On the way to the village we saw the remains of a crash. These trucks are jam packed with people and I hope no one was hurt. I feel bad for the person who owned this vehicle. Especially, if it was a source of income.
It turns out that the villagers get paid once a month. My first thought was how would they buy the things they want or need. Americans buy things all the time. Getting paid once a month I would assume that would make the villagers more conservative and less materialistic. Americans can't wait for "pay day."
Today we visited a community center the foundation established. Jay the Executive Director met with group leaders appointed by villages to represent their community. The foundation touches around 17 villages with a number of resources such as water management, income enhancement, alternative energy and education for women. Mawat is the area the foundation works in and there is 503 villages. The organization works with 17 villages that are spread throughout Mawat for a period of four years in hopes to create a ripple of effect throughout the area. After the four years they move to the next and leave the village with the responsibility to manage and continue with what the foundation has implemented for them. The idea is that it is their responsibility not the foundation and if they want to succeed they cannot rely on outsiders to come in and fix things, it is up to them to work together. This is the main philosophy of the foundation with the programs they implement throughout the villages. They are not a charity, but rather someone they can work together with to better their community.
The group talked about a number of things they are facing with their villages. They talked about leadership skills and how to improve the communication among themselves so that they may improve their communities. For instance they were encourage to listen to concerns and to encourage others when they fail rather blame.
The leaders also shared success stories of people from their villages such as a young girl who could not read, write or even spell her own name. She learned through the foundation's program and is now able to spell her name, write poems and short stories.
We also found a potential subject for our documentary and the team is excited.
After the meeting we headed to Delhi for some shopping. We also got to ride some elephants. It cost 100 rupees, so two American dollars. They tried to get 35 American dollars out of us for each person, but we told them no and we both split our ways. However, they called us back to ride. At first, I didn't want to ride an elephant because I have seen a number of documentaries about elephants losing it and killing people. So I was nervous. However, I manage to get on the elephant. To get on you have to step on the animal. As I step on the elephant I felt that it was wrong. The ride was not enjoyable, I just didn't feel right. I am not a PITA freak, I eat meat. I just didn't feel it was right. Anyways, to make it even worse one of the elephants had some kind of skin infection.
Also, they are a number of people working the main strip. Once we got out of the car people were trying to sell us postcards, and hustle a monkey dancing as well as charming a snake. It was neat, but not enjoyable because people just surrounded us. It wasn't as if I was walking down the strip to witness the attractions. The photos above is of the Rashtrapati Bhavan which is the official residence of the President of India and the photos of the elephants is also on the same strip.
We got to stop at a number of shops and bargain for prices. I took some money out of the ATM, but what I found odd was that the ATM gives you 30 secs to get your money or it will take it back. As I was reading that for 10 secs, I didn't notice my money was already extended out of the machine for me to get. If I waited a bit longer, it would have taken it.
Also, during the market I was asked to buy a map of India. I wasn't interested and told the guy no. After I told him no for about a second time he asked me in a creepy India raspy voice, "do you want some marijuana, do you want some hash?" I looked at him and he then looks at Megan the photographer and says again in a creepy tone, "buy some for your friend." I just ignored him. In India you get put in jail for smoking marijuana. The guy, was just creepy.
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