Letter 2

I'm sitting here trying to think of what to say, what to pick and how to say it. it's been a long week, and we feel like we've learned so much. (and sorry if nothing is proper-cased, the shift keys in the internet cafe are sticky and not worth the effort).

i've been so touched by the stories i've heard. particularly of a woman who told us her story with so much passion and life in her. she contracted AIDS through her husband and found out while she was pregnant.she felt so scared and so unsure of what would happen to her and her baby girl. so much anguish and distress from a disease she did not know much about, and that suddenly made her stigmatized. through LEPRA - a foundation we are working with - she was able to be educated and receive help and just the support she needed. there's more to her story, and i can't do it justice, but it was so touching. now she works for LEPRA and does so much for others in the situation she was in. she's helped start a program to help positive individuals find spouses who are also positives so that the disease doesn't spread, and so many other things, and she's just one person in this organization, just one individual. we were so impressed with her and all the others, and with the organization overall.

we are finishing up our initial meetings with our partners this week and into next, and then we'll get started on nailing down and proposing our projects. it will entail meeting with the partners again to talk about specific projects, visiting communities to do needs assessments, and lots of asking questions and brainstorming. i'm so excited, and i hope i can contribute something meaningful and sustainable. i've already learned so much just from being here in india and from seeing the amazing people here who are making such a difference.

kyle will begin meeting with partners, but with a different aim. he will be getting to know them and finding out what HELP has been able to contribute and how our partnerships can improve. he'll be seeing how well projects from last year have held up. things are not as we expected, so he'll have some work to do, but i know he will do a great job.

aside from project work, we've done a few fun things too. gone to a bazaar, had lots of indian food, ridden lots of rickshaws (woohoo!), gone to see avengers again (indians loooove the hulk, they went crazy for him. oh, and also they have intermission - it just stopped in the middle of a big action scene. really funny), and just walked the streets.

tomorrow we're visiting a leper colony and meeting with another great partner about the dam project. then friday we're going to charminar - the 'old city' of hyderabad. should be great! oh, and we didn't go visit the tribal people this week after all due to some unforeseen stuff, but hopefully later if it works out.

here are some pictures. they're on fb too, but just in case you didn't see them. they were taken in a rural village a few hours away that is doing some great things to help themselves. super cool people.

katrina
(not to be confused with the famous bollywood star. they get so excited when they hear my name, it's great)