sometimes you forget

    Recently so much has happened. We went to the Mantrimandir, in Auroville yesterday the 28th. Here it is preached there is no religion, just inner peace. We did a tour and then walked around the outside of it. Tomorrow we will be going inside, and seeing the amazingness of it all! We had a great breakfast this morning and I found out that all around the campus are hand sized chunks of petrified wood! well that's all for now tonight we are going out for dinner and cocktails (I'm planning on getting a mojito, and something else). Also enjoy the last pictures they are a few examples of what I have been eating!

Women the untapped resource

    Sorry for not blogging lately, recently it has been crazy. Tomorrow we are going into Auroville which will be amazing, then the next three days we will be finishing up GIS. Time is flying! This morning we talked with Benjamin Budda (aka Buba) who is a UNDP official (United Nations Development Program). I learned a lot, 1st point being all UN officials agree Global Climate Change is happening as much as some people want to say it's not. 2nd that the human race passed Earths carrying capacity in 1983. That there is nothing that can be done to stop Global Climate Change, just things we can do to slow the process and make it easier to evolve with it. The Tsunami that killed 150,000 people in Indonesia, and 17,000 on the east coast of India, was one of the several storms that resulted from Global Climate Change (Hurricane Sandy was another event closer to home). All of these are excepted facts by the UN.
       I also have learned there are several makes of cars in India that have lower emissions than(and are extremely cheap to manufacture and produce)  any car in the US however due to them also being to inexpensive car manufacturers in the US have prevented these cars from reaching the US market. I also have learned that the UN has the Development Program department to help undeveloped countries deal with issues caused by Global Climate Change, and other issues. This is important because in these areas homes consists of thatched huts that can not with stand a storm surge, so a storm like sand would have demolished all the villages in the area I am in which is a relative big city compared to the ones in the US (small compared to Asia).
     I also found out the UN's millennium goals, which are really interesting to learn about (if you are curious look them up). There are 7 of them, end poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, combat aids/HIV, environmental sustainability, and global partnership. All of which are vital whether or not you are a developing country or a developed country. The main ones we talked about are the universal education, gender equality, poverty, maternal/child health.
     In most countries the societal structure is patriarchal. In most developing countries the sons stay with their parents where daughters when married off move into their husbands homes. Meaning that parents due to the fact that they lose their daughters don't want to invest very much into them. Where as for sons, they provide a retirement so you want your sons educated and well off. So if you have limited funds and can only send one kid off to school which one do you send, the one that is your future or the one you marry off? This leads to having more boys educated than girls.
      Now most governments readily will admit that they want their women population working and being educated because they are just an untapped human resource who could help with everything from development to production. There are also studies performed that show that women (note this is in most cases, and also in developing patriarchal countries) when they earn the money for their household they spend 60% on the family, 30% on the home, and keep 10%. Where as men spend 70%-80% on themselves, spend 20% on the family and home. Now if the woman is bring in the money not only is the money being spent of the family and needs of the home but also she will save money and since she has a job she is financial independent from her husband. This is important because in most areas like here husbands beat their wives kids, and since their wives are dependent they can't leave and escape their situation.
    So I guess what I have been trying to say is through providing an income and education to women, you are in turn providing strength and safety for the women and children. Kind of cool right? Yes and no there are other issues going on, women have responsibilities in their homes to make meals, keep the house clean, so if you telling them to work 40 hours a week on top of running a home you aren't making their lives any easier right? Nothing here is black and white it is all shades.

Let there be life

 Here are some pictures from our visit to the village! Also I included images of the crew, and I learned how to kind of play Cricket. 

so much poop

      There are many things I learned today, 1 dead bodies are  buried under sand on the beaches, 2 people poop orange due to malnutrition, 3 people poop on the beaches, 4 I can survive a rip tide, 5 the book Life of Pi begins where I am staying describes the area accurately, and 6 seashells are very pretty. So needless to say I have learned a lot and it is only 15:31! crazy right? and yes, I am now using Army time cause that is what everyone uses here. In about an hour we will be walking to the village and playing and having fun with the children there and then go with them to night school. After which we will be going to Ravi's house and enjoying a cook out then falling asleep to enjoy our first day off!
      Well I guess I should explain my day a little more. Today we went to the beach known as Bommayapayalam there we dodged poop bombs and wet patches and collected sand samples along a transect and also formed transects so we can later make a topographic map of the beach and discuss the reverence of tidal patterns and beach erosion to sand size. However while we were there a few of us decided to go swimming. I of course went just beyond the last sand bar (where we might have been warned previously not to go) and got pulled out and flipped upside down. Thankfully my mother made me take those swimming classes and so I was able to semi surface and swim parallel to the coast line and eventually I broke free from it. So thank you mom. Then we started doing our GIS work that's when a few of us started to realize there were long lumps of sand all over the upper portion of the beaches. Then slowly the reality hit us that all of these coastal villages used the beach as a burial site, toilet, and place to park their boats, all because inland there is no space and the rest of the coast is being destroyed.
      Also as I mentioned everyone to get a great idea of what it is like where I am read Life of Pie, the author even talks about eating with your hands which yes I do all the time with anything from yogurt, soup to noodles, or rice. For some reason being able to hold your food, it makes it taste so much more interesting (maybe due to the fact you experience more of its texture?). He also mentions numerous areas I have mentioned Lakshmi who is the goddess of wealth whose temple I went to and got blessed by an elephant.

GIS stands for (grueling imaging system)

So I have learned a lot. I have learned I really do have really awesome parents, who I miss. I have a lot, I have gotten to experience and see things I could never hope to describe, and last but not least, wearing a scarf means you deserve respect. I can't believe I have been away 3 weeks. During the last few days we spent time hanging out around campus playing cards, attending our 4 hour long
GIS courses, and eating food. Last night we went out to the Trusties house of Feral (Foundation of Ecological Research and Advocacy Learning), which was awesome. I had lots of fun conversations and played cards again. Sorry for the short post but I promise tomorrow to post pictures of things and write about more fun facts.

Don't you forget about me

Today was a great down day! I got my computer back, which means I am now able to skype! Also we went into town and it is the beginning of Pongal (which is a 4 day Tamil thanksgiving type deal). So lots of parades and food and loud sounds will be heard and keeping me awake for the next four days. Also here are the promised pictures of where I will be living the next 2ish weeks, a picture of the yoga festival and images of the walking Gandhi. Also the image of me looking kinda of crazed is with Emily and Lukshmi the elephant who gives blessings. Another weird thing is people hang the mothers eyes every where, to provide luck and prevent theft. Now you might be asking to yourself who is the mother? The mother is one of the two creators who helped design and plan the city of Aurovile; which is a alternative living community, filled with Europeans, northerners (people from northern India) and new age hippies. However the mother did help out Puducherry so there are Ashrams and other sites founded in her name. And yes, I meant Puducherry, instead of Pondicherry this is because recently in order for the colonial area of Pondicherry and several other areas to establish distance from their colonial pasts have changed their names at great cost, cause more economic issues in this area. 

Another fun fact is the campus is based in a village of the lowest cast level, so most people live in grass huts on the ground (allowing rodents ants and anything else in), and most don't have waste systems in place so they use the surrounding area, so in the mornings you will see people relieving themselves. I also learned today, never pay with your left hand. Yes I knew this but I kind of forgot, but after the look I got from the man today that I paid, I don't think I will ever forget again. Well those are my little tid bits of knowledge for you guys for today!

 

By the way this is one of the many geckos I wake up with. How they get in....our huts are not sealed off from the outside world (just note the back wall in the picture) the huts are only to help prevent some of natures forces from bothering us while we sleep that is why it is key to sleep under the bug netting.