India Archives

July 14, 2016October 3, 2017

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Vanam Foundation: Improving Education and Conservation outside Bandipur National Park

About 230 km (143 miles) away from Bangalore lies the Bandipur National Park in the district of Chamarajnagar. Tucked around the stunning Western Ghat Mountains in Karnataka, Bandipur National Park is regarded as one of the most beautiful parks in India and is home to many types of wildlife including tigers, elephants and gaurs (a type of bull) as well as the predominantly indigenous communities that surround the park. Together with Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala and Nagarhole National Park in the North, it creates the India’s largest biosphere reserve popularly known as the ‘Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve’ and is an important part of India’s efforts towards eco-conservation.

Bandipur National Park was founded in 1974 under the Indian Government in efforts to conserve the tigers and wildlife community, however, in the process of establishing the park the tribal populations who has lived in the forests of the reserve for centuries were moved off of their land and into the villages and hamlets that surround the park. They had lost access to their traditional way of life as forest dwellers and were moved into subsistence farming on dry plots of land.

Morning at a water body inside the Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Photo credit: Nithila Baskaran)

May 4, 2016May 5, 2016

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The inspiring story behind Anchal Project

ANCHAL /ON-CHAL/ NOUN

(1). The decorative edge of a sari used to provide comfort and protect to loved ones. (2). A Shelter.

I first learned about Anchal Project a few years ago from a fellow social good blogger who lives in Louisville, Kentucky where Anchal Project is based. After looking at their beautiful website and learning about their philanthropic model, I bought my first scarf and fell in love with the beauty and exquisiteness of their unique products and the story behind each scarf. I have been promoting their products on my Gifts that Give Back page for years and finally this week I had the opportunity to speak with co-founder and CEO Colleen Clines about the inspiration behind Anchal Project and what she has done to help women escape poverty and prostitution in India. Little did I know, her own personal story was equally as inspiring and powerful as her work heading Anchal Project. Here is the story.

Colleen meeting with the women of Anchal.

Gifts that Give Back SOCIAL GOOD

November 30, 2015April 7, 2019

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GIFTS THAT GIVE BACK: Introducing Bloom and Give

“Not many people have the opportunity to do work that they love and are passionate about” says Partha Raghunathan, co-founder of Bloom & Give. “I feel very fortunate to do this work”.

Have you ever wondered how you could make your life more meaningful and find a way to give back to do good? It is a question many of us have asked ourselves yet few have dared to do. For Partha Raghunathan and Madhu Rajendran, two Indian-born men living in Texas and working in the tech field, it was the desire to do good and help others that eventually lead them both to leave their comfortable positions as engineers at a tech company and start a new socially minded business together called Bloom & Give.

Bloom & Give sells beautifully handcrafted scarves and bags made in India using techniques passed on from generation to generation. However, what makes Bloom & Give so unique is their mission: To change girls’ lives through education in some of the most gender inequal areas in India. Although both Partha and Madhu are Indian, they have lived in the United States for over twenty years and confessed they are a bit removed from some of India’s social issues. It took a trip to India with a good friend to the state of Rajasthan to seal their fate.

I had the opportunity to speak with Partha and Madhu to learn more about their amazing business and journey together to change girls lives in India. It was a fascinating conversation with lots of laughs as well as delightful inspiration to hear how they were able to find a higher meaning and value in their work. Here is their story.

MADE IN INDIA, WITH LOVE

It all began during a visit back to India with one of their good friends, an American textile designer named Hallie Gray. Partha and Madhu, friends for over twenty years and fathers of daughters, traveled to Rajasthan to help Hallie source her products. During the trip, they had their first exposure to block printing, an art that had been around for over 5,000 years and is still practiced today. It was breathtaking to watch and life-changing for Partha and Madhu.

While spending time with the artisans, they learned more about their lives and realized that girls education was a huge issue in that region of India. Both fathers of daughters, they realized how fortunate their girls were to be receiving a good education in the United States while many girls in India do not have the same opportunity. It was a pivotal moment that eventually lead to the creation of Bloom & Give.

The breathtaking Jaipur Jal Maha. Photo credit: Bloom & Give

The breathtaking Jaipur Jal Maha located in Rajasthan, India where Bloom & Give sources their product and supports girls education. Photo credit: Bloom & Give

Partha and Madhu were at first nervous about entering this new space of creating products for women and giving back to girls education. Typically owners of such companies are women, not men. Yet after much thought they realized that creating Bloom & Give would be a way for them to give back and truly change things in India.

Gifts that Give Back SOCIAL GOOD

May 30, 2014April 14, 2018

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A Snapshot of India

Sometimes it is true that a picture can paint a thousand words. This week’s photo challenge: A Split-Second Story, inspired me to dig deep throughout my vast archive of photographs, each one telling a story of a certain place and time. In my opinion, there is no place on earth that a simple photo can tell so much about a place than India.

India, one of the most populous countries on the earth, is full of color, contradiction, glory and pain. It is a place of wonder, sorrow, fear and hope. India bursts with humanity on every street or corner you pass. You can see it all there – poverty, wealth, good, bad, happy, sad, beauty and tragedy.

Behind the beautiful, lavish parts of India always lies the most abject poverty imaginable. Nothing can prepare you for the stark reality of desperation, misery and despair of walking through a real live slum in the heart of India’s capital. Sometimes the most severe poverty is hidden behind the walls and within the confines of a slum. Other times, it stares right back at you like a hard slap across your face. You try to look away, and ignore the creeping, uncomfortable nagging guilt. But you can’t.

Dignity

Woman leaving the newly constructed toilet compound thanks to WaterAid.

Irony

Women living on the street, outside the walls of the American Embassy near Vivekananda Slums in Delhi, India.

In the background of the lush green, beautiful grounds of the American Embassy lies the Vivekananda Camp, one of many unauthorized slums that surround every single part of Delhi. I visited this slum as part of a tour with WaterAid, a global NGO that provides safe drinking water and sanitation to areas around the world that do not have access to it.

The stark contrast between the neighboring American Embassy and the Vivekananda Slum were almost too hard to morally comprehend. These two places represent the immense contradictions and inequalities that can be found all throughout Delhi and India as a whole. One of the greatest inequalities ever seen anywhere in the world is right there staring into your face, making it impossible to not feel deeply distraught.

In the Vivekananda Camp, a slum of approximately 500 households, there is no running water, no sewer lines and people live in absolute dire circumstances. Thanks to WaterAid, improvements to sanitation have been made by the building of a Community Toilet Complex (CTC), a compound containing 20 toilets for women, 20 for men and a few for children as well as a couple of showers, providing some sort of dignity in a place where dignity hardly exists.

When I saw the old woman leaving the Community Toilet Complex, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was moving slowly, at a snail’s pace, with the help of an old wooden cane. She was heading back into the deep confines of the dirty, dingy slum, to her home. I watched her gait with wonder and hope. She had to be in her eighties and most likely spent almost all her life without a proper toilet. Finally after all these years she had the one thing every human being on this earth is entitled to: Dignity. It brought tears to my eyes for the simple things we take for granted.

Less than a third of people ( 772 million people) have access to sanitation in India, and 90 million people in India do not have access to safe water per WaterAid. Over 186,000 children under five die from diarrhea every year. With 17% of the world’s population (over a billion people), the water crisis in India is only getting worse and is becoming life or death for millions of people.

-WaterAid

This post was inspired by the Weekly Photo Challenge: Split-Second Story. To view more entries, click here.

Note: Right after I posted this today I saw the following tragic press release from WaterAid. Lack of toilets reportedly linked to murder of Uttar Pradesh girls . Via @WaterAidAmerica

Global Health Global Issues Global Non-Profit Organizations and Social Good Enterprises India Poverty SOCIAL GOOD TRAVEL TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY Weekly Photo Challenges

March 20, 2014October 4, 2017

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World Water Day 2014: My #WaterStory

Author’s note: A modified version of this post was published today as well on Elephant Journal. To see this post click here.

This Saturday, March 22, is World Water Day – a day delegated by the United Nations to recognize the importance and need of safe water around the world. In honor of this important day, I am thrilled to be working with the Mom Bloggers for Social Good and WaterAid to help raise awareness of the desperate need for safe drinking water and sanitation around the world. Safe water and sanitation transforms lives and is one of the keys to bringing people out of poverty.

What it’s all about. A Day. A Message. A Vision for Change. “Every drop Every Day”.

Every day, millions of women walk miles to fetch water, often carrying a child too. When the child gets too heavy to carry, they are left at home, often unsupervised. Photo credit: WaterAid.

Did you know that 783 million people do not have access to safe drinking water?

Step back and think about this statistic for a moment. What would you do if you were not able to simply turn on your faucet and fill up your glass or pot with clean, safe water? How would you manage and care for your family?

To most of us in the Western world, the thought of not having instant access to clean, safe drinking water is literally unimaginable. However, for 11 % of the world’s population, this is a tragic reality. When you combine having unsafe drinking water with poor sanitation, it leads to diarrhea which kills 2,000 children every single day. Something completely unthinkable to many of us.

Millions of people are trapped in a world in which clean, fresh and safe water is not even a remote option and sanitation is also lacking. In fact, 1 in 3 people worldwide or 2.5 billion people – do not have access to a safe, private toilet. Not having safe water and sanitation lead to dire consequences and sadly reinforces illnesses, disease and death while significantly contributing to poverty.

In honor of bringing attention to the importance of safe water and sanitation for all, WaterAid has asked that we share our #WaterStory. When I was in India this past May with Mom Bloggers for Social Good, I saw firsthand how safe drinking water and sanitation needs impact people living in extreme poverty. I spent a scorching afternoon with temperatures climbing almost to 120 degrees Fahrenheit touring one of WaterAid’s work sites. Here is my story.

My Water Story:

Behind the beautiful, lavish parts of Delhi always lies the most abject poverty imaginable. I have read several books on the slums of India and thought I’d know what to expect when I saw them in person. Yet nothing I’d ever seen in all my years of travel could have prepared me for the stark reality of desperation, misery and despair of walking through a real live slum in the heart of India’s capital.

Women sitting outside the American Embassy near the Vivekananda Camp, an unauthorized slum in Delhi, India.

In the background of the lush green, beautiful grounds of the American Embassy lies the Vivekananda Camp, one of many unauthorized slums that surround every single part of Delhi. We visited this slum as part of our tour with WaterAid, a global NGO that provides safe drinking water and sanitation to areas around the world that do not have access to it.

The Community Toilet Compound (CTC) inside the Vivekananda unauthorized slum.

The entrance to the CTC which is a pay per use system costing 1 Rupee ($0.02) per use for women, 2 Rupees per use for men and free for children. The charge is used to maintain the facility.

Inside the women’s CTC. This one is a clean facility. Others have run into problems with clogged sewers. Each CTC is managed and monitored by a community worker from FORCE, a local NGO. Therefore, when there are issues with a CTC it can be resolved.

This concrete wall was added to the women’s toilet and shower area to provide privacy from the peeping Toms.

A Vivekananda women using the CTC (left) and a FORCE Project Coordinator on the right.

Vivekananda Slum.

Less than a third of people ( 772 million people) have access to sanitation in India, and 90 million people in India do not have access to safe water per WaterAid. Over 186,000 children under five die from diarrhea every year. With 17% of the world’s population (over a billion people), the water crisis in India is only getting worse and is becoming life or death for millions of people.

This post was written on behalf of my meeting with WaterAid India and our tour of the Vivekananda Slum. All statistics are sourced from WaterAid. All photos are mine.

What you can do:

Just in time for World Water Day, WaterAid is teaming up with Mom Bloggers for Social Good and Global Team of 200 member Jennifer Barbour March 16 – 23 to get a firsthand look at community involvement around water, toilets and hygiene education stands to revolutionize life within the Latin American Caribbean region.

We’ll be meeting up with inspirational women and girls who are eager to share their own #waterstory: a telling example of how smart investments around safe water and toilets can drive entrepreneurship, empower women and improve the health and wellbeing of entire communities.

Follow the journey on Jennifer’s blog and on social media using #WaterAidNica, then join us for a special World Water Day Twitter chat on Friday, March 21, 1pm ET, where Jennifer will be sharing her experience and welcoming your questions about all that she’s seen.

Global Health Global Issues Global Non-Profit Organizations and Social Good Enterprises SOCIAL GOOD

November 22, 2013April 14, 2018

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The unexpected views from a street in Delhi

Last May I had the honor of traveling to India for the second time within a three year time span and was delighted by the unexpected views from the street. Anyone who has ever been to India knows what I am saying when I attest there is no place quite like it on earth. A massive sea of humanity lies within its many cities and streets for those who are willing to unravel it and take it all in, of course using the third eye.

I find India to be one of the most fascinating places on earth and hope to someday go back and see the countryside, villages and of course the mountains. There is something purely magical about India which takes you by surprise. Here are a few of my favorite unexpected views from the streets of Delhi, all taken last May during my social good blogging trip to India with Mom Bloggers for Social Good.

Open your heart. Open your mind. Open your soul and breathe in the unexpectedness of what you will find as everyday life across the streets of Delhi.

Women living on the streets outside the US Embassy

SOCIAL GOOD TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY Weekly Photo Challenges

Meeting with Frontline Health Care Workers in The Indira Kalyan Camp

September 27, 2013October 4, 2017

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Save the Children’s 2013 REAL Awards: Honoring the real heroes

Back in May, I had the unique opportunity to see Save the Children’s work on the ground in India. A big part of Save the Children’s strategy is the employment and training of Frontline Health Care Workers on the ground where oftentimes access to health care is severely limited.

On a steamy hot day in late-May, Jennifer James (Founder of Mom Bloggers for Social Good) and me got to visit The Indira Kalyan Camp, an unauthorized slum inside Delhi to meet with some of the amazing Frontline Health Care Workers providing hope, care and saving lives.

The beautiful colorful dresses worn by Indian women captured my attention.

Listening to one xxx

Meeting with Frontline Health Care Workers in the Indira Kalyan Camp

Global Health Global Issues Global Non-Profit Organizations and Social Good Enterprises SOCIAL GOOD

September 13, 2013October 3, 2017

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UNICEF India’s #ENDViolence Campaign

Over the past year, I have worked hard to build awareness and share the stories with my readers on some of the biggest social issues in the world. I have written about global health, poverty, education, safe water and sanitation, human rights, and most of all, how all of these issues have especially impacted women and girls in the developing world.

The beautiful girls at Protsahan finally getting a better future for themselves.

One topic that is near and dear to my heart is violence against women and girls. It is absolutely horrifying that in today’s world women and girls are being physically and sexually abused on a daily basis. Sadly, it happens everywhere. Yet violence against women and girls is even a greater problem in countries of poverty where the status of women is often so incredibly marginalized that women and girls have little or no say in the matter.

Living in the slums of India can be a dangerous place for a young girl.

Traveling last May to India brought the issue of violence against women and girls to the forefront. I had just arrived after the horrendous rape and killing of a young Indian girl on a moving bus. The country was still in an uproar over the event and justice against these young men who took her life is still being sought. Today, I read the surprising news that these men have been convicted of the highest penalty possible: The death penalty and perhaps marked a change in the way law fighting these atrocities will be handled.

Yet has anything really truly changed for the millions of women around the world who are faced with violence, discrimination, harassment, intimidation, neglect and unworthiness every single day of their lives? Not much. There are laws in India against physical and sexual abuse but seldom are they enforced.

Child Labor, Marriage, Education and Survival Global Issues SOCIAL GOOD Women and Girls

September 6, 2013April 9, 2018

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A Unique Visit to Delhi’s Lotus Temple

Any trip to Delhi requires a stop at the spectacular Lotus Temple. Built in 1986 of pure white marble from the Penteli mountain in Greece, the Lotus Temple is a Bahá’í House of Worship where people of any religions can come to pray. What makes this temple so incredibly unique and awe-inspiring is its shape and form.

Inspired by India’s sacred lotus flower, the temple is composed of 27 free-standing marble “petals” arranged in groups of three to form nine sides forming a lotus flower. It is fitting that the temple is designed to look like India’s treasured lotus flower as the lotus symbolizes many important things in Indian culture: Long life, honor, and good forturne. Images of lotus flowers can be seen throughout India as engravings on temples, buildings and in art.

CULTURE India TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY Weekly Photo Challenges

July 21, 2013April 13, 2018

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The tilted view of the streets of Delhi

“It is impossible not to be astonished by India. Nowhere on Earth does humanity present itself in such a dizzying, creative burst of cultures and religions, races and tongues”. -A Rough Guide to India

A trip through the streets of India brings humanity to her knees. No place on earth is quite like India. When asked by friends “What is India like” I seem to suddenly become silent as no words can fully describe the place unless you’ve been there. Through all her culture, her craziness, her unbelievable sights and her charm, India remains perhaps one of the most intriguing places in the world. I don’t think any place on earth can quite compare.

Getting around India is one of the most knuckle clenching, heart racing things you can do. Oftentimes there are cows in the streets, traffic coming at you in every direction and people everywhere. Many times you get awfully close to an overpacked car and the two dozen pairs of eyes seem to stare into your soul.

Inspired by the views seen through the streets of Delhi I compiled a post of my favorite street shots, many taken from inside a moving vehicle as I was tilting or craning my neck. Just taking a ride through the streets of Delhi is bound to capture your attention and your camera. I remembered to take my third eye along on this trip and it is a good thing I did. Everything and anything is possible in India.

Here are some of my favorite captures.

View outside the car at the over-crowded streets of Delhi.

Global Issues India Poverty TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY

July 18, 2013April 14, 2018

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How Save the Children is Saving the Unborn Child in India

Author’s note: This is the third post documenting my visit on behalf of Mom Bloggers for Social Good to see Save the Children’s work at the Indira Kalyan slum in Delhi, India. To read the first and second post click on the links.

Heading to our next visit within the Indira Kalyan Camp

Having a baby should be one of the most joyous times of a woman’s life. Yet tragically throughout the developing world childbirth is also one of the most deadly times of a woman’s life as well as the life of her newborn child.

Per Save the Children an alarming 3 million babies died globally in their first month of life (2010) and India continues to have a persistently high rate of newborn mortality accounting for 29% of all first day deaths globally or 309,000 a year.

India is not an easy place to be a mother either. A decade ago close to 75,000 women died during childbirth every year. Although that number has been reduced to 56,000 in 2010, it is still way too high, especially given the tragic fact that many of these deaths are preventable.

In India, there is no place that it is more dangerous to be a woman giving birth than in the slums where woman lack access to basic health care services, midwifes and hospitals. Yet organizations like Save the Children are making remarkable progress in educating women about prenatal and postnatal care as well as the importance of delivering their child in a hospital.

Global Health Global Issues Global Non-Profit Organizations and Social Good Enterprises India SOCIAL GOOD TRAVEL BY REGION

July 15, 2013October 3, 2017

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India’s Frontline Health Care Workers: Working door to door to save lives

Author’s note: This is the second post documenting my visit on behalf of Mom Bloggers for Social Good to see Save the Children’s work at the Indira Kalyan slum in Delhi, India. To read the first post click here.

India has made a tremendous amount of progress over the last two decades fighting to save the lives of mothers and children. A decade ago close to 75,000 women died during childbirth every year and this number has been reduced to 56,000 in 2010. Significant progress has also been made in newborn survival. Since 1990, India has reduced the rate of deaths of children under 5 by 46% or almost in half. Despite the major achievements, newborn and maternal dealths are still way too high given the tragic fact that many of these deaths are largely preventable. The situation is especially dire in India, the second most populous country in the world, with a hugely disproportionate percentage of maternal and newborn deaths.

Inside The Indira Kalyan Camp, an unauthorized slum in Delhi

Women inside the indira Kalyan Camp

Per Save the Children’s 2013 State of World’s Mother’s Report:

Nearly 1 in 5 deaths of children under age five are in India. (1.6 million children or 29% of the global total ).
19% of these deaths take place on the day a child is born and 53% occur within the first month of birth.
Large scale inequities within India continue to persist today in terms of wealth disparities, rural-urban divide, education, age of mother, caste, which means that not all babies born in India have an equal change of survival.