7/3/2012 Tuesday
We got to take an auto-share (larger auto-rickshaw) vehicle to the first site, FLI (Family Life Institute). Some of the things they are involved in are:
+ hosting their own, private school to the area children. The cool thing with that is it is available at a fraction of the cost other private schools are.
+ low-cost medical assistance to the area people, including gypsies
+ providing space to foster a self-help group
+ providing instruction at minimal cost, to local women for sewing clothes both for themselves and to sell to others
Once there, we got to interact with the children and walk in on some classes, and tour the buildings and area. The children we absolutely ecstatic to see us! They were ages preschool through grade 5 standard, and were learning English and Tamil. All the time, the older girls wanted to say our names, for us to speak to them in English. Finally, I asked to say something in Tamil, so they taught me. Oh, they just giggled about that!!! And then, they just wanted to play with us, or for us to play with them. So Becca, Laura Lou, and I taught them "Duck, Duck, Goose", which they absolutely ate up.
We had tea time and then at 11:30 or so, we left to go eat.
Next was our long drive to IWCO (Indian Community Welfare Organisation). This was our first, long introduction to the notorious, crazy Indian driver. Oh boy... he used the horn very liberally, spoke much Tamil to himself all the time, clicked the lights frequently at the other drivers, swerved everywhere, braked all the time, sped up, braked... Is this making you sick, yet?! Because we were all carsick by the time the day was done.
Anyways, we ended up here and had a whole presentation prepared for us, highlighting the different programs under IWCO.
- Link Workers scheme- area volunteers and paid workers, working in villages searching for sex workers. They go around to homes and educate people about protection and condoms, because they are very concerned about HIV/AIDS.
- Composite Intervention among gay men, Transgender, and female sex workers
- Urban Poor Homeless Initiatives in Chennai
A common theme of their programs is HIV/AIDS prevention and education, providing support to minority groups and their children, and for the homeless, working for them so they stand up for themselves and demand help from the government, because in India, there is a law that says all people should have shelter, or at least something to that effect.
Then, we were instructed to meet at the beach, to meet some LGBTQ people and look at their "cruising" sites. It took us over an hour to get there because of all the traffic. This was no ordinary trip to the beach, like you would typically find in the US. No, we were going to meet with the LGBT and recently Q community to talk with some transgender people. It sounds kind of weird, I know, in writing, but it was so cool! (I thought it was.) These particular people are ones who work with the organization IWCO (one of our field placement sites, if we choose to work with them). Yes, India has gay people too!
We got to take an auto-share (larger auto-rickshaw) vehicle to the first site, FLI (Family Life Institute). Some of the things they are involved in are:
+ hosting their own, private school to the area children. The cool thing with that is it is available at a fraction of the cost other private schools are.
+ low-cost medical assistance to the area people, including gypsies
+ providing space to foster a self-help group
+ providing instruction at minimal cost, to local women for sewing clothes both for themselves and to sell to others
Once there, we got to interact with the children and walk in on some classes, and tour the buildings and area. The children we absolutely ecstatic to see us! They were ages preschool through grade 5 standard, and were learning English and Tamil. All the time, the older girls wanted to say our names, for us to speak to them in English. Finally, I asked to say something in Tamil, so they taught me. Oh, they just giggled about that!!! And then, they just wanted to play with us, or for us to play with them. So Becca, Laura Lou, and I taught them "Duck, Duck, Goose", which they absolutely ate up.
We had tea time and then at 11:30 or so, we left to go eat.
Next was our long drive to IWCO (Indian Community Welfare Organisation). This was our first, long introduction to the notorious, crazy Indian driver. Oh boy... he used the horn very liberally, spoke much Tamil to himself all the time, clicked the lights frequently at the other drivers, swerved everywhere, braked all the time, sped up, braked... Is this making you sick, yet?! Because we were all carsick by the time the day was done.
Anyways, we ended up here and had a whole presentation prepared for us, highlighting the different programs under IWCO.
- Link Workers scheme- area volunteers and paid workers, working in villages searching for sex workers. They go around to homes and educate people about protection and condoms, because they are very concerned about HIV/AIDS.
- Composite Intervention among gay men, Transgender, and female sex workers
- Urban Poor Homeless Initiatives in Chennai
A common theme of their programs is HIV/AIDS prevention and education, providing support to minority groups and their children, and for the homeless, working for them so they stand up for themselves and demand help from the government, because in India, there is a law that says all people should have shelter, or at least something to that effect.
Then, we were instructed to meet at the beach, to meet some LGBTQ people and look at their "cruising" sites. It took us over an hour to get there because of all the traffic. This was no ordinary trip to the beach, like you would typically find in the US. No, we were going to meet with the LGBT and recently Q community to talk with some transgender people. It sounds kind of weird, I know, in writing, but it was so cool! (I thought it was.) These particular people are ones who work with the organization IWCO (one of our field placement sites, if we choose to work with them). Yes, India has gay people too!
Anyway, we drove to meet them on the beach at dusk, because that is when the khoti (meaning, cross-dressing men) go out. They all will sit around on the sidewalk/concrete walls around the roads to the beach, and at nightfall, walk along the beach, meeting up with other khoti, or meeting clients. IWCO has a support system for this, but they also do some HIV/AIDS prevention work with them- so the man (woman by night) we heard speak, set up an outlet (yellow box with information and condoms) so that people could access it.
She was part of a jamad (equivalent of 'honorary' family). The jamad supports each other and is comprised of several other khoti people. We met with some and were able to talk with them/ask questions- actually, they expected it! So, through this, we learned more about how they "came into it", and some struggles they've had. Anu translated for us.
She was part of a jamad (equivalent of 'honorary' family). The jamad supports each other and is comprised of several other khoti people. We met with some and were able to talk with them/ask questions- actually, they expected it! So, through this, we learned more about how they "came into it", and some struggles they've had. Anu translated for us.
At 9:00pm, we finally got to the restaurant, a Punjabi place (northern Indian). However, we were all so sick from the trip, and exhausted from the long day, that we just had a mild, not really spicy meal. I had tomato soup. :)
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