On second thought, Christy Smith and Discovering Deaf Worlds

Christy Smith at the Rehabilitation Center for Children in Kolkata, India

As you read in our blog of India, one of our days in Kolkata was spent at the Rehabilitation Center for Children where we worked on a scroll panel with the kids after watching and listening to the work of the artist, Karuna. Also in attendance were several deaf young adults from a nearby school. Working with them was an American volunteer Christy Smith, also deaf. At first meeting it would be difficult to know that Christy is deaf as she speaks as well as signs and is an easy conversationalist. Christy also came with us to Prayrona 2 when we handed off our digital cameras to kids from the school to photograph their 'world' in the in the Dakshindari slum. Sitting side-by-side in our rented truck, Christy had spoken to us a little about her work and her plans to go back to South America. She and I talked briefly about the difficulty of traveling and maintaining a personal relationship (my advice, take your partner with you!).

It is only now, back at home, that I can decompress all of the wonderful memories of Kolkata and one of those is meeting the extraordinary Christy Smith. I knew she had been the first deaf participant on the reality television show, Survivor, and that she competed in the Amazon. I knew she had been volunteering for many months in Kolkata at a deaf school (and I think it is also an orphanage). I knew also from Rosalie of Empower the Children that Christy had traveled around the world for a year raising awareness on issues of the deaf. I did not know that she had co-founded and sits on the board of directors of Discovering Deaf Worlds. In fact, to quote from her bio on Discovering Deaf Worlds:

A graduate from Gallaudet University with a B.A. in Criminology and Sociology, Smith has held positions as an American Sign Language teacher for various elementary and high school Deaf Education programs, a discovery coordinator and counselor with the Aspen Camp School for the Deaf, facilitator for the Colorado Home Intervention Program, and as a motivational/public speaker across the country.  She created a children's television show called Christy's Kids: Challenge Yourself after surviving 33 out of 39 days as a contestant on CBS’s Survivor: The Amazon (2003).  Smith is currently pursuing her Masters of Science degree in Secondary Education at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Pretty impressive! So here's a shout out to Christy - and if you have a minute check out the work of Discovering Deaf Worlds. Here you can see Christy on YouTube talking about why she decided to go on Survivor: 

Empowering the Children - after the volunteers

Now that we are all back home I expect that the volunteers will all be unpacking not only their suitcases, but their memories of India. As you've read we had a very busy week learning about education, empowerment, friendship and the human spirit. I want to thank Rosalie for teaching us about slum life and the richness of its inhabitants and for sharing her 'kids' at all the Prayrona schools and at Prabartak, planning our programs and making sure we were all happy! When Rosalie's kids are smiling and happy, Rosalie is happy, so I think she had a fabulous week too! Also, thanks to Ashit for keeping an eye on us (and the drivers) and for translating and always being at the end of a cell phone in case we needed him. And Reena, teacher extraordinaire whose smiles and hugs are of the long-lasting type. Maura Hurley, brought her friend, the maker of scrolls, to RCFC and translated this ancient art for the volunteers as Karuna sang. Her daughter, 'mini Maura,' thought up the program at the pre-vocational school for teenage girls and participated with us as well, along with Maura. Always smiling, Maura's kind heart and translation skills regarding not just the Bengali language but the culture were much appreciated.
We plan to post photos of the art of the vocational schools soon and hopefully anyone will be able to purchase hand embroidered saris, note cards and table coverings and help continue the work of Rosalie, Shelley and others in Kolkata.  Visit http://www.empower-children.org/ for background and information on these programs - updates are coming to the site as Liz, a college student from Chicago and ETC volunteer, completes her stay in India with Rosalie. Chelsea has remained in India too until mid-February to work with Rosalie.
Finally, thank you to all the volunteers Barry and Andrea, the "Pattys" (Patti and Patty, actually), Gary, Kira, Willson, Tate, Chelsea, Caitlin and David for your hard work, patience and flexibility. Hope to see you all again soon at our reunion with Rosalie when she returns to the US for the summer.
And after India? There are plans in the works for Ecuador (I will post some info from last year's trip), maybe Vietnam? And certainly a return to India in 2012. I will also be occasionally posting news about volunteer opportunities both local and international. It's been wonderful, we will do it again, but 'tata' for now!

Goodbyes

Saturday, we had to get ready to go, and finally to say bye for now. We packed first thing after breakfast, spent a few minutes with Mrs Smith, and after Jeannie settled some business with Ashit, we headed to the internet cafe. Some of us did some shopping there, and then we went over to the Oxford Bookstore on Park Street for a little browsing and some cappuccino. I bought a copy of "If I Were Rain," a great book about the slum kids of Kolkata.

When I got back to the Fairlawn, Mrs Smith and her daughter, Jennie Fowler, were sitting at "the boss's table" talking, and I took the opportunity to get a picture with them. When I showed the shot to them on the camera's screen, Mrs Smith said to me, "You're a good-looking fellow, you know. You're on my list; a bit down on the list, though." I was thrilled to make the list at all. Then she stood to walk over the her waiting car, to go on some errand, I imagine. Jennie took her one arm, and a nurse stood by to take the other, but instead of reaching for the nurse, Mrs Smith grabbed me around the waist and pulled us towards the car. As we started off, she began to skip and sing a nursery rhyme! Jennie just laughed, and away we went. When we got to the car, I helped guide her onto the back seat. I said that I'd miss her, to which she replied, "What are you, a Russian, pining away?" Then I kissed her on both cheeks, and she said "I'll miss you too, David." Wow! Then she pinched my nose between two knuckles, and took her leave on that note. One of a kind, that one.
So here I am now, looking at snow again and missing Kolkata and its memorable people. Our return flight had its assortment of hiccups and near misses, but it all worked out in the end, a lot like Kolkata traffic. It's so hard to capture this place in words or photos, but I've taken a swipe at it in this blog. If you want the whole amazing picture, book your ticket!

Making a quilt and sailing the River Hooghly

Friday, our last day, was another busy one. We first went to Prayrona III where we were to do a project with the kids - some really little ones. In fact, Rosalie was a bit concerned that they would be so taken aback at the sight of all these big, white people (whom they seldom, if ever, see) that they would burst into tears. She had us bring candies and toys to soften them up, and by and large it worked. There were some quivering lower lips here and there, and a lot of apprehensive stares, but once they saw what we were going to do, they warmed up and had fun with it. The project was managed by our friend Sandy, who spent part of the week with us. We started with squares of white fabric, about 8" on a side, and glued a strip of rickrack across one end. Then we had the kids make thumb prints - little tiny thumb prints - in different colors and patterns on the square. We then used black sharpies to draw details on the colored thumbprints to make them into ladybugs, centipedes, birds, trees, and anything else we could think of. It was fun to watch recognition dawn on the kids' faces as the spots of color became identifiable bugs and plants. As a final Indian touch, we had the kids glue sequins onto the squares. The results were surprisingly good. Sandy collected all the squares and will sew them into seven quilts that she will take with her to the Scottish partner school that raises funding for the Prayrona schools. Sandy told me that she merely mentioned to some Indian acquaintances that she was going to sew all these squares together, and then next thing she knew, twenty women volunteered to help her. This kind of volunteering is contagious.

After we were finished and said our long goodbyes to the kids, who were by now smiling and reaching for our hands, I went outside to where the cars were waiting. Four teenage boys were playing carroms on a board set up on the sidewalk. This is a game my siblings and I played endlessly as kids. I exclaimed "carroms!" as I approached them, and they all paused and smiled that I knew the game. Then, in Calcuttan fashion, one of them stood aside and asked me if I wanted to play. Of course I did. I quickly felt sorry for my partner across the table, as my shooting skills have decayed dramatically since my prime carroming days. These guys had the moves - it's all in the finger flick. The other team cleaned my clock by running the board. It was all good fun.

We went to the house of the teacher, Champa, for lunch. She is a gracious host. She lives in a quiet (yes, really!) neighborhood of Kolkata in a beautiful, airy flat. The dining room is central, with bedrooms, kitchen, laundry porch and small shrine room off of it. On one of her balconies, she has a garden of potted flowers. It was nice, and interesting, to see this kind of home, after seeing homes in the bustee, which can be no more than 10' by 10' and house eight or ten people. Of course, there are palatial residences in the older colonial neighborhoods. One of these, which though still privately owned is partly open as a museum, is the Marble Palace, which we saw on the day of our city tour. A quick note on that: it is a large, marble house, with cavernous function rooms in two stories that enclose a central courtyard. It is in rather neglected condition. The owner, a wealthy potentate, assembled an eclectic collection of European and other art, none of it of particular note that I could determine. However, there are marble statuary, enormous cut-glass chandeliers, furniture, clocks - you name it. One of the interesting things is a grand piano, the first in Kolkata, according to our guide. Kira, Chelsea and Caitlin, going to use the facilities, ran across the owner of the house preparing to do her work-out, and had a conversation with her. She was very curious about them. But . . . back to our day.

Photoshoot in the bustee

Thursday, we went to Dakshindari, the bustee (the slum neighborhood) where Prayrona II sits, at the end of a narrow alley. Reena, who teaches there and at the other Prayrona schools, told us that the kids had been waiting for us for months. When our plans to visit were finalized last March, she told the kids that we were coming, and they were so excited that Reena wished she hadn't told them so early. Waiting is a hard thing for kids! So were arrived, all the aunties and uncles, to lend them our cameras and follow them around the bustee while they snapped away. I had two little girls with me, Sabana Khatun and Sabrale Khatun, and after a couple of quick demonstrations about standing still and pushing the shutter release all the way down when shooting, off they went. At first, they were clicking on the run, and we got a number of great shots of feet, sky, and headless persons. But they got the hang of it very soon. All told, they took nearly 200 pictures of vendors' stalls, mini-factories, old people, babies, families, kitchens - everything you can imagine, and many things you couldn't. I noticed that the bustee was cleaner than it has been in the last two visits, and I came across a crew actually shoveling a pile of garbage into a truck for disposal. The two shutterbugs tussled over the camera a couple of times, but it went very smoothly. We have done this outing twice before, and Reena prompts the kids before we get there, so they knew what kinds of things to photograph. At first, it was just the three of us wandering around, but word travels fast in the bustee, where so many, many people live in close quarters, and we soon had a posse following us. I don't know how many kids came up and eagerly said "hello," and "where are you from?" Visits by westerners to the bustee are rare, and we were both a curiosity and a pleasure for them, I think. Everyone is friendly and smiling when they see the kids with the cameras. One man stopped me and asked, "Can you train them?" If these kids were not in school, they would be working to support the family. It is a measure of how well Reena has worked with the parents to get their support to be asked the question that this man asked me. They do get it - they want their kids to get what the school can help prepare them for - a life better than laboring in the slum, or as a servant in a well-off household. The kids have self-esteem and self-confidence, especially the kids whom I have seen now three times in three years. The ones who were so little three years ago are now noticeably self-possessed. When I look at them, and then at the little ones eating their healthy lunch and laughing and smiling at us, I'm confident that they are in good hands, and that our visits and support is making a difference for them. The photo is my friend (and self-possessed young lady) Saboo.

“The connections we make in the course of a life - maybe that’s what heaven is.”

Monday we went to the first vocational school of Empower the Children: Praroyna 1 or in english, Inspiration 1. And let me tell you, each and every one of these girls has a light inside of them that shines brighter than anything you’ve ever seen..inspiring all who have the honor of looking into their eyes and having that immediate connection. As soon as we got there it we were greeted by their beautiful smiling faces along with a sign that read, “To Our Loving Volunteers, Welcome” (not in that order! but beautifully thoughtful none the less)

Each time we visited one of the Praryona schools we worked on a project with the students. At P1 we made small bags (that resemble a clutch purse back at home!) All of us students, volunteers, teachers, and Rosalie gathered in one of the two rooms of the school and saw that each of the girls had already embroidered a piece of fabric with their names along with one of our names. After we found our partner we sat down together with a needle, thread, a pencil, another piece of fabric, and decorative ribbons and beads and made our one of kind, priceless clutch!

My girl’s name was Ruma and she was so sweet! Very patient with me and my lack of sewing skills; I took forever to do 10 stitches and finally she so kindly looked up at me and gave me a “I’ll take it from here” kind of look.

I felt so special, so happy, so honored! to have been given this purse. It holds so much meaning for me! It was something that we worked on together, a connection that we shared that no one will ever be able to take away from either of us no matter what happens. We laughed and laughed even though we barely spoke any of each other’s native language. It was truly a beautiful thing!

Last night in Kolkata...

WAAAHHHH!!!!!! We are all so sad to say it was our last day in Kolkata today! We visited one more Praroyna school, this time working with the 2 and 3 year olds (just my style!!) Rosalie was nervous that the children would not only be a bit intimidated by us (big, white strangers can be scary if you've never seen anything like them before) but would also not cooperate exactly with the project. Thankfully NONE of this was true! Aside from the one or two that got upset, they were all so accepting and happy to see us. They also did wonderfully with the quilting project we had. Another volunteer, Sandy, will be sewing all the squares together to make a quilt to send back to the school in Scotland that funded these lessons. We used ink pads and used their fingerprints to make all matter of fauna and flora. They enjoyed it and we had a blast (especially Kira and I who were still playing with the kids as the other volunteers were packing up!) Then we had lunch at one of the teachers houses. Champa was incredibly hospitable and it was so cool to see someones actual house here in India. Then we had a three hour boat tour (deja vu?) which was another interesting perspective of the city. After dinner at a cute Italian restaraunt ( and the irony of our final meal in INDIA being ITALIAN was not lost on any of us) Kira, Willson, Tate and myself went to the home of Methab, a friend of Rosalie's, where he and his sister-in-law gave us henna tattoos. Once again, these people wanted nothing but to make us comfortable, give us tea, dessert or whatever we wanted! Indian people are so generous to their guests, it is a true lesson to Americans on how to be a better host/hostess. Champa said "You are our guests, when a guest comes it is like God coming to your home. And because you are here to help destitute children, it is even more so" How many people can any of us in the US say we know that would share that sentiment??? Our henna is absolutely gorgeous and we are all so happy we had the opportunity to have it done!

And tomorrow we are off :( We are so sad about leaving this beautiful place and leaving behind this experience. It's a bit too hard to write about now because, to be honest, I'm a bit in denial about leaving. Perhaps once I'm back home and can wallow in it a bit it will be easier!