If you are reading this, you are still getting the "old" blog. We've moved blog accounts and you can subscribe to the new blog at this page: http://www.abilitybeyondthehorizon.org/2012/07/02/im-here-wow-what-an-experience/
Apologies that its taken me a while to get anything up. Internet has been fairly unreliable and I'm still working to sort that out. I was able to get up at 5 this morning thanks to jet lag, and the internet was working, the room was not yet heated by the sun in July, so I feel comfortable enough to actually write something. :-)
So, I left Thursday on what was a very long trip here to Hyderabad. Leaving Tampa International was a very teary experience, its the longest I will have ever been away from Quin, and I realize I've gotten quite the addiction to my little guy. He makes me smile every single day, and I can't wait to see him again. If I've not flown my paramotor for a while I start having dreams of flying when I'm home. Well, the first dream I've had was of Quin, and not flying, so I guess I miss him more than flying, and that's saying a lot! Unfortunately he's 2, and I can't get him to talk to me on the phone for more than a couple minutes, it breaks my heart. I can't imagine what our service members go through when they leave their families for a year. That's insanity and makes their sacrifice that much more poignant to me. He and Melissa will be on a plane to Austria today, so they should have some good fun, and I'm a little jealous :-) I miss them both terribly.
The plane trip was pretty uneventful, the first leg was to Atlanta with a very brief layover, which is good because I wasn't ready to stop yet. Then onto Amsterdam for about 9 hours. I had a window seat next to a lady who spoke no English at all, so it was a quiet flight. She was very sweet though and had a nice smile, one of those ladies who you know bakes something really well, probably cookies, and her grand kids probably love her a lot. I would love to go to Amsterdam for some more time, and I think my next trip to Europe will include it. It looked great from 3000 feet.
Next off to Mumbai, another 8 hour flight. This time I was on an aisle next to a boy flying with his family returning to India. They were going to leave the son in India so he could finish his high school, the dad works in the Caribbean somewhere and he wanted his son to have a good education. So they were just going to leave him with family. I couldn't imagine doing that with Quin, though he's not an irritating teen yet, so maybe I will change my mind in the future, though I doubt it.
Once landing in Mumbai, I was re-introduced to the ridiculousness of Indian bureaucracy. I had my passport checked no less than 20 times, there was some guard every few feet to look it over. Twice I was told I couldn't go that way, only to go to another guard who let me through so that I could get to the domestic side of the airport. My thought is that there are so many people that need jobs here, they don't pay them very well, and so they make up for their smaller income by being bossy and feeling like they have some power. Its nuts. Once in Mumbai domestic, I had to settle in for a long night and I was wide awake. I arrived at 11pm India time, and my next flight wasn't until 7:25am the next morning. It turns out that the Indian lady across the way from me was also traveling from the US. She's also a colo-rectal surgeon visiting family and was 34 years old with a 2.5 year old son. We had a great evening talking about our kids and sharing ideas for work. I gave her a card and hope she'll email me, I'd love to stay in touch with her. She tried to convince me to go to medical school, and wants herself to do some work in Africa with women. She says I would get in easy because medical schools today are looking for more than biology majors, and my background would really help. Interesting thought...
Finally in Hyderabad at 8:55am where I was picked up by the same guys that picked me up last year. Nice men, and it was like meeting old friends, even though we didn't say more than 10 words to each other. There is definitely a language barrier. Here at the school, its an interesting place. I'm living here, which gives me so much insight to how it is in the "real world" of Indian schools for the blind, and they are treating me like a king. I definitely have it better than anyone else at this school, even though by American standards, the "hotel" would probably be condemned. Its all relative though, and I'm grateful for the kindness they're showing me. What makes my accommodations so relatively wonderful? I have a refrigerator and my own toilet. A ceiling fan that works, and my own bed that I don't share with anyone else. The others? A few of the top employees get their own living space at the school, but during the day it may be a classroom, so they're sleeping on tables. The guard of the school sleeps on a table on the porch. The kids sleep in dorms all bunked together girls and guys separate, of course. Pretty much everyone uses a latrine style toilet behind the school that empties into the "sewer" that I think God intended to be a river once upon a time, but has been repurposed to one of the nastiest bodies of water I've ever lived next to and smelled. None of us have hot water.
I however am treated like a king. Annoyingly so sometimes :-) I'm very appreciative of the respect they are showing me, but this American is not used to having servants. I can't "unsee" them like people who grow up with servants can. I can't help but notice their humanity, and feel like I have no right to impose myself on them when my legs work just as well. Dr. Goud the school's founder and a local ophthalmologist just yesterday offered me a bell. With this bell I could ring it whenever I wanted, and someone would be by to tend to my needs. Seriously. I couldn't do it, I wish I could say I was tempted, because maybe that would indicate I'm "moving up in the world" from my roots as a real person, but I see how hard the people already work here. Padma, the school mom, who takes care of all the children, is school nurse, cafeteria lady, and pretty much everything else around, here works her tail off. I couldn't imagine asking her to do something else for me like come to the ringing of a bell.
We had class yesterday for the first time. It went pretty well for a first day. We'll see how today unfolds now that we've all met each other. They got their canes and have a real willingness to learn. There are some changes that will have to come into effect here at the school though before what I'm teaching in mobility will become valuable to the children. They gave away the canes I brought last year, real high quality ones for a white cane event to generate income for the school. The children never touched them after my leaving last year, I asked them. That makes me pretty sad. I've already said I wouldn't be very happy if this happened again this year. I don't intend to waste my time and the time of others by not having at least something implemented.
The students in the class are very interested in changing toward a more holistic student approach, rather than purely academics. We discussed individual education plans, having the children become more responsible for chores around the school, and teaching more life skills. The students were excited, I think largely because many of them have children who attend Devnar. They want the best for their kids and see the value of having their children grow up to be fully participatory members of society and not "poor blind people". Now, I need to convince Ms. Lilly the school principal, and Dr. Goud the school's chairman that this is valuable. In my opinion, more valuable for the long term success of their students than their ability to do math. If you don't know how to take care of your daily care needs, and travel independently, it doesn't matter how much Algebra you know, you won't get a job.
Well, before the electricity cuts out for its daily interval at 8am, I'm going to wrap this up. At least its better than Vietnam where they cut the electricity in the heat of the day to save energy. I love you all very much. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments or by email. I'll update again soon.
~Mickey
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