Christmas in India

Hello everyone!
Merry Christmas.
I had a lovely Christmas here, although it was of course a bit strange not to be at home with family, doing the usual Christmassy things.

During the day on Christmas Eve, we had a normal working schedule. The participants and some staff went to visit the community partners they're working with during this event, and the few of us that were left at Sangam worked as normal. My day consisted of emails, paperwork, checking in with people about Gwenning things, and tidying the programme room. In the afternoon, I helped Steph to run a 10Million Girls session, and felt that my work over the summer set me up well for explaining the deep, look inside yourself stuff that we're doing with this group so that they can all discover their potential!

The evening was a bit more Christmassy. After dinner, we went carolling to the houses of some of the local staff. We began with Aruna and Mathura, who live in accommodation on the Sangam site, and then went across the road into Phulenagar. It was really good fun, if a little disorganised!

Carolling outside Aruna's house

(sorry about the quality; my camera doesn't like the dark!)

People in Santa hats and reindeer antlers crossing the road!

Carolling finished, I offered people the opportunity to come to the local church, as their Christmas Eve service had just started. The other option was to rickshaw out to one of the bigger churches at 11pm, but everyone was pretty knackered, so the little local church was a better option. Emily and 2 of the participants from the UK came. We left our shoes outside, and shuffled quietly into the back row. The service was in Marathi, so we didn't understand anything, but it was nice to see the church and who attended, what went on etc. About 5 minutes after we arrived, a man who'd been at the keyboard came and whispered to us, asking if we'd sing a song. We'd been recognised as being from Sangam, and they were being super welcoming! As we'd just been carolling and I still had the songbook, plus 3 of the 4 of us were big on singing, we agreed to this. We chose 'O Little Town of Bethlehem', and after the (very long) prayer, we were invited to the front. Grinning at each other sheepishly, we made our way to the front and launched in.Emily was instantly confused as the American tune to this song is distinctly different to the tune we know and love in the UK, but she followed along quite well. During the second verse, the keyboard guy also decided to follow along with some chords, which were, thankfully, correct, but which distracted one of the others and made her laugh. All in all we found the experience crazy and hilarious, but it was nice to be asked, and certainly left us all with something that we'll always remember!

When I got home, Bron and I decided we should watch a rubbish Christmas cartoon, and there was a suitable Daily Express disc with a story about a snowman who learns to sing on it, so we put it on, but it was a bit too rubbish really; I was bored and Bron fell asleep! But never mind. Em and I also helped Father Christmas and his elves to fill the stockings for all the staff before we went to bed.

My Christmas day began at 5:30am when my alarm went off. This means it was only just midnight at home! I got up and opened the presents that had arrived for me previously from friends and family at home, and then tripped over a present that Santa had left outside my door as I headed for the shower! I tidied my room, put all the chocolate I'd gained in my 'good things to eat' pile, and then headed down to the courtyard to meet all the participants who wanted to climb up the water tower. For the first time, everyone wanted to climb, so we did it in 2 groups. I went up last, so this is a photo of the second group looking very happy and christmassy:

After a Christmas-themed flag ceremony which had us galloping across the campsite like reindeer whilst jingling bells and singing Jingle Bells, we had breakfast, and then all piled on a bus to travel to Maher. I'm not sure whether I've introduced Maher to you before; they are, as you've probaby guessed, one of Sangam's community partners. They provide shelter to abused or mentally disabled women and their children; their motto is 'Always room for one more'. Sister Lucy, who runs the organisation is a really incredible woman and very inspiring. They invited many friends and people from all their satellite sites in Pune to attend their Christmas celebrations, and we went along too. When we arrived, some music had started up and men were decorating the outdoor stage; there were a lot of small children dancing and having fun, and all the participants were dragged up to have fun too. It was really lovely to see, but I was struck suddenly by intense homesickness. Not for the UK, but for Manali. I haven't really been in a location similar to the children's home since returning to India, except for an hour or so at the Mobile Creche, and I think I just finally realised that I was back in India, but that these kids weren't my kids. They were all just as lovely, I've no doubt, but it wasn't the same. I was a little tearful for a while and felt really weird; I think it's the first time I've felt truly sick from homesickness. But as the programme of dancing and performances started, I began to enjoy the atmosphere. It was a really hot day, so we were given chairs in the shade, and it was lovely to just sit and watch all the children doing their dances and clearly enjoying it.

After the dances, we moved because the sun had caught up with us, and then ended up sitting for quite a long time listening to lots of messages in marathi as they tried to get all the women and kids fed. We were eventually fed too though, and it was nice food. After the icecream had been distributed, our participants from the UK were asked to help carry down boxes of the presents that they'd supplied (their leader back home used to work at Sangam and has a strong connection with Maher), and then to get up on stage and help to give them out. Each one had been named individually, so it was taking a long time, and unfortunately they had to excuse themselves part-way through as we had to get back to Sangam, but it was nice for them to be able to see some of their gifts making the women and children very happy.

Back at Sangam, we had some rest time (except I worked - so many emails and things to keep on top of when doing 2 jobs at once!), and then all the participants decorated the hall and prepared entertainment etc. for our Christmas Dinner. We had roast chicken with potatoes, peas, carrots, bread sauce and cranberry sauce. Not bad at all. And very yummy. We played games, pulled crackers that our new VIT Priya had made, and Santa (Jen) came to visit to give out the secret santa presents we'd all been putting in a box under the tree. It was really good fun and that, combined with the game that came next, finally made me feel pretty Christmassy...!

It was WAGGGS Game - Christmas Edition after dinner! This is our quiz show I've written about before, but Jessica really pepped it up for Christmas. We had commercial breaks featuring the coca cola advert, 6 white boomers and alvin and the chipmunks, silly challenges, and of course a variety of questions about WAGGGS, Sangam, and Christmas. The hall looked amazing as we'd spent a good hour decorating with streamers and fairy lights, and we (if I say so myself) looked pretty awesome too. Jessica as MC was the Sugarplum Fairy, complete with wings that Bron and I found for her on a shopping trip, and with pompoms cellotaped all over her; I was 'Australian Santa', in blue swimming shorts, an Australia top that Net left me, and a baseball cap that said 'I believe in Santa Claus'; and Emily was Cindy-Lou Hoo, from The Grinch, dressed in a cute pink dress with bunches and pink ribbons. Hayley, Steph, Em and Bron also came to join in with the fun and each helped out a different team. WAGGGS game is always a good session, but I think this was my favourite one so far. Christa said it sounded very noisy and fun from the Guide House, and there was also a lot of mess to clear up at the end, so I think that's a good measure of the success. I don't have any photos on my camera (I was too busy dancing around the room like a maniac), but when I find some on another camera, I'll try to upload them!

All the fun and excitement over, I returned to my room to Skype with my family, and then we all sat up talking in Em's room for a while. It was a really great day, and even though most of it didn't really feel like Christmas day, I did feel Christmassy and enjoyed being here with all my new friends, as well as having contact with home. Today (Boxing day) I enjoyed a lovely day off with Jessica, and tomorrow it's back to work!

TTFN

Me.

It's midnight. I can't sleep. I think part of the reason is that I slept during the day today as I was (for once) enjoying a properly chilled day off. But another part of it is that I have begun to reach the part of this experience in which I am looking at myself, my life, my dreams and goals, and reassessing everything. My head is full of lists and thoughts and they keep buzzing around.  It is not really a good time to be doing this given all the crazy work things that are happening, but it's not always easy to choose the moments in which one starts to be philosophical.

I realised, as I sat staring blankly at my computer, that my blogs rarely actually feature anything specifically about me. I focus on what I've been doing and the things that have happened here at Sangam; occasionally I add how I feel about a particular occurrence, but generally it's pretty impersonal. At least, that's how it seems to me. You may disagree. And I've never been very good at explaining myself - I think my close friends only understand what I'm on about most of the time because they know me so well, rather than because I explain myself well. But I thought I'd have a go here at starting to explain the impact this experience has had/is having on me, and how I've changed or intend to as a result of this. I may not succeed at all, but please bear with me - I'm trying!

Now I've written that introduction, I'm not sure where to start. I've been thinking a lot recently about how any and all experiences - even short ones - can have an impact on you if you only look at them in the right way. The event we've just started is a 'Discover Your Potential' event, and the aim is to enable girls and young women to discover themselves by completing a project with one of our community partners. This means that our '10 Million Girls' sessions have been entirely revamped to include less information giving, and more time for discussion, sharing and reflection. Because without these sessions, there's a danger that the participants will not discover their potential, as they won't - and maybe don't know how to - look at the experience in terms of what they've got out of it, rather than what they've been able to give to others. I'm in the same boat. My whole term as an SV here is kind of like one big opportunity to Discover My Potential. But if I don't stop and take the time to examine how I'm being affected by it and what I'm learning, then I will return home without having benefitted as much as I could. I'm just about half-way through my time here now, and I think I should get a move on!

I'm reminded as I write this of an episode of Friends, in which Phoebe tries desperately to find a selfless good deed. I often feel as she did - that I genuinely want to help people, and am honestly not looking to get anything out of it for myself.  But I'm beginning to realise that it's ok to benefit from doing something good. It's a sort of Karma, a healthy pay-back system. I have a facebook news feed which I've entitled 'change the world' and which includes all the charities and organisations I've been involved with or appreciate, and a lot of them are constantly posting about how one single act of 'doing good' can benefit many people in many ways. So I feel like it's ok for me to be gaining and growing from the work I'm doing here to help others to grow and to improve their lives and the lives of others. (Oops that's part of the official WAGGGS definition of Advocacy - I'm becoming indoctrinated!!!)

There are certain systems in place here at Sangam to allow and encourage this personal growth to happen; I have a personal evaluation form that I - and other staff members - can fill in constantly and which gets regularly reviewed; I wrote a 'letter to self' at the start of my term which I'll receive back when I leave; we all try to give each other encouragement and feedback whenever it seems necessary. But I still don't feel like I've really discovered my potential yet.

Undoubtedly, I've developed a number of skills, both practical and those 'transferable' skills that every prospective employer apparently desires. I've experienced not one, but many new cultures, ways of life and religions already during my time here, and have been able to share and explain many aspects of my own culture with other people. I've gained in confidence and in diplomacy, I've had experiences which I've loved and those which I've not enjoyed; both will remain with me forever. I've forged new friendships and met many inspirational people. But what does this all mean in terms of who I am, what and who I want to be, and what I want to do with my life? I don't think I'm ready to answer these questions yet, but I'm beginning to think about them. They're pretty huge questions which I've asked before and undoubtedly will ask again during my lifetime, but I think this opportunity that I'm currently embracing could be a significant point for answers, if I want it to be. There is still a part of me that wants to just carry on the old way - helping out, developing skills, filling up my CV whilst doing good - without having to examine the effect these things are having on me. It's easier that way. But it's why I'm here. I can't encourage others to look inside themselves and then not do so myself. And I also can't spend 6months in a country halfway around the world from friends, family and everything familiar without that experience having an impact. The next stage is simply to try to understand what that impact is, and what I'm going to do with it once I discover it.

If I work it out, I'll try to remember to try to find the words to explain it to you!

TTFN

Crazy Catch-up 4/4

Staffing Changes.

Here at Sangam, staff changes are a frequent occurence in terms of the volunteers and interns. I've often commented on how strange it must be for the career staff to see us passing through and our time here having so much of an impact on us, whereas they're just carrying on as normal. This happens on another scale as well when participants or guests are really affected by a week or 10 days here, yet really they're just passing through our lives.

Anyway, at the moment we're going through some more major changes, and it's definitely adding to the craziness that's about to start.

Donna, who has been World Centre Manager for 3 years, has just finished her post, and she and her husband Sean are moving out of Sangam at the end of the month. They're off to start something new and exciting in China. Donna's replacement is our very own Jen; until now Programme Manager and my line manager. Here are Jen, Mina doing English-Marathi translation for the benefit of local staff, and Donna during the ceremony at Donna's leaving picnic:

 And here are some of the local staff playing cricket, also at the picnic. It was a really lovely afternoon with food, games, cricket, badminton, frisbee etc. A nice way to start the multiple send-offs that Donna's had to attend!

As well as the gap Jen has left by moving into Donna's position, Gwen who is Assistant Programme Manager flies home to Malaysia this week for a holiday and to renew her visa. This leaves noone in the Programme Management side of things! So while she is away, Mina (Community Relations Manager) will be Acting Programme Manager, and in the next 2 events, first I and then Jessica will be Acting Assistant Programme Manager! Scary stuff. We've spent quite a bit of time over the last month learning exactly what it is that Gwen does, and having her show us spreadsheets and folders and asking where does she keep this, how far in advance do she do that, etc. I think I'm ready; technically I'm already 'Gwenning' (technical term!) so we'll see how it goes. I certainly know what it is I need to do, whether I'll remember it all on top of my SV duties is yet to be seen, but I think these next 2 crazy events will prove how well the family of Sangam staff pulls together as a team and helps each other out.

There is also another hole in my Sangam family that is impossible to fill. Net and Ellen have gone. Although I'm now part of a great new SV team and get on really well with Steph and Emily, it's not the same. It never could be, nor would I want it to be exactly the same, but this leaves me feeling sad. Net and Ellen were the ones who got us through our first event after training. They were the ones who talked me through things I didn't understand, praised me, told me off, took care of me when I was ill, and befriended me. I'm making this sound really stupidly sentimental, but it's difficult to explain how well the 4 of us (me, Jess and the abandoners!) gelled together both at work and socially.

As I write this, I'm realising that perhaps I wrote more about these changes in a previous post than I thought I did. So I shall stop here. But I have one final photo for you; it is of Net and Ellen being as crazy as ever, playing on the climbing frame at the end of Donna's picnic, in order to complete their Sangam Challenge!

Crazy Catch-up blogs now officially completed. Today was the first day of the event and ran smoothly. A sign of good things to come, I think. Tomorrow I have a day off and will be either relaxing or panicking about work, depending on the moment.

TTFN

Crazy Catch-up 3/4

This blog is a mish mash of a few things; hence the reason for splitting these posts, as if I tried to put the content of all 4 into 1, it would be a disastrous mess! This one is also going to be told mainly in photographs a) because I have them and b) because a picture's worth 1000 words but takes a lot less time to blog! :P

Firstly, I'd like to share a long-awaited photo of Geoffrey and his new friend William. This is the two of them in one of the Sangam tents:

We've had a lot of campers recently. In between two camps, we decided to finally take advantage of the presence of the tents, and have a sleepover. It was really good fun. 6 SVs, 3 Interns, 2 VITs, plus a visit from APM and DWCM (the latter told us the story of the Sangam ghost and scared some of us witless - but Geoffrey wasn't scared). We took a trip to the sweet shop in our pjs and stocked up on sweets, biscuits and chocolate, Christa gave us some trashy magazines and we just spent some time laughing and joking. I should also point out that the tents are HUGE - even with all of us in there, there was plenty of room to roll around. It was a really nice night, and good to do it in Net and Ellen's last week as they'd not done a campout during their time at Sangam.

We all went out for dinner on Net and Ellen's last night. We had a lovely meal at a restaurant called Malaka Spice which is a bit pricier than other places we go, but worth it as the food was excellent. After we'd eaten and the leavers had made a silly speech, they went to see Jen, and the rest of us decided to go and investigate 'A Chocolate Affair'; a coffee shop we'd heard amazing things about. And it lived up to expectations. I had a dark hot chocolate and it was wonderful. Here are some photos of the others looking very pleased with their selections:

Bronwyn with an 'Amazing Brownie'

Em with a Peanut Milkshake

Jessica with a White Hot Chocolate and 'Amazing Brownie'

Steph, also with 'Amazing Brownie'.

The night after this was Crappy Christmas. Jen and Christa decided to host a party, make it 80s themed, invite loads of people, and include crappy gifts! So we all dressed up in our glad rags:

And brought with us a crappy gift that we'd been given by someone else. Once the party was in full swing, we all selected a numbered ticket. This number dictated the order. Person 1 selected any gift on the table, unwrapped it and showed everyone. Person 2 could either steal that gift or unwrap another. If your gift was stolen, you had to unwrap a new one, etc. It was really good fun. Here are some more photos, this time of people with their crappy gifts!:

Em with a jar. This jar is now mine. I 'stole' it from her as I thought it was pretty. Currently it is home to anything belonging to Jessica that gets left in my room like socks, earrings etc!

Emily being much amused by the little bird in a basket that she's seen Jessica wrap up earlier...

Jessica looking pleased because she actually liked her gift!

Steph looking not so pleased with her beautiful pink fan

And Bron looking unsure about what might be in her parcel!

All of the above events were super-fun, if occasionally tainted by Net and Ellen's departures. I will mention this a little bit more in the next (and hopefully final for now) blog post.

TTFN



Crazy Catch-up 2/4

Blog 2 is about my trip to visit Freny in Gujarat.
Freny was my Gap Rep when I worked in Manali during my first gap year. She was friend, mentor and sort of like my Indian mum. For family reasons, she moved home to Gujarat shortly before the end of my term, and that worked perfectly for me to be able to arrange a visit; while I haven't got time to get up to Manali, Gujarat is a neighbouring state and so in Indian terms is comparatively nearby.
Having established that Freny had a week off from her Masters studies, I asked Jen to give me an extra half day off so that I'd have time to fly to Vadodara (Baroda), spend a day with Freny, and then return home. This granted, I booked flights which cost me about £80, and arranged for a car to take me to Mumbai airport. Pune does have a domestic airport, but the connection times were rubbish and I wouldn't have been able to fit the trip into the time I had.
So I left Sangam at 11am on the Wednesday, and after a 4 hour car journey, some bureaucratic frustration at the airport, and a lot of sitting around waiting, I boarded a flight that lasted about 40minutes. Freny and her beautiful daughter Shifa were at the airport waiting for me, for which I was grateful as I'd been unable to get in touch via phone to confirm that I was on my way!
We got a rickshaw back to their apartment which is very conveniently located, Freny supplied a lovely dinner of pasta and broccoli (it was like she'd read my mind), and then we spent the evening chatting and catching up, with a film on in the background.

The next day, they took me to Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery. Shifa toured with me, while Freny went to the university to collect a certificate. She came back empty handed because the queue was so long that she'd have missed our whole day! Shifa and I had great fun looking at all the Indian and Asian things, plus there was an Egyptian mummy, and they also had loads of stuffed animals and horrible squishy things in jars. It was like what I imagine the British Museum to have looked like in the time of Darwin etc!

After Freny rejoined us and we'd done the portrait gallery and seen the skeleton of a Blue Whale, we headed back out into the sunshine, and then to find some lunch. We went to a hotel that served traditional Gujarati Thali (a bit of everything on a large plate with watis - small bowls) so that I could decide how different it was from Maharastrian cuisine. There were differences, certainly - not least the size of the plate, but generally it was pretty similar to the Maha dinner we have at Sangam. Yummy though!

After lunch we did some shopping at some handicrafts centres where I bought various items and spent far too much money, but it was all so lovely. In the evening, Shifa stayed at home to finish her project on First Aid, while Freny and I went out to another gallery, and then to a temple that was designed with elements from 5 different faiths. It was in the military compound and we weren't allowed to take photos, but it was very beautiful. We also stopped off to visit Freny's mum who lives nearby; I had a cup of chai, saw photos of Freny's brother's wedding, and chatted about Sangam and about teaching. When we went home, I went out with Shifa to the local church because she had a rehearsal for a Christmas skit with the youth group. It was nice to get to just sit and chat with her while the others practised their dance.
At home, Freny had made Palak Paneer (spinach and cheese curry) which is one of my favourites - again reading my mind. It was also probably one of the tastiest incarnations of this meal that I've ever had. VERY yummy! I helped Shifa out with the passages she'd been writing, and then got a chance to look at all her paintings. I remember even in Manali she loved art, but the last 3 years at her new school have really helped her progress and she is amazing! All her drawings are different, she's not stuck in one style. I'm so impressed. This is the painting that she's done on her bedroom wall:

Shifa left early the next morning for school; when I got up I had breakfast with Freny and then we headed to the airport. It was a really quick trip, but I'm so glad that I went. It renewed and reframed my relationship with Freny - and with Shifa too - and was really good fun. I definitely need to come back to India for a holiday so I can spend some more time there and discover more of Gujarat as well.

One final thing - instead of a car, I took a bus back from Mumbai to Pune. I was expecting to get a local bus, but ended up finding an a/c tourist coach. Lovely in terms of comfort, but really boring! So to amuse myself, I took some photos of all the trucks that have 'horn ok please' painted on the back. Because Em is planning to create a TShirt design of this and wanted some inspiration. I thought you might like to see a couple, so will insert them below.

TTFN



Crazy Catch-up 1/4

Hello.
As mentioned previously, I have many things to write about, and also am expecting not to find much time in which to write over the next month. As a result, I've been (sort of) organised, and made a list of posts that I think I need to write today. There are 4 of them. This is number one.

Centenary Fund!

I realised that I never put some very exciting news in this blog, which I really should have done.
Before coming to Sangam, I applied to GirlGuiding UK's Centenary Fund. This is a pool of money that is in place to make the dreams of girls and young women come true. Throughout the centenary celebration (which for WAGGGS lasts 3 years), the fund has set a number of different priorities, and when I applied, they were particularly interested in applications from people who wanted to visit a World Centre - bingo. Now some people may argue that this dream wasn't so unique for me because I'd already been to India. But to be able to work at a World Centre was something totally new, and I certainly never thought I'd ever even have the opportunity, let alone be selected for a position. And my personal money situation wasn't great. Even though WAGGGS pay some money towards flights and I get a small stipend every month here, I was going to make a loss, and wasn't sure where the money was going to come from. So I applied to the fund, and crossed my fingers.

I admit that I gave up on ever getting an answer. I'd not even received any notification that my application had been received, and was a little disgruntled. I'd been talking to Net about it, and then just a couple of days later, I got an email from Ruth - the Brown Owl I work with in Birmingham - to say that she'd received a cheque for me for £300! WOO! I am very pleased and grateful. This money covered the remainder of my flight, plus insurance and injections. So it cost me nothing to get here. Amazing. The requirement is that I fill in a response form within 12months of the project being completed. There is only one question on the form, and it is "what difference has receiving this grant made to you?". In financial terms, this is easy to answer. In terms of the experience it's allowed me to have, then it's not so easy. The SV experience has certainly led to many changes already; in the way I speak, think and act, in my confidence, my skills and abilities; so many things. But how I write this in answer to this question I'm not yet sure. I mentioned it to Jen a while ago and she suggested I focus on one element that's been significant - perhaps my work on the Stop the Violence project, for example. That's certainly a possibility. I'll think on it. But I can guarantee the people behind the fund that their money has certainly been appreciated and without doubt has had a huge impact on my life.

I'd like to tag on the end of this a little thought about my Queen's Guide Award. I have been worried that there's so much to do towards this when I get home that maybe I'll fail in the attempt. Now I feel more confident about it, and also have so many ideas about what I might like to do for my community project. I'm excited to try and put some plans together. Em is also just getting started on hers, so we're thinking we might have a little QG planning session together sometime.

That's all for update 1. I really do intend to complete the other 3 tonight, but right now I have to go downstairs as it's the first night of Hanukkah, and so Jessica is making Latkes (potato pancakes as I understand it), lighting the Menorrah for which I bought candles today, and playing Draidel. Exciting stuff that I want to be a part of. So...

TTFN

Reception.

Hello everyone!

Sunday am:
I'm on reception duty this morning. It's without a doubt the most boring part of life as a Sangam Volunteer. Not always, but for the majority of the time. More so today than usual because Priya and Hayley are both off, and their office is a part of the reception area. So no company for me. It's also an annoying and boring job because unless one has loads of computer-based work to do, there isn't really anything to keep one occupied. I sent out a request for work this morning, and so have typed up simple washing machine instructions, edited and saved important board meeting agenda and accompanying documents, checked a session plan with Emily, and otherwise just tried to fill my time with things like writing in other peoples' compliment books (which live in the pigeon holes behind my desk), sorting out some old emails and making sure contact lists are up to date etc, and otherwise desperately trying to keep myself entertained.

Having done all this, I have ground to a halt, and still have another hour or so to sit here. Then it occurred to me that I might as well use this time to blog. The only problem with this idea being that my list of things to blog about is upstairs in my room, and all the interesting photographs that I was thinking I'd like to share with you are also upstairs on my computer. So perhaps this will be a haphazard blog of random thoughts, and I will follow it up tonight with all the things I've forgotten and some photographs. If you're lucky.

Yesterday marked the end of an era. Net and Ellen, the stalwart companions of mine and Jessica's first few events, have gone. Net left at 6am, and although I felt a bit tearful, I didn't really cry. I was quite proud of myself. Then Ellen left at 10pm (typical of them to stretch it out all day), and it hit me how much it was all changing....

That was as much blog as I managed to write at reception. Em came and gave me another mindless task to do, so I did that instead. I am determined to write you a nice long catch-up post (or maybe 2 or 3) now, because tomorrow the event starts. It runs for 12 days. Then we have one non-event day, which is Tare orientation. Then the next event starts. It runs for 12 days. Then we have 4 non-event days, and then the very important and scary Centre Team (a bit like the board) meeting begins. I'm telling you this now so that, if I don't manage to blog for the next 25 days, you are not surprised. It really is completely crazy how busy we're going to be, but hopefully it'll be fun too. And if it's not fun, then I have two awesome trips away in the planning as well...

I'm going to leave this as a little connecting blog, and get started on a new one to update you all on life here.

TTFN

Red Light

This blog post is about a visit to one of Sangam's community partners, which works with women of the red light district. It describes what I saw on this visit, how I felt about it at the time, how I feel about it now, and the work that the organisation is doing. And I've tried to do this as honestly as possible. If you think you may be shocked or upset by this, please feel free to stop reading now - I won't be offended. It does have a positive ending though.






During the recent seminar, we gave the participants opportunity to visit community partners who work in the area of HIV/AIDS. One of these partners was Kayakalp, and it was decided that we should try to organise a staff trip, as it's a bit different from the other organisations we usually work with, and many of us were interested in visiting but were unable to during the event. Today was the day of said staff trip.

Kayakalp was set up in 1993 by an amazing lady named Seema, who previously worked as a nurse with people suffering from leprosy. The Kayakalp leaflet states: "The organization works amongst brothel based female sex workers residing in Budhwar Peth at Pune... Kayakalpa also takes efforts in reaching Eunuchs and MSM in Pune. The main focus of Kayakalpa is prevention of HIV/AIDS by ensuring reduction of sexually transmitted infections/ disease and promotion of proper use and disposal of condoms by the sex workers and their clients". And this, essentially, is what they do, but they do more besides.

The Kayakalp office is on the street where a lot of the brothels are. They have a clinic and a creche. The creche hosts the children of sex workers to give them a safe environment, and when they are old enough, they are sent to the local government school. There is also a nighttime creche so the children can always be safe and away from the business of their working mothers.The clinic serves around 20 women a day, and provides condoms, medication for STIs, and regular health checks which include blood tests for HIV. As well as all this, they have outreach projects to educate about the issues of STIs and HIV, rescue children and young women and put them in a hostel so they can safely complete their education, and work closely with the sex workers of the local area - Seema explained to us that at first there was a lot of resistance to this, but now views are changing, which is a testament to the great work that she and her team do.

We spent a good hour or so at the Kayakalp centre; talking to Seema and finding out about the work they do, and also looking around the facilities. All was fairly typical for India - basic by our standards, but a lot better than many places. When we visited the creche for example, there were about 15 small (pre-school) children either sleeping or sitting quietly on reed mats on the floor; there was a sink in one corner and some shelves in another. That was it, though the walls were covered in some pretty impressive disney murals! Seema also showed us some video clips of police raids; many hours of girls being rounded up and put into a police truck. Apparently they will never reappear in this area - the 'madams' who run the brothels will usually not bail a sex worker out - but Seema said that sometimes the police can't be trusted and the girls may be sold to a new pimp in another area... this is the kind of thing one reads about in books, but hopes that it's either exaggerated or no longer current practise... apparently that's not the case, and I felt my understanding/ expectations/ grip on reality shifting as I realised this.

We also met a woman called Manisha, although when she'd first walked in, she'd given the impression that she was a boy! Dressed in trainers, jeans, and a sports shirt with short hair pushed tightly back from the face, we learnt that this was a deliberate attempt not to draw attention. She is 31, but I'd have guessed early 20s at the most. This is partly an India thing - people look really young here - but I think was partly to do with her deferential manner towards Seema, and her look. Manisha had been in the area but not worked in the sex industry, but on a couple of occasions, people tried to force her to do so. She ran away, and ended up at Kayakalp. She now works as an outreach assistant, and although she didn't speak any English, I found her manner and story very inspirational. She was clearly passionate about the work she was doing, and had a great rapport with the girls she took us to visit.

It became even clearer why she chose to give off a masculine appearance as she took us across the road and into a brothel. We climbed up three flights of stairs (we later learned that the higher the floor, the prettier/more expensive the women), and there were men - customers - everywhere. We'd been forewarned that we'd be stared at even more than usual, and that some men may even think that we were new workers, but I don't think any of us were prepared for how many men there would be. We later tried to do some maths based on the figure of 3,600 female sex workers in this area potentially servicing 20-30 clients a day, but gave up as the numbers were too scary. They were pretty much queueing up the steps, and many men were coming down as well; we think they'd been told to come back later because of our visit, although I guess some of them would have just finished their 'business' and be going back to normal life. Manisha was obviously recognised, but also was not stared at because she didn't look like a woman. We'd all gone in our most conservative Indian clothes to try and minimalise the intensity, but we were still obviously female - and white. I marched up the steps in silence looking at my feet, but couldn't help but be aware of all the men and that their faces were pointed towards me. At one point, I looked out of the window at the street below to see one man literally gawping, open-mouthed, at the spectacle we were creating.

When we arrived, Manisha and the other ladies from Kayakalp who were escorting us shooed a lot more of the men away, so that we could visit some of the sexworkers in their 'home'. I put this in quote marks because, although it technically is where they live, it's also where they work, and for me could never be what I'd call a home. Hopefully I'll explain this better as I go along. We split into 2 groups as there were a lot of us, and each group entered what I guess I could call an apartment. There was an open room with a TV and seating around the sides; we figured this is where the girls chill out when (if) they're not working, but it also acts like a waiting room for the customers - in exactly the same 'first come, first served' format that you find in doctors' surgeries here. We all sat in this room with the girls, and made some minor attempts at conversation. This is the first time I've really hated not having more than a few stock, useless phrases of Hindi. Emily knows more as she took Hindi lessons for a while, and although she couldn't say or ask a lot, the little she could say helped her to strike up an instant rapport with one of the girls.

I keep saying girls. We asked their ages and the responses were between 23-26. Again, they looked younger than this, but most Indian women do look young, although there are also the factors of 'maybe they were lying' and the makeup etc they were wearing to consider. Most of them were dressed fairly discreetly; in saris or punjabi suits. Although I did note that there was more cleavage on display than would usually be acceptable. One of the girls was in an outfit that was decidedly western and I'd usually see on a particular kind of girl on a night out clubbing in a big city at home.

One of the older women who we think was kind of like an overseer spoke a little broken English and was happy to attempt to chat, but for the most part, they were all laughing and joking with each other and with Manisha. This was great to see - the camraderie between them and that they were obviously fairly healthy and happy - and willing to interact with a representative of the NGO Kayakalp - but at the same time it was one of the most difficult things. They were all basically my age or a bit older; they should be out making something of themselves, having adventures, laughing and joking with their friends as we all do at Sangam; not selling their bodies to make money in a seedy underworld that will probably keep them forever. And secondly, it reemphasised my lack of language skills. I could easily have sat and chatted with these girls, and I wanted to find out about their life and really learn about it from their point of view. But I couldn't, because I couldn't speak their language. In some strange way it made me feel almost like we were doing a similar thing to all the gawking men; just sitting there looking at these strange creatures who were nothing like us and therefore mystical. It made me really uncomfortable, and this more than anything has strengthened my desire to/ conviction that one should really make an effort to learn the language of the country in which one is living. It's pretty impossible for me here and now because I'm always working and we work in English, but I hereby promise myself and people I may meet in the future that if I live in any country for longer than 3 months, I will make a real and genuine effort to learn useful language skills. I don't care if shopkeepers laugh at me for not being able to pronounce the names of sweets correctly. If I get it right, it's a bonus. If I don't, it's not the end of the world. But visiting and working with people in traditional or secluded communities means you need to build up a level of trust and understanding, and that's really difficult without language - and especially without even being able to show a willingness to try and learn the language and be a part of that community. This is what Christa said about her time in Zambia as well - she would go out and work in the fields and bring in the crops etc, to prove that she was genuinely interested in the good of the community she was working in. I feel like I've failed to do that, having come to India twice now and only managing to master phrases such as 'my name is' and 'how was your day?'.

The other thing that hit me was when we were allowed to see one of the girls' rooms. It had been explained to us that 12 girls lived/worked in this apartment, and that there were 8 rooms, a toilet, shower room and kitchen. Stupid me in my naivety didn't really realise what this meant. I switched back to student days and imagined only that this was where the girls lived. So in my head there were a mixture of single and double bedrooms, full of the girls' possessions. WRONG! As I got up and looked at the corridor, I realised my mistake. The rooms were like cubicles and had a bed and a shelf in them. Sayali described it as being like train compartments. The moment I realised that this was where the girls worked though, was when I saw a man peering out of one of the other 'rooms'. It was like a slap in the face to me. There were 8 spaces with beds in. This was where the girls 'entertained' their customers. If all 8 beds were in use, then the other girls presumably rested in the TV 'lounge' at the front of the apartment. They worked all the time and shared their rooms as and when needed. I felt stupid for not being able to rid my mind of my safe, western ideals when being given the information, and astounded at the real situation. It felt so incongruous for the laughing, smiling girls I'd just been sitting with to have such little space and privacy to themselves, and to realise exactly what their lives involved - constantly. I had no words.

It wasn't until I was in the rickshaw home that I understood the point of the visit. We took the VITs with us - Sayali, Aarti, and our new VIT, Priya, on her first day! I don't think any of them really knew what to make of it, and certainly some things really shocked them. I can't imagine how I'd have reacted if I'd seen this happening in my local area to girls not much older than me, as a teenager. But anyway. I was in a rickshaw with Net and Priya, and Priya asked us what I thought about the visit. Conscious of being a role model and having to make sure that she was feeling ok too, I pointed out that although it was disturbing and sad, it was good to know that the reason we were able to visit was because Kayakalp is there, doing very positive work. I'd all but forgotten all the good things we'd learnt about the progress Seema and her team have made; about the smiling faces of the children who were being looked after, the medical supplies, the history of Manisha, and the fact that Kayakalp recently won a prestigious award for their work. When I recounted this to Priya, I felt better. Obviously it's still horrific that this practice is happening - and often brutally, involving trafficing, police raids, bribes, rape etc. But, it is good that there are people who are starting to do something about it. These things are still happening the world over, but more and more, things are being done to help alleviate issues, and ultimately stop these practices. Again, I was reminded of the importance of WAGGGS' Stop the Violence campaign, and felt proud of what I've accomplished at Sangam in the name of this campaign so far, but also determined to do more. I don't know what yet, but I know that I'm nowhere near done with my involvement in this, and the visit to Kayakalp and the brothel has only strengthened my resolve.

The title of this post is Red Light. It represents the sex workers, it was a warning to you that the content of this post was indepth and serious, and it is also the signal that we need to give to traffickers, pimps, corrupt police, men who purchase sex, and everyone else who has a stake in the sex industry. It has to stop. And from that red light, comes my green signal. GO. Speak Out. Educate. Take Action. Advocate. I wrote in my personal evaluation recently that I felt I needed to create an advocacy plan for myself, having helped the last lot of participants to create theirs. It's all very well coming up with plans, but you also need the drive to carry them out. Every day here at Sangam brings challenges and new experiences, but every challenge inspires me further and each experience teaches me more about myself. I will go home and continue to do some of the amazing things I've begun to be involved with here. I am changing for the better, and I will make the most of each and every opportunity that comes my way both in my personal life and in being able to make a difference to the lives of others. I am infinitely lucky to live the life that I do, and I am not going to waste a second of it.

TTFN

More random thoughts

See - I told you my blog posts were like buses!


My wonderfully comfortable inflatable travel pillow seems to have a hole somewhere. I keep having to blow it up having used it. This is very upsetting as it was absolutely perfect and I loved it very much.

Ginger and Lemon squash is my new weakness. I found it in my second week here, and very quickly got addicted. Strangely though, I can only get it in the smaller big supermarket which is up the road in Wadi. In the super duper supermarket, it doesn't exist. But they do sell a bright red version that's just Ginger (no lemon) and some food colouring. That's what I'm drinking at the moment. It's good, but not like the lemon one.

It's my day off today, but got up early to say goodbye to Carol - the last Tare to leave - and her husband Arthur. Net told me that she'll be the next one to leave so I'm not talking to her now. It's too sad.
The plan for today is to finish some Christmas letters and then I'm going shopping with Net and Em. Need to pop back into the tailors to pick up my salwar kameez; hopefully it'll be ready and fit! Previous reports about this tailor have been very good. I don't think there's really anything else I need, but it'll be nice to get out of Sangam for a bit. It's lovely here, but sometimes you need to break out of the bubble!

Yesterday, I spent the morning on a crazy shopping trip. I had to pick up some carrier bags to assist us in clay tile making, and then find half a cricket set and some badminton equipment for the picnic we're having on Sunday as Donna's leaving celebration. Then in the afternoon, Net and I were inspired by this video , and decided it was time to put the Christmas decorations up. With the help of Sayali and Aarti, and after many missions by the boys into the 'pool storage area' which acts like a loft/attic space to find the second half of the tree, we succeeded in making Sangam look as festive as it can do with the sun still shining, and the warmest parts of the day still being suitable for tshirts. Indeed, we have a school camp on the grounds at the moment, and as I was dancing around to 'Frosty the Snowman' wearing a hat that said 'I believe in Father Christmas' and reindeer antlers and a big red bow on my front whilst carrying a Christmas tree, there were 50 screaming girls in the sunlit swimming pool - VERY weird! As Net put it, we felt decidedly discombobulated!

I also received two Christmas cards and a parcel in the post yesterday. I've been remarkable lucky with the post, and as far as I'm aware, only one package has not made it to me yet. I'm really enjoying the supplies of love and sweets and Rich Tea biscuits from home - among other things - but I'm always sad when other people's parcels don't arrive, or arrive with the contents removed or eaten by rats. Yes, it happens. Bad times. But as I say, so far I've been lucky.

I think that's all for this morning's musings. I'm going to actually get showered and dressed now (it's 10am) so that we can go out and explore!

TTFN

For the less technologically-minded of my readers... (hi Gran and Gramp!)

I quite often link to other websites on my blog.

This means that if you click on the 'link', you can see what I'm talking about.

Usually, the text of my blog is blue. If I've created a link, the word or words will be white, and black when you put your mouse cursor on them. If it's a website you've already looked at, the words will be purple. If words are white, black or purple, you can click on them with your mouse.

So let's practise. If I keep writing here, it's all blue. But when it changes to white or purple and i tell you it will take you to my Flickr, you can click on the different coloured writing and it will open up the page with my photos on.

Usually, there won't be quite so much writing. I usually make the link small - just a word or two. See if you can get to Sangam's facebook page from this sentence.

The other way you can get to interesting things is to use the links on the right of the blog ----->
Under the title 'Some Interesting Links'. Again, you can just click on the words, and whatever it describes will pop up. E.G 'WAGGGS' will take you to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts website.

And finally, if the link page opens in the screen that this blog was in, you might think that you've lost this blog site. You should just be able to click the back arrow button at the top of the internet page, and come back to the blog!

I hope that this is helpful!

TTFN

Bloggin' about the small stuff!

Hello!

I keep thinking of lots of little things that I'd like to tell you about, so hopefully this blog will contain a nice mixture of random things. If I can remember them all....

I'd like to start with Christmas! I don't usually get all that excited about Christmas at home, probably because it's very commercial and seems to be thrust in my face. But here it's really exciting to receive a parcel from home with sparkly pompoms or other xmas decorations in it! I'm slowly filling my room with Christmas-themed things, and really enjoying it. Yesterday Jessica and Ellen went exploring and found a shop full of Christmas! Jessica bought me some glittery bells and little plastic candycanes that are now on the pipecleaner xmas tree that Claire made me! There is apparently a large box of decorations here that we'll be digging out soon to decorate the rest of Sangam, and then we're having a 'crappy christmas' party before the next event starts, which runs from the 21st until new years' day.

Random thing 2: all the work computers here have an American keyboard, which means the @ symbol is where we have the " symbol. I have got very used to this. So used to it, in fact, that when I come back to my own laptop, I often type " in the place of @ and then nothing works! Very frustrating!

Today, we had a very long programme team meeting in the morning, that covered the next 2 events in detail (during which Jessica and I will be taking on some of Gwen's APM responsibilities because of staffing changes), and then involved us in planning the content of events in the monsoon season next year! At some points, I got quite excited about the things we were coming up with, and had to remind myself that I won't be here then! Then in the afternoon, we crushed clay! You may remember me mentioning this before (I think I did!) - it was for making tiles as a memento of the 45th birthday, and the project was never finished as most of the staff didn't make tiles. As Donna is finishing her time as WCM this month, we needed to find time to do a staff workshop, and also needed enough powdered clay to make good tiles! So we spent 4 hours bashing and rolling lumps of clay into powder. My palms feel like they're severely bruised right now, but we did get it all done so that was a successful day.

Random thing 3: Have I told you properly about the new members of the Sangam family?! Emily and Steph, the new SVs who will be working with me and Jessica, arrived about 3 weeks ago. Emily is also from New York state, but not the city like Jess; Steph is from Brazil. They've just moved upstairs having finished their orientation period, although they won't be de-'new volunteer'-badged until the 12th when we have the leaving celebration/ presentation for Net, Ellen and Heidi. I'm really genuinely sad that these guys are leaving - especially Net and Ellen who I've become so used to having around both in work and socially. I've no doubt that I'll see Net again as she lives in Leicester, but Ellen lives in Uppsalla, Sweden! Not so easy to accomplish a visit. I'm going to miss them so much, even though Emily and Steph will be here to sort of fill the gap. We've also been getting to know another Emily who's just arrived as the new MCI (Marketing and Communications Intern). She's got some awesome plans for Sangam and it's really exciting. We're also expecting the arrival of a new CRI (Heidi's replacement) in a couple of days - Bronwyn's currently representing WAGGGS at COP17 and she'll be coming here straight from SA (she's Australian).

I think the sweet shop will be random thing 4. It's about a 30second walk from Sangam's gates and sells all sorts of wonderful things. Even better, the man who runs the shop is awesome and will always accept large notes from us, even when we're only spending a few rupees. Not many places will do that, so it's useful to break our bills. I guess it's savvy as it means he's even surer of our business than he would be by dint of being very near by. I am particularly in love with his samosas (yes, in India a sweet shop sells more than sweets - usually lots of snacks too) - mainly as they come with a great sweet and spicy sauce! Net, Emily (MCI) and I just decided to take a trip down in our pyjamas, so I'm currently enjoying a samosa and a bottle of mango juice. Yummy!

Thing 5. It is Datta's Birthday on the 10th. Datta is a 3-headed God, and the temple just down the road is dedicated to him. His heads are those of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer. Because it is Datta's birthday, there is a funfair in the Indiranagar slum next door. Last night, we decided to go out and see what it was like. It was crazy! Loud music blasting, lots of lights, and some crazy rides that looked like those at home but with fewer safety regulations to adhere to and more creaking and crunching sounds! The main story though, comes from the ferris wheel. Net, Sayali, Jessica and Emily MCI decided to give it a whirl. Quite literally I guess. After some sedate turning to fill the wheel up, it began to go round considerably faster than I've seen wheels go before. This was great fun for them, until Jessica and Emily felt something weird land on them.... yes that's right, someone had not enjoyed the speed so much, and had thrown up from a seat above them! They were very good natured about it, but it was rather disgusting! We came home after that, but it had been a fun interlude.

Speaking of funny stories, there is one in particular that has entertained the staff all week. It features my shoes. When I was ill, I somehow lost track of my shoes, and they were nowhere to be seen. I moaned about this for a long time, until I found a new pair of flipflops, as the ones I brought with me rubbed my feet but had been my only option. I had given them up for lost, although it was rather mysterious. We decided that they must have ended up in the box in which we allow guests to leave various items that they don't want to take home, and that they'd therefore turn up when we held our twice-a-year sale of all the things to the local community. Then an amazing thing happened! I was making flapjack the other night - which may now become the subject of random thing 7 if this current story is 6 - when I happened to walk past our night watchmen. This caused me to do a double take, as what should I see on his feet, but my beloved shoes! The story soon passed round all the others, and we descended into hysterical giggling everytime the story was shared with someone else and we saw their reaction. I'm just pleased for closure of the mystery. I don't really want them back now they've been worn by him, as they won't be as wonderfully moulded to my feet, plus I wouldn't want to cause any problems! But it has, as I say, amused us, and we still have a little giggle every time he walks past!

So, to flapjack! I had to make flapjack because Net and I discovered that in America, 'flapjack' means 'pancakes'. I may have blogged about this before - if so, I apologise. So we had to correct this misconception, and I therefore went to the wonderful imports supermarket Dorabjees, purchased ingredients, and baked flapjack. The first batch (a couple of weeks ago) was a bit dry and didn't stick together well, although that didn't really matter as we polished off most of it whilst it was still hot and we were playing cards! The second batch was a lot better - I got the butter to dry ingredients ratio much better and also didn't allow the others to polish it all off straightaway, so we were all able to enjoy it together at chai time. I think most people who weren't familiar with flapjack in the British style enjoyed it, and I may well end up making it again at some point.

Number 8 (not many of these were on my original list, but I can't remember what they were!) - Geoffrey has a new friend. His name is William Fitzherbert. He is a WAGGGS bear. I don't have any photos of him yet, but I will try to take some soon. Geoffrey is going to investigate the new washing machine soon, as he - and especially his tshirt - is looking decidedly grubby.

Totally random number 9 - I'm currently watching The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on tv in the staff lounge. Previous to this, we enjoyed masterchef usa, dancing with the stars usa, and 'saved by dolphins'! A very random but nicely chilled out evening. And all subtitled.

That has reminded me that we went out to see a bollywood movie last night, as part of 'induction' for the new folks. Random piece of information number 10. It was called 'The Dirty Picture' and has been rated an 18 here in India. We reckon it'd probably be a 15 in the UK. It was apparently based on a true story, and is basically about a young, poor girl's rise to fame as a sexy dancer/ film star, and ended - just when we thought she was going to fall happily in love - with her suicide. Shocking. And I was VERY disgruntled that the final shot was of her burning pyre, yet when the credits rolled, the really bouncy, typically bollywood theme tune was playing. It seemed totally incongruous! But it was an enjoyable evening out anyway.

I think 10 is a good number. Especially as I've just scrolled back up and realised that you got today's activities for free. And I included pictures! So I'll stop here. If I collate some more random ideas, I'll try to write them down and then form another blog soon. I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings.

TTFN

Changing the World!

I have LOVED this event. Even though it's been long and difficult. Even though I'm more knackered after these 7 days than I was after a 10day event. And even though I've felt slightly fraudulent at times when explaining to participants about advocacy and encouraging them to come up with campaigns, though I wasn't aware myself of what advocacy is (in a WAGGGS sense) until a few weeks ago.
It's been AMAZING. And it's been exactly the kind of experience I expected to gain from working at an international guiding centre.

On Tuesday, we had a panel discussion with a couple of our community partners who do work in the HIV/AIDS area. The participants got to visit 3 sites on Monday (I was off so didn't get to go - again! :(  ) and we then invited two members of Deep Griha's 'Wake Up Pune', the amazingly inspiring Dr. Mune from Green Tara, and our very own DWCM Christa - who spent 2 years in Zambia working on this issue - to sit on the panel. Participants were able to ask questions about the work the organisations do, the challenges they face etc. Then after a break for chai, we split into small groups and got to spend time with each of the panelists. I learnt some really interesting things about the range of things being done in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention around the world, but it was almost more interesting just to hear the questions that some of the participants came up with. Their range of previous experiences ranged widely, so some had practical questions such as 'how do I encourage my married friends to use a condom' whilst others were more interested in the advocacy side of things and wanted advice on how to begin peer education programmes in their own countries, for example.

After a heavy morning's thinking, the afternoon brought the slightly more frivolous activity of the Laxmi Road Tour! Incase I haven't explained before, this tour takes us into the centre of old Pune where there are lots of nice cultural sites and facts, and even more great traditional shopping. It's the place where we give all participants a chance to discover the real Pune, but also to buy saris, punjabi suits, bangles etc. This tour was a bit different to the usual in 3 ways: 1, it was in the afternoon. 2, we included a 'see if you can find and purchase condoms' challenge. 3, we went to dinner in a restaurant afterwards.
I started with my group of 7 (plus Emily - have I told you yet that we're now training our 2 new SVs?!) at the Sari shop, and was cajoled into purchasing material for a new punjabi suit by the Indian girls, and the beautiful dupatta (scarf) that came with it! I haven't got it made up yet, but maybe I'll go to a tailor on my next day off. A lot of the participants also bought clothes, and then we headed out on the tour proper. It took FOREVER! I shouldn't really have been surprised; this group was so enthusiastic and very camera happy, plus they loved shopping. This meant that all the streets down which I'd usually just march to get to the next significant shopping place - as judged by us official Sangam tour-givers - had to instead be meandered down, stopping frequently for people to pay for various and sundry items. I was very good and didn't really get annoyed. Anyone who's ever dragged me shopping will understand how much of a feat this was for me! I think part of the reason for this was that I was enjoying myself as well. The participants were all so friendly and enthusiastic, and loving the experience, that it made me think of it less as work. Which was nice. This extended shopping time, together with an extra challenge (there's always a vegetable challenge in the market) did however mean that it was almost 7pm before I was able to gather everyone together so we could head to dinner.

Then we had to get rickshaws. This should not have been a problem at all, but I must have spoken to 20 drivers over about half an hour in order to find just 3 rickshaws that would agree to take us the short distance (maybe 2km) to my chosen restaurant. Which really was Jen's choice, as I wasn't aware of any restaurants in this area when planning the tour, so Jen provided me with 3 recommendations; one for each group to go to. It was a really nice change to have just a small group for dinner, rather than the whole team of participants, and we just chatted and had some fun; Jessica, Carol, Heidi and Saga came and joined us and we had SO much food between us it was definitely a bit of a party atmosphere. Then after another longwinded attempt at rickshaw calling, we returned to Sangam and flopped into bed.

On Wednesday morning, Jessica and I ran the WAGGGS game; the usual questions, dancing, craziness format. Very fun. Ellen's morning session then consisted of helping the paricipants to come up with their own advocacy plans for when they return home. We were using the SWOT system (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and we SVs were there to help anyone who was stuck. I spent a long time with Amy, from Australia; she was struggling because she had big plans that she really wanted to put into action, but was unable to see how to start small and make it grow. We worked together on coming up with all the little essential steps that would be needed to get her bigger plans under way, and I felt a real sense of achievement and that I'd actually helped somebody to do something great, which was a very good feeling!
I then had a bit of a break during the day to make sure everything else was ready, before running a 'stop the violence' link-up to a webinar. This campaign has kind of become my special project here at Sangam; it began because I decorated a wall with lots of information on it, but as I went on, it became my 'baby' and I've also become really passionate about the project. This was helped along by some of the stories that the participants brought with them - particularly those from Africa - about violence that is still perpetrated in the name of tradition in some places of the world. The link up was a chance to see a video made by a very inspirational young woman from Zambia, and then join other girlguides around the world in a webinar to discuss the video with the filmmaker. You can see the video here - use password 'hiddentruth'. It's very moving. And inspiring. Even though it was on quite late (9pm) on day 5 of a seminar means everyone is totally knackered), most people stayed up to watch it, and we also gave them the chance to add pledges and lotus flowers on the wall, and to make friendship bracelets in the 'stop the violence' colours.

Now we arrive at Thursday, 1st December. World AIDS Day. This was a crazy day. We had planned to join Wake Up Pune on a march through the city, but they changed the time which mean we were in a rush in the morning. The SV team was working from 7:30, and we had breakfast at 8 instead of the usual half past. Then it was straight into rickshaws - having ensured we were all wearing red ribbons and headbands, and carrying the posters the participants had made the night before - to go to the fort at which the march was starting. There were quite a few people there from a number of organisations. We joined the Deep Griha group, and added our own chants ('spread the message - not the virus' and 'don't compromise - be condomised!' eg.) to the marathi ones that were going on already.

(More photos on flickr)

The atmosphere was awesome. So much enthusiasm, energy and passion for the cause. We certainly turned a few heads, and Deep Griha gave out a lot of condoms, so I guess at least it did some good. I'm still not sure I can say for certain how much of an impact a march like this has, but I know that it was really great to see and take part in Advocacy in action, having spent the last few days talking about what this involves.

We also had another job to do on this day... when we got to the ground where the march ended, we had to do the cha cha slide! This is because WAGGGS sends delegates to all sorts of exciting things, and at the moment we have members at COP17 in South Africa. (In fact, our new CRI is there, and will be coming to join us at Sangam directly afterwards!). The WAGGGS branch requested that on this day, girl guides and scouts all over the world join them in speaking out and demanding a change for the climate. We chose to do this with a new version of the cha cha slide, and we were also determined to do it with some energy (unlike some examples which I won't name and shame here!). We'd practised hard for all of about 10 minutes the day before, and now the time had come. With Net leading and Jen filming, all the participants and SVs performed in the middle of the playing field, and this is the result!

This completed, we returned to Sangam, and while the participants went to explore Wadi, we did some tidying of the much-neglected programme room, before walking down the road to a wonderful restaurant, Aangan. This is where we'd instructed the participants to meet us for lunch, and they did all, eventually, turn up! The food at Aangan is delicious, and I ate far too much. Net and I also treated ourselves to an icecream for the walk back home. Then when we got back, it was time to get ready for Indian Afternoon. This was really fun as well; again the participants were really enjoying it and there were loads of photographs and excitement. This also meant Maha dinner which is again really good food, and again I probably ate too much. This time, Jessica was on the other side of the hall so we couldn't swap food like we did before (which is probably very bad decorum anyway), but I did succeed in sliding my bowl of very sweet shrikhand across the floor to Net, who is very fond of the stuff! The evening brought bollywood dancing, but I was so knackered that I excused myself and went to bed. This means I still haven't done bollywood dancing here at Sangam - I was ill last time - but I'm sure I will do before I leave.

After a (comparatively) good sleep, I was up at 6am again, as our special guest Sally, who is in charge of all the world centres, was leaving. She's really awesome and I'm looking forward to welcoming her back in January when the Centre Team (kind of like the board for Sangam) has a meeting here. Net and I decided it wasn't worth going back to bed, so we sat an chatted for an hour or so, then did some early prep work for the Sangam Tiffin session before showering and getting ready for the day.

Sangam Tiffin is great fun. It's a skit that tells participants about all the ways that they can stay in touch or be involved with Sangam. It currently features Jessica as the Tiffin man; she's doing a great job of following our previous 'man', Sophie, who was very very funny! A tiffin, for those who don't know, is a cylindrical metal lunchbox with many layers. We put some crisp-like snacks in it, along with lots of information about Sangam, before giving each participant a mini tiffin so they can remember their time here!

The seminar then ended with an extended closing ceremony. Jen gave all the participants white shirts on which they could write their 'pledge' on the front, and what they had learnt from the seminar on the back. Everyone then shared their pledges as well as their advocacy plans we'd helped them create as a part of the closing. It was really really awesome to see concrete examples of what the seminar had achieved, and how much everyone was going to be taking away from it. My favourite t-shirt pledge was 'I pledge to Change the World' - from Anastsiya, Ukraine. Even if only a few people actually achieve their goals, the fight against HIV/AIDS will have benefitted hugely from a single jam-packed week of information and activities for 21 people from across the globe.

This was also reflected in the scores we received from the evaluations we always ask participants to fill in - we had loads of positive comments, and also smashed our benchmarks for the second event in a row! Needless to say we're all on a bit of a high, but also of course still working hard to make the next events even better!

This blog post has taken me 3 days to write - I apologise for the delay - I kept getting distracted or working late so I had to go to bed! I've thought of some other things I'd like to blog about, so maybe another one will come along soon. I taught Jessica today that great British phrase of something 'being like buses' meaning none for ages, then loads all at once; I think this sums up my blog well!

TTFN