After the flower market we head to the Kalighat area, also known as the red light district of Calcutta. It is one block away from the Kali Temple and Mother Teresa's home for the dying.
Krishna and Sanjeev meet us after we park the van and we wind our way through the alleys until we arrive at New Light India, a shelter that is above a set of brothels. The ladies all wait at the front of the lane looking for customers. They are in their finest saris. Some are so young, some are from Nepal. They are the same ladies from last year and we smile and say hello as I pass by.
As we make our way down the smoky, muddy, trash strewn walkway, we pass by many brothel doors and get a slice of life in the lane. We go up the stairs to the shelter that New Light runs for the children of the prostitutes. They provide a safe place for the kids, help with homework, medical care and hot meals. There is a big sign welcoming us and the children are all lined up, some blowing on conch shells to herald our arrival. Dick and Ann have not been here before, but it is a place that I spent a lot of time at last year. I am very excited to see the children and the staff again.
Urmi Basu is a beautiful woman of 49 years and puts all of her energy and her life into her New Light project. She is known in this community as a savior and a woman who does not ever take "no" for an answer. She is warm and loving and is a huge inspiration to me.
We have a wonderful visit with the kids and staff and join them in having lunch. It was so nice for Dick and Ann to spend more time with this woman who I adore and they were very impressed with her and her work. After about an hour, we walked down the New Light II, a second shelter located inside the crematorium, where bodies are burned and placed in the river. The children who attend this shelter are children of the lowest cast people, the ones who take care of the dead. They mean nothing to the rest of society in India. I have never understood this because cremation is such an important part of the culture and is necessary. I would think that these people would be much more respected, but it is not so. We spend time with the kids, Dick does he magic show and we are soon boarding our van to go to the Soma Home for Girls, another of Urmi's projects.
Soma Home houses 36 girls, all of whom are daughters of the women working in Kalighat. They attend public school, have a safe place to live, medical care and are shown another way of life. If it weren't for Soma Home every one of these girls would probably be in the prostitute business. An idea I cannot even let myself think about for too long because I know each of these girls well and it turns my stomach to think of what their life would be like.
I lived at Soma Home with the girls for a month last year and I am so excited to see them, I'm almost peeing in my pants. It is a joyful reunion indeed. The girls have grown, their hair is longer and they look great. We are so happy to see each other and when it is time to leave I promise that I will be back in a week after my tour with Dick and Ann. My heart is overflowing with love. Dick and Ann were very impressed with Urmi's work and wanted to have her meet us for dinner so they could talk more and talk about how they could support her further. It was a wonderful first day of our time in India.
Early the next morning after filling our bellies with fabulous food at the Oberoi, we board our van to take us to The Southern Health Improvement Samity, which is located about an hour outside of Calcutta. Wohab and Sabitri run this amazing organization which has a hospital, dental care, a focus on deaf children, schools for boys and girls, organic gardening and also runs medical boats into the remote Sunderban Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
We have a great visit with the team, take a quick tour of the hospital which includes the maternity ward where 3 babies have just been born. I visit with a woman who is holding her new born baby, and the woman's mother who seems very happy to be a new grandma. I tell her that I am a grandma too and tell her about my little Julian. The doctor explains in Hindi what I am saying to the woman and we smile and hug each other.
Soon, we load up in the car and head for the Sunderbans, where we board a medical boat. As we are getting settled, I see a holy man who walks around with his blessed oil and red paint and gives people blessings. I ask him to come onto the boat and do his thing. He blesses us all with prayers, places a red dot on our forehead and we zoom off down the river. We arrive at a remote island in about an hour and soon everyone is gathered around to see what we are about. They are dressed in very worn clothing, look extremely poor but seem to be happy. Dick does his usual magic show and we take many poloroid photos to leave with them. A woman takes us to her home, a small hut perched on a mud bank of the river. I am surprised by how clean it is. It is spotless, really. We sit on the only piece of furniture in the room, a bed and talk for a while. They don't speak english at all, but we have a good conversation and we understood each other.
We go back outside and talk with the rest of the people. One of whom stands out as a grandfather type guy who looks to be nearly blind and walks with a stick for support. He was surrounded by children and seemed to be an important elder in the community. These islands were hit very hard by a cyclone that blew through a year ago and are still devastated. The sea water that covered the land has made it hard to grow any crops. I can't imagine what life must be like out there. So remote, surrounded by water and a long way from any sort of help or supplies. And this is just one of several hundred islands.
This area is also the largest Bengal Tiger preserve in the world. The tigers roam around and sometimes will attack a villager who has gone to too remote of an area to gather honey, which the islands are also famous for.
On the way back to the little village where we boarded the boat, we have a lovely Indian lunch and visit and take photos. It was a wonderful day that opened up all of our worlds in many ways.
Krishna and Sanjeev meet us after we park the van and we wind our way through the alleys until we arrive at New Light India, a shelter that is above a set of brothels. The ladies all wait at the front of the lane looking for customers. They are in their finest saris. Some are so young, some are from Nepal. They are the same ladies from last year and we smile and say hello as I pass by.
As we make our way down the smoky, muddy, trash strewn walkway, we pass by many brothel doors and get a slice of life in the lane. We go up the stairs to the shelter that New Light runs for the children of the prostitutes. They provide a safe place for the kids, help with homework, medical care and hot meals. There is a big sign welcoming us and the children are all lined up, some blowing on conch shells to herald our arrival. Dick and Ann have not been here before, but it is a place that I spent a lot of time at last year. I am very excited to see the children and the staff again.
Urmi Basu is a beautiful woman of 49 years and puts all of her energy and her life into her New Light project. She is known in this community as a savior and a woman who does not ever take "no" for an answer. She is warm and loving and is a huge inspiration to me.
We have a wonderful visit with the kids and staff and join them in having lunch. It was so nice for Dick and Ann to spend more time with this woman who I adore and they were very impressed with her and her work. After about an hour, we walked down the New Light II, a second shelter located inside the crematorium, where bodies are burned and placed in the river. The children who attend this shelter are children of the lowest cast people, the ones who take care of the dead. They mean nothing to the rest of society in India. I have never understood this because cremation is such an important part of the culture and is necessary. I would think that these people would be much more respected, but it is not so. We spend time with the kids, Dick does he magic show and we are soon boarding our van to go to the Soma Home for Girls, another of Urmi's projects.
Soma Home houses 36 girls, all of whom are daughters of the women working in Kalighat. They attend public school, have a safe place to live, medical care and are shown another way of life. If it weren't for Soma Home every one of these girls would probably be in the prostitute business. An idea I cannot even let myself think about for too long because I know each of these girls well and it turns my stomach to think of what their life would be like.
I lived at Soma Home with the girls for a month last year and I am so excited to see them, I'm almost peeing in my pants. It is a joyful reunion indeed. The girls have grown, their hair is longer and they look great. We are so happy to see each other and when it is time to leave I promise that I will be back in a week after my tour with Dick and Ann. My heart is overflowing with love. Dick and Ann were very impressed with Urmi's work and wanted to have her meet us for dinner so they could talk more and talk about how they could support her further. It was a wonderful first day of our time in India.
Early the next morning after filling our bellies with fabulous food at the Oberoi, we board our van to take us to The Southern Health Improvement Samity, which is located about an hour outside of Calcutta. Wohab and Sabitri run this amazing organization which has a hospital, dental care, a focus on deaf children, schools for boys and girls, organic gardening and also runs medical boats into the remote Sunderban Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
We have a great visit with the team, take a quick tour of the hospital which includes the maternity ward where 3 babies have just been born. I visit with a woman who is holding her new born baby, and the woman's mother who seems very happy to be a new grandma. I tell her that I am a grandma too and tell her about my little Julian. The doctor explains in Hindi what I am saying to the woman and we smile and hug each other.
We go back outside and talk with the rest of the people. One of whom stands out as a grandfather type guy who looks to be nearly blind and walks with a stick for support. He was surrounded by children and seemed to be an important elder in the community. These islands were hit very hard by a cyclone that blew through a year ago and are still devastated. The sea water that covered the land has made it hard to grow any crops. I can't imagine what life must be like out there. So remote, surrounded by water and a long way from any sort of help or supplies. And this is just one of several hundred islands.
This area is also the largest Bengal Tiger preserve in the world. The tigers roam around and sometimes will attack a villager who has gone to too remote of an area to gather honey, which the islands are also famous for.
On the way back to the little village where we boarded the boat, we have a lovely Indian lunch and visit and take photos. It was a wonderful day that opened up all of our worlds in many ways.
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