Child Survival India

Child Survival India is the name of the NGO I'm volunteering with while I'm here. And yes, they abbreviate it as "CSI". No one here has heard of the television show, so I'm the only one who thinks thats funny.

Things are going pretty well. I've been doing research and trying to write a grant proposal for one of their programs promoting legal literacy for women and children in the relocated slum communities outside Delhi. About 8 years ago, in order to accomodate Delhi's urban growth, the government relocated the slum communities within the city proper to "temporary" housing in rural areas outside the city. The housing looks like it was never really finished; there's rebar sticking out everywhere and a lot of places don't have roofs or full walls. The government still plans to move them to "real" housing eventually. Anyway, CSI has a lot of programs in these communities, including the one I'm writing about. But in writing this I'm also having to write/research a lot about the nonprofit as a whole. I spent some time in Narela, one of the communities not too far from where I'm staying. I got to experience the Indian bus system, which is hot, overcrowded and full of shady people! Posted on every other seat was an airbrushed message: "Look under your seat. If there is bomb, sound alarm. Earn reward." EEk! I decided I would try to travel by rickshaw or foot whenever possible. My day in Narela was interesting. I walked around with the coordinator for a while, I sat in one some legal consultations, I met the ob-gyn who volunteers there...but I mostly hung out with the young women. They insisted on doing my makeup and hair (the picture to the left is post-makeover). I definitely felt kind of overwhelmed by all the poking and scrutiny...I felt like I was a toy or something. Actually, they did say they thought my skin looked like a doll. That made me sad, because I think that means all the dolls kids have here are probably white. Anyway, I managed to conceal my irritation and made a lot of friends. Most of the time, though, I'm at the main office on the computer. I think that's okay with me...if I went to Narela every day I think I'd get reeeally overwhelmed, even just by the commute alone. The main office also has a lot of people to interact with, staff and clients, because that's where a full medical clinic and a few other programs are located. I also feel like I'm more useful at this writing project. In the actual community, few people speak English at all, let alone enough to counsel them in it. It seems like non-Hindi-speaking volunteers are really just there to amuse everyone, not to do a lot of actual work. The power cut out today for 5-6 hours, so I didn't get much work done. But I'm going in to the office tomorrow because India has a 6-day workweek!

I posted some more photos. I'm so on top of keeping my Flickr updated these days! Hope you enjoy. Have a great weekend, everyone!