March 9, 2001
Dear friends,
OK, here it is. The very last time you will hear from me in this mass email
way. I promise.
Eelko and I leave Udayan on Wednesday (the 14th). We'll go first to Varanasi
(the famous place with the ghats near the Ganges where if you die you go
straight to nirvana and miss out on the next lives), then to Agra (Taj Mahal),
then to Rajasthan (desert and palaces place) and by April 17th we have to be out
of India so we'll head to Nepal. I’ll be back in Canada for a couple months in
July. I hope to see many of you then.
Udayan’s web site is finished and ready to present to the world! There are
lots of photos that you might enjoy checking out and information about the
history of the place and what really goes on here. Please let me know if you
have any suggestions. It's a simple web site, but Udayan is a simple place, so I
think it's appropriate.
Here's the URL:
www.udayan.org
I must thank you all for your reassuring emails after my last email. I didn't
actually mean to provoke that kind of outpouring of support but nonetheless, it
was appreciated. I've had quite a lot of contact with other NGOs and I know that
the feelings I have are experienced by everyone who does this type of work. It
comes with the territory. I've tried to set things up as best I can so that
things will keep on trucking along until someone else comes. Father Stevens will
put an ad throughout India looking for a full-time (paid) music/English teacher
here and he is also looking into some interested volunteer applicants from
England. I do feel very good about the work I've done here, particularly in the
relationships that I've built with the children. If it were only teaching that I
did, it would be easy to leave, but I've been a big sister, friend, and mother
too. That's what makes it so hard.
My sister pointed out to me, in her usual to-the-point manner, that some
people may have interpreted my comment about Indians not taking pride in their
work in a bad way. Being “PC (politically correct)” is such a western
phenomenon, apparently I'm losing a bit of that and I can't say I'm too upset
about it! That theory is one that I formulated along with three of my closest
friends here when we were up late one night, discussing all the beautiful and
not-so-beautiful things about India. They've been here much longer than I have
(ie: they’re Indian) and through their experiences and mine, that's what we came
up with. I love India, and I love the incredible hospitality and warmth of the
Indian people, but there are things I don't like too. It is such a complex
country. The longer I stay, the less I understand. It produces more than enough
food to feed everyone yet so many people die of hunger. Seeing a dead man,
obviously starved and diseased to death, lying on a platform at a train station
with his hand outstretched as if he died asking for help, is something that will
leave an imprint on my soul forever.
The staff here tells me I've done a lot for Udayan and no matter how much I
try to explain, most of them don't really believe me when I say that Udayan has
given me much more than I have given it. I've learned how to make databases, how
to make web sites, how to teach English, how to play the recorder, how to teach
a children's choir, how to teach violin in an environment that initially seems
less than ideal……More than anything, it has given me the love of these children.
I had a conversation with one little 12 year old boy about his family. We spoke
about his sisters and how they stopped school after Class Two and got married.
We discussed the matter and in the end he adamantly stated that when he has
children, his girls will go to school until Class Ten and then further if they
want. Even if that's the only little boy whose life I touched (and I know it's
not), then my time here was not wasted.
Thank you all so much for helping make this time here possible.
love Jill
To contact the school:
Udayan
PO Box 10264
Calcutta 700 019
India
www.udayan.org
