Celebrations of Humanity

The night of Losar was one of celebration for all the Ladakhi people and Leh came alive with blazing fires, buckets of gasoline, drumming, chanting, dancing, fireworks and fire balls flying (literally) in the streets. Martin and I were picked up by a local guide who took us up to the top of the palace. It was a breathless sight as all the monasteries on the surrounding mountainsides lit hundreds of candles in celebration of Losar, the Buddhist New Year. At the top of the palace there was a group of 15-20 young boys who we drumming, chanting and dancing around the fire. Excitement and happiness filled the bitter cold evening as hugs were exchanges (I love hugs…have I mentioned that) people walking hand in hand, fathers holding their boys hands and an overall Buddhist love and calmness came over the crowd in amongst all the dangerous fiery chaos. We were able to follow the crowd down the rocky dark paths in between houses and into the main Bazzar for further celebration. At this time someone added to the music delight with a Indian flute and people were literally spinning in circles and running down the main street of Leh with balls of cloth doused in gas and lit on fire…super crazy!

The celebrations ended around 8:00pm and we headed back to the hotel. I was so cold and still not feeling well that I curled up in the fetal position wrapped up in a blanket next to the propane heater…and passed out! I think I woke up and made it to the bed around midnight.

After two days of trying the ATM’s, random stores that typically put money against credit cards my friend, Martin, and I had to pool our money together to get out of Leh. We went as far as changing all the bills that we had in other currency’s (including the Swiss, Canadian, US and English). We were in the clear arriving to the airport, however when I went to check into the flight (noting that there is only one flight and out of Leh per day) there seemed to be a problem. I am still unsure what actually happened…but when I changed my flight information with www.makemytrip.com they did not complete the process on the air carrier end. So they emailed me my ticket information but the computers in the airport did not show this change! I had to pay an extra 1100rupies…this plane ticket is starting to add up! We tried to explain that we had no rupies left to pay for the additional fair and at first they would’t take USD…some how it all worked out and we made it on the flight! It is super interesting being in a foreign place and having to confine to their security and regulations.

Once we got to Delhi, we headed to the Master Guest House…which really is an oasis inside this bustling city. After enjoying a pizza up on the roof top patio we headed into South Delhi to meet with the NGO Concern for Humanity. I am very fortunate to have met this organization. There passion for their projects is energetic and contagious! We met them at their office and then they were kind enough to bring us to the “Delhi slums” and visit their project sites. It is interesting as I have now visited 3 major cities in India along with their slum areas, and they vary and range in intensity. The Delhi slums appeared to be a temporary village, with some form of housing structures.

In the middle of the slums, Concern for Humanity has opened a school that provides additional education and support to children after regular school. It is to provide the extra education to the children who have not developed to the degree of education based on their age. In public schools it is mandatory to pass each child to the next grade regardless of the level of education obtained until grade 5. This is a huge problem for the children that are not developing at a fundamental rate before grade 5. After this each child is required to write an exam to continue their education in the school system and the possibilities of failing or dropping out are far greater for these challenged kids. With the additional help of the education and support provided to the underprivileged children at the Concern for Humanity facility this percentage decreases.

To date concern for humanity has 4 schools open, 2 in the slum area of…and 2 in a neighbouring village. To put things into perspective, one of these education facilities has an estimated cost of $1700 Canadian dollars, this includes the teacher’s salary (which is approximately $50CND/month), the rent of a school (which is preferred to purchasing a building as there is always the possibility of having the building demolished in a slum area) and some school aid and supplies.
We visited two schools to see this amazing program first hand; we met some of the precious children enrolled in the program as well as the teacher. There were some very interesting stories and bright beautiful children.

I have found with meeting all the NGO’s in India along my path have been focused to some degree on education and the biggest issue they are faced with is the enrollment of the children, due to the lack of family support/promotion, religion, traditional views, child marriages (even though they are illegal) and/or the dependence on child labour.

We ended our meeting at a traditional south Indian restaurant with a snack and a yogurt drink (to which I am told is a no-no to drink after 5pm!). I am still not feeling very well and have not eaten much in the past 48 hours…with the exception of chocolate and pizza…I gave the full college try but could not finish my portion of the delights.

After the meeting wrapped up Martin and I headed into the craziness of Connaught place. We went to the underground market…which is a cool as it sounds. Here we could get everything we needed…a new phone card, minutes, charger (yes I lost it already), money (FINALLY).

And then I was blessed to have a nights stay at the Master Gust House in the mediation room…relishing in the spirituality and peace that surrounded me.