live it and enjoy!!!!
Two months have nearly passed and it seems like only yesterday that I came into this new world. I can't reiterate enough how wonderful of an experience I have had. I have met some awesome people who are doing amazing work as well as some of the best kids in the world who cherish their lives and enjoy what they have how ever little or great it is. I spent some time at Don Bossco shelter this weekend to hang out with the boys and they are so inspiring and so cute. Each one of them is excited to have a guest there and eager to talk and share their character which is very expressive. They all call me "Didi" sister in hindi and are just smiling and laughing and so protective its just an amazing feeling. I am so glad I got to meet each and every one of them from the little ones to the older ones each comes from a unique household experience and each has adopted the shelter and the other boys as his new family. They just do such amazing work and it has had an extremely positive impact on these boys. I am definitely going to miss these kiddos when I leave- whenever that is.
I also had the opportunity to do a brief presentation on Public Health at a Rotary Club meeting today and it actually proved to be a really good experience. I was a bit weary about talking to this audience because I didn't know how receptive they would be of my information. They were very happy to hear my perspective on public health and contributed a lot into the discussion as well. It felt good to hear people wanting to take initiative in this arena and wanting to see change happen. Unfortunately this particular community club is in a posh neighborhood and so even the slums there are more upscale and do not have the same needs as the more suburbian slums. However it did open their minds up to thinking about integrated efforts instead of working individually in order to see an impact on a larger scale. I hope they will think about doing some work for communities and their healthcare especially because they would be great funders of such programs. Either way it was good to share my experience with them.
Afterwards the president took me on a brief tour of the neighboring gardens and parks and one particular one is famous for the "Shoe House" which is basically a really big boot that I think someone used to live in before and now is simply used for play for children. There is a winding staircase that allows you to go up to the top of the shoe and into the balcony. Well it turns out that as soon as I saw this Shoe House I remembered that I had been there during my last visit to India when I was 3 years old and I took picture at the top of the house. I was so excited about this so I had to climb up to the top just to take another picture!!!! Fun Fun Fun!!!
I will be wrapping up work this week and then will be getting ready to take a short vacation around India- I can't wait.
Much Love
Ritu
