Photos of the FUN!!!!

By request of someone not my Didi... You know who you are. :D I have been taking photos, just not my own. For the events here at Sangam we have a wonderful fancy camera that I actually love using, and love capturing special moments for the guests here.
I can't put pics of the guests up, but I can share those of the community partners and me and my friends here.
As part of this last event which was Arts Exchange, we had a fantastic celebration evening, with 3 community partners all our guests and staff and we also celebrated Holi....(holi pics were taken very randomly with the waterproof camera without being able to see what was on the screen, I'm impressed they turned out so good!)
Hope you like...

 Some of the girls from the school who learned about songwriting, wrote a song and performed it for us.

 Mummy Cambodia (aka Chenda) dressing Baby Cambodia (aka Srey Loch) in her traditional Camay costume.

 The beautiful MaLau in sari

 Manjusha got persuaded to wear a stunning sari for the occasion by Amanti - both lovely girls

 Izzy dancing with one of the girls from Maher

 Everybody loves to dance at the party

 Girls doing crazy spinning

 Mina and me wanted to try some crazy spinning.

 and no we didn't fall over

 MaLau blending in with the local girls from from Green Tara Foundation.

 Food time, we got dosa made fresh and by this guy!! Made super fast and so tasty

 Pani puri!! Best street food around

 Boys from Maher dancing with one of our local staff ladies Shoba

And now for Holi... This is the before photo of Chenda and Fer... look at the dazzling white

 colour gets thrown

 and sprinkled and rubbed in your hair, face, clothes...basically everywhere then people throw water at you

 Rach got a bit of green in her mouth...yum spinach flavour

 the whole crew

 me and Manjusha had a face wash... it was getting a bit icky

and when it was time to eat everyone wanted to wipe their mouths on my still white in places tshirt. And the after shot with both Chenda and Fer covered in colour.

Forgetfulness

Hey Didi... Guess what? I'm in INDIA.
Yes I know you know this, I've been here for nearly 3 months (how is it that long already?) and I promise I'm not bragging. But I really do sometimes just forget that this is not the same place I have always lived, that it is some other far flung country and that India is so so different to home.

Didi you know this from living here, but some of you don't realise that I work in a bubble. Sangam is a bubble which contains the whole world within its walls and nearly everything you could need to be happy here. Sangam could be on the moon and everyone would forget that they were somewhere other than just Sangam. It is its own unique multicultural country within a country - like the Vatican but much more liberal towards everything especially women! haha
And to show this likeness below we have our Sangam Last supper interpretation... this photo is for a competition but I wanted to share :)

Anyway the point of this blog... for much of my work time, I am based within the walls of Sangam. Which I love, we have heaps of fun stuff happening and work here during events is very busy... as my work at the moment is primarily with community programme I also get to explore more of the local community and share in this exploration of India with the Tare.
Being in Sangam so much I have begun to forget that the great diversity of India is right outside the gate. So on Wednesday we had a fun day out to visit Alandi and the temple there,  a town which is about 10km away, Toulapour which has another temple and a great view of the rivers that meet there, and also Ishawari a Women's Cooperative group, home, community centre, bakery, restaurant, farm, classroom and everything else to help provide skills and a place to learn and belong for women living within a rural indian setting.

It was while in the six seater rickshaw back from Ishwari that I realised I was beginning to forget I am in India and that I should try and remember the little things  and see how different and unique the whole of Indian life and culture really is and try to share this more.

I was sitting in a rickety, bouncy, loud rickshaw chugging along the most potholed road I have ever been across. The hot and fragrant air blowing around us, dusty red-brown earth and crop fields green and yellow. Huge trees with vines dangling, painted red and white striped along the roadside (why painted this way no one can quite answer) but it's a regular sight on the roadside as you travel, as is the amount of litter which is strewn everywhere whether in the city or country there is no part of the landscape where plastic and rubbish can't be seen, so much so that you begin to see it as part of the natural landscape and become complacent in the fact that no, it has not always been there and nor should it remain.

As we were bumping along, laughing at how crazy the ride was becoming boys and girls were getting out of school, the girls always look pristine in their uniforms, often white dupattas on their shoulders and matching ribbons in their long sleek perfectly groomed hair. I often marvel at how anyone keeps their clothing white in this country that is forever dusty. People think we get a tan from being in the sun, its not a tan its a layer of dust.  I had this thought that if one of the  many Hindu Gods should blow over all of India, the already bright colours, beautiful buildings, markets, people and life here would all get this  layer of dust removed and become even more alive and vibrant. I don't think my senses could cope with even more colours, sounds and noises, so maybe this muted india with its dust cover is for the best.

The boys walking home always seem so rowdy, joking and calling out to us and the other girls, being a nuisance and causing mischief, there were some older teens sitting 3 and 4 astride motorbikes as they overtook our rickshaw along the road. Buffalo carts are still a common sight  pulling their loads of crops, fruit, veg, a family and anything and everything their owners need to transport. There is no limit to the possibilities of what indians will and can transport on the back of a seemingly impossibly small vehicle, whether it be a bike, a cart or a car. 'The greater the challenge the better' is the motto I feel suits them best. I have seen whole families, front doors, windows, wardrobes, laundry and a washing machine all on the back of various motorbikes!

Roadside cafes  that are nothing more than a couple of corregated sheet walls and a tarp with a make shift cooker and plastic garden furniture but somehow make the tastiest dishes.

There are often cow pats perfectly round made by families living in rural areas on the road side drying in the sun to use as fuel for the fire. Lorries overtake us with a loud honk and whoosh past us, covered in decorative designs, and with a unique and bizarre horn sound - and as they fly by you see the standard "Horn Ok Please" painted beautifully on the rear.

While at the temple there were several older ladies sitting sari clad and cross legged on the ground surrounded by baskets of fresh ripe fruit, papaya, guava, chickoo, grapes, strawberries and watermelon all home grown and sweet and soft and waiting for us to taste them. Chickoo is one of my favourite, kind of like a fig or date, sticky sweet and almost malty to taste (think malt loaf in a fruit..YUM)
Strawberries are a summer tradition at home but I've never tasted strawberries as sweet as they are here and such a bright ruby red colour and so cheap to buy a punnet or two.

We walk bare foot into the temple in Alandi, I am a shoe lover, so it took some time at first to get used to no shoes, but now its just a way of life. We pil our shoes outside the temple steps, minded by a street vendor. The floor inside is cool and well worn from thousands of pilgrims feet, then out in the courtyard the sun heats the stones so that we have to run on tiptoes across to the entrance so not to burn our delicate feet, not used to the wear and tear of life on our soles like the locals visiting here.
The temple seems loud and crowded, many people are coming to worship here. We all walk in a clockwise direction as is the ritual in Hindu temples. The saint that the temple is dedicated to is said to have entombed himself beneath the ground here at age 16, when he felt his divine duty was achieved, and the main shrine of the temple is the place where he is thought to lie and where his spirit and energy emanates from the most. It is a very spiritual place and I have visited the temple before amongst a throng of devotees chanting, which only adds to the powerful feeling of oneness and inclusion that I always feel within Hindu temples. The indian people are happy for us to be involved in their devotions to their gods and saints, ushering us through to the inner sanctum but quickly hurrying us along again as other people push to gain entrance to the tiny room where they place flowers, sweets, coconut and milk onto a flat stone, touching various points of the room and bowing down low to the shrine inside.

Outside the temple there are ghats (steps) down to the river where people are washing, literally having their daily baths dunking beneath the water which is a source of life, death and cleanliness to all in India, others are doing laundry, ladies laying out their sari on the steps to dry in the intense midday sun. Flies fly everywhere, mosquitos too reminding us that the water is not as fresh or clean as the people bathing make it seem. A woman stands at the waters edge, stoops down with a water vessel, scoops up the water then picks it up in a swift motion and balances it perfectly on her head and walks off on her way without a hesitation or misstep or drop of water.

People in India continue to amaze me, as do the things I see each day when I remember to go outside, pop the Sangam bubble and appreciate the diversity, the new things in the world and thechance to immerse myself in this totally different culture.

Tomorrow we are going to Imagica... a Theme Park, in India. A brand new unexplored cultural experience. I am sure I will a lot more to say on this topic too and get to see and appreciate India in a whole new way!

Any other duties as required...

So many of my friends and family ask me what my work entails, and it is such a hard question to answer. Just recently Bron the programme coordinator and I have been carrying out Skype interviews for Sangam Volunteers for the next season and the most frequently asked question of us was "What is a typical day like for a volunteer?" and the simplest answer is "there isn't one". Even though the events we run follow a pretty similar structure you can never know what your day will involve and that is why I like my job so much. It requires a lot of flexibility and adaptability, and my fave thing which is just "winging it" Going with the flow and just see what happens!!

Sangam is a constant hive of activity. Guests and participants coming and going, check ins and flag ceremony followed by the evening welcome ceremony. Neighbourhood walk, Wadi & Pune Challenge all to help our guests get to know their Indian surroundings, trips to Laxmi Road to get sari, punjabi, bangles, bindis and more, visits to community partners to see how they work and maybe a project with them or a Children's Fun Day and this is just what the guests get to do. Until I became a staff member I took forgranted how much planning and organisation the schedules, activities, events and meal times all take. It is hard work but when it all comes together and you see how much the participants are enjoying, learning and smiling together it is totally worth it.

My "role" is Programme Intern - which has two capacities. The first is working with Mina and running the Community Programme. Making sure the Tare are happy, learning, sharing and living as Sangam residents for an extended period of time, also planning activities and sessions to enrich their experience here and also making sure they represent Sangam to the best of their abilities at the different communities. It's a lot of fun and very rewarding and so far I have had 15 women from all over the world and from various walks and stages in their lives take part in the programme. They have all been fabulous and interesting and sometimes a challenge for me to work with but I have enjoyed hearing their stories from their communities and how much they love working there each day and seeing their confidence and leadership skills grow and develop and the friendships they have forged with each other.
 The second part of my job is the other part of "programme" also running the events with the other staff, planning then leading a variety of sessions from Wagggs related sessions on Leadership and advocacy, group games, Sangam or pune tours and figuring out who does what and when on the schedule. The variety is endless.

We often joke that the main part of our job description comes at the end of our list of tasks which as the title of this blog suggests is "Any other duties as required."
Any other duties covers anything and everything at Sangam. I greet guests who arrive sometimes at 2.30am in the morning with a smile and a welcome. I help set the tables for dinner, set up videos for Bollywood films, put up Badminton nets for Indian afternoon, move tables and chairs to the campground for ceremonies outside, (attempt to) help guests get dressed up in sari, chat to everyone about their day during Chai, sell souvenirs from the Sangam shop, ask countless questions on Sangam, India, Guiding, sign people's Sangam Challenge books when they have completed a challenge and so much more and it is all part of my job.

Some of the more interesting things under this title that I have done this week include....

Being asked to spontaneously lead a group of 40 teenage Indian Girl Guides in songs and games for an hour, half of the time was me and Katrine sharing with them, the other 30 minutes they shared activities with us.

This all occurred because we were holding a World Thinking Day Event at Sangam and we had predicted around 400 Scouts and Guides would be attending. We had 15 pairs of participants ready to lead the groups but in the end over 520 guides and their leaders were in attendance. Our group enjoyed some English songs with us, then wanted to share songs and dances they had prepared. I also thought it would be fun to get the guides to teach us some of the dance moves which they were more than happy to do, it was great fun and even 14 year olds like doing the Hokey Cokey in India!

In the afternoon Sangam was holding a Google Hangout to celebrate World Thinking Day with people all over the world. We linked up with Our Chalet in Switzerland to see what they were doing with their participants and also what they had been doing to support the MDG theme of Universal Primary Education. I had been asked only the day before if I would speak about my time as a Communty Programme Participant so again I "winged it" and spoke LIVE on the internet for a couple of minutes about how important I believe education to be and what I saw and learned in India whilst working in a local community school this time last year. If you would like to see the Live hangout which we recorded the link is here. It was a really cool thing to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_ODzKR2j3s&feature=share&t=4m34s

As part of this event for World Thinking Day we held a Charity Auction, of which one of my duties included helping to sort all the donated prizes. The Auction was a huge success and everyone enjoyed it and raised a lot of money for Sangam on the night.
Some of this went towards a surprise for everyone which happened today. In fact she arrived this morning with a jingling bell which I heard from my bedroom, I ran down to the campground to see a beautiful Indian Elephant named Roopa making herself at home.
The two guys caring for her let us feed her bananas and carrots before she got undressed, well her harness and seat got removed and she had a long drink and a shower.

It was pretty amazing to think we had organised for a real live elephant to come to Sangam and that I could spend my morning off with her, helping her have a bath. Then in the afternoon as part of the Indian afternoon session I took photos as the participants got to see her, pet her and ride her. I also got first ride alongside Fer.(Photos to follow from the sangam camera.)

All in all its a pretty awesome job even if I find it hard to explain what it is I do. I get to meet heaps of new people, try a million new things all the all in the heart of the Sangam Family in beautiful surroundings and with some of the most inspiring women in Guiding.
It's an ideal situation even with "any other duties as required!"

23 days in India and here's what has happened so far...

Firstly I celebrated New Year flying over Mumbai. Different way to bring in the new year and I also got a free drink.

I arrived in Sangam at around 4.50am on January 1st 2014, even at this ungodly hour Rachel still greeted me with her infectious smile and a hug - welcomed back into the Sangam Family straight away. Thank Rach :D

I quickly settled back into Sangam life and reconnected with old friends and made lots of new ones too during the Reach for the Stars event.

I started my new job as Sangam Programme intern straight away and getting to know the newly arrived Tare (community volunteers). Who are all the warmest, friendliest and  most enthusiastic group of women. I feel very lucky to have them as my first group and over the last few weeks I have grown very fond of them all.
Watching them set off on their first day at site made me feel a bit like a Mum letting her kids go to school on their own for the first time. I felt a little anxious for them, excited, making sure they had everything packed, tiffins for lunch and money in their rickshaw bags, and then sat with my phone on the desk for a good hour in case anyone should phone and need anything. I'm really looking forward to them returning so I can hear all about their first day!

I've also been given the responsibility of First Aider - visiting the local hospital and then a few days later having to take an injured guest there. Not as scary as I may have thought and happily not a very serious injury.
Hospitals are very different maybe I will do a whole post on what happens at an Indian Hospital in the Accident and Emergency Dept from my first experience and most likely not my last. All  shall say is that as foreigners we do get special treatment, nearly every doctor in their came to assist us.

I have now visited my beloved school twice - Anand Gram is very much the same. It looks a little more worn around the edges - what happens when 350 children run through your halls and classrooms everyday.
The teachers were very happy to see me and were very keen to have me back.
I was so pleased to be taking new people around, and seeing their reactions to this place that I love so much and I feel incredibly happy to have had my experience when I did and now feel excited that I am able to pass this on to the next Tare who has started there today. From her first impressions she liked it very much but only time will tell if she feels the same connection to the Anand Gram Family.
The children were all super sweet and excited to see me. One of my 6th, now 7th Standard boys surprised me by producing a photo to me that I had given him last year - I had written a little note on the back to encourage him and he told Mina that he kept it in his bag every day and that it was very special to him. This really choked me up to think he kept it all this time and also that he wanted to show me. The children also gave me and the other girls lots of flowers and also little Happy New Year Cards which was very cute.

I have also visited the other four volunteer sites. It is very humbling and inspiring to be working with  these community partners every day and seeing the happy faces that come back to Sangam after a good work day. I get to encourage other women to take this leap into the unknown and to give themselves selflessly to others who need and want their help, love, time and support. Really is this my job because it sounds too good to be true?!

 The Tare and I also got invited to the Tara Mobile Creche Evening Camp & Show - which is a bit of a sleepover and performance for all the kids and families who work and live at the construction sites in Pune. It's such a great event, and I have been lucky enough attend last year as well as this one. They put so much effort into the whole event, whether it was the arts and craft work on display, the outifts, the songs, dances and plays - considering Tara Mobile Creche is working with some of the poorer families on building sites all over the City who can be excluded from society they all come together and put on a fantastic event. One which I am sure they were all very proud to be a part of.

 The building site where the event all took place.

As usual, my best day by far has been the Community Partner Fun Day as part of the Reach for the Stars Event. This was my 8th Fun Day at Sangam. The first was back when I was a participant that very first event in 2012 and it was back then that I saw what an amazing thing Sangam does for the community kids on these days!

60 children from four of the partners attended and it was excellent to hear that nearly all of the kids had never been to Sangam before.

This was the first session I lead alone, facilitating the participants discussions and ideas to help create the best day for all.

They planned some lovely crafts which all the children really enjoyed as well as games and play time in the park and with all the sports equipment. Just letting the children play with each other and us in the outdoor space we have here.

We had a camel and the children were fascinated by it. Some too nervous to ride it but they still loved seeing the camel there just for them.

Deep Griha Society decided to bring their creche kids. I completely fell in love with them all. These boys were so into the camera and just wanted to see all my photos of themselves.

All in all it was just another super day, one where I saw all the participants come into their own and share something special with each other and with all the kids and teachers.

So that's a small overview of my day to day life at Sangam. We have lots of guests coming and going all the time. Now the 12 week Tare are settled I have the final preparations for the new 4 week February Tare, there are going to be 10 more ladies joining our volunteer party so it will be a busy time organising their introduction sessions, helping them settle in to Sangam and Indian life but also getting them ready very quickly to start volunteering in the community within a few days, as they are only here for 4 weeks we don't want them to miss any time. 

Once they arrive and start work I am hoping to visit as many of them as possible so I can see them in action, help out at each site for the day and also take photos and videos for each of them so that we can share the things that they do at each site and so they can see the amazing things they do each day

I have to say I am truly loving my job so far and living at Sangam is always such fun. Going to bed each night I feel very happy and satisfied with my days accomplishments but also really look forward to the next day, spending time with all the fantastic Sangam family and wondering what surprises may unfold!

Make new friends but keep the old...

I have been at Sangam for two weeks now and the Reach for the Stars event, which is my first as a staff member (in training) is ending tomorrow. There is a song used in guiding that goes "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold" and its funny to think in this short time through living in this international and Wagggs lead community I have come to find other very like minded women from around the world who I would like to consider my friends now and I'm a little bit sad and disappointed that some of these friends will be leaving for home in a day or two and I can no longer spend time with them and share my experience of India with them. But then a whole new group will arrive and it starts all over again for another couple of weeks, and this is my job and life for the next 12 months. I am pretty lucky to get to do this
By the end I will have so many new friends.