Arriving in India
Arriving here in India was one BIG shock. Coming into Mumbai and seeing people sleeping on the street was just hard to take in. Arriving at Deep Griha was ok, as I knew I was going to be safe. It was about 5am before we arrived, and we were all shattered.
Waking up the next day at 2pm was great, except the heat was unbearable - 35 C. By this time, a lot of the other volunteers had showers and a walk around the area, which was amazing, the first time you see it in daylight. Going up on the massive roof was good as well, because, the views were just picturesque. The initial feeling of I'M IN INDIA hadn't come alive just yet as I was still bewildered to the fact that I am away from my parents.
A group of us, in the evening, went to the local bar on M.G road - which was great as it was my first drink in India - what a feeling. Then we got lost on the way back, and spent about 30 minutes trying to get back. So we didn't exactly set a good first impression when we arrived 15 mins over curfew. But all was good in the end.
We then met Hans for the first time, and he told us that if we had any problems, that we can talk to him. This set our minds at ease, as we were wondering what we should do. All was good, until we were told we were supposed to be ready to leave for a tour at 9.15am the next morning. At this point, I didn't exactly realize how much of a shock I was in for. But there was no shock to start with as we all went to the DISHA project which was held at a local college, which was amazing as all we had to do was give DISHA badges to students and tell them of a talk about HIV/AIDS. It was amazing, lots of pictures taken.
Then we came to Tadiwala road (where the Welfare Centre is situated) and we had an amazing lunch, and got a tour of the centre. It was amazing, as the kids just look at you and smile and wave. It was so heartwarming to know that we are going to be working with these kids. Then we had a tour of the local Tadiwala slums, which was the shock that I had been bracing myself for. It was horrible, but enlightening to know that not all the houses were tin boxes.
When it was time to come home, we didn't want to, but we had to. It was good when we got home as we just sat on the roof most of the night and just chatted.
So that was my first two days on India, and they were the best two days ever, and I'm sure there will be many more good (and bad) days to come. Goodbye for a couple of weeks.
Philip Ross
Waking up the next day at 2pm was great, except the heat was unbearable - 35 C. By this time, a lot of the other volunteers had showers and a walk around the area, which was amazing, the first time you see it in daylight. Going up on the massive roof was good as well, because, the views were just picturesque. The initial feeling of I'M IN INDIA hadn't come alive just yet as I was still bewildered to the fact that I am away from my parents.
A group of us, in the evening, went to the local bar on M.G road - which was great as it was my first drink in India - what a feeling. Then we got lost on the way back, and spent about 30 minutes trying to get back. So we didn't exactly set a good first impression when we arrived 15 mins over curfew. But all was good in the end.
We then met Hans for the first time, and he told us that if we had any problems, that we can talk to him. This set our minds at ease, as we were wondering what we should do. All was good, until we were told we were supposed to be ready to leave for a tour at 9.15am the next morning. At this point, I didn't exactly realize how much of a shock I was in for. But there was no shock to start with as we all went to the DISHA project which was held at a local college, which was amazing as all we had to do was give DISHA badges to students and tell them of a talk about HIV/AIDS. It was amazing, lots of pictures taken.
Then we came to Tadiwala road (where the Welfare Centre is situated) and we had an amazing lunch, and got a tour of the centre. It was amazing, as the kids just look at you and smile and wave. It was so heartwarming to know that we are going to be working with these kids. Then we had a tour of the local Tadiwala slums, which was the shock that I had been bracing myself for. It was horrible, but enlightening to know that not all the houses were tin boxes.
When it was time to come home, we didn't want to, but we had to. It was good when we got home as we just sat on the roof most of the night and just chatted.
So that was my first two days on India, and they were the best two days ever, and I'm sure there will be many more good (and bad) days to come. Goodbye for a couple of weeks.
Philip Ross
posted by Volunteer at 6:26 am
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