Forest Women

Today we met with this group of village women who are working cooperatively to expand the forest they established over the last 10 years. There was lots of discussion, laughter and even singing and dancing!

Our New Homes and Families

It's our second night in Ranikhet and our students are settling into their homes and getting better acquainted with their families. Here are a few photos of students in their new element.

Rachel with Reka's family

Tatum with her little brother at Gita's house

Dani's room at Sunita's house

Natalia's room at Kamla and Meena's house

RD with his little brothers at Basanti's place

Meena's room at Neema's house

Julissa's room at Rama's house

Remy and Shay with their parents Ganga and Bhagwat

Kelly in her room at Rada's house.

Visiting Villages

Our students were visiting local villages learning about our NGO's projects in sanitation, bio-gas generation and sustainable farming when this happened...

Our Eyes Beheld the HIMALAYAS!

Many of the students and the teachers had a truly sacred moment this evening: we beheld, with our very eyes, the Himalayan mountain range! It is a very rare occurrence to see these beauties in the summer, given the monsoon clouds and fog. The three peeks you are observing here constitute the Trishul -- the three points of Shiva's triton one will customarily see with the deity in Hindu iconography. In the center, Nanda Devi, is the 7th tallest peek in the world.

This is the view off our homestay porches, incidentally -- priceless.

I will never forget, as long as I live, tearing up at the glorious vista pictured with Rachel, Meena, and Pinky (homestay sister). We shared this transcendent experience together! 

Just wanted to share the <3

Mr. Nelson

 
 

Starting My Homestay - RD

So we started our homestays yesterday, and I felt like I had the most foreign experience of my life. My house was on the top of the hill that the village descended upon, and while everyone was lugging their belongings down it I just watched from a plastic chair. I sat in there for around fifteen minutes while a small boy was petting my shoes and laughing. I was confused about the living situation but it turned out that they were preparing my room and installing a bug screen. The most awkward part about it is that they ended up putting me in another room that was already there. The bed is just a wood frame without a mattress so the sleeping bag with me comes in handy. In terms of my family here, there’s an uncle, a mother, two grandparents, and four children there. The children have helped me get around the place, because only a few of them speak some English. Life here is a lot slower than back home, since I feel like I’ve been experiencing every individual minute here. The kids watch TV and just stare at the hills in their free time when they aren’t watching me or playing with the globe I have with me. My family is nice as a whole and I’m looking forward to spending more time with them over the next ten to twelve days. That doesn’t mean that I don’t miss my family back home, since I miss you guys a lot. I’m looking forward to spending another 4^th of July Filipino Reunion BBQ when I get home.

Today we traveled around the area and saw several villages and Grass Roots project sites. There were natural bio-gas collectors that powered homes and the use of ducks as manure generators at a fish farm. I would say that I enjoyed holding a bunch of baby goats during the journey a lot too. I’m still trying to think about what I’m going to do for my project, but I just hope that I’ll be able to help the community through research and/or development.

Until next time,

RD

My Indian Family and Homestay - Meredith

We met our host families yesterday and I am currently in a home with nine other people. My host mother’s name is Neha and she has four kids named Manisha (10), Mahima (6), Babita (3), and Parth (1 on the 24th). I have such a respect for my host mother. When we first met, she grabbed my suitcase and immediately lifted it onto her head. She cooks dinner for nine other people and does everyone’s laundry. One of the biggest differences from home is eating while seated on the floor and bathing with a bucket. All of the children are so nice and happy. At times it is hard to communicate, but we manage through hand gestures and the few English words that they know. I have really been enjoying the food and spending time meeting everyone else’s host families. Other than the HUGE (2 inch) spider that I failed to kill in my room last night, all is well. M&D: Miss you very much and I hope you are enjoying your time with Elizabeth. Tell Bear I miss him. To any of my friends who are reading this I hope you know that I am thinking of you and that I have not been missing much! J

See you soon!

Meredith

Visiting the Parmarth Ashram - Remy

A few days ago, we visited the Parmarth Ashram, located on the Ganges River. We experienced a forty-five minute ceremony where the local Guru (who is a bit of a celebrity), lead us in prayer and taught the crowd about how we should treat the river.  I myself felt slightly miffed because the ceremony was (obviously) not in English, but I still felt as if the Hindi language captured the moment perfectly. I felt like I learned a lot about Hindu culture and discovered that I may have made a few poor judgments about this culture before the trip. After this experience, we went to bed early in preparation for the long trip to Ranikhet. During this eleven and a half hour trip, I had a lot of time to reflect on things I had done right and wrong during the first few days of the trip. I felt like I could have paid more attention during some lectures that we had and during some of the tours we went through. I didn't realize that I had learned very little about the local culture until I had fully immersed myself into it, instead of spectating like a tourist. I recently got assigned to host parents, but I still (only sort of) miss my parents who are traveling in Europe. I hope all of the dads out there had a great Father’s Day!

Catch you later!

-Remy