Basic Human Needs

A few years ago at my friends Bob and Greg's wedding, I met Jess. She had been living in India for quite a few years and her and her husband had started a school for children living on the streets of Varanassi. This had since expanded to include a hostel for the children to stay in so they were off the streets and had a safe place to live.

When I started to think about India I got her email to see if I could come help out at her school. Things have worked out so beautifully. She flew into Delhi the day Shauna left and was heading up to meet the kids at summer camp in the mountains near Almora. The school had received funds to escape the heat of Varanassi stay in the mountains for a month.

We arrived to 50 kids aged 5 to 16, and 6 staff members. It is so hard for me to even start to describe experience I am having. The first few nights we were 13 to a small room with one bed and I shared it with three other kids. Waking up with legs and arms cuddle up to me and heads trying to steal my pillow. Which woudn't have bothered me if the the smell of the lice treatment in there hair was not so stinky. We have had problems getting water and every seond day we walk an hour to the small river to swim, bathe and all the kids wash out their own clothes. They all find this quite natural and me being the lazy westerner seem to be the only one finding it a little weird swimming and bathing fully clothed and I also seem to get my clothes dirtier every time I attempt to wash them and the kids have to help.

We all eat our meals together on mats on the floor and it sounds stupid but they are soo good at eating with their hands. It is currently nap time and all the kids are asleep or doing chores. The weather has been amazing and on a clear day I wake up to a stunning view of the Himilayas.

To say I am volunteering does not quite sound right. For the most part the kids do the work and I just get to hang out and play with them. It has been difficult as few of the kids speak English but the longer I am here the more they try. I feel like I am just now starting to see India and am so grateful that I have been given the chance to be a part of these kids lives for a little while. The more I get to know them the more stories I learn about there families and how they ended up here. I actually find it hard to look at them sometimes as they are laughing and playing and not cry.

One of the 6 year old girls parents took her out of the hostel for a month so they could use her for begging and then thought it would be fun to get her drunk and make her eat beetle nut (a narcotic) When they finally returned her to the hostel she was presenting as a drug addict. Another boy of 9 years old was left to care for his 4 younger sisters, one night he dropped his baby sister on her head and didn't know what to do and she died. He still does not speak about it. Another 5 year old girl watched as her father killed her mother in a fire. None of the kids have safe homes to go to and the stories go on and on. But here in the mountains and at their school in Varanassi they are safe and loved. The get access to three meals a day, an education and a safe place to sleep. I am really not saying these stories to be shocking but the school is always running out of money and is not funded at all by the Indian government that does not feel that are any problems with the education system. I know everyone has their charities at home that they already give too but being here and seeing how hard working the staff are (they get paid about $120 a month.) and they put so much work into providing for these kids with no overhead bureaucratic and administrative fees I am determined to try to help because I can't imagine even one of these kids on the street again.

Check out their web site if even just to see what I have been up to for the past week and some basichumanneeds.net

And on top of everything else that has made this past week amazing I have made a good friend in Jessica. I will head out on Friday and not sure where or with whom but I really hope to be able to get to Varanassi at the end of the trip to see the kids and the school. Well nap time is over and the kids are up with fresh energy, I think I should have been napping too.