Sonagachi

Today Cheeks (Ryan) and I had the opportunity to walk through Sonagachi (which is the largest red light district in South Asia). We had a girl who travels there often take us through, and it is an experience I think we will both never forget. Girls packed the alleyways, some who looked as old as 60, and some who looked no older than 10. Men were everywhere and we were informed that these were all customers. Girls blew kisses at Cheek and growled while lightly tugging on his shirt, mind you these are girls who belong in junior high, not a brothel. Girls painted their faces with bright make up and a lot wore western clothes like jeans and tee shirts. We stuck out like a sore thumb being white people, and there was a sense from some men and older women that we were not welcome. It was an overwhelming experience; being surrounded by prostitutes and the men who enslave them. All I could think about was the fact that I could have been one of those girls, and as a woman it is excruciating to see how these women are treated. I am overcome with a sense of helplessness, and I fear that there is nothing I can do to stop the awful things these women are forced to submit to do. Where is the justice? I can't believe this is the world i live in, where a girl who should be in elementary school is forced to service men day in and day out. I feel disgusted with the men there. I am trying to fight the hatred that is growing for the men who feel as if they can treat women like this. Seeing that today changed my life forever, and I appreciate all that I am blessed with more now than ever. Everyone in the group says hello, we are off to have our last meal with Holly, Cheeks, and Saxony. They leave on a plane tonight, and they are going to be missed more than they could know. Thanks everyone for the support.

Love,
Cat Cristerna

And then there were five...

Okay, okay, we're sorry! It's been a while (two weeks, yikes!) since we've written- so for any devoted readers, please accept our apologies. Maybe it's because we're lamenting the loss of three of our wonderful members (while also looking forward to the three newbies). We've gone through some ups and downs in the past two weeks- sickness, heat, meaningless squabbles- but we're down to only five (Ryan, Kolt, Rhoman, Saxony, Holly) and we're missing our former pair of Whitney and Heather who left a week and a half ago, and Megan who just left yesterday.

Besides crying over our team's decreasing numbers we've been experiencing some new things, visiting the organization 'At the Well,' and 'Freeset Bags.' 'At the Well' works with street children and women from 'the line'- those employed in the brothels- and we had an opportunity last week to visit a service among the women and their children. Then, a few days ago we visited the Well again and sang songs, gave a message, and fed street kids. It's been interesting to see the variance of programs and approaches to reach these children- something I'm sure we've all formed our own opinions, but overall the experience has been good. We've been painting the first floor of a hospital that's owned by the Assemblies of God church by night- surprised by our relative skill. The mornings look different for most of us, but we're attempting to be more consistent in our activities, so encouragement, prayer, thought is much appreciated.

On to other things- cultural 'norms' in Kolkata are still difficult to adjust to- the courtesy policy we all learned about it being impolite to stare as children holds no significance here. While the staring and bodily proximity (men walk right up to us within a few feet and just stare while we converse) feels abrasive, it's mostly done out of curiosity. However, it takes patience to realize this and I constantly have to tell myself to relax when I look up to find seemingly all pairs of eyes on us girls as we walk, bus, or metro around town.

Last week we had a beautiful thunder storm that we all watched from our hotel rooftop- it was beautiful and thrilling to watch, but by morning we heard that 11 people had been killed from lightning alone- and the resulting rain left our street submerged in 2-3 feet of filthy brown water... When we can upload some photos we will- our breakfast trek across the street was an adventure, to say the least. Thinking of where all the people who sleep on the street (we counted 180 one night during a 10 min. walk home) is frightening... The culture is hard to get used to, doing the work we came to do is also difficult, and merely being here is diffucult- but it's all been worthwhile and we'll surely be learning from it all so if we neglect to write, rest assured we'll return with the 'in-betweens.'

Until then, we'll be sweating and serving- keep writing us!

Peace,
Holly

Missionaries of Charity 1st Day

This was my day, my first day on a journey among many…

At the Missionaries of Charity, I chose to work at Kalighat, the Home for the Destitute and the Dying… out of all of the homes, I was oddly drawn to this one, and not for any particular reason. I spent four hours there... Doing laundry, washing the dishes, cooking, spending time with the women and talking with other volunteers. The nuns were cold, some had smiles and warm hearts, but I can still see one of them yelling at one of the women to get up and somehow move her lifeless body to the other side of the room on her own. It was intense. The women lay in their beds, a select few have the strength to sit up. Faint moans coat the room, and frightened and helpless faces lie in each bed, portraying excruciating pain that haunts their every moment. There is no relief in their lives, pain shows no end… where is hope? I spent my time with them nervous. Nervous that my life wouldn’t and couldn’t somehow manage to touch theirs… however miniscule. Nervous that my young muscles would crush their frail old, dying hands. Scared that I was bringing more pain instead of comfort. and terrified that my way of showing love, was misinterpreted and somehow conditioned by my culture and just couldn’t make it past those cultural boundaries.

But I sat there on her bed, and held her hand as her eyes watered. All I could see was pain that taunted her frailness. She lie crippled. And all I could think to do was sing. If I sang to her, maybe somehow my voice could make her pain run away, to make her worries melt, maybe she could find peace, if I just sang. And so I did. I sat there and held her hand and sang to her softly, gazing into her eyes and wondering if I could ever manage to relieve her of her solitude with a song that might somehow transcend the silence. Even just for one second.

And then I moved on. I went from one woman to another massaging their frail arms and backs, adding some moisture to their dry and cracking skin. One lady sat with me and laughed as I moisturized her lanky arms spotted with soars, laughing as she thought up every word she could possibly think of that I might understand (in English) … looking for any real verbal communication, as I know no Hindi or Bengali. So she quietly and dazed sang to me her abc’s and 1,2,3’s, that quickly eradicated any and every awkward tension as they were accompanied with our light hearted laughs. And this was only the beginning of many daunting days.

It came time to make my way home through the streets of Kolkata. I briskly walked through the bustling market, and made my way far down the stairs into the busyness of the underground Indian Metro system, held on tightly as the cool air condition brushed my face… a melancholic kiss against the backdrop of the tainted humidity of the hot Indian sun.

And then there is the reality… My story is just one among many. And yet this is just our effort to do, what Mother Theresa calls, small acts … with great love.

Many Blessings, Love and Peace - Megan Sievert

randoms thoughts from Papa Cheek

Wow.... well my other members of this team have now overwhelmed me because they write such long detailed posts. Sorry readers.. i am not going to give you that. I would like to say maybe a couple quick things before i check you guys up on our trip because if you did not know it well were in India... and it is a furnace... My team is so amazing.. We are like a really close dis functional family. Everyone is really different with unique gifts to bring to our group.. Hahaha.... Saxony is the really mature little sister of the group and she brings so much life and goofiness and joy to us. Saxony works real hard and has a really cool way of loving people. she also is bomb at soccer....Saxony loves people and it shows.... thats a good thing..... Rhoman is the weird sweet uncle who has been their done that because he has been to India the last two summers and is of course Indian himself. Also when he laughs.. there is nothing better in the world. He is a joy to have around. He needs to be around so i do not die or get lost. Rhoman also is wise and mature beyond his years.... With his beard he looks 45 or 50... Hahaha...Then we have Megan.. She is one of the older sisters in the group. She is great. She now has a new boyfriend as of a couple days ago. Good stuff. She is a really kind heart and is really good in like every situation. She is one of the female world travelers in the group. Megan loves to shop for everyone she loves... o and she does... She has been a blessing on this trip for more reasons than one. I'll give you one. She is just a lover. Next we have Whitney.. She is the middle rebel sister for more good reasons than one... Kolt thinks she is the best dressed on the trip which she is. She takes more good photos than a small army. She loves to take naps while other people are talking.. Well only Kolt.... She has been a blessing because she has a sweet way of loving on kids and she is just really open to anything...Now we have Heather.... She is such a joy to be around because she somehow always talks about the coolest deep topics... And she is really smart and well read so i just feel like i learn alot from her.. its a really cool unique quality to have.. I would say she is the other older sister or a sweet crazy aunt. She always sings every song i sing after me and i really like that too..... Heather is a rad young woman..and a deep thinker.. Next we have Kolt... i really do not want to give him alot of credit but i guess he is the dad of the family... He set up this trip and his experiences are some of the main reasons why we are all here.... Plus he is just a guy that has a very cool mature personality like a dad.... Kolt is really smart and is someone anyone can learn alot from.....If you have the skill to get Kolt laughing or get him to be goofy.... again there is nothing better.... he is also really hairy.. Last but not least we have Holly.... She is a small woman that packs a punch... She has a really rare quality of just making me happy and getting them to smile.. She is i guess the mom for reasons that can not be disclosed.. Hahaha... She is super goofy and really caring and is really good with kids... There is this one picture of her with this kid and she is i think maybe too happy... anyways... she has been a blessing to have for sure.... All the girls on this trip are like world travelers and are awesome women of God..And Rhoman and Kolt are both amazing and wise and deep men of God.... They are super legit.... So our team is real good....It has been good.. We are in India now working on day 2. We just had our orientation for the Mother Houses and we are all set up and know where we will be working. We are all really excited to finally get working in India. India is alot different from Nepal...... Nepal was amazing.. but India is now upon us.... We are hopefully going to maybe get involved in a couple more things besides the Mother Houses..... but the houses will be our main service and are intense enough to be the only thing we do... guys i need to go... im sweating writing this so the A/C is calling me..... I am sure the others will write blogs and fill you all in soon

Peace to all
Please pray
Continually

Delayed Catch-Up...

Hmmm…. I don’t necessarily know how or what to begin writing to catch any faithful readers (love you, mom) up with the latest happenings, so I’ll just write about last Saturday. As Hindus observe their holy day on Saturday, Christians do the same, so we began our day early heading to the church of Kolt’s previous host family. Along with his host-sister Georgina and two visiting Kansasites (?)- the group packed into taxis and a standing/falling/seating bus to an edge village of Kathmandu. We attended the 2 ½ hour service, clapping and praying along with the congregation to the beautiful Nepali tongue. Afterward we met with Rajesh, a leader of the church that Kolt helped to raise $3,500 for in support of children within the congregation. After being filled to the brim on momos (think potstickers) and soda, we left his house and traveled back to our hotel. We luckily had the remainder of the day to relax, because by night we had big plans.

We had spoken with Ranjit (founder of Kingdom Kids and the Princess Home) and John (our wonderful contact who made our daily activities possible/ co-founder of Princess Home) about visiting some dance clubs in Thamel. These dance clubs are not only degrading means of (limited) employment for girls in search of sustainable income, but also functional facades for solicited sex. I mention the two because many of the girls come from small communities far from Kathmandu. As the result of abusive families or neglect, they flee to the large city to find jobs and sadly, their options are few. Miles from home their limited means of employment are in night clubs- to host, serve, dance, and eventually be purchased for sex. We visited three of such clubs Saturday night. Ryan, Rhoman, Heather and myself were led by John to two clubs while Ranjit led Whitney, Saxony, Kolt, and Megan to another club.

While I’d like to think I’m tough (bark big, barely bite) the reality is I can crack on command. And walking into a club where girls my own age are dancing with stoic and bored expressions for a room full of men can become quite the command. The first club we went to had a large stage and dark seating- the women were wearing two pieces- and the music was so loud it hurt. Conversation was limited and we unfortunately didn’t get to talk with any hosts or servers, our objective to learn from the girls. So after a while we left and went to another club. We were already disturbed from what we’d seen, but the first club kept us distanced from the girls. The second did not. The stage was much smaller, and the majority of observers were fellow employees- proving the ‘entertainment’ to be apart from the stage. One girl approached us apart from our male server, but since we wanted to talk with the girls about their experience, John asked if any of the girls spoke English. Luckily one did, and she came and sat next to me. Soon we were surrounded by women, attempting to engage in conversation. Being two girls and three boys, it felt really awkward to seem prospective ‘clients’ to the women. Of course, we had to be sensitive in how we questioned them about their lives, history, situation- but in my usual touchy-ness I made the mistake of putting my hand on the knee of this woman and realized that according to her, I wasn’t there to learn or ask questions. I was a possible client. In just realizing that, I want to cry- possibly throw fragile things at walls- because it just doesn’t make sense.

I’d like to think of myself as an empathetic person, so the whole experience was especially hard for me because I’d picture myself in their shoes. Seeing their dulled expressions when they danced, the watchful eyes of the men, the innocent dancing of some of the girls compared to the raunchy dancing of other girls--- these girls are my age. They are mostly here as victims of circumstance. And that is hard to understand.

Because of our work in the Princess Home, we (the girls) have had the opportunity to hear their stories as headed for or recovering from these situations. All of the stories dealt with abusive men- mostly through arranged marriages- and the home has taken them in and released them from those environments. Snapshots of our times together would show us listening to them, crying with them, praying with them, laughing with them. These girls have luckily had the opportunity to leave their abusive husbands, their means of dependency, and be provided for. And while this home is wonderful and Ranjit has proven himself saintly- there are so many more women in need, dancing in bars, being contracted for sex. The problem still exists and our group knows that- we’re not satisfied with merely spending time with these women as a way to fill up our weeks on this trip, just so we can turn around and leave. Being exposed to these bars, hearing the stories of these women firsthand- we want to learn how (if possible) to change the situation. Exposure through service was our objective and we’ve come to find it- so the problem now exists in what to do, how to help and learn while here yet carry it when we leave.

And while I’d like to say that I hope these writings will help, the reality is that it’s hard to understand for those of us here- and I’m sure even harder until you’re holding the hands of these women, or touching them indecently in a dance bar. One way I’m trying to help is through asking the organizations that we come into contact with of their needs/hopes/prospective changes. So I’ll leave a list here for our faithful readers- our occasional readers- our readers of happenstance—in hopes that should you feel so led, should you have any additional information to offer- there are ways to help from over t/here.

MORNING STAR (the orphanage holding 57 kids)

• More facilities to offer so they can house more children- they can find people to run the facilities easily- they are just hoping for another home, the funds to do so, people that would come and help, or even financially support.
• A counseling book to provide help for the kids.
• Pen pals for the children to write.
• A volunteer for 2-3 months that would like to come and help with various needs. Housing and most likely food would be taken care of.
• (I added this one myself: I’m thinking they could advertise for help- maybe even put up the option on something like idealist.org… or create a website…)

RANJIT/ JOHN/ PRINCESS HOME/ KINGDOM KIDS:

• Ranjit is hoping to open an intensive 5/6 month Bible school that can prepare and send out individuals from rural mountain communities. The Christian population in Nepal is growing rapidly and he wants to be able to provide a solid teaching for these distant communities. He’s hoping to gain the support of roughly 10 churches or individuals to support $100 a month, (yes, only $1,000 a month total) to do so.
• John is looking to find organizations in India or Nepal that are rescuing the girls- because the girls can be relocated to the organization’s home/s in Kathmandu. Many services are provided in Kathmandu, especially for individuals who are HIV positive, the outstanding problem is connecting and networking these organizations together. If anyone knows of websites, or specific orgs.- they’d be much appreciated.

If anyone knows any way to help, or feels led in any way- here are the needs. Hopefully you'll be able to contact any of us in person when/if we return (wink wink) or you can respond here with further comments and questions. Until then....

Holly Hildebrand