I'm here! All is well! I arrived in Ahmedabad on Thursday 30th Setember in the sweltering heat at about 9am, and was picked up by two Manav Sadhna volunteers. Driving to the ashram was a bit of a surreal experience- Ahmedadbad really hits you in the face! Plus, I was practically half asleep, so it was in a dream-like state that I first experienced Ahmedabad.
On arrival I met Shirishbhai- I think his officical role is to coordinate the volunteers, but having been here for almost four days, I can see that there is much much more to his role. Anyway he showed me where I will be staying during my 7 weeks volunteer work with Manav Sadhna (MS). I shall put up some pictures when I can.
Anyway, after that we crossed the street to the Gandhi ashram where the volunteers meet for daily prayers at 10:45am. The prathna consists of prayers from 7 different religions- Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Christian, Islam... and one more, I can't remember which- sorry. This way all are welcome and its is one way of demonstrating a key value of Manav Sadhna which is to
build bridges; not barriers.
Every day after prathna, the volunteers share their thoughts, read out any announcements and have various discussions. There doesn't seem to be anyone who is in charge, but they manage to work together amazingly.
There was also a chance for me to introduce myself after which there was a little welcome ceremony, which went something like this-
( I'll insert the picture soon...)
I met so many people, whose names it might take me a couple of days to remember, but one of them was Ajaybhai. He is one of the coordiantors of the community centre that is situated next to the biggest slum area in Ahmedabad. On my first morning I got the chance to go with him to have a look! Before I tell you how the community centre was, let me tell you about my first ever ride on a scooter...
Good God. I didn't know what to do with myself- I was certain I'd fall backwards of the seat on to the street, there to be trampled over by scooters, trucks, bikes and cows. But I didn't, and apart from the dust it was actually quite fun in the end.
So, the community centre has a few different rooms where children can come for classes, there is a place where working parents can leave their children ( creche?) a gym and library. It's a really beautiful place. I shall write more about it after I go agian next week.
I am sharing a house with two other girls- one is from USA and the other is from Germany.
So far I have been shown around different places, talked to lots of volunteers and have generally been observing, but tomorrow I think I will be given some responsability. There is talk of science classes, arts and crafts and a small possibility of a potential vegetable patch!
More on that later.
