Tuesday, July 3, 2007

in the floods




it's raining ... the kind of rain i expected and when it rains.. it floods.. now of my great fears on this journey was dealing with this water..but this morning in my journal and after some prayerful reflection i knew that I, eventually, would have tyo wade through it like the other gajillion people that live here... i can't stay inside forever... so today, a woman most concerned about hygene, wading through what might be the most dirty water in the world ... and it was great..and i knew, after that moment of prayerful reflection, that it would be a baptism... after washing down of my legs and rinsing my shoes i am happy to report that it was a real gift, these floods of calcutta, and now i feel ready for anything ...


too back up a bit .. on saturday we had the opportuntity to go to a drug rehab facility for women that is in southern calcutta...the name is genesis foundation and i was able to intervierw the executive director and about 7 of the women. we only really scratched the surface of thier experience but many of them talked about the profound loss thier addiction brought them and their relationships with drugs were a very big part of thier relationships with thier families and spouses. many of them had lived on the streets where the foundation picked them up... it was a great entrance to this sense of marginalizqation that we are examining here... but one of the great lines that came from mr. bose, the director, when asked about starting genesis foundation, was " we don't need anyone's permission to do good " i found it to be a great mandate. i also met his wife... who when they met was so interested in what he was doing, joined the cause.. we had tea in thier house and what an awesome couple.. you can tell that they are the house where everyeone comes when they need help, or the want to have fun. i.e. while we were hangingout agarage band was rehearsing in her living room..you can see how they take care of people...here is a picture of us at Genesis Foundation. from right to left is me, josiah, mar's oldest grandchild . then Diya, part of our group a dear friend co-researcher and translator, her best friend prianca who is from calcutta and who introduced us to Genesis foundation and her brother Buro. in front of all of us is jorden, another one of mar's grandchildren.

now, since it has been raining, we have been working indoors a bit... but we are looking forward to being back on the street soon.

hope all is well and miss you all, jamie

4 comments:

Pat & John Preston said...

Hi, Jaime,

Good to see you in India - congratulations on getting the pictures into your Blog. It amazing to hear about the flooding and even more amazing to see the photos. You look happy, in spite of the wet feet.

Hope your work continues to go well. We look forward to reading more of your on-the-scene reports and we are certainly learning a lot about life in Calcutta.

Love and peace to you (and Happy 4th of July!),
Pat & John

Jamie said...

hey you two!!! it was so crazy this water and it hasn't stopped... ithought europe was sometihng about keeping it's own time calcutta doesn't even open until 11.. and then you see business men even wading to work with their brief cases..when are you leaving for ireland?!?!
thanks for checking in and i'll hopefully be uploading more soon.
peace and love you too!
jamie

Unknown said...

James!

I'm glad you had the idea to start this blog. It's great to see you again - even if it's only through the computer! You look great and it sounds like you are having some amazing experiences. Looking forward to reading more about your time in India. Good luck!

Much love,
Luisina

Jamie said...

Hey Cine!
nuts isn't it ... this place is crazy.. i hope someday we can travel somehwere together... wouldn't that be good times!
our parents have been hanging out too... i think they know more about what we are doing that we know of eachother... i know i keep saying this, but let's get together sometime... much love and send my love to joe, jamie