A few pics from a trip to the sprawling Shivaji Nagar slum yesterday with the International Center for Research on Women…
April 28th, 2010 | by David in Travel
Wrapping up my time with CRS here from New Delhi. Had a few hours before it got dark this evening to duck out from the hotel and take a walk around. Sounds like a simple thing, I suppose, but too often on these trips I’m working 17 hour days so even a simple walk is welcome enough.
You really almost have to experience an Indian city to really get what it looks like, what it sounds like. I grabbed my camera and just stood for awhile on a corner to watch what happened. This city sort of just unleashes a torrent of humanity past you, every second – cars a buses, rickshaws and small motor transports, bikers and walkers of every possible description. It makes me a bit crazy at times – makes me want some quiet corner of Montana to just sit down and look up at the sky and hear nothing. But if it chases your mind to some distant piece of solitude, Delhi – or any city here – is also a reminder of how lucky you are to have what you have, to make your living with your mind and not your body, and to have the option, as I did, for an afternoon’s walk instead of peddling a rickshaw in 100 degree heat, earning for your efforts the equivalent perhaps of a few cents.
Off to Mumbai tomorrow.
April 24th, 2010 | by David in Travel
A quick note from the road. Got to India a few nights ago and made my way out here to Orissa, on the East Coast, doing some work for Catholic Relief Services. If you even wondered what it felt like inside your oven, spend time in eastern India in April. It was 109 degrees the other day – 96 degrees at 8pm when I landed in Delhi Thursday night. Makes for some toasty days out in the field.
Here to see some disaster mitigation projects for CRS. They are what they sound like – projects designed to reduce the impact of disasters like floods and cyclones, which are common occurrences here in India. Today we were in a village called Bhaunreswar where CRS has helped to train 20 local villager sin all manner of disaster preparedness – from first aid and search and rescue to early warning systems. Quite interesting, really, but very much a common sense approach to what has become the all too frequent disaster in this part of the country. The villagers themselves will always be the first responders, so why not train them how to rescue people, and better still, how to warn the community of pending disasters like floods so they can save what property they can and get to high ground. I spent just two days here, then I’m off to two other sites in the country this coming week to see similar projects in other areas. Then, down to Mumbai for two weeks with the International Center for Research on Women to photograph some projects of theirs in and around the city. Right now, enjoying some air conditioning before bed – increasing my own carbon footprint I know…
April 18th, 2010 | by David in Travel
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