Wednesday, January 6, 2010

I'm too busy!

Hi, I've been in Delhi now for one week. My Indian brother (soul & heart) has had me far too busy helping out with projects he has been looking forward to completing after my arrival. He has asked me to set up a marketing program for getting the Women's Empowerment projects on ebay, something I had hoped to do. But also I'm teaching conversational English twice a week (if ONLY my junior high teachers see me now!). My brother has signed a contract with the Delhi government to meet all the physical and medical needs for all the homeless in Delhi - a mere 250,000 est. He has had me go with him to buy and deliver fire wood for some of these people because the weather has been frightfully cold at night plus sometimes rain and high winds. This week alone, in the camps he cares for 2 persons have frozen to death and the night before there was a fight over a blanket and a man was stabbed to death. The government is ridiculous here - from a Westerner's experience. Here Amod has signed this contract and yet local police are tearing down the shelters provided for the poor and chasing them off. The right hand knows exactly what the left is doing but ignores it. What's up with that? I'm trying to figure out how to input pictures for my blog but haven't figured that out yet. I have written 8 more pages on my thesis so I'm behind my self-imposed schedule of 2 pages a day. I'm having a moderate case of Delhi-belly today. I ate at a food stand yesterday that was supposed to be bacteria free. Started taking some Cipro today for a sinus infection. That's all for today until I figure out the picture thing.
Posted by at 2:25 AM

4 comments:

  1. Greetings Bill - Glad to hear that you're already having an impact on the return visit and by all means, don't give up on those Dehli food carts!!!

    Keep the updated coming - Craig

    ReplyDelete

  2. Dear Bill,

    Neither one extreme nor the other. It is good to see you literally and metaphorically in the middle of things.

    Two pages a day is a good target in Portland. In India with your teaching and working on projects, you must remember to be kind to yourself. It will get done in time, and be done when it is done.

    Remember that often times the lower eschelons of government do not know what is going on higher up, and often it takes time for any kind of sense to filter down. That along with their built-up habitual sense that they need to put the poor in their place and destroy what shelter they have will take time to break or transform. If the corruption is not too awful, and if you think it might make a difference, perhaps contracting with the Delhi government to have the police help distribute wood (or whatever you are distributing) can guide them in the right direction. Perhaps not.

    There's no such thing as bacteria free. Anywhere. Much less Delhi. Don't give up on the food carts, but be sure to care well for yourself. Lots of (safe) water.

    I'm looking forward to pictures! Consider the site "Trocadero.com" in addition to ebay. Or even setting up a simple wholesale site dedicated to selling the Womens' Empowerment projects -- so you can include a link to the site with every auction in case people want more, or want more information. It's fairly simple to set up a basic site. I'd be glad to help out once I'm done with Thesis.

    Take good care,
    Dionys

    ReplyDelete

  3. Bill,

    Thanks for sharing your experience with us. You're in my prayers nightly, along with the rest of India.

    One comment on the format, if I may: I kind it a bit difficult to read the white on black, and even more so the light blue and gray on black. Any possibility of changing that?

    Stay well, brother.

    John Salmon

    ReplyDelete

  4. Great to have a way to follow your great adventure -- what a different life. Your experiences can help us grumble less about how inefficient our government is here at home. I will share with Gary asap. I've been sick all week with a terrible stomach virus though after 4 days I'm beginning to feel some of my energy returning. Be safe and as soon as I'm well I'll get by to see Judy and set-up a date for her to come over for dinner. Cold, rainy and what else is new -- ENJOY. Anne

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)