (and we thought we were creators of sustainability and environmentally responsive design???!!).  Jewel, granite and mirror encrusted gorgeous designs everywhere.  Suites for harems, administrators, billiards, relaxing, writing, dance-music performance, etc. etc. A floating garden.  Another ‘floating’ palace – known as the Water Palace – not far away – where the sultan could relax and hunt ducks undisturbed…  Fort with an incredible network of walls and watch towers that seemed like the China wall.  And then – several centuries later, abandoning Amber Fort… and creating the City Palace in Jaipur itself with it’s adjacent astrology/astronomy center (Jantar Mantar – a garden like park setting filled with futuristic incredibly accurate structures to track time and stars – within 20 seconds!!) and the Wind Palace (Hawamahal) where the harem was housed in beautiful glory…  One example to help you imagine the scale of life:  in early 19th Century the Raj was going to London for a big exposition.  He wanted to be sure to have enough water from the Ganges along for the trip and so had two enormous pure silver vessels constructed to take along – the largest silver containers ever made – about 6 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter…  (When near the Ganges people fill containers with holy water to bring to their homes as we saw in Haridwar and soon in Varanesi) –And on and on.  The old City is surrounded by a lovely crenellated wall and all is painted in a pinkish salmon tone thus Jaipur is known as The Pink City.  We capped off our day of touring with a visit to Tiger Palace (Nahargarh Fort) – which floats high above the city with an incredible view.  I hope you get to visit some day! Read more

March 4, 2013/by Susan Partnow
India, News

India Blog 9: Holy Cities on the Ganges: Hardiwar & Rishikesh

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(← previous entry ←)

Haridwar

Later that night we found our way to Haridwar and were happily ensconced in a lovely little hotel, La Casa (yes – a Spanish name though an Indian owner).  Again we were adopted by all the staff who clucked over us like mother hens for every little need.  At our first restaurant stop (ohmygod have I mentioned how amazing each and every meal is!) I made the faux pas of asking for a beer (we’ve only had 2 so far this whole month in India!).  “We are a holy City; no beer!”

We loved the crazy bustle of the one main thoroughfare:  ubiquitous honking, pedi-shaws, horse drawn carts, tuk tuks (motorized rickshaws), motorcycles, dogs, cows, donkeys, new cars, bicycles bearing every load you can imagine… A riot of color and sound – women in their gorgeous saris – men with amazing turbans… And then escaping down a sound street to quiet alleys with sleeping homeless, resting pilgrims – so many stands of various colorful prasad – here they use banana leaf ‘boats’ filled with flowers and oil lamps you can then float down the river.  At the ghats many pilgrims kneeling at dawn and dusk to bathe, douse with the holy waters of the Mother, the Ganges – this is very near the source of the river, where it emerges from the Himalayas.  Every dawn and dusk at one main spot (Har-ki-Pairi Ghat – the Footsteps of God)  near a temple monks gather a huge crowd for ganga aarti (river worship ceremony) with chanting, cymbals, horns – huge candelabras, powdered color dyes – what a spectacle as pilgrims bathe and send off their prasad flower boats… They call to the crowd to great and thank and bless and receive the blessings of the Mother Ganges and all raise their hands… This is the place where Vishnu is said to have dropped some heavenly nectar and left behind a footprint. For Hindus, the place to wash away your sins.

…of course the other side of India invades this spiritual sweetness:  there are the ‘crowd control’ police who blow their whistle and insure that people sit down or move to the back – and they at various intervals begin hawking for contributions to charity giving out little receipts.  Hard to know if these donations go beyond their pockets… and hard to resist a uniformed official’s demands.

In Haridwar there are two temples high up on the hills – Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi:  you take a cable car to get there.  Once at the top of Mansa Devi (the wish fulfilling goddess) there is a warren of hallways filled with prasad sellers (candles-statuettes-pictures-flowers-incense) – and then a series of little alcoves, each with a monk and some different blessing process.  (And the all important receptacle where you are to place rupees!).  They give Tika (a dot on your forehead) – sometimes you kneel – some ask your name and sing or recite a blessing – at one station the old monk says a blessing over a thread and then you tie it around a post.  Many of the pilgrims are transfixed and you can feel the depth of their experience.  Yet on the other hand – it is crowded and pushy and many are insisting about the money… Our hotel staff friend bemoaned the commercialization of spirituality here.

At this temple floating over the City I experienced another encounter with Indians that has become familiar:  there were a couple of darling young girls adorned with ribbons for their pilgrimage and they happily agreed for me to take a photo.  Once I showed them – their whole family – dad, mom, grandma, auntie, little brother – all wanted to be in the photo… And then:  they all wanted a photo with me.  We have had so many people ask to have our picture taken with them!  We hear some of these may show up on Facebook and other places – some with claims that we are actors or some famous person. Who would think it of 2 old ladies?!

Rajaji National Park

Next day we took a jungle safari to the outskirts Rajaji National Park (park was closed due to rain the night before) and made another wonderful new friend – from Modesto, CA.  She had just come back from the Kumba Mehla where she bravely went all on her own.  It was fascinating to hear of her experiences and the array of holy people and touts and shams that she met there.  She was embraced by an ashram with their guru and under their wing was able to experience the deep spiritually present for so many – including heading to the Ganges several times to bathe as well as meditating.  On the other hand, one encounter with a supposed holy man shockingly turned out to become proposition when he suggested they have sex… And, as for many westerners – it was difficult for her to manage the reverence and obeisance to the guru – a similar reaction I had amongst Amma’s supporters.

(Did I mention we sadly decided not to go to Varanasi this trip because we had heard it was vastly overrun with so so many people from the nearby Kumba Mehla?  First on our list for our return trip to India for which we are already salivating!)

On our jungle safari – we just missed an elephant:  fresh, steaming pile of manure, sounds of crashing through the jungle… but no glimpse.  As well.  We did see two kinds of kingfisher (one a deep rich red-brown, one bright blue), two types of bright elegant parrots, buffalo, peacocks in the trees, rhesus monkeys and lemurs, eagles, hornbill, martens, spotted deer, astonishing Banyan trees, etc etc.  Lovely!  Our guide was incredible at spotting the wildlife through vision and sound – so attuned to his home in the jungle… We did get to visit some working domestic elephants at the forest rangers’ station.  Closely:  indeed, we got sprayed with trunk snot!  Fascinating to watch the elephants strip the bark off the tree branches they were given for eat:  they only like the bark, not the leaves.  What they can do with those trunks!

Rishikesh

Next day we headed to Rishikesh (made famous by the Beatles at the Maharishi Mahesh Yodi) and enjoyed our meandering down the narrow, steep wandering road lined with Ashrams, yoga schools, and souvenir stands.  The suspension pedestrian bridge was quite a trip – swaying in the wind, packed with people, cows, monkeys, dogs, motorcycles… View of crazy many storied temple like buildings of the two oldest ashrams/yoga schools…  We drove further way through the exquisite country side, up the rice-field terraced mountains to an old and reportedly very holy temple:  it appeared nearly in ruins – again, a warren of dark, confusing passage ways with food and prasad vendors – then a courtyard into a series of little alcoves with the monks and their bowls of rupees… All very dingy and dirty.

We had an interesting conversation with one of our hotel staff who expressed his view of karma and the purpose of life – as fulfilling one’s duty.  He advised we study the Bhagvad Gita which would reinforce this lesson – even should it require you as a soldier to kill your own relations – so long as it is the rightful duty. My struggle:  if everyone thinks God is on their side, how do we ever know what is rightful duty?

From Haridwar to Jaipur

Our departure from Haridwar, which we’d come to love, was rather dramatic:  we were waitlisted #1 and 2 for the train and had been assured this would be no problem – you can always get on since there are many no shows and cancellations.  What we didn’t understand is that we had unwisely chosen 1st class AC and this has only a dozen seats or so, so there are no open options – better to choose 2d class AC.  Our ticket was automatically cancelled when the train is ‘chartered’ with seat assignments about an hour and a half before departure… As our friendly staff uncovered all this – and mistakenly thought we were headed to some destination where a big festival was happening – they began saying we should just stay over another night and leave the next day – Kathy saying sure sure – I began freaking out:  no way!  Our stay in Jaipur would become way too short and I was so ready/set to move on…  So with a staff we headed to the train station to try to plead our case… Went from one official to another – they tried to find a way – but no seats… I recalled there was another train that same day and convinced the staff-helper… Yeah!  We –after much haggling and I believe some special ‘tipping’ — were able to get 2d class AC for a train later that night!  Our hotel let us go back and use our room all afternoon, no extra charge – and they were so kind and apologetic for our stress…for which really they had absolutely no responsibility!

We enjoyed the train and slept quite well.  Our compartment mate was a delightful young man from Jaipur, so he coached us on all the things for us to see.  And I lucked out again:  there was a western style toilet!  With my cranky old knees it is a trial to manage the squat toilets:  I have been so lucky and only had to struggle a couple times so far!

It was fascinating to hear our Jaipur friend’s experience in Haridwar:  he is newly married but having to live separately this year as his wife finishes graduate school near Haridwar.  This was one of their first times together without the extended family – and they were quite overwhelmed with the touts and the hawkers at the aarti ceremony as we were.  They wanted to light the candle for their prasad-boat on their own, to really reflect on their blessing and take their time… but the seller insisted she light it and when they got to the river one of the uniformed guards got very pushy and grabbed there basked, floated it away and demanded payment …

So dear readers:  good night for now: we are happily in to yet another chapter of this incredible journey here in Jaipur at a lovely heritage garden hotel… More on that next time!

 (→ next entry →)

 

Rishikesh

February 25, 2013/by Susan Partnow
India, News

India Blog 8: Uttrakhand – foothills of the Himalayas

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(← previous entry ←)

 

We are enjoying our stay on Vandana Shiva’s farm at Navdanya – Bijavidapeeth (Seed or Earth University)… although sadly she is not here.  Hopefully I will catch her in Delhi.  Our first night was off to a very bad start:  Kathy took a terrible tumble down two ill-lit and unexpectedly narrow steps as she left the dining hall to go outside to wash her dishes…  She spent the night in wretched pain and then we spent the entire next day schlepping in to Dehra Dun to have an Indian hospital adventure (took all day – about 5 hours plus 1 hour journey each way).  Fortunately the treatment was ultimately excellent – courteous, professional, effective…and inexpensive!  About $30 for exam, x-ray, cast and medications!  She has a slight fracture just above the elbow.  The cast is extremely heavy – old fashioned plaster – but has relieved her discomfort. The pharmacy was quite a sight – with a jumble of boxes and staff climbing all over the place.

At Navdanya we learned about how they are offering education in organic farming to farmers all over India.  So many have lost their traditional wisdom since the advent of the ‘Green Revolution’ in the 70’s.  Navdanya teaches the importance of diversifying crops to avoid the risks and degradation of monoculture.  They teach the wisdom of saving seed each year – whether there was a good crop or not, whether the particular crop will be planted that year or not – since Mother Nature adapts year by year to changing conditions.  Especially with the great shifts of climate change – these natural seeds brilliantly adapt year by year.  They teach a number   of methods of saving the seeds:  best is in a small woven container sealed with cow dung and mud.  All of the buildings at Navdanya are also covered with this clay of cow dung and mud – an excellent insulator and natural pesticide.  The farm grows many experimental crops – wheat, rice, vegetables, herbs.

The surrounding countryside is lovely – and wild:  peacocks and monkeys abound.  And wild dogs too:  one of our volunteers took an early morning walk and got surrounded by a pack of dogs that became quite aggressive… she managed to climb up a mango tree and hung there quite some time till one of the Navdanya staff happened by to help!  We also heard a story of a tourist in a nearby town getting jumped on by a number of monkeys when she was carrying some food!

The group of volunteers (US, France, Germany, Holland, Australia, Korea, Canada, India, UK) was wonderful.  What a joy to make so many new friends throughout this trip.  I celebrated my birthday in the traditional India way by offering candies to everyone:  a sweet new tradition!  I was also delighted to host a Conversation Café the first night when we enjoyed a fascinating conversation sharing stories about when we felt most nourished in our lives and reflecting on how we can create a world that feeds us in healthy, sustainable ways.  The next day we extended the conversation to our struggles around consumption and the exploitation and pollution it typically entails:  while we didn’t find many new solutions, we felt comforted to know we were from around the globe and all struggling and experimenting in similar ways:  ‘transition town’ trials are bubbling everywhere.

The second night I offered a short introductory session on Compassionate Listening and was gratified with the loving and open response from our lovely circle of a dozen international visitors.  It’s interesting to get the feedback that for Westerners, 3 minutes feels so very long to speak/be listened to without interruption (an exercise we do in pairs) – but for Indians it is way too short. The urge to fix and problem solve seems universal and everyone was grateful to learn the value of silent, loving holding of space for the speaker.  The mediation on self compassion was also deeply received and appreciated.

We then headed to Dehra Dun and visited a most amazing Tibetan Buddhist Monastery – Mindrolling Monastery (!) with an astounding 35 meter Buddha dedicated to the Dalai Lama and a huge stupa.  The enormous Temple was gorgeous, every wall covered with exquisite paintings, the hall filled with chanting monks and clanging cymbals and horns, scent of incense… holy, holy, holy.  Om nama shivaya.  Then we headed to the Forest Research Institute, training sight for national forestry service – housed at an enormous red brick colossus (larger than Buckingham Palace) — estate of a Raj who built this gigantic palace in early 1900s that now houses many museums and varied forests including a magical one of bamboo.  We even had some time for shopping at the pedestrian bazaar and found a great sweater (it’s chilly up here in the mountains!) and lovely pashmina scarves… So hard to choose from the profusion of gorgeous cloths!!!

Mid afternoon we met with my friend Mary Jane’s friend, Chayya, who is the state director for Room to Read.  What an extraordinary project!  The founder, John Wood, quite his high level position at Microsoft to pursue his passion for Nepal and books:  15 years later, he has founded scores and scores of libraries and well over a million books in countries all over Asia and Africa.  Wow!  A brilliant model:  here in India, they work with the government schools that provide the actual space for the library.  Room to Read then stocks with books, provides training to all teachers and staffs, and sets up the system over a 3 year period to insure sustainability of the program.  Books are color coded so any child can pick the right book for their reading level.  Their goal is to cultivate joy and the habit of reading.  They are much attuned to cultural appropriateness and have published many books using local writers and artists.  I am so inspired by the power and success of this project!

(→ next entry →)

 

February 25, 2013/by Susan Partnow
Page 2 of 512345

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