Monday, March 29, 2010

Bangaluru!!!

Hi all, This is Kate here...
It was a crazy adventure to Bangalore but I was so glad to be back to the city I lived and worked in for 4 months last year. However, of course in the traditional Molly and Kate style we arrived into Bangalore at 6:00 AM unsure of where we were staying in Bangalore or what are plans were going to be. Molls was such a trooper as she was feeling pretty sick and we were having finding a place to avoid harassment as well as a place with a bathroom which is basically a hole in the ground inside with a door. Anyways everything worked out we were able to find a bathroom and internet place where we found out we could stay at my old bosses house with his family...Ill briefly fill you in last year I was working for an NGO called Youth for Seva and I lived and worked here in Bangalore for 4 months. I volunteered in a small slum at their small center which is basically a very old run down building with two floors no desk or chairs just one or two chalk boards and lots of dust and mold. I would come here everyday in the afternoons to teach the children english or help them with their math homework as the language barrier was too difficult for me to help them in any other subjects. I also worked in two different orphanages one with 40 boys and one with 35 girls. Both orphanages were well run by really loving great people however the facilities are very very minimal and simple. The boys orphanage is over a steel mill and is only two huge empty floors with outdoor washing facility all the boys sleep on the tile floors with only a blanket under them. The girls orphanage is more like a large home but they too all just sleep on the large open area with only a blanket under them. While working at these orphanages I taught them english and math but also helped set up special activities for the children on the weekend and special holidays including large bday celebrations for all since known of them really know their birthdays. In addition I was documenting as many of the stories of the children as possible about their back round and how the orphanage has helped change their lives for the better. This book is being used to help keep records of the children as well as for fundraising for the orphanages. I can not even begin to tell you about the number or struggles and difficulties these children faced and have overcome already at such a young age. It is amazing! I also worked to start a volunteer program at a hospital called Kidwai. It is a government hospital with very limited funding and staff and I wanted to set up a volunteer program here especially in the children's ward to help them stay up with their school work as well as provide entertainment and joy for them as they were going through chemo and living in the hospital. So anyways I was unsure how many of these projects would still be going on but I was thrilled to see that all of them are still running for the most part and work is still being carried on by other volunteers. I think the best part for me has been to return to these places and see all the children and their families as well as all the people I worked with last year and was glad that Molly could come and meet many of the children and their families.
Our time here in Bangalore has been jammed packed from the day we arrived! We have been taking the public buses as I try to remember my way around the city and the different buses we need to take from one place to the next. As Molly will testify my memory and skill of direction is not the best as we had one very long bus adventure which should have been 30 min but because of Bangalore traffic and the route of the bus we took ended up being close to a 2 hour bus ride in the 90 degree sun packed in like sardines into this old rickety bus with a bus driver that loved to beep his horn and turn off the bus every time we stopped and get out his paper...needless to say both of us wanted to die but at lesat I feel Molls got a really great tour of the city.. one i'm sure she never wants to see again! However in our time here we have attended 2 weddings, had many traditional dinners with friends and families that I had known here in Bangalore...it was great we got eat some amazing Indian meals sitting on the floor with our hands, took numerous buses, gone back to the small slum and after school center as well as the boys orphanage and Kidwai hospital, taken motorbikes throughout the city to different events, walked through numerous fruit and flower markets, and Molls attempted at getting her nose pierced but got mauled in the face by an India guy instead. It was a great 6 days in Bangalore .. we will head out tmw night on another night train for 13 hours ..hopefully that is much more mellow than our first train ride!! Thanks for reading and we will be trying to keep up with the blog more often.. when possible!!!

1 comment:

  1. katelyn and molly,
    I love to read about your adventures. This is Katelyn's aunt Julie. I am visiting Granny and your parents this week ( my spring break). Your Dad connected me to your blog. Keep writing, I love to read about your adventures. Enjoy!!! Love Julie

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