When I got home last night, I found my hosts had put one up over my bed. It totally helped and also put my mind at ease so I could get a full night's sleep. It's these little things that bring me such joy!
Yesterday was another fine day. We left around 10:00 AM for a town called Ichalkaranji (itch-al-ka-ron-jee) where they welcomed us with beautiful floral garlands.
The first Rotary project we visited was a mobile medical clinic that provides free medical care to nineteen rural villages each week. We went to one of the villages and got to see it in action. What an amazing, beautiful project. Every day I am more amazed to see what the Rotary clubs do in this country.
From there we visited yet another textile factory. I've finally figured out that our days consist of one or more of the following three activities:
1) Visiting Rotary projects
2) Visiting vocational workplaces of Rotarians
3) Visiting temples
Sometimes we do all of these things in one day. And it seems that wherever we go, people give us tea and biscuits. I gotta say, I loves me some Indian tea. They make it with a spicy tea powder and boiled water and/or milk. I definitely wanna bring some home with me.
Our next stop after the textile factory was to a Rotary Colony. It's a small colony of 25 2-room housing units provided to poor families for a very, VERY minimal cost. Like... pennies. We got to go inside one of the houses. The woman and her kids who lived there looked so happy. And she offered us tea.
And after the trip to the housing colony - visiting the poorest of the poor - our hosts took us to a fancy restaurant for an amazing lunch. It was quite an odd contrast. It's actually pretty weird how the rich and poor live so closely amongst one another here.
After lunch we visited a really cool Jain ashram and got to witness a ceremony where a band played and people kept dumping pots of different colored liquids all over the giant statue of the deity. Even though our guide tried to translate what one of the monks was saying, I still really didn't get what was going on.
Jain temple ceremony.
Next we visited ANOTHER textile factory (Okay I get it!! Enough with the cotton already!!) Here's when I began to get a little cranky. It was hot and humid inside, and little bits of cotton were clinging to our clothes and going up our noses.
No more textile factories!!
Finally we ended up at a Rotary school for the deaf. This was pretty amazing. They build and maintain a school for a population of poor, deaf children. How else would these kids ever get a chance in life? The school is free and teaches them sign language, speech, art and all kinds of other classes. And the kids get a full meal each day which is something they may not be getting at home. We got to meet the kids and they were so excited to see us, and all wanted to shake our hands!
Afterwards, we took a small rest at one of the Rotarian's huge mansion before heading back to the Rotary hall to give our presentation. They had a dinner for us at a restaurant around 10:00 PM and then we headed home (to my mosquito net!!)
Today should be an easier day. We're meeting around 9:00 AM to go sight-seeing, but then have time off in the afternoon. Hopefully I can do some shopping with my host's wife. Kolhapur is supposedly famous for its chappals, and I also need to pick up a new suitcase for all the stuff I've acquired.
I've been here for ten days. Sometimes it feels like I just got here - sometimes it feels as if I've been here all along. India keeps teaching me lesson after lesson: patience, humility, tolerance... but most of all gratitude. I am not who I was when I left New Jersey. And for that, I am glad.
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