Namaste from India folks (or Sallam Aleikum - since I'm now in Kashmir).Arrived in Delhi early Monday morning (630am) after a decent flight over.Wasn't as "dazed and confused" as normal as managed to squeeze in 3 or 4hours sleep after Esme's leaving do, and before my wonderful flatmate et al. came round at 11am to party in the garden.... Was getting up anyway... Sowas reasonably fresh... Not when I arrived in India though (thought it'd bea good idea to take a sleeping tablet 4 hours before arriving, didn't I?). Anyway... as with my previous experience in India, Customs / Immigration was AWFUL: painfuilly slow and inefficient, and I seemed to be standing in whatI thought was a queue but turned out to be more of a disorganised gaggle of *****. At least this time people weren't resorting to fainting and crackingtheir heads off the marbe floor, to get through customs on a stretcher.
Walking out of the airport, immediately confronted with the familiar hot, damp and humid air, the smell of piss and sewerage, all blended in with the sweet smell of insence, all took me back to my days when I was living in SE Asia.... Ahhhhhh..... I had come home, thankyou please!! Was greeted by our driver, carrying the SC logo as per, and was driven and checked into the hotel (or glamorised guest house)...ordered Chicken Tikka, Dal, Rice and Nan (had to do it, even tho it was830am)... then crashed for 3 or 4 hours again til I had to get up to go to the office and meet the Director and all the staff (armed with by "Please benice to me for the next few weeks when I'm telling you you're doing a shitjob and can do better" chocolates - they're the sweetest!)!!!
Spent the next week working during the day... just having meetings in theDelhi office, and planning my field trips for the following 2 weeks. Alsohad a huge presentation to give on the Friday at some swanky hotel, and had senior staff from all over the region coming (my god what a negative bunchthe Indian programme were..... moany b*stards)!!! I was sh*t hot (as usual)but didn't get tip top feedback like I usually do (I'm told nobody is fond of showering compliments here).... Anyway, I knew I shouldn't have skimpedon the chocolates at duty free (went for after 8's as it was 2-4-1).Celebrations all the way from now on - experiment results noted and actioned!!!
In the evenings we (my colleague and some other visiting consultants) wereout and about on the town, going to markets, risking our lives in auto-rickshaws and dodgy eateries (think there was sh*t coming down the walls in one - see pic), and chilling out in this AMAZING cafe / chillout(non-alcoholic except irish coffees) bar called Mocha... which had PROPER coffee from all over the world and 30 different flavours of Shisha (including a champagne cocktail one)!! So I had a wee toast to Lizzie,battling her way through (men and ?*?*? in) Thailand!!!
Sat, I arranged a private luxury aircon vehicle for the day to drive us the4 hour rollercoaster ride to Agra, to see the wonderful Taj Mahal(I wantedto get the train there with the locals for the experience, but we werelimited for time... and they only had standard class tickets left!!!!)!
And wonderful it was! Arrived there c.1030am, told our little cycling rickshawguy (who we had to take from the car park due to the ban on cars due to theterrorist threat) that we'd be an hour, and ended up spending a good 3 hours there. I was initially worried due to the overcast skies and generally crapweather, but it all added to the mysterious and enigmatic feel / view of theplace, and got some great pics. It's true what they say.... she's amazing no matter what time of month....?! See pics attached... Tried the Diana pose,but don't think I quite pulled it off. I was having a bad hair day, as u cansee (well... I don't have no hair)! Oh Yeah... thanks to Matt and Jon who left bits of my hair uneven when they both, drunken and wasted, had a feeblebash at shaving it on the morning of my departure!!! I should knowbetter!!!!
Flew to Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, on Sunday morning for the start of my 2 weeks in the field (my favourite bit). Flying over the mountains and into the Kashmir valley was amazing! Coming down into the valley and into the town... all the buildings at / in / near the airport were painted camouflage. You'll all know (I hope) that India and Pakistan are fighting over Kashmir, and there is a HUGE military presence here. On arrival at the airport, I was whisked away by the army, interrogated, and asked to complete forms and register myself (people/ foreigners apparently have a tendency to go missing, be abducted or are murdered - careless lot)! Was then taken by the arm, escorted out of the airport and down this long militarised road by an armed soldier on the proviso that I had someone there with an ID card that I knew, and an address to take me to).
I met Rashif, and they took all his details etc. and let me go.... My GOD. there are more armed soldiers and paramilitaries here than even Somalia and Ivory Coast, and that IS shocking. 5 million people in Kashmir, and 500k troop (1 for every 10 people). At the time of the Mumbai bombings last month, a number of tourists were killed in Srinagar as part of the daily grenade attacks that take place.... most being thrown into the open windows of vehicles. Hence we have been moved from the beautiful houseboats on the famous Dal lake... to somewhere (not quite as nice) close to our office / big villa masquerading as an office. Damn our security manager...... I was this close ><>
Kashmir is lovely. And the people SO hospitable. Kashmiris are actually very beautiful (and fair) - well, I can say that for the men.... most of the women are covered up (it's 97% muslim here). Been here for 4/5 days now. Went to the field today. Up into the mountians to have a look at and assess some of the projects we do (both emergency - for the Asian earthquake that rattled Pakistan and Indian Kashmir 10 months ago - and non-emergency). Visited 3 schools, met and chatted with the teachers, the children, the local community, Education ministers, etc. Basically I look at what impact we've achieved. Get the opinion from the actual beneficiaries on the ground (the teachers, community and mainly the children) - straight from the horses mouth, so to speak. And talk to them about their experiences before, during and after the earthquake and how Save the Children (SC) have supported them. We have rebuilt schools, repaired others where the roofs and walls fell in, provided jute matting for children to sit on (they didn't even have seats and they have VERY cold winters up here in the mountains), pencils, new books, SC rucksacks (which they love), games, safe play areas, latrines etc.
We also train teachers in child participatory and child-friendly teaching methods, set up Village Education Committees and Children's Groups for Development (CGDs) which gives children a voice in how they are educated and treated. We also train all groups in child rights and protection... and equip them with "life skills". You'd be surprised at how effective some of these groups are at getting other children (dropouts or children whose parents can't afford or don't let them go to school coz they are sent to work) enrolled in the village schools. I saw this in Somalia too... it's amazing! The children are like little adults, and are good sources of information as the feedback and opinions we get from them is not biased by politics or personal opinion / biased pov's.... it's pure innocent observations. It's sad.... these communities have such low enrolment rates (insecurity, poverty, apathy for the government education system (or lack of), and cultural attitudes being the main drivers), however now enrolment has rocketed, since our intervention. In fact, in one village we poached 20 kids (unsolicited, of course) off the local private school (which only costs 250 Rupees a month or £3), coz word got round that the SC supported school was doing good and children enjotyed coming to school..... Not bad results eh? Good indicator of impact (work brain kicking in here)... Anyway..the kids were great and villages SO hospitable and friendly. Everywhere I went they were giving me tea and bicsuits... brought out with the best china from the local village, along with table and chairs and got to meet all the village elders. I've included some pics...
I also visited a Vocational Training Centre (VTC) for adolescent girls. We're piloting 8 of them in certain villages. This is for girls who've never been to school, or dropped out, or made to work from home. We gave priority to orphans of girls from a household with no male breadwinner. They're being taught (by an experienced local) how to embroider and make garments, so they can sell them at the local market. Once they're up and running and can be self-funding, we'll set them up with a bank account and pull out. It took 2 months to make 1 garment. The embroidery was THAt detailed. I sat on the floor in this room with 10 14-18yr old girls, and some Kashmiri colleagues and heard about their lives and what they were doing before we set up the VTC... in Kashmiri.. then translated. Again... tea (sweet with dessicated coconut, which was strangely nice - roll on the coconut tea parties - forget the C&C night at the beauty pageant, Rob!), biscuits and cucumber (yes... it's apparently what villagers give to guests as it's what they always have / grow in the village). Have attached pic of me, and the girls in that wee room too (see pic above)! At the end I asked them if they had anything else they thought they needed, and they said a radio.... So I promised to fund the couple of hundred rupees to buy them a radio... Merely a pint to me... and endless happy days to the 10 of them!!!!! Where's the justice in the world?
Anyway, nearly done here... at the weekend I embark on my painfully long and weary 2-day and night drive over the Himalayas to the Leh, in the district of Ladakh (or Little Tibet as it's known), on the border with China / Tibet. It's supposed to be the most amazing and breathtaking (and scary) drive in the world. Over the Himalayas, and through every landscape imaginable (from lush green ricepaddies and alpine forests to barren and desert moonscape and mountain glaciers).
I'm visiting projects and there's a few Buddhist monasteries in the mountains along the way as we reach our destination, in the middle of nowhere, and Lhasa 2, where the Dalai Lama lived when in forced exile from Tibet.
It's the 2nd highest motorable pass (and coldest) in the world (always have to add in a bit of geographical / educational content). Will spend a night, half way, climatising to the altitude and then a day at the other end / top as well, with Oxygen on hand (",). Then 3 nights there... then flying back to Delhi. Back to London on Sat 12th Aug when I wil most certainly be ready for getting trashed and losing myself in Vauxhall Village somewhere (3 weeks of detox is a bit much!!!).
Things I learned this week:
