Dirty Wall Project

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Dec 30th, 2011

• This morning started normally with our kindergarten and computer classes running their regular classes.
• At 10 am a young family arrived at the centre. We had spoken to this family a week ago after learning about the health of their youngest child. This young family has called our community home for a few years but recently spent a few months in their native village. The mother was there to undergo surgery which could be done much cheaper in the village. While there her 4 month old baby (Tannu) suffered a major “fit” or seizure that lasted nearly 2 hrs. Being in a fairly remote area they visited a small clinic and hospital. Baby Tannu was given an injection to stop the fit but no CT scan or any other test was given. For the last 3 months baby Tannu has been suffering from fits several times a day and has lost weight and cries for nearly the whole day. Her mother approached us a few days ago asking if there was anything we could do. We took her and her family to the newest and most state of the art facility in Mumbai, Seven Hills Hospital. After visiting a Neurologist, Child Specialist and Surgeon, the family was given grave and sad news. Since the original fit, severe scaring has damaged baby Tannu’s brain beyond repair. I stood by the doorway holding their 4 yr old daugher while I watched her mother holding a crying Tannu and her father listenng intently, stonefaced, as they were told that there was little to no hope for their youngest daughter. Heavy fluid on the brain plus major scarring is going to leave Tannu severely mentally impaired. The doctor gave us new prescriptions to try and help prevent the reccuring fits, plus directions for the family on how to stimulate Tannu. A new diet was given in hopes of bringing up her strength and make her more comfortable. DWP paid for the expenses from today but in the end we are fighting a losing battle in which we need a miracle.  Walking from the hospital I watched as the young family spoke to Ashley and I tried to envision the life changing news that I had just witnessed. This young family’s very difficult life had just taken a very serious turn and will forever dictate this familes direction in life. It’s moments like these that I find very emotional and difficult to deal with. While I have the gracious opportunity to help many families there are many families that I cannot.  2600 INR – $54.16 CDN for tests and medications.
• After returning from the hospital I sat with GCB girls while they finsihed working on the aprons.
• By 5pm tired from the emotion of the day I walked home.

Photo of the Day

Dec 29th, 2011

• I started my day with Noorsaba and company in their home. The kids are really loving the morning ritual of taking their medicines. We all sat and ate bananas and watched morning cartoons.
• At 9AM I gathered Indu and Shashi and we pulled apart the GCB centre and gave it a much needed clean. We blasted Bollywood music and danced the dirt away for more than an hour.
• At 10 m Krishna arrived with her son. Krishna is the HIV patient we have been helping for the past week. Today Ashley and I took her across town to Santa Cruz/Juhu to an HIV/Aids specialist. We sat with the doctor for an hour while he looked over charts and spoke to her about how to care for herself. Her blood count was good and the doctor believes if she eats a healthy diet, takes her medicine, plus regular checkups she can live a long and normal life. She was very relieved and cried for a few moments. She has 3 children and desperately wants to see them grow and get married.  The doctor was very kind and spoke of how important it was for her to remain upbeat despite her situation. He stated that a healthy mind can be as good as any medicine in fighting the virus and is vital to her health. The power of the mind is an amazing thing!  Although I have been at hundreds of these doctor visits in my time with DWP it is never easy to sit with someone and be privy to their darkest moments. I am happy that I can be there for her but I am sad that I have to be there at all.
• Ashley, Krishna, her son and I piled into a rik shaw and headed home to Saki Naka a little more upbeat than we were on  the way there. We stopped at a chemist on the way home to fill her prescriptions. The HIV doctor graciously waived his fee for us  so the total came to 944 INR – $19.66 CDN for everything.
• At lunch my family and I were invited to my good friend Ashley Fernandes’ home. His lovely mother cooked a huge meal of fish and chicken. I ate too much and decided to walk back to the community  instead of catching a rik.
• Back at the school I played football in the garden with the kids until we punctured the ball!
• I sat with the GCB girls while Prem slept on my lap. I’m organizing the girls for when my family and I head off to Goa for a few days of respite.
• Happy Birthday to our good friend Atul on his 24th Birthday today!

Photo of the Day

Dec 28th, 2011

• Started my day off at Noorsaba’s home. The kids’ parents were home and sleeping when I arrived. It’s rare to see all 6 kids and parents together. I sat with the family for a while as the kids took their medicine.
• One of our new patients arrived at 10 a.m. She suffers from HIV and just lost her husband a month ago. Luckily for her, all three of her children tests for HIV came back negative. Today we were hoping to take her to the hospital for medicine but she got the timings messed up and we were unable to make it work.
• Ashley and I headed by rik shaw to Chembur to have a look at the new SRA buildings being built. Many slums that are being demolished around the city are being shifted to this area. The area was spooky to say the least, thousands of tiny apartments in what seemed like hundreds of buildings. These slums in the sky are miles away from the nearest school or shop. The closest thing to these new homes is thick industrial smoke. Large stacks and chemical plants surround the area, the roads are congested with heavy trucks bound for the plants. Ashley and I climbed the 7 floors to the top of one of the buildings and found a ladder to reach the very top of the new structure. Security staff spotted us and began running to the top of the building. Once they found us they ushered us to the office where we were yelled at for taking photos. The “boss man” demanded I delete all photos, luckily his knowledge of digital cameras was small and the majority of our photos remain. Security staff then sat in our taxi with us to ensure we left the complex. Turning out of the gate we had a near collision with 2 massive trucks passing each other on the main road. Our driver was able to swerve saving all of our lives…
• On the way back we stopped to get a bite of food and saw busses loaded with Anna Hazare supporters headed to a rally. Anna is here on his 3 day fast fighting corruption. “Anna” is a movement that has been sweeping the country and while we were close we thought it would be interesting to check out. An hour after we left Anna called off his hunger strike after poor turn outs.
• On the way back home we received a call that Pakia, one of our long term garden employees had suffered from a fit. By the time we reached the community, all was fine. Pakia was back watering the garden like nothing happened.
• After a chat with the GCB girls and catching up on the day’s gossip I headed home.

Photo of the Day

Dec 27th, 2011

• A member of the DWP team has been very sick over the last couple days and I spent the morning at the Hospital. A few packets of pills, a heavy dose of sleep and all should be well.
• By noon I reached the community and sat with 6 kids to give them their medicines . Noorsaba  was full of energy today and her personality is really coming through! We are seeing lots of improvement in the family!
• Indu and I worked on the books and calculated the months wages. After looking over the final numbers we decided to give all the women a raise. We will be surprising the women on the 31st with the new pay increase!
• I purchased a back belt for Modi’s mother today. She has been complaining of constant back ache and I hope this helps her. 500 INR – $11.40 CDN
• Indu and I made a house visit to 9o ft road, another slum community in Saki Naka. I have been to this are a few times but am always shocked. It sits below a hill with 2 story slum homes barley standing leaning over open gutters and broken lane ways. I was here to visit a DWP sponsor child to check on the family. We sat for more than an hour visiting with the family. I have decided to sponsor her 8 year old daughter again this year. Her mother who is 46 yrs old and already has 4 children is worried she is pregnant again.On our way out of the community I purchased her a pregnancy test for 50 INR – $1 CDN. I hope for her and her family’s sake she is not pregnant.
• I found out today that the 3 children we tested for HIV have all come back negative.! Truly fantastic news, we will now be working with the mother to help her with ongoing medical bills for herself.
• The rest of the late afternoon I sat with the GCB girls and watched them sew aprons until heading home at 5pm.

Photo of the Day

Dec 26th, 2011

• A late night xmas celebration and our friends, Emma and Chantal’s, early morning flight to northern India made for little sleep.
• By just after 9am I arrived at the school.
• I took Indu and we walked through the back side of the slum to find Subash. We had taken Subash 2 days ago to the hospital and I wanted to see his condition. He is still quite ill but feeling better. I will continue to monitor his condition over the next few days.
• At noon my mom, Sarah and I headed to Powai with Indu and Shashi. We wanted to show them a few new products that we think the women at the centre may be able to create. We started off with lunch and Ice- cream. Shashi and Indu rarely get days like this and we all enjoyed a relaxed afternoon.
• Next we all headed to the Holiday Inn to pick up our products. While we did have quite a few sales during the few days we held the booth in the hotel, we have decided to ship several of our products to Canada and explore some other options here in Mumbai.
• We spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the garden with Noorsaba, Prem and a host of other kids.
• Our afternoon ended with chai and snacks in Reeta’s home. Reeta’s daughter Sneha was one of DWP’s first ever sponsor children. 10 people packed into her home including her parents.
• We haven’t spent much time in this lane way of the slum in a while and as we were leaving we were invited into another home. An hour and another sweet cup of chai later we headed out of the community and home.
• I have spent most of the evening working on the computer writing to the many generous Christmas donors.

Photo of the Day

Dec 25th, 2011

• Merry Christmas from all  of us here in Saki Naka!
• Christmas morning was spent in our apartment enjoying some good food, family and friends. Ashley,Sarah,Emma,Chantal, and my parents and I exchanged some small gifts and enjoyed a lazy morning.
• At noon Kailash picked up my parents and me and we loaded his car with gifts and headed to Nava Jyothi girls’ home where Ashwini has been staying for the past month. With the help of Kailash’s group, (Morpheus Human Charity)  we threw the entire home a Christmas party. A DJ was hired,magic and puppet shows wowed the crowd of over 100 and the girls and Sisters danced their hearts out for 4 hrs!! Gifts were given to each of the children plus some very generous donations organized by Kailash and his team for the home. It was a great day for the girls and we were excited to to see Ashwini so happy! DWP spent 6ooo INR  - $133 CDN on the party.
• In the evening 13 of us gathered at a local restaurant and celebrated a lovely Christmas day!

Photo of the Day

Dec 24th, 2011

• With the school closed for xmas holidays we started our day later, heading into the  community just after 10 a.m.
• I spent the first part of the morning sitting and chatting with the women in the GCB centre.
• My mother spent the morning with the 6 kids giving them their medicine and fruit.
• At noon I headed over to Shiv Sagar and purchased lunch for all the women. 15 of us sat in a circle and ate some delicious food and enjoyed each others company. 770 INR – $16.04 CDN
• Indu created beautiful mehendi on Emma’s hands as a souvenir of her stay in Saki Naka. A few of the older boys who rarely come into the centre joined us and were intrigued by the sewing machines. Akash, Sonni and Estakhar (instructed by my mom) each spent time sitting at the sewing machine using the embroidery stitches to create a heart to give to Sarah welcoming her back to the community.
• After a few hrs of playing in the garden with kids, I gave the women the rest of the day off and we headed home for the evening.
• My family headed to Bandra in the evening to meet with the Talwars for Christmas Eve dinner. Payal Talwar is the journalist who wrote about DWP in the Times of India. Her story hit the front page a few months ago and really helped DWP get in touch with Indian donors.

Photo of the Day

Dec 23rd, 2011

• On the way to the community this morning Ashley and I stopped at a store and picked up decorations for the school. 460 INR – $9.60 CDN
• Excited children dressed in their finest party wear were already running around the top of  the school over an hour before class was set to begin. With Usha, Indu and the kids help, we decorated the school. Ashley organized and found our Christmas CD’s. Soon Jim Reeves carols were echoing off the pipeline and down the lane ways. By 9am over 100 kids with coconut oil keeping every hair in place and wearing their best party clothes while  dancing and singing Jingle Bells, finally made it feel like Christmas! A few volunteers from a local college came by and brought 100 Santa hats for the kids and some small gifts and soon every head was covered with a santa hat! For 2 hrs we danced and played and ate sweets.
• As our smiling kids left the school with goodie bags clutched between sticky fingers the reality of slum life jolted me back. A mother who has HIV and only two months ago lost her husband to the disease arrived to meet us with her 3 kids. We met this woman last week and will be figuring out a way to help her and her family. To start I wanted to have the children tested as we don’t know if the kids have the virus or not. Ashley and I walked the family into Saki Naka to a small clinic and paid for 3 blood tests to be done. We will find out in a couple days the results from the tests. After Christmas we will meet this family at their home and discuss ways to help. 3 tests – 600 INR – $12.50 CDN
• Back at the community I joined my mom and dad in the garden and played football with kids for awhile.
• We received news that Subash (DWP employee) was very ill and at home. So we walked to his home to see first hand how he was. We found him curled up and shivering on the bed of his small tin shack. We immediately took him by rik shaw to JP hospital in Saki Naka. He was given a blood test and a some medication and told to come back in the evening for the test results and an injection.
• By late afternoon we headed home to work on the computer.

Photo of the Day

Dec 22nd, 2011

• Ashley and I met at the school by 8 am and left to go to Sion Hospital during peak hour whichkept us locked in a mess of Mumbai traffic. We were there to meet Hema who is an employee of DWP. Hema helped us to transform the garbage dump last year and currently works part time for us cleaning the garden. Her son had fallen very ill and had been rushed to hospital two days ago. He is very weak and has lost weight. When we visited today he was doing much better. We were there mainly to show support to Hema but we also helped her pay for some further tests that were required. I had not been back to this hospital since Ganesh died 2 months ago and it instantly brought back terrible memories. 1000 INR – $20.83 CDN
• Next we headed to meet “Bunty” and his mother at the Ashiana Institute for Autism. We visited with this family twice over the last week trying to get to know the family and their needs. They are an incredibly sweet and loving family and a very deserving case for sponsorship. We spent an hour in the school visiting with the head master and watching Bunty during school. Bunty has quite severe non verbal Autism and has a long way to go. But after a year at the school the family has seen vast improvements in him. His mother does everything she can to help him.  We decided to pay his fees in full for the entire year. This is the most money DWP has ever spent on an individual child sponsorship case.  Thanks to a great month of generous donations, I felt that this was a great way to spend some of our funds. This will help this young family in a major way, relieving tension and helping the family keep Bunty in school. 33,500 INR – $700 CDN
• Back to the community to meet my mom who was holding Noorsaba (one of the kids from the family of 6). Noorsaba is malnourished and often very quiet and lethargic and her health is always a concern to us. She perked up after some fruit and quiet play and seemed to be better. The school and centre was very quiet today with our women’s centre closed. Indu and Shashi had taken 40 kids on a picnic to the south for a drawing competition.
• I met with Kailash to discuss plans for our Christmas event at the girls’ home where Ashwini lives. Things are going really well and the event is going to be great!
• I baby sat Nandini while Maya distributed fruit to the kids, upstairs my mom, Chantal and Emma held an art class for some kids.
• I received a few pics from Atin Afrika. DWP donated $50 so Chelsea could purchase 3 of her boys running shoes for Christmas. check out the link to see more photos.
• By 4pm I headed home to work on the computer.
• Tomorrow we will be having a small christmas program at the school.

Photo of the Day

Dec 21st, 2011

• I arrived to help tidy the school before morning classes and then sat with Indu and Shashi while they opened up the women’s centre.
• I spent time with Stephanie Doe from L.A. who has been visiting us from time to time to learn about how DWP works. She is very keen to start her own non-profit and I was happy to answer her questions. She flies back to the States tonight and we wish her a safe journey.
• Most of the morning was spent in meetings with two potential sponsor cases. One went well and one didn’t. One of the mothers left in a huff after she didn’t like me questioning her about her family and financial standings. This is unfortunately part of our job as we have to learn where the family stands so our donors help families that really require it.
• I had a long discussion with all 6 women at the GCB centre this morning. They shyly asked me what was going to happen when I go back to Canada, worried that they would lose their jobs. They are all very happy working at the centre  and want to work there as long as they can. I was very happy to hear that  they were so happy working for us and I assured them they would have plenty of work in the future. Now I just have to figure out how to make that come true…
• At noon Ashley and I headed to a school to learn more about a family’s case from the school administrators. We spent an hour discussing a few cases with the principal and decided to go ahead with one of the sponsorships. Shivam Pandey is now DWP’s newest sponsor child. Fees for this year  - 3800 INR – $82.60 CDN
• We also spoke to a young Nepali girl who requires medical help for some nerve damage in her leg. We will be visiting her family in the morning.
• Next we headed to Ashok Nagar to meet with another potential sponsor case, a boy named Biju Thomas. We sat with the family for some time trying to learn about them and spoke at length to Biju. He is in grade 11 and his fees are quite high(11,000 INR – $225). We will speak to them again and decide whether we can help with this case and how much we are willing to sponsor him for.
• Back at the community I picked up our sponsorship records and after joining Ashley for a late lunch I headed home to work on some computer work.
• In the evening we received a phone call from Haseena who lives in the community. A relative is in critical condition and needs heart surgery immediately. At the moment we are waiting for him to be transferred to a different hospital and find out what the cost of the surgery will be to see if we can help him and his family. First thing tomorrow morning we will visit to learn more.
• My parents and our two guests, Chantal and Emma, took the train to the south to show them around the sights and to try to find a Santa suit to wear for the party at Ashwini’s orphanage on the 25th. At the fabric market, they also found the fabric necessary to make the re-usable pads for the women of the slum. Presently they use rags.

Photo of the Day

Dec 20th, 2011

• After falling asleep on my keyboard last night I woke up and spent the first part of the morning finishing my work.
• Heading into the community by 9am, the girls (Indu & Shashi) and I cleaned the GCB room and displayed samples of the products for the Deutsche Bank visit today.
• My mother spent the first part of her morning giving the family with 6 kids their medicines and then joined us in the GCB room to answer questions from the Deutsche Bank employees.
• 10 members of the Deutsche Bank CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) team arrived at 11am. This team generously donated the funds required to purchase our GCB centre sewing machines and today they handed us the cheque in the full amount (1 lakh INR – $2100 CDN) and viewed our community and projects. Deutsche Bank is currently Janvi’s biggest corporate sponsor and the community wouldn’t look the same with out their financial support.
• DWP also donated to Atin Afrika. Atin is run by Chelsea Peters who is from Victoria and does a wonderful job with street children in Lira, Uganda. The $50 donation will go towards buying 3 pairs of running shoes for the children of her home.
• At 3 pm I headed home and worked on the computer sending some emails to our donors and potential sponsors.
• At 6pm my mother and I headed over to the Holiday Inn to set up our booth of GCB products which is where I’m writing this from right now!

Photo of the Day

Dec 19th, 2011

• The school was very unorganized after a busy weekend and I arrived just in time to sweep and clean the school for morning classes.
• My mother and Chantal discussed a new product with the women of the GCB centre. A hygiene product for menstruating women that we would like to start making as a free give away for the women of our community. The girls were very shy about discussing the product and the use but we hope that this will benefit the women. Currently the women use rags that are also used for other purposes.
• After morning classes, Chantal, Emma and some of the kids cleaned out the top of the school and organized the games and got rid of the broken toys and games.
• At 1pm  Ashley and I headed to a different  community to visit “Bunty” who suffers from Autism. We will be sponsoring his education at his special school.
• We also tried to visit a young college student who needs sponsorship but for the second time we were unable to find him.
• Next we headed to ITC Maratha Hotel to pick up our monthly donation. The hotel housekeeping team currently sponsors one of our teachers salaries and donate 1500 INR to our programs.
• Back at the centre we cleaned and prepared for Deutsche Banks visit tomorrow  and worked in the garden doing some maintenance.
• Kailash dropped by and he and my mother went to the girls’ home where Ashwini is living to drop off some supplies (rice, oil and vegetables) he has generously donated to them. W are planning on providing their children with a Christmas program on the 25th to discuss the plan.

Photo of the Day

Dec 18th, 2011

• Being Sunday, I started out a little slow and worked from home for most of the day on the computer.
• At 3 pm I headed into the community to help set up and organize for the evenings dance event in the big garden.
• Sudha from Little Starz entertainment who has ben a big supporter of Janvi and the Saki Naka community for years organized “Janvi’s Got Talent”. For the past couple weeks our school has been dance crazy as solo’s and group performances were practised.  The garden was transformed into a beautiful  dance hall, strings of balloons , a stage and carpeting made the garden really feel amazing! By the start of the  event over 600 people from the community joined us and packed into the garden as over 20 acts performed for the chance at a medal. Our panel of judges picked winners and small gifts were given to every child who attended. A big thanks to Sudha and her family for making fun nights like this possible! Little Starz paid for the entire event in full!
• In the middle of the event two guest from Canada arrived. Chantel and Emma who are family friends from back home will be staying and volunteering with us for the next few days.

Photo of the Day

Dec 16th, 2011

• I met Ashley at the school before 9am and was met with a few medical cases immediately. Timsy’s grandson has had some issues with his kidney. We don’t trust Timsy as we have dealt with her on other occasions. Timsy works for DWP sweeping the new garden and we decided to give her a loan of 2000 INR. We will then take deduct  500 INR  over the next few months off her pay packet. We will now meet with the mother and see if more help is required.
• A young family who is very poor needed to move their meager belongings to another community and had no money to do so, DWP rented them a small truck to help. 500 INR  - $11.40 CDN.
• A pilot project from Pune that creates bio gas from food waste is being installed in our community. This system has worked in tribal communities and we have been selected as the first slum in an urban setting to try it out. The set up and purchase of all the supplies was done by the group at no cost to DWP or Janvi. Will be interesting to see if it works!
• My mother handed out the nutritious snacks we prepare in our apartment to some of the kids in the community.
• My mom and I packed up at 4pm and headed  to a different slum community to meet with a young family whose son is struggling with autism. The boy, “Bunty”, requires a special school which is very costly for the young family. With a surge in donations recently we are seriously considering paying for Bunty’s entire year in full.
• In the same area we attempted to visit a new sponsor case but was unable to find him at home.
• In the evening we had invited all 6 full time stuff from the GCB centre and their children to our home here in Marol. To celebrate all the hard work in the centre my father cooked a lovely continental meal for the women who have not eaten anything but their own home cooked curry meals. Check out the album on Facebook to see a few pics.

Photo of the Day

Dec 15th, 2011

Photo of the Day

Dec 14th, 2011

• This morning we said goodbye to Brett and Alice who are good friends of mine from Australia and England. Alice has just finished working on a children’s book for the Commonwealth Education Trust. It’s titled a River of Stories and comprised of children’s stories from throughout the commonwealth. The Queen of England has asked for a personally delivered copy! Alice and Brett generously donated 50 children’s books by Indian authors to our school  in Saki Naka.
• If you’re a traveller looking for a cheap flight without the hard work of searching for airfares check out Brett’s website the Restless Traveller!
• I met up with Ashley and Fatima near my house by 9 am. Today is a very special day for the new couple, by this afternoon they will be married!
• My parents and I headed into the community and worked for a few hrs at the school and GCB centre.
• We then re-grouped at our home and headed with Shedra by taxi to meet Ashley and his family and close friends downtown at the High Court. India never ceases to amaze us and after 3 hrs at the court Ashley and Fatima were married!!!! A beautiful lunch with friends in the south and then a 2 hr taxi ride back to Marol where more friends and family joined us for a great dinner to celebrate their marriage. I am incredibly happy for both of them and wish them the best of luck in their future!

Photo of the Day

Dec 13th, 2011

• The last few days have been busy with the exhibition at the Holiday Inn in Saki Naka. We have been generously given a table in the lobby of the luxury hotel to sell our GCB products for the month of December. We have been running the table for the past few days. The hotel is full but primarily with business men arriving for conferences.  We will be trying out a few different timings over the next couple days to give it our best shot at selling the products.
• The Vancouver View (magazine in Vancouver, Canada) has run a great article on DWP’s work here in Mumbai written by Dani Kremenuik and Crystal Carson. We have seen a new surge in hits on the website due to the article and have received many new donors and followers thanks to the article. A big thanks to Dani and Salomeh for making the article possible!
• My mother has been working everyday with the family with 6 malnourished children, bringing fruit and veg to the home and administering the supplements and medicine. We have been seeing improvement already in the children!
• DWP and our community have had a surge in visitors over the past few days. Stephanie Doe from America has been helping out in morning classes and hanging with the kids. My good friends from Australia, Brett and Alice arrived two nights ago to visit for a couple days.
• Sadly last night I dropped Salomeh off at the airport. Salomeh has been an amazing friend and supporter of DWP over the past few months. She has helped DWP raise an amazing amount of donations from Vancouver, B.C., that will enable us to do some  amazing things for this community as a whole and for individual needs.
• Our fruit distribution has been going really well over the past week. Maya purchases the fruit,cuts and then delivers it to 100 of our school children every  morning and afternoon. Thanks to Kailash for supporting this initiative! 250 INR – $5.45 CDN.
• Last night we travelled to Matunga to celebrate the wedding of Mira, a DWP volunteer. The wedding was beautiful and we wish them congratulations on their new life together!
• Today is a big day for Ashley and Fatima! Ashley will be getting married this afternoon in the south. All of us are so happy for this beautiful couple and are looking forward to celebrating their new beginning today! We welcome Fatima into the DWP/Janvi family with open arms.
• Our tuition teacher’s father  has had a heart attack and is in hospital. DWP has donated 3000 INR -$65 CDN to help with his after care. We have also hired her to start teaching at an all girls orphanage where Ashwini has been staying. She will be working every afternoon at the home teaching Marathi classes to all the girls of the home and attempting to bring Ashwini up to a level. Ashwini is about 13 years old, but only has a grade 1 education.

Photo of the Day

Dec 8th, 2011

 

• Salomeh and I were in a rikshaw by 9am heading to Malad West for our second day of sales at the Shopper Stop offices. The day was much slower but over the last two days the employees of Shopper Stop have generously donated 3 large boxes of used clothes and toys plus have purchased nearly 8000 INR  - $174 CDN worth of GCB products! A big thanks to Jaita Guhu for making it possible!
• At the same time Ashely and Cindy were rounding up a mother and her 6 children to take them by two taxis to Arthur Road. We had been offered a free examination and diagnosis by Dr. Rupal of the Foundation of Mother and Child Health (FMCH). She spent nearly two hrs examining each child and the mother and found a host of issues which included worms, rickets, malnutrition,vitamin D deficiency plus a host of other food related illnesses. These were found in 4 of the 6 children. We have been given a strict diet and medicines required to help this young family. My mother (Cindy) is working side by side with this family and with her help they will be on the road to recovery in no time. We will be writing a full post about this beautiful but troubled young family in the following week.
• Meanwhile my father ( Todd) was busy baby sitting Ashwini for the day. They spent the afternoon running errands, watching movies and hanging out.
• We all met up again at the school by 4 pm and my mother and I attempted to track down Aswini’s mother but with no luck. She disappeared and left us frustrated as we require her signature and presence at the home when Ashwini is admitted into the girls’ home.
• We decided that we would proceed without the mother and headed to the orphanage to meet with Sisters. The home seems wonderful, filled with happy and healthy young girls and we truly believe that Ashwini will do very well here, giving her the new beginning she so justly deserves. DWP/Janvi donated 800 packs of noodles which were donated by Deutche Bank to the home as well as a 5000 INR – $109 CDN cash donation to help with the daily runnings of the home. Ashwini was given a full tour and introduced to the other girls and seemed nervous but happy. I will be back in the morning to check on her. We will be writing a full post about Ashwini’s new life in the coming week.

Photo of the Day

Dec 7th, 2011

• We woke up a little late this morning as Ashwini kept us up late with her excitement about staying with us at the apartment.
• Ashwini and I headed to meet her mother for tea and a quick chat before heading back to the community and the school.
• Ashwini and I set up the desks for morning classes, while Cindy and Salomeh brought the GCB products from home.
• At 9am we had everything packed and Salomeh and I headed by rik shaw to Malad West and the Shopper Stop offices. We had organized to set up a booth in their office which has over 500 employees. During the 4 hr exhibition GCB was able to sell nearly 5000 INR  - $108.69 CDN worth of products (priced for the Indian market.)A big thanks to Jaita for making this happen. We will be back in the office tomorrow.
• Back in the community my mom worked with the women creating some new products.
• My parents also took Ashwini shopping for all the things she will need for her new home.
• We all reached home by just after 5pm and spent the evening eating Ashwini’s favourite food, Tandori chicken and enjoying her company!
• Salomeh cut my hair this evening and did a great job for her first time ever cutting hair!

Photo of the Day

Dec 6th, 2011

• I arrived to the community early to set up the school and was met with sad news as a good friend and DWP supporter from Mumbai’s grandmother had passed away during the night.
• The rest of the morning we spent with the kids while the GCB’s ladies continued to work on products for upcoming sales here in India and Canada.
• Got word that our calendars succsessfully made it to Calgary, Canada. Rundle’s” kids for kids” program will start selling them immediately.
• Signet also finished their calendar using DWP photography and will be shipping it to their 4000 customers here in India as well as internationally! A big thanks to Bina Shah f0r her support.
• Salomeh and I headed into Saki Naka to fill a few prescriptions DWP is providing to a family.163INR – $ 3.54 CDN
• Maya was sent to purchase two kilos of fruit which she then cut and distributed among the children in the school. 260 INR – $5.77 CDN
• At 1pm I headed home to finish some computer work and get ready for the funeral service.
• After attending the service Ashwini and her mother joined us so we could visit the all girls home in which we were hoping to put her in to keep her safe. This was the second meeting with Sisters but the first time Ashwini’s mother has come. The meeting went well and Ashwini is excited. We were given a tour and filled out the intial paperwork. The sisters seem very nice and I really believe she will be safe and loved there.
•  We decided to keep Ashwini at our apartment until she is admitted to the home, as her mothers drinking habit is causing concern.
• Ashwini was very excited and spent the evening with my family and Salomeh. It is very nice to have her here and I’m not looking forward to saying goodbye.

Photo of the Day

Dec 5th, 2011

 

• After a late evening my mother and I arrived late to the school this morning. I spent the first part of the morning with our kindergarten class while my mother visited with the family of 8 that we are currently helping.
• Back at the GCB centre I waited for all the women to arrive before telling them about the money raised from last nights GCB exhibition at the Mumbai Christmas Fest. The women were so excited to hear that people loved their products and that we sold so much that they all started to clap their hands with excitement. It was so nice to see the women take pride in their work and their excitement for our work as a group.
• After morning classes ended I invited several kids to the second level of the school and let them paint and draw while I organized the school.
• At 1pm I headed home to prepare for my meeting with the Holiday Inn. My 3pm meeting was to discuss a potential start date to sell and exhibit our GCB products at the hotel for the Christmas season. The meeting went well and GCB will be allowed a table in the lobby of the hotel from Dec 10th – 30th.
• Back at the community my mother and Ashley picked up Ashwini and visited an orphanage in our area. The home seems very nice and we will be taking her mother there tomorrow to view the home. Ashwini seems very nervous but excited to begin a new and safe phase of her life.
• This evening we have been busy catching up on back logged computer work!

Photo of the Day

Dec 4th, 2011

 

• By 7:30 am a bus filled with 50 boys from our community arrived below my apartment. The plan was to all head to Juhu beach for a morning of cricket, football and swimming. Juhu is only 30 mins away from Saki Naka and it was great for the kids to be in the open air. Some kids headed directly into the water while the older boys set up the cricket match with some local boys from the area. Salomeh, Atul, my mother, father, Ashley and Karen hung with the kids on the beach while I attempted to look after the kids in the water. We spent the next 3 hrs wandering the beach and watching as the boys laughed and played all over the beach. Our boys beat out the local team by a few runs, no one drowned and everyone loved the day which in my books is a total success! With the bus rental , parking charges, water, juice packs and biscuits the total for the entire day was 2900 INR – $63.04 CDN.
• The bus dropped us off at our apartment and the kids back at the community.
• Salomeh (volunteer from Vancouver) my mother and I packed up GCB’s products and headed by taxi to South Mumbai. Atma which is a great charity  and a friend of DWP’s generously donated a table at the Indo-German Commerce Christmas fest held at the prestigious Mahalaxmi race course. We were given a table amongst several other large prominent charities and businesses in the city to sell our newly created products. This was the very first time GCB products have been sold since the women’s centre started! The afternoon started slowly but gained momentum quickly and by the end of the evening GCB had raised nearly 10,000 INR – $220 CDN. This was a great learning experience for us and so nice to see the women’s products being sold and enjoyed by our customers.  A huge thanks to Atma for giving us the opportunity!!
• Salomeh, Cindy and myself arrived home by just before 9 pm tired and happy from another wonderful day in India!
• Karen who has spent the past few weeks working in our school here flew home late this evening. I dropped her off at the airport at 11 pm.

Photo of the Day

Dec 2nd, 2011

• Things were back to normal at the school after yesterdays closure due to the death of our neighbour.
• The GCB women were working organizing and finishing more products.
• I arrived early to speak with a young family with 6 children. The children are all tired looking and don’t seem to play or run around. At 11am we took them and another child we suspected had the mumps, to a children’s specialist in Saki Naka.  The youngest was suffering from fairly severe vitamin deficiency and weakness and all the children are in some stages of malnutrition. We will be working with this family on a regular basis in hope of getting the children healthy. DWP  will be paying for eggs and peanuts as well as supplements (when the free supplements from the doctor run out) to help provide extra protein. The hard-working, overwhelmed parents of these children must leave them alone the entire day to make enough money. The kids have a very close bond with the care and feeding of the youngest falling on the shoulders of the oldest girl who is around ten years old. 800 INR – $17.39 CAD
• In the afternoon we dropped samosas and cauliflower and chickpea curry off at the home for the children as well as some crayons and paper. The kids have been instructed by their parents to remain close to their home for safety. We will be escorting them to the garden areas to play from now on with the permission of the parents. 185 INR – $4.02 CAD
• We returned to the home in the evening to speak with the mother to ensure she knew how to give the medicines.
• Maya has been working well since we hired her a few days ago to cut and deliver fruit to the children.
• We organized the boys for Sunday’s cricket match.
• Most of the afternoon was spent playing with the children in the garden.

Photo of the Day

Dec 1st, 2011

• Our day started out with bad news as the neighbour to our school died suddenly last night in his sleep. The man was 38 years old and leaves behind his wife and two children. In respect we closed the school and classes.
• With the community quiet I headed into the GCB centre and organized the payment for the women. Each women took turns sitting in front of Indu and I while we calculated her wage.  It was really amazing to hand over their money and watch the smiles on their faces. Really  makes everything worthwhile! 11,585 INR – $251.84 CDN
• With all the women paid I finalized the payment to our decorater  for last nights stage and lights 4500 INR – $97.82 CDN
• With the community quiet we decided to take a day out of the community and headed home. I spent the rest of the day working on the computer, writing a new post for the website.

Photo of the Day

Nov  30th, 2011

• The community was a buzz with excitement as Indu wrote on the community notice boards about the evenings “Magic Show”.
• Our decoraters arrived at 11am to build the stage and ready the garden with lights.
• I spent the morning painting our new signboard for GCB upcoming sales.
• Indu and Shashi worked on the books for GCB totalling up the wages which will be paid tomorrow morning. The women in the centre are really excited to receive their first pay packet!
• By 4pm the garden was nearly ready and the DJ was doing his sound checks and curious children wandered the garden in anticipation.
• Kailash arrived just after 5pm with some goodies for  the children.
• Just before the GCB centre closed the women and I blew up 100 balloons and with the help of some teenage boys hung them from all the trees in the garden and then hung lights in the school.
• By 6:30 pm the garden was packed with over 300 kids eager for the show, with more and more racing down the lane ways towards the garden.
• The show went really well and by the end we had crossed over 5oo people  a big thanks to Kailash for sponsoring most of the event.

Photo of the Day

Nov  29th, 2011

• The girls (Karen & Salomeh) and I arrived just before 9am to set up the school.
• Kailash dropped by and purchased 2000 INR  - $43.47 CDN worth of GCB products. GCB products go officially on sale  here in Mumbai on Dec 1st at the Holiday Inn.
• After class I worked on an interview for Guylife.com which will air in a few days.
• The morning was spent organizing tomorrows event in the garden with Ashley.
• The GCB centre was busy putting the final touches on our products while a few women worked on new ones.
• Salomeh and I painted GCB’s new display board.
• Maya was hired today to cut fruit for the community. She will be paid monthly to work twice daily for the food program.
• Salomeh, Cindy and Karen took Suman, Prem and Nandini to Powai for a picnic. The kids loved it!
• In the afternoon my dad dropped by with a new pump and we got two new soccer balls into the community. I spent the majority of the afternoon playing soccer with the kids.
• Tonight I went shopping for fruit for tomorrow while my mother put the finishing touches on some GCB products.

Photo of the Day

Nov  28th, 2011

• After a sleepless night, Salomeh who is a friend and DWP supporter from Canada was eager to visit the community she had heard so much about.
• Salomeh, Karen and myself headed in by 8am and started by setting up the school and arranging the desks.
• While morning classes were under way I gave Salomeh a tour of the community and introduced her to the million curious children.
• While the women got to work in the GCB centre Ashley, Salomeh and myself headed into Saki Naka to Sumta school to pay fees for two sponsor children. Nikita Jaiswal and Pawan Shaik have now had their full years fees paid. 11,600 INR – $252.25 CDN
• Salomeh and Shedjra handed out our morning distribution of fruit,0ranges and watermelon!
• Back at the community Luis dropped by to measure for the stage and lights for this weeks program. We will be holding a “Magic Show” and entertainment program for the community on wednesday thanks to Kailash.
• Karen and Cindy had noticed that Suman had been quiet for the past two days and with Mansi’s help I spoke to Maya. Maya told me that the father had been angry and had beat the children with a metal ruler. I visited their small 5 by 6 room and sat with Maya. I took the metal ruler from the home and am hoping to speak to the father today about the incident.
• Our welder finished our new signboard for the Holiday Inn. 2200 INR – $45 CDN
• I have decided to hire Maya to chop the fruit each morning for the school and will be paying her monthly which will hopefully help to reduce some money tension in the household.
• We all spent the majority of the afternoon playing with the kids and enjoying the community.

Photo of the Day

Nov  27th, 2011

• Sunday the day of rest..
• With the school closed the DWP team took a break and headed to Juhu beach for lunch.
• Dance and Karate class were the only activities being run at the centre today.
• In the early morning I worked on photos and caught up on some computer work.
• Kailash had a friend and computer guru come down to our centre and repair some of our computers.
• We also spoke to our Luis about setting up a stage for this Wednesday’s Magic Show and program.
• This evening I have been working on an interview for a men’s website that will feature an online article on DWP.

Photo of the Day

Nov  26th, 2011

• Karen and I arrived by 9 am after spending the early morning working a new post for the website.
• While I got Subash and Pakia started on work , Karen helped in class. Meanwhile back at home my mother and father were busy putting the finishing touches on some GCB products.
• Indu was busy preparing samples for our meeting with Fab India in the afternoon.
• Our welder showed up at noon to work on the long over due “baby gate” . The stairs to our upper class are steep and it is high time we installed a metal swing gate.
• Kailash dropped by with kilo’s of fruit which thanks to him and his group Morpheus Human Charity will be sponsoring our food program in the community.
• At noon I headed home to get changed and prep for the interview.
• Jaita came by to teach her weekly women’s art class as well as bring us the first sample of the art cards that she had made with the children’s art
• I arrived back at the school just before 2pm and turned heads and stopped conversations as I was wearing pants and a dress shirt. The community was excited to see me dressed properly for once.
• Indu and I headed with samples in hand by rik shaw to Chenmbur and the Fab India factory. This was my first meeting with a large Indian retailer and Indu’s first ever business meeting and we were both nervous. The meeting went well and they liked our products but the process is very lengthy. Indu  did very well and we both learned a lot .
• After an hour long meeting and two hrs in a rik shaw I arrived back at the school to pay our workers and close up the GCB centre.
• I also picked up 100 printed 4×6 photos which I will distribute to the community on Monday.

Photo of the Day

Nov  24th, 2011

• Ashley arrived back in the community after nearly a months absence and it’s nice to have him back.
• Ashley  and I headed to meet Ashwini and her mother  by 7:30 am to see how her situation is. We heard some very heartbreaking tales of her life and literal torture inside her previous home and are working with her mother and her to find her a safe home where she’s happy.
• Back at the school things were normal, computer classes ran from 7am-9am, kindergarten and balwadi from 9-11:30 am.
• The GCB centre was in full swing again as the women work hard at finishing products for our Dec 1st deadline. Our first products will be for sale at several location in Mumbai very soon…
• At noon Aarti Karlo came by and with Karen and Cindy worked on GCB products in the upper level of the school.
• Kailash dropped by in the afternoon with a few kilos of fruits, cricket bats and footballs for the kids and I spent the rest of the afternoon giving them out to kids in the community.
• With thanks to Kailash’s, games were played throughout the area.
• In the evening I developed 85 photographs that I will hand out over the next few day to members of the community.

Photo of the Day

Nov  23rd, 2011

• Karen and I started the morning by setting up the desks for the kindergarten class. I cleaned up the GCB room and spent some time playing cricket with the boys in the new garden.
• My parents spent an hour or two this morning going to two post offices to check on rates, weights and other mailing dilemmas. They returned to the school and we re-packed the calendars into two boxes, and headed by rickshaw to a post-office. Nothing is easy….we had to have the parcel weighed and inspected, then we had to go across the street to have it wrapped in cotton cloth and sewn shut, then back to the post office to line up, sign papers, have the two parcels weighed, pay the money and finally emerged about an hour an a half after we had arrived. Victorious! Now we hope the parcels get to Canada. We have a very official tracking number.
• Back to the community, my mom continued her work with the women at the GCB centre, alternately babysitting and over- seeing the work.
• Our friend Kilesh, a generous donor, dropped by in the late afternoon with a friend to bring drawing paper and bisquits for the kids. He plans on bringing a magician to the community next week. The kids and adults will love it.
• I painted a scoreboard on the wall of the garden for the kids to keep score of their cricket games.
• One of the girls who is always with us, (Ashwini) hadn’t been seen for a few days, which was unusual. With Mansi along to translate my mom asked the kids she lives with where she was and they said she had left the community with her mother. We  waited for the women to arrive home in the early evening and with Kilesh translating we got a few versions of what happened. Ashwini, who is 11 years old, has a terrible life in the home she shares with three women and 5 other kids. She is regularly beaten by one of the women and is not allowed to go to school. Her job is to take care of Bhoomi who is 2 and lives in the home. Fed up with the beatings, Ashwini’s mother moved she and Ashwini to a hotel where Ashley found them later tonight. We will go to see her tomorrow to find out more about their situation and what the mother’s plans for Ashwini are. I talked to her on Ashley’s pbone and she says she is happy .We are thankful she is safe for now, but hope to help her mother make a plan for Ashwini that will include school and a safe environment. A tall order given the mother’s income.

Photo of the Day

Nov  22nd, 2011

• We started our day at the print shop hoping to pick up the calendars. Not so fast…..instead we spent the next four hours sitting on the floor of the print shop helping Atul put small vinyl ‘donuts’ on the holes in each page, front and back. (3800 holes!!!)  When finished we rushed out to mail the calendars to Rundle Academy in Calgary, stood in line forever at the Post Office, had our parcel weighed only to be told it could only be 10 kilos and then the Post Office closed…tomorrow’s another day.
• The GCB room was in production mode with Indu at the helm carefully monitoring the work and keeping track of everything.
• We arrived back to the community after hours at the print shop and another hour at the post office, hot, tired and slightly defeated about not accomplishing what we had hoped to get done today. Spent time with the kids and checked in on Indu and the women.

Photo of the Day

Nov  21st, 2011

• Arrived to the community by just after 8 am, and with Karen’s (volunteer from Canada) help cleaned and set up the kindergarten class.
• With the help of Indu and a young boy we finally put our new community signboard to use advertising our new tuition  and literacy classes
• Even after 3 years in India, I still have trouble with physical abuse towards children both in the home and at school. Although I realize this is a culture vastly different from my own, I find the abusive behaviour frustrating. The teachers at our school are aware of this but from time to time slip back to their normal practices. Today as I walked upstairs to grab something from a cabinet I watched as our head teacher roughly slapped a young child for misbehaving. In frustration, I spoke quickly to the teacher which left a crying child and then a crying teacher. She was confused and saddened by my anger witch made me feel instantly bad. This is frustrating but I don’t want to tolerate physical abuse to the children of our school.
• My mother got the women working on a few of the products and then headed south to Crawford market with my father. They were on a mission to find a few of the needed accessories for the GCB products in the wholesale market. Crawford Market is 2 hours each way by taxi or train/rickshaw so it is a long day of transportation and plying the laneways looking for the bargains we need.
• After morning classes ended Subash and Pakia washed and cleaned the upper floor.
• I headed to the new garden to prime and paint the other signboard with the help of a few curious children.
• After lunch I organized and cleaned the computer room which has been long overdue. Our new computer stools are making the class much more comfortable for the students.
• I had a meeting with the Holiday Inn today at 4pm. Just before heading there I was getting ready in the GCB room and the ladies told me that my pants were wrinkled and that I was not presentable enough to show their products. So they patiently ironed my pants and shirt and prepped me for the meeting. The meeting went really well and GCB will be selling its first ever products during the month of December in the hotel, which is very exciting.The Holiday Inn is a 4 star hotel near the airport and in our vicinity. Their clientele is split between domestic businessmen/women and foreign tourists and business people.
• GCB will also be selling its products at the Shopper Stop office during the first few days of December.
• We finished off the day with a children’s art class in the upper level of the school with some very talented children.
• Tonight I’m working on selecting over 100 photos to print for members of the community.

Photo of the Day

Nov  20th, 2011

• Sunday is fast becoming our day of rest.

• Spent a lazy morning sleeping in and then headed to Bandra for lunch.

• In the evening worked on a few emails to potential stores in hopes of getting our “Girls Can Be” products in stores here in Mumbai.

Photo of the Day

Nov  19th, 2011

• A late night out left me feeling a little groggy this morning.
• I arrived at the school by 9am and sat with kindergarten class for the first hour.
• Just before 10am Indu, Shashi and I cleaned the bottom of the school and set it up for our monthly health camp.
• Our Doctors arrived and over the next few hrs saw over 120 patients. The only cost to DWP was lunch for the Doctors. 450 INR – $9.78 CDN
• I had a short meeting with a woman from the community about paying her child’s school fees.
• Subash and Pakia continued to paint under the bridge adding even more colour to the community.
• Our good friend Bina from Signet dropped by and had a look at our new centre  and our kindergarten class. Bina is interested in teaching a class and volunteering with us and will start next Saturday. We are excited to have her as a part of the team.
• 4 new women started work for GCB today and took piece work home with them.
• One of the women working on GCB products was paid for her work to date. She excitedly told us she was going to use the money for school fees and tuition classes. The women have been asked to be paid on a monthly basis, but they will be paid earlier if they request it.
• By 5 pm I headed home to work on photos and catch up on email work.

Photo of the Day

Nov  18th, 2011

• Karen and I set up the desks for morning classes and Karen stayed and helped the teachers.
• Subash, Pakia and I painted all of the 12 new stools for the computer room, red , green and yellow.
• I also painted our new signboard in blackboard paint.
• I worked on a small presentation to send to Ashley in Delhi for the Nasscom foundation.
• Shilpa dropped by in the afternoon to have a look at our projects. She is from Mumbai but has been studying in NY for the past few years. She is looking to volunteer with DWP for the next few months.
• In the afternoon I headed over to Priyanka’s factory to deliver her finished product (the women were paid to make woven decorative strips for shirts made in her factory) and samples of GCB’s latest products. I will be contacting several big stores here in Mumbai with the hopes of getting the GCB products in their stores.
• In the evening Karen and I were invited to the launch of Drashta’s flagship store in Khar West. Drashta has been supporting DWP with a donation box in her store.

Photo of the Day

Nov  17th, 2011

• Karen and I arrived by 9 am and started by helping out in the morning classes.
• I headed down to set up the GCB centre with Indu.
• I then headed to the bank  as DWP had several expenditures today.
• My mom arrived and started work with the women.
• I then headed into Saki Naka to a few schools to pay fees, buy blackboard paint and pick up a sample sign from the printers.
• Aarti came by and spent the entire day working with the women on some new baby products, its getting really exciting. I can’t wait to get our GCB merchandise on the market.
• Karen and I spent a large part of the day playing with kids in the school and gardens.
• Our welder dropped by with the new sewing table and our 12 new stools for the computer room. 3500 INR – $76 CDN
• Subash,Pakia and I  got to work painting the table and stool legs with primer and will add colour tomorrow.  The GCB room is more organized with the addition of the table. The women, who prefer to sit on the floor when not using the machines, now have much more room.
• I paid our signboard painter for all the work he’s done this month. 2500 INR – $54.35 CDN
• At 5pm my mom headed to the night market with Shashi and Indu to buy sewing notions and I headed home to work on the GCB expense sheets for the month.

Photo of the Day

Nov  16th, 2011

Photo of the Day

• My apologies for not keeping up to date with the “Daily“, my internet connection has been out for the past few days.
• The last few days have been all about  the Girls Can Be Centre. GCB has 6 full time women working on our first set of products with several more women working from home on a piece per piece basis. The centre has been a revolving door of women young and old coming to check out the products and find out about potential work.
• Karen a DWP volunteer has been working with the kindergarten class and the GCB centre  all this week.
• Work has continued in the gardens and community painting and maintenance work.
• Ashley has been away all week and will be away next week as well leaving the Ryan’s to run the show…
• DWP’s first ever calendar has been printed and will be en route to Canada as well as for sale here in Mumbai early next week!
• We met today with a printer in hopes of getting our DWP cookbook printed here in Mumbai.
• Yesterday we went to visit our good friend and Janvi Trust  trustee Andrew Sekrie in hospital. Andrew suffered from sever convulsions over the weekend and has been in ICU for the past few days but is doing much better and looks to make a full recovery.
• Our welders have continued to build our cutting table and stools for the school and GCB centre. Should be done soon..
• All of our attention this week has been focusing on getting our first batch of GCB products finished, packaged and ready for Christmas!
• After a hard weeks work at the Girls Can Be centre we celebrated Shashi’s 20th birthday today in Powai. Both our teachers, Indu and Shashi had never driven before and had amazing time. A few crashes and lots of laughs were shared with the Mansi, Karen, Cindy, Indu Shashi and Kane. Followed by a chocolatey dessert in Hiranandani. Happy Birthday Shashi!

Photo of the Day

Nov  11th, 2011

Photo of the Day

• I dropped by the girls hotel this morning to pick up the huge suitcase full of donated kids items that Karen has been dragging around India. She also brought me “mini eggs” and a Terry’s chocolate orange which I’m eating right now.
• I arrived at the school and spent the morning sitting with Indu and Shashi cutting and trimming the threads off our first product which will be in the mail to Canada very soon…
• With classes ending in the morning my father helped the kids down and my mom and I headed into Saki Naka to work with Atul to hopefully finish the calendar!
• We spent the rest of the day working with women at the centre.

Nov  10th, 2011

• I picked up Karen and Angelina by 8am and headed into the community.
• I gave the girls a quick tour of our area and projects and the with their help we cleaned and set up the desks for morning classes.
• With Indu working in the GCB centre my mother and I headed into Saki Naka to continue the final design of the calendar with Atul. We worked for a couple hrs and are really happy with the design.
• Aarti joined us at noon to work in the GCB centre on a possible new product for the women of our community to work on. She trained over 15 women during the day on the new product. The women were pretty slow but really enjoyed it. I am hoping that the women get faster and are able to produce this product from home. It was really great to have Aarti working with us.
• My welders came and I purchased 2000 INR worth of material for the new stools and signboards.
• Ashley headed south to meet with Atma, we have been busy getting some new paperwork ready for the meeting.
• I spent the afternoon hanging with kids and working in the school while my mother and the girls worked hard putting the finishing touches on our first recycled product.
• At 4pm Atul came by with a full sample of the calendar and I gave him a quick look around our community.
• By 5pm we headed home to work on photos and some computer work.

Photo of the Day

Nov  9th, 2011

• I started the day near my house searching for a hotel for two volunteers who arrived this afternoon. Karen and Angelina Hira who are from Canada will be working with DWP over the next couple weeks.
• I reached the school by just after 9am and sat with our kindergarten class for an hour.
• Indu got the GCB centre open and started work.
• I went down to visit Akash and Hritik’s family. Pranita and her husband have been taking care of the boys since their parents passed away in April. DWP has been donating 1000 INR – $22.25CDN to the family to help with the added costs for the family.
• By 10 am the GCB centre was in full production with a batch of products nearly finished.
• At 11am we had a meeting with the Usha Sewing machine company that offers accredited courses in tailoring. We are looking at possibly running a course at the centre in the future.
• With Eid being celebrated across the community we have been invited to countless homes to eat freshly prepared goat. My poor parents had to eat three back to back meals in homes along the pipeline.
• At 2 pm I headed to Santa Cruz airport to pick up Karen and Angelina and dropped them at their hotel here in Marol.
• My parents stayed behind and continued work at the GCB centre.
• This evening we’re busy doing paperwork and finalizing the calendar design.

Photo of the Day

Nov  8th, 2011

• I arrived to the community by 8am and found Ashley in the new garden with a bunch of the kids just picking teams for a cricket match and quickly joined. We played two exciting matches over the next hour involving 30 kids. It was a nice way to start the morning.
• Back at the school I quickly cleaned as morning classes began and then headed over to the GCB centre to with Indu to get the centre ready for the day’s work.
• Indu has been running the centre and is in charge of the 4 full time employees GCB has new hired and trained from the community. The centre is really humming with activity and our first batch of products bound for Canada and Mumbai are nearly ready!!
• After the women got rolling along my mother and I headed into Saki Naka to meet Atul to work on the calendar. We were able to nearly finish the design and it should be ready for print in the next few days in time to be sold before the new year.
• My dad spent the day working through the Indian system trying to get a mobile phone. This is my dad’s first ever mobile phone in his entire life and he jumped through all the hurdles without speaking the language. Pretty impressive..
• Kailash dropped by in the late afternoon with boxes of biscuits and snacks for the kids. 70 kids joined us on the upper level of the school while Kailash’s young son helped hand the food out.
• By 5pm my mother and I headed south by train to the Bombay Exchange Building to see the author’s of the book ” Poor Economics” speak. It was an interesting debate but not what I was hoping for. There was some interesting questions posed.

Photo of the Day

Nov 7th, 2011

• I woke up a little late this morning after staying up till nearly 3 am working on the post and pics on our crazy day with Kumkum.
• Arrived at the school by just after 9am.
• The Muslim community was celebrating Eid today and goats that had been tethered to bamboo poles outside homes were now inside large pots cooking in time for lunch.
• The school was noticeably quieter today with several of the children missing due to the festival.
• Indu an I opened up the GCB centre and began to organize and ready it for the day.
• My mom and dad spent the morning being invited into homes for Kheer to celebrate Eid. I knew better and hid out for most of the morning in the centre.
• 4 women worked with Indu today in the GCB centre with 2 new women learning the machines.
• Meanwhile my mother and I headed into Saki Naka to work on the calendar.
• Back at the centre my dad picked up the new sign board but they had cut the wrong size and I had to drop it back again!
• Ashley continued with work outside the community.
• A good portion of my day was spent just playing with the kids in both gardens as it feels like I haven’t had time to just play in awhile.
• At 5pm we were joined by a lovely family who donated 25 beautiful old sari’s and together with Kailash’s groups clothing donation my mother and I set up a used clothing store on the upper level of the school and invited mothers from the area to pick items for their families. The sari’s were a hotly contested item and caused some tension. At one point I literally had to forcibly separate two women fighting over a blue sari.
• Back at home my mother and I have been busy working on photos for the cookbook to send to our friend and graphic designer Nicole Sims who is generously helping us with the book.
• I also worked on a video that will be used in a fundraiser soon in both Mumbai and Vancouver.

Photo of the Day

Nov 6th, 2011

• After an eventful and stressful day yesterday my family and I decided to take a lazy Sunday and relax.
• It was also Sarah’s last day and we headed to Juhu beach for breakfast and a stroll along the beac Our good friend Ashley Fernandes joined us for lunch.
• Sarah left this evening bound for Goa via the night train. Sarah was a wonderful friend and volunteer and we are happy to have her back anytime. We wish her luck on the next leg of her adventure.
• I spent the evening editing photos and writing the new post on yesterdays chaotic adventure.
• I feel relaxed and ready for a productive weeks work in the GCB centre.

Photo of the Day

Nov 5th, 2011

• Mansi Roy generously planned an outing at an amusement park for the women who attend her literacy class. The morning was spent gathering the women to board the bus. Some of them were very late, causing the other women to wait in the hot, cramped bus. (Perhaps this was an omen). The women, unused to riding on busses in heaving traffic were quiet, hot and some were sick. The amusement park was almost empty as most people attend these attractions at night, so we had the place almost to ourselves. After a drink to refresh everyone, we headed to the rides, women and children in tow….and then there was chaos. Some of the women enjoyed the rides, others were scared and nervous and their children were perplexed about these giant machines that were spinning their mothers around! The day was fraught with complications, chaos, and bribes…..and uneasy stress. Nothing is impossible in India, including the unforseeable….check the newest post for all the details on our ‘day of amusement’.

Photo of the Day

Nov 4th, 2011

• I spent most of last night clutching my stomach…and woke up in the same pain. In my nearly three years in India I have managed to stay sickness free. But today I spent my day between my bed and my bathroom…But am finally starting to feel better this evening.
• My mother and Sarah headed into the GCB centre by 10am and worked with the women all day producing our latest recycled product!
• For a treat and a break they headed over to Powai and took Suman and Prem along with them. It was a really special outing for the kids.
• Ashley and Mansi booked the tickets for tomorrows women’s literacy picnic.
• I worked a little from home on computer work when i was feeling ok.
• In the evening our friend Kailash dropped by with members from his office and donated toys and books for the kids.

Photo of the Day

Nov 3rd, 2011

• I arrived by 9am and swept and organized the GCB centre.
• Our workers Subash, Pakia and Gotia got to work on the final bit of painting in the garden. 600 INR – $13.33 CDN
• Ashley and I worked on two sponsor cases in the morning, Maksud and Pawan, who are the latest children to be sponsored. An individual from Bangalore and one from Mumbai have both sponsored these bright young men. I wrote to both sponsors with details about the children.
• My mother arrived by 10:30am and we started to organize the days work for the women. Over 20 women had stopped by the centre in the morning looking for work. We hired 2 ladies to work in the centre being trained by Indu and Shashi while 8 women worked upstairs on a product for Priyanka. By the end of the day over 15 women had received work from the centre. Our first product is really taking shape and the women are excited!
• By noon, a friend Aarti Karlo, who is a designer from South Mumbai joined us at the centre. Aarti is interested in helping and working with GCB. I gave her a tour of our community and projects. Ashley, Cindy myself and Aarti had lunch and discussed a possible product that our women could create with Aarti’s help and we hope to start next week.
• Aarti was generous enough to bring a cake and we shared it with our women’s literacy class.
• The rest of the day was spent working in the GCB centre.
• We also hired our welders to build us 12 steel chairs for our computer lab.
• I purchased the material. 2850 INR – $63.33 CDN
• GCB paid its monthly rent to the Janvi. 5000 INR – $111.10 CDN

Photo of the Day

Nov 2nd, 2011

• Sarah, Cindy and myself hopped out of the rickshaw at the backside of the slum community this morning and were greeted by excited young women who had finished the Girls Can Be work given out the evening before. They were waiting outside their homes to return the sequin-patterned sheets and received payment on-the-spot. This is a very exciting start to the GCB products, as the women’s enthusiasm and enjoyment is key to the success of the project.
• As our school children filled the morning class, my mother was joined by Cathy Challinor and Carol McDougall, friends from Canada via skype. Carol is the author of  ”A Salmon’s Sky  View” who donated a copy of her book to the school. They were taken via the computer to a few houses, the new garden space and spent some time with the kids during the kindergarten class, as well as saying many, many hello’s to members of the community. The community loves when we skype so they can join in.
• Meanwhile Sarah worked on some new patterns for  our new product.
• I got our workers, Subash, Pakia and Gotia started on painting the new garden. 500 INR – $11.40 CDN
• My dad and I then headed to the print shop to meet Atul and worked on the GCB labels. Atul did an amazingly quick job and I was able to pick all 200 up by the end of the day. 245 INR – $5.44 CDN
• The highlight of the day was how quickly word spread about the GCB products and the work available. The centre opened with women waiting to be involved. They streamed in all day, offering to work, admiring the handiwork of their friends and showing enthusiastic curiousity. By the end of the day 16 women were employed for various tasks. The floor of the GCB centre was filled with women working, sharing and creative energy. It was an inspiring day for all.
• After a very exciting first dat I gave the remaining women an early leave and Shashi, Indu and I cleaned and organized the room.
• Next door I hauled out the box of biscuits and handed them out in the community.
• Subash and the boys finished up the painting and came upstairs with me to help me clean and set up the school for morning class.
• Back at home in the evening my mom and Sarah were hard at work editing photos for the new DWP calendar that we hope to print very soon in time for xmas.

Photo of the Day

Nov 1st, 2011

• Having set up the school the night before I slept in and arrived at 9am.
• I started the day by cleaning the GCB centre.
• I sat in on morning classes happy to see all the kids back in school.
• As morning classes ended we handed two packs of biscuits to each of our 1oo students, thanks to Deutsche Bank.
• Ashley and I then headed over to Seeps for a meeting with Kama Schracter. Kama has hired over 20 women from our community and is looking to further partner with us. There are some interesting possibilities.
• Back at the GCB centre Cindy & Sarah were hard at work creating more samples.
• I paid Maya and her families monthly milk bill. 34o INR – $7.39 CDN
• Our welders hung the new sign board in the new garden.
• Indu and Kane headed into Saki Naka to pick up a few supplies for GCB. 705INR – $15.66 CDN
• Back at the centre , 5 ladies from the community worked on samples from Priyanka’s factory and the GCB products.
• At the end of the day 10 women signed up to take the first stage of the GCB product home to work on this evening.

Photo of the Day

Oct 31st, 2011

• Kindergarten classes were in full swing again this morning after a long Diwali break. The kids started a little slowly but it was great to see the school buzzing with children’s voices again.
• My mom and Sarah headed to Saki Naka with Indu to purchase threads and a few needed supplies for the GCB centre. 1250 INR – $27.77CDN
• Today the women worked on a few product samples.
• My mother and Sarah have come up with some really cool ideas based around recycled products and can’t wait to start production.
• Gotia, Subash and Pakia were hired to paint the school garden. 600 INR – $13.45 CDN
• My dad and I headed into Saki Naka and took quotes for making a calendar. I’m looking to produce a calendar with DWP photos for Rundle Academy.
• We then headed over to Priyanka’s factory to pick up our apron patterns and fabric.
• Our new tuitions teacher started this afternoon.
• Spent the afternoon speaking to Printers about our cookbook and will be meeting with some tomorrow to view book samples.
• Ended the day with a home visit to Mumta’s home to see how their family was doing.

Photo of the Day

Oct 30th, 2011

• After a late evening in Bandra last night with friends and the end of Diwali, and it being a Sunday, it was obvious from the beginning that today wasn’t going to be productive.
• I spent the day at home catching up on computer work and relaxing.
• Tomorrow is a big day as the GCB centre will start working on its first products and the teachers will receive training on the new machines.

Photo of the Day

Oct 29th, 2011

• I spent the morning at home working on the new Diwali post. It was a group effort with Sarah editing the video, me working on the photos and my mother and both Sarah and I writing the post.
• At noon we got to the school as Ashley organized the kids for the picnic. Deutsche Bank (DB)has once again organized and invited our children for an event. Today we were told to bring 70 children to the Hindi blockbuster “Ra One”. DB paid for everything including the bus and popcorn for the kids. The movie was a bit weird for me, but the children loved it and had so much fun! A big thanks to DB’s crew again for allowing our children to come on these fun events!

Photo of the Day

Oct 28th, 2011

• With the major Diwali celebrations over we decided to take the day away from the community and headed south to Crawford Market and Colaba.
• We cruised Crawford Market looking for a few supplies for the school and GCB’s new projects.
• It was nice to take a day away and we spent it having a nice lunch.
• Ashley spent half the day at the school organizing kids for  tomorrow’s picnic.

Photo of the Day

Oct 27th, 2011

• I arrived at the school early with Ashley to prepare for the day’s program.
• Ashley headed to the garden to look over the setup and cleanup while I worked on the school. With the help of more than a few children I cleaned the school and hung the remaining lights.
• Our decorator arrived by 10 am and his team began to assemble the stage and backdrop for the evening dance performances.
• Ashley, Todd and I headed out to pick up the last few things and most importantly the fireworks!
• My mom and Sarah were busy organizing the GCB centre and shooting video of the preparations in the community.
• With the help of the very excited community we cleaned, painted ,and set up the garden for the program.
• We spent a lot of the day in and out of homes being offered sweets and chai.
• A new supporter, Kailash Shahani, phoned us and asked what he could do for our community, and by 6 pm he and his young son dropped by with a carload of beautifully wrapped prizes for the children’s games.
• By 4pm guests and community members started to fill the garden for the show.
• Two friends from Australia dropped by, (Rachel and Hayley), and spent the evening with us.
• For the first two hrs running races and games were played with the community amidst bursts of laughter and smiles.
• For the last couple hrs the stage was given over to our dance class and anyone from the community who wanted to dance.
• Finally we ended with prizes, tons of fireworks, 500 packs of biscuits and a whole lot of fun! Happy Diwali!
• Our family, Ashley and Ashley Fernandes, Sarah, Hayley and Rachel then headed out for dinner to celebrate a wonderful day!

Photo of the Day

Oct 26th, 2011

• Happy Diwali!!
• Remember to check out DWP & GCB’s facebook pages… DWP & GCB
• Our day started before 7 am this morning as we began to load GCB’s old sewing machines, board games, and boxes of biscuits into our rented truck. We decided to donate all of the old equipment from the centre to our friend Shirish’s Lakshyaa Foundation that works in the tribal area outside Mumbai. Shirish will be donating these machines to selected tribal families Shirish’s team has just finished surveying over 7000 families in the area and work on the first school house is nearly complete. My mother, father, Sarah, Ashley and myself all rode in the back of a truck with all the equipment for 2 hrs on rutted roads to donate these machines. It was a fun day but we’re all felling a little sore from the ride… 2500 INR – $55.60 CDN
• Back in the community,  Diwali preparations were in full swing as most homes hung lights, created beautiful rangolis and cleaned for the festival! DWP has been hard at work cleaning the area and prepping the gardens for party in the garden! Subash, Pakia and a helper were hired to finish painting. 700 INR – $15.55 CDN
• I painted our new signboard.
• Mansi teacher surprised us all and dropped by with a big cake for her women’s literacy class and we all celebrated on the upper level of the school.
• Finally met with the decorator and finalized the stage for tomorrows celebration!
• In the evening Ashley, Mansi and two young Nepali guys from the community came with us and we purchased 4o strands of lights for both gardens and school! 2250 INR – $50 CDN

Photo of the Day

Oct 25th, 2011

• I headed in by 7am to clean the school from yesterday’s Diwali party with the kids.
• Our friend, Sarah Petrescu, arrived late last night and spent the full day being swarmed by children and getting to know the community.
• We all organized the GCB room  with new machines. The space is looking great and will be really functional.
• By 9am all of our workers arrived and we began to paint the yellow boundary wall of the new garden. We hired Subash and a 17 yr old boy from the community and were joined by my father later in the morning as well as a host of curious and paint covered children. Subash and helper - 400 INR – $8.89 CDN
• We hired a mason from the community to turn a pile of large rocks into a set of stairs onto the pipeline making it easier for the community to get up and down. Pakia and Mason - 750 INR – $16.30 CDN
• By 1 pm the wall was nearly half finished and the heat was drying the paint as quickly as we could paint so we broke for lunch.
• Our welders arrived after lunch and began work on the new signboards for the community which will display upcoming events and our daily services for the community.
• I spent the afternoon painting these boards with red oxide paint.
• My mother and Sarah held an impromtu drawing class with 3o kids in the school.
• The school remained quiet for most of the day with children on Diwali holidays.
• Ashley spent most of the afternoon on the phone desperately trying to find a decorator and lighting man for our Diwali program on the 27th. Things are looking a little frustrating at the moment as everyone is already fully booked.

Photo of the Day

Oct 24th, 2011

• I arrived by 8am and found Ashley organizing the workers on the new garden.
• Our masons were hard at work by 9am finishing repair work on the boundary wall. 1050 INR – $23.33 CDN
• Ashley then headed to the nursery to buy some more plants for the garden as the chickens had ate quite a few…
• I headed to the school to help with the kindergarten Diwali program. Over 100 kids packed into the upper level including a group of local college volunteers and danced the morning away to Bollywood songs! My mom and dad joined us as well in the festivities. DWP purchased our volunteers lunch. 230 INR – $5.10 CDN
• As the children left we opened up two of the huge boxes of biscuits and granola bars that Deutsche Bank had donated and started to hand them out to each child and then moved outside and for the next hour handed out over 500 packs to the communities children! We still have more which will be distributed tomorrow. A big thanks to Deutsche Bank!
• I then continued my painting work in the GCB centre and finished painting the door and then cleaned the room  in hopes that the new  machines would arrive.
• Upstairs our women’s lit class was in full swing with Mansi teacher.
• I continued to clean the centre’s and work in the garden.
• Finally the first of the new machines arrived and the truck bring ing them caused accident and got a traffic ticket while trying to maneuver  and park. While the first two industrial machines were being assembled the other machines arrived by rik shaw a few hrs later and are being set up right now!
• Subash, David , Pakia and Gotia were hired today.600 INR – $13.50 CDN
• I’m at home now waiting to go to the airport to pick up our friend and DWP donor Sarah Petrescu from Canada.

Photo of the Day

Oct 23rd, 2011

• Excitement was running high today throughout the community with Diwali preparations under way.
• Painting, cleaning and small renovations were taking place in nearly every home along the pipeline.
• Our workers continued work on the new garden repairing the wall and cementing the cricket pitch. 1050 INR – $23.33 CDN
• 3 workers were hired agan today to continue to work on the garden maintenance. 750 INR – $16.65 CDN
• Seconds after I stepped foot our of the rick shaw kids swarmed me excited for today’s outing! Thanks to George John and Jaita Guha we had been invited to watch a special screening of the  3d movie “Dolphins Tail” at a movie theatre. We hired a bus and took 70 kids across town and were treated to a Mcdonalds veg burger and the movie plus a small toy for each child at the end. Along with our kids another group,of kids was brought along from a NGO working in the Red Light District and over 300 kids watched the movie amidst bursts of laughter. It was a great expierience for the kids and a lovely day. Thanks John and Jaita! Bus 3500 INR – $77.75 CDN
• We arrived back in the late afternoon with a group of tired but happy kids.
• A young women named Dipti had called and for her birthday wished to do something for some kids in our community. With Ashely’s help we purchased 1000 INR worth of samosa’s and snacks and fed 30 kids. Happy Birthday Dipti and thank you very much!

Photo of the Day

Oct 22nd, 2011

• Don’t forget to check out DWP & GCB’s facebook page for daily photos as well… DWP –  GCB
• Two masons were hired today to do repair work on the school gardens cement work. 1050 INR – $23.33 CDN
• Subash, Pakia and Gotia were hired to sweep and clean the new garden removing rocks and glass from the lay area. 750 INR – $16.66 CDN
• All of our workers were given the chance to pick through donated clothes.
• The founders of “Step up Today” visited our community in plans for a possible partnership.
• My mom and Dad held and art class for 30 kids in the school.
• Shashi and Indu created beautiful Diwali decorations with kids, the school looks amazing!
• The women’s group that sweeps the garden was given a 1000 INR – $23.25 CDN advance for Diwali.
• Over 40 children took part in Karate classes led by Satish Sir.
• Dance class was also in full swing today with 15 students using the GCB room.
• Jaita held her weekly art class with 25 women and thanks to Debjani the ladies were given a free lunch as well!
• Rupali Juneja donated boxes of sweets and we delivered them home to home in the community.
• We also handed out 2 boxes of biscuits to children thanks to a donation by Deutsche Bank.
•  Maya and her family were saved from eviction. DWP paid their rent arrears to the slumlord. This family is doing very well in the community and making progress by attending classes and it would be a giant step backward for them to have to start over somewhere else. It is hoped with our help this month, Maya’s family will make the most of their reprieve. 1700 INR -$37.75 CDN

Photo of the Day

Oct 21st, 2011

• I arrived to the slum early today to clean out the Girls Can Be room in preparation for the sewing machine delivery.
• My parents arrived a short time later after stopping to buy a large bag of apples and bananas. They brought a knife and a plate from the apartment and sat on a bench, cutting pieces of the fruit and handing it out to the kids in that area of the community.
• Most of the kids in this area fend for themselves during the day and their intake of food consists of empty carbs and sugar, so we will be giving out fruit on a daily basis. 210 INR – $4.77 CDN
• While waiting for the sewing machines to arrive, we decided to paint some trim in the GCB room and then continued painting the tool cupboard in the laneway. 3 paint brushes and tape 80 INR – $1.81 CDN
• We spoke to the lighting and stage man about our Diwali program.
• David, Gotia, Subash and Pakia were hired for some odd jobs today.45o INR – $10.22 CDN
• Purchased envelopes to send photos to Liberec and Calgary. 40 INR – $,85 Cents CDN
• The literacy class today attracted 21 women, all enjoying the class taught by Mansi Roy. While they were enjoying the class on the top floor, my parents held a daycare on the bottom floor for their children. Colouring, jumping, singing and general chaos ensued.
• Ashley dropped off the final proposal for Deutsche Bank.
• The sewing machine delivery was delayed until tomorrow morning!!?
• We enjoyed chakali, a flour/spice treat, swirled into hot oil, made by Sujata for Diwali.

Photo of the Day

Oct 20th, 2011

• Ashley and I started our morning with a house visit to a young family in Marol. Wed heard of this family through a friend and wanted to visit. The family of four’s eldest child is 5 years old and suffering from Cerebral Palsy. The family spends thousands of rupees monthly on his medication. I contacted a phsyiotherapist friend, Dr. Neha and we will be taking the boy and his family to her clinic in the next couple days. This family is very sweet and I hope to find away to help them and their son.
• Next we shot a short Happy Birthday video for our friend and donor Sudha. Sudha has been a long term supporter of Ashley’s projects and work and we had the morning class sing Happy Birthday. Then we took 5 kids with a cake and flowers and headed to her home to surprise her. The surprise was on us as she had taken an early morning flight to visit family.
• Then we headed to Malad to collect the bill for the GCB sewing machines and check on the status of the delivery. The machines will arrive tomorrow afternoon! 600 INR – $13.04
• Back to the school we headed upstairs and cut the cake and shared it with 40 children.
• My mom, dad and I then prepped the school for the women’s lit class at 2 pm.
• Subash, David , Gotia and Pakia were hired to clean the gardens for Diwali. 500 INR – $11.36 CDN
• Next we decided to organize and clean the upper level of the school and spent the next 3 hrs shifting and sorting supplies. The classroom looks amazing!
• Indu and Shasi had picked up a donation of used clothes and toys and they were given out to the community. 100 INR – $2.22 CDN
• We purchased metal sheeting for our new signboards. 1500 INR – $34.09 CDN
• Today’s lit class was a great success again with some more new faces.We are also organizing an outing for the women on Nov 2nd.
• My mom and Ashley worked on the GCB file for Deutsche Bank.
• By 5pm we headed home to finish off computer work.
• A group of graphic design students from Vancouver are working on some GCB brochures and website design and we have been busy getting them the content as well as sending off Nicole Sims more photos for the cookbook.

Photo of the Day

Oct 19th, 2011

• Stayed home this morning and my mother and I worked on the cookbook photos and text.
• Meanwhile Ashley was busy at the school with morning classes.
• My mom and I arrived by noon and spent a casual few hrs playing with the kids and taking a few more photos for the cookbook.
• Ashley worked on paperwork as we try and streamline and organize Janvi. After a couple days with Atma we recognized a few areas that we need to work on.
• I paid our welder  an advance on the work we have organized  for him  1000 INR – $22.25 CDN
• We picked up the art project from the stationary store. 230 INR – $5.11 CDN
• David worked cleaning  the school and lane ways for us today. 100 INR – $2.22 CDN
• Women’s literacy class was in full swing this afternoon with 2o students, led by Mansi teacher.
• I have spent the evening catching up on computer work and looking forward to a productive day tomorrow.
• It was nice to have a relaxing day today.

Photo of the Day

Oct 18th, 2011

• Our local college volunteers were here for kindergarten class again this morning helping our teachers.
• By 10 am the man from the sewing machine shop came by to look at our space and to pick up the cheque for the final amount. the machines should be delivered in the next couple days.
• Ashley and I spent the morning measuring for our two new message boards for the community. Met with our welders and purchased material and ordered the white board. This new sign will showcase what programs we offer and what is going on that day in two different parts of the slum hopefully spreading awarness about the services  we offer encouraging more people to take advantage of them. 3300 INR – $73.33 CDN
• I paid the bill at the hardware store from our wiring yesterday. 1078 INR – $23.95 CDN
• Our compost man was here today and cleaned up the area. 100 INR – $2.22 CDN
• We hired Gotia and Pakia today 300 INR – $6.65
• Our monthly medical camp with Larsen & Toubro was held in the school today. The Doctor saw  118 patients. DWP purschased the Doctor’s and staff lunch 300 INR – $6.65 CDN
• My mom and Dad  got a group of kids together and worked on an art project for Rundle Academy.
• In the evening I headed to Bandra to meet with Drashta and drop her some DWP post cards.
• Meanwhile my parents and Ashley headed to meet with the Holiday Inn for the cake mixing ceremony.

Oct 17th, 2011

• I arrived early to clean the school and set up the morning classes.
• Our local college volunteers arrived by 9am to help with children.
• We hired David, Pakia and Gotia to clean the area and remove some debris that had accumulated from GCB construction.
• My Dad was busy watering the gardens.
• The night before, I was contacted by a woman named Dr. Mona who was interested in offering her medical expertise in the community. But, it was too  short notice for me to set up anything as she was leaving the country the next day. I invited her to the community to see our work and projects.Turns out Dr. Mona Khanna is a highly regarded doctor in America and is the medical expert for Fox News Chicago. She is returning to India next month and we are looking at the possibility of running some health camps geared towards women when she returns.
• After Dr. Mona left we spent the next 2 hrs on the phone trying to organize the GCB sewing machines. There was mass confusion with our dealer and we decided to go elsewhere as we lost trust in him. My mother, Ashley and I hopped in a rik and headed to Malad to view a showroom. We spent the next 3 hrs looking at machines, viewing demos and arguing price and finally decided on the machines for the centre. We really liked the staff at this shop and are happy with our decision. We will be dropping the cheque off tomorrow and the delivery should take place very soon!
• By the time we finished it was rush hour and a complete nut house in Malad and nearly impossible to get a rik. We walked for a few km’s to the highway  and finally managed to get a ride.
• We arrived back in the community by 8:30pm,  just in time for Abishek’s little sister’s birthday. We had promised the family that  we would take photos for them. We spent the next hour in a 50 sq. foot home with 40 kids, shared birthday cake and laughs. I took heaps of photos and I will develop them for the family soon.

Photo of the Day

Oct 16th, 2011

• After a late night celebrating the end of the International soccer tournament I spent a lazy Sunday morning at home.
• Ashley was at the centre, the school remained quiet except for dance class in the afternoon.
• I spent the day writing emails and editing photos.
• My mother spent the evening writing a new post for the website.
• This week looks to be a very busy week and look forward to officially opening the women’s centre.

Photo of the Day

Oct 15th, 2011

• Our electrician has been busy over the last couple days replacing the old wire to the GCB centre after it was fried during the thunder storms. With the addition of industrial sewing machines, we need more capacity and purchased a heavy duty wire that will tie in to a direct line to the power box in the community. 75 mtrs of wire. 5250 INR – $119 CDN
• Our group of college volunteers from Mumbai held a party for the children yesterday complete with music and snacks. Laughter could be heard echoing through the community with a lot of tiny little girls dancing to  Bollywood tunes.
• David and Gotia continued to paint Janvi’s new sign board and worked with the electrician. 300 INR – $6.65 CDN
• I had a meeting with Elizabeth Shu from the Holiday Inn about our partnership. I used the meeting to speak about some ideas I have to connect her hotel and our community. Elizabeth is very excited, as am I about our partnership. DWP will be holding its first ever large scale fundraising event at their hotel in the new year!
• By 3 pm I headed south to meet members of the Canadian Consulate at the Bombay Gymkhana. The 3rd annual Bombay Blitz 6′s soccer tournament was being held and I was asked to play for team Canada.Consulates across the city and private teams entered the prestigious tournament with 25 teams joining. It felt great to put on the maple leaf and play for Canada. The level of football was very high and we lost our first match against a heavily favoured local Indian team. Next up we drew against South Africa and pulled off a late win against a South American squad. On the second day of matches we qualified for the quarter finals against a squad of middle eastern players called Azzuri. The game was intense and we dominated the first half but couldn’t sneak any  goals past their goalie. Late in the second half, on a beautiful cross, their star player headed the ball in the top corner for the 1-0 lead. With only 5 minutes to go we pressured but could get it done. It was a great effort for our team which was put together on the day of the first match. Azzuri went on to lose in the finals 2-1 to the England team. A big thanks to Daniel Bood and Christian Jolicoeur for organizing “Team Canada”.
• On Saturday, Deutsche Bank organized a field trip for 4o of our kids to a national park. The kids were treated like royalty and given food and gifts throughout the day. The big present was a new backpack filled with school supplies for each of the children! Deutsche Bank has been an amazing supporter of our community and projects. They are also donating our new machines for the women’s centre next week!
• Our second art class, run by Jaita Guha, was an amazing success! Many new faces turned up and some truly amazing talent is being shown. This class is a great outlet for these women to be amongst their peers being creative and giving them the chance to do something different.

Photo of the Day

Oct 13th, 2011

• We headed into the school first thing this morning to make sure there was no damage from the heavy rains and storm last night to the community or school. Oddly enough, only the school was damaged! It fried our heavy wire and knocked out the power resulting in our morning computer class being cancelled.
• Ashley and I were back at the Atma office for the second round of our partnership meetings today by 9am. Todays meeting was interesting as well as we started to view Janvi more indepth and find where our strengths and weaknesses lay. We finished up by 2pm. Atma will go over the last two days worth of knowledge and come back to us after Diwali and see if a partnership will work. If so, Atma will partner with Janvi for the next 3 years giving Ashley and Janvi support, helping the organization become stronger from the ground up. I’m excited and nervous…
• My mom, Shashi and Indu left the community in search of sewing machines, accompanied by an employee from Priyanka Bapna’s factory. A long journey to Kurla in the heat of the day travelling on busses and rickshaws brought them to a very small storefront with a jumble of small boxes and no sewing machines in sight. The shop will soon deliver the machines to the Girls Can Be centre.
• Leaving the Atma office, we headed directly over to BKC to Signet’s office to deliver the remaining photos for their calendar. I had a chance to chat with Bina and Amira briefly and look forward to having them join us for Diwlai in the community.
• Next, we headed to Holiday Inn (near our community) to drop off a promotional product that I hope to use to tie our community and the hotel together in hopes of a great future relationship.
• 5 mins after dropping the package off the director of the hotel, Elizabeth Shu, phoned  and loved the idea and I will be meeting her tomorrow to discuss the collaboration.
• From there we headed over to the bag shop in Saki Naka to pick up the 40 backpacks for the Deutsche bank picnic on Saturday. D-Bank has been amazing to us and has invited 40 of our kids on a field trip to a national park and will be giving our kids new school bags filled with school supplies!
• Back to the community we met with the electrician and figured out what we needed to fix the school and to upgrade our power to get ready for our new industrial sewing machines that will be installed this week.
• Girls Can Be got our first order today from Priyanka Bapna  and will be starting in a couple days. Indu and Shasi brough a sample of the product and began showing women of the community to get interest started.

Then over to Marol to purchase wire….  here is an exerpt from the conversation at the store – ”

Me -”I need 65 mtrs of electrical wire.” Clerk - Medium quality or high quality?” ( 5 mins goes by)…. clerk explains why the high quality wire is what I need and to stop being cheap and to just get the good quality wire…Me - “Great, I’ll take the high quality wire then, thanks.” Clerk - “I don’t have any.”

So, with any luck we will find another way to fix our electrical problem tomorrow morning.

Photo of the Day

Oct 12th, 2011

• Happy Birthday to our friend Mary Ellen!
• Ashley picked me up by 7:30 and we jumped in a rik headed towards Atma’s office in Khar. Today was our first pre-partnership meeting. We are excited and nervous for the next two days of intensive meetings with Atma as we uncover and get to know each others organization and see if we can partner over the next 3 years. The meeting went from 9 am – 2pm and was really interesting. It’s great for Ashley and me to take a day away from the community and have a good look at where we are at and how our organization is run from another point of view. I’m excited  about this possible partnership!
• Back in Saki Naka classes ran and my mother hung out for most of the day chasing children and wiping noses and eating fruit from dirty hands.
• My father had his own adventure, heading to south Mumbai via commuter train to go to the dentist. I’m constantly blown away by my parent’s ability to navigate this city and country with the language and culture barrier. My dad had only been on a Mumbai train once before, and then by himself, rode Churchgate to Andheri station (one of the busiest stations in the city) during rush hour and all the way back to Saki Naka without any trouble..pretty sweet!
• I reached home by 4 pm and started work on the computer and catching up on book work.
• My family and I watched the crazy rains and lightning storm cross the city from the comfort of our apartment.
• Unfortunately, the storm damaged our school wiring and our school will be without power tomorrow.

 

Photo of the Day

Oct 11th, 2011

• I arrived at just after 8am and with the help of some early and eager students swept and set up the classroom for morning classes.
• Ashley met with 6 women who have finished their training and will be starting work today at the Kama Schachter diamond factory today.
• We then headed over to 3 more schools in the area to pay more fees. 14,000 INR – $304.34 CDN
• Ashley headed out of the area to get some other work done and I continued to clean and organize the centre and keep only what we need.
• In the afternoon my mother and father headed home to do some DWP computer work.
• I’ve been obsessed with cleaning the school over the last few days and finally got to polish and clean the upstairs classroom in time for our women’s literacy class.
• Ramu, (Aman’s father and occasional DWP worker) he has been suffering with a bad skin infection for the last few months and has been out of work. I took him to JP Hospital in Saki Naka to meet with a skin specialist. The Doctor was very nice and recognizing DWP from the Times of India article, gave us a discount on his charges. Ramu was given 10 days worth of creams and medications which will hopefully help. Total charges with medications - 410 INR – $8.91 CDN
• DWP also sponsors his two sons Aman and Vishal and I paid their small fees for their Hindi medium school today. 1400 INR – $31.11 CDN
• I then headed home to work on some paperwork for the partnership interview and meeting with Atma tomorrow.

Photo of the Day

Oct 10th, 2011

• The temperature in Mumbai has been hovering around 35 degrees with 95% humidity and my apartment is stinking hot…resulting in some sleepless nights for the Ryan’s…
• While kindergarten class was under way Ashley and I headed into Saki Naka and visited 3 schools, paying fees for our sponsor children. With the first set of exams in the next few days the schools have been pressuring us to get the fees paid.15,600 INR – $346 CDN
• My dad has taken over as gardener for the two big gardens in the community and spent the morning watering the plants and kids..
• My mom was busy holding  a drawing class with the kids in the bottom of the school.
• I gathered the teachers and with their help started going through Janvi’s filing cabinets and organizing and getting rid of anything we haven’t used in years.
• By 2 pm our women’s literacy class was on with 15 women gathered on the upper level of the school.
• The teachers and I moved over to the GCB centre and began going through all the stored donations giving items out to the community. Baby clothes, toys and clothing was distributed. It feels so good to get things out and start cleaning and organizing our centres.
• Covered in dust and dirt and dripping with sweat I closed up the school and headed home around 6pm walking through the community. The new garden was a delight to see packed full of children riding bikes, games of cricket being played, women sitting on benches and every square foot of the once filthy garbage dump being used for fun by the community. It makes all the hard work worthwhile…

 

Photo of the Day

Oct 9th, 2011

• I slept in Sunday morning and enjoyed a relaxed pace with my parents at home.
• By 11am I headed into the community and played with the kids for an hour and to see what was going on.
• At 2pm, Ranjana and her family came to our home for lunch along with Ashley and his mother. Ranjana’s family is quite possibly the most loving and happy family in Saki Naka and after 2 years and hundreds of cups of her sweet chai it was a pleasure to have her in my home. Joined by her husband Siddarth and children Megha and Haardik we enjoyed somewestern food cooked by my dad. It was the first time for them to eat western-style food or any cuisine other than Indian food. They ate the food before them, but because they are polite, we don’t know if they liked it???!! It was a great few hours, with lots of shared laughs. Ashley, as usual, was the translator for all of us.
• After a relaxing day with great company I’m excited for a busy week ahead.

Photo of the Day

Oct 8th, 2011

• Our kindergarten class had their oral exams today and I spent most of the morning with the kids watching as they performed their ABC’s in english for Usha teacher. So cute..
• A new family to the area dropped off her child at our class (3 yrs old) and halfway through the morning Balwadi class held downstairs in the school, the boy’s older brother came and took the child to play and our teacher Indu did not notice the new face missing. Soon the mother came to our door for the child and began to cry and wail when the child was not there, which set the whole community in search of the child, fearful he might be up on the very busy roadway. Both my mother and father ran up and down the pipeline and after 20 tense moments the child was found playing in the new garden! This was a close call and a reminder for us to be more strict on new admissions and on our teachers to be more vigilant. Luckily for all, it had a happy ending.
• Morning classes over I got our teachers together and started to clean and organize Janvi’s cupboards and filing cabinets ridding it off the useless things that have accumulated over the years. Ashley and I are attempting to reorganize Janvi.
• We then moved to the GCB centre to go through the storage locker and continue to get rid of things.
• Our friend Jaita came by at 1pm with her friend Deepti to teach GCB’s first ever painting and art class. It was Deepti’s first time to the community and I took the time to show her our projects and community.
• By 1:30 nearly 20 women joined the class, many of them picking up a paint brush for the first time in their lives. The class was 2 hours long, and the women loved it! This is now going to be a regular fixture, held every Saturday with Jaita teaching.
• After cleaning up the class our dance group showed up and the school transformed into a Bollywood dance studio.
• I left at 3:30pm and headed to Marol to attend our friend Herbert Hendricks funeral service. Over 300 people showed up to support his grieving family.

Photo of the Day

Oct 7th, 2011

• I began setting up the classroom before 8 am while Ashley worked downstairs on the computer.
• Illegal construction was going on in the home next to the school this morning and Ashley and I became very nervous that they were trying to build an upper floor blocking the school. Luckily construction hasn’t gotten any higher.
• At 9am a new follower and friend of DWP’s dropped by, Shradha Chonkar. Shradha is a photographer and will be doing a story on our work for her college paper. She spent the morning taking pics of our community and hanging with the kids. She will be coming back after her exams to hand out some of her photos to the kids and to volunteer.
• At noon we had the rare opportunity to go live via video chat with a  kindergarten class in Liberec, Czech Republic. DWP’s friend Katrina Harrison teaches in Liberec and we decided to have our kids meet. It was very interesting to have this free technology join us all together. The kids took turns singing songs and both groups knew “twinkle twinkle little star”. It was really cool to bring these two worlds together. A big thank you to Katrina for making it happen.
• At 2 pm Mansi joined us and soon women started to gather for her class. We now have 15 women attending her literacy class!
• Next Ashley and I headed to Sumta school to pay school fees.  5600 INR – $121.73 CDN was paid for one young boys yearly fees.
• On our way back we learned of a friends passing. Janet Hendriks runs a school in Saki Naka and is a close friend of Ashley and mine. Her husband Herbert passed away suddenly this afternoon. I had spoken to him just a week before.
• Ashley and I then headed to Seven Hills to discharge our patient. It turns out that she was suffering from a viral fever but is expected to make a full recovery. DWP has paid 67oo INR and her family was able to arrange 5000 INR.
• Leaving her and her father outside the hospital, we met our friend Dr. Ariff and headed to Janet’s home to pay our respects.  The home was filled with relatives and friends and we sat with Janet for awhile. We will be attending Herberts funeral tomorrow evening.
• This evening my mom and I finished working on the new post for the website.

Photo of the Day

Oct 6th, 2011

• Happy Dussehra!
• With all of Mumbai under the spell of another festival our school was closed and the citiy streets remained relatively quiet.
• I slept in and worked from home for most of the morning on the computer.
• At noon my family and I headed out into the beautiful little village of  in Marol that exsists behind my building.
• Ashley visited Seven Hills hospital to check on our young patient and it seems she has stabilized but the probem has not yet been diagnosed and she will need further testing.
• At 2pm we headed into the community and I met up with Madhu Mohan from “Something Sketchy”. She is interested in helping DWP and Janvi with anything creative. I took some time to show her our projects and community and am looking forward to her creative energy.
• Continuing with the relaxed pace of the day I took my parents to Powai for lunch and a stroll.
• Back home in the evening,  I have been editing photographs, my mother has been busy writing a new post for the site and my father cooked an amazing meal. It’s so nice to eat a home cooked meal again!

Photo of the Day

Oct 5th, 2011

• My parents and I arrived to the centre before 8 am and my dad and I grabbed the wheel barrow, brooms,gamelas and foudas and with 10 curious young kids in tow, headed to the garden. The garden has survived its first monsoon but with the heavy rains the mud has been reduced, exposing tiny pebbles and rocks, making it difficult to run for the hundreds of barefoot children. We began to sweep the garden filling wheelbarrows and removing rocks with the help of the kids. 3o minutes into the work Ashley called me to come to someones home as he had found a very sick young girl.
• I rushed to the small tin hut and found a mother and father and a worried Ashley holding a 17 yr old girl on the floor. The young girl was cold and sweaty and in and out of consciousness, her eyes rolling back in her head. It took just a minute for us to make the decision to take her to hospital. We got the young girl to her feet and struggled with her up the stairs leading out of the slum, but as we reached the top,  she passed out with Ashley catching her and carrying her to the main road and into a waiting rickshaw. The closest hospital is Balaji in Saki Naka where we put her in a bed and had the doctor run bp tests and do a quick check. He immediately called for a CT scan and admission into an ICU, neither of which could be done at his hospital, so back again into a rik headed to Seven Hills. The problem being in that admitting her into a private hospital the bills would fall completely on DWP and the cost could be thousands of rupees. I left Ashley and headed back to the slum to grab her documents and ration card in hopes of persuading Seven Hills to give us a reduced rate and provide her with the same exceptional care. While I got stuck in a traffic jam Ashley was working hard at reducing the hospital fees and did very well! A normal patient would have to deposit 30,000 INR and pay 5,000 INR bed charges daily in ICU but it came down to 3000 INR deposit and reduced rates on all charges!  She has now been admitted and DWP is handling the test and charges as her family has spent over 15,000 INR over the past couple weeks in attempts to help her. 4250 INR – $94.50 CDN has been spent today. We will head back to the hospital in the morning once all the required tests have been completed.
• Back at the community my dad and kids had been very busy and the garden was looking great!
• Morning classes over, I headed into the school and harrassed our teachers into cleaning the school. I believe the school should always be a clean place for the children but it has to be done daily. Indu and I swept the floor and cleaned the computers.
• At 11:30am Jaita Guha dropped by to visit. She and my mom headed over to Powai to purchase paints and paper for Jaita’s painting classes for women and children that will start on Saturday. Jaita is an excellent painter and this class will be a great addition to our free programs at the centre.
• At 1 pm Mary Ellen from Atma came by for a meeting with Ashley and me to discuss the Atma partnership application and process.
• By 3 pm Debjani dropped by with more art supplies for our school. Debjani and Jaita have been amazing supporters of DWP and Janvi.
• Spoke to Priyanka by phone and our sewing machines will be delivered to the centre on Saturday!! This is very exciting as our GCB centre will be officially ready…
• After another game of soccer in the garden and a drawing class held by my mother it was time to head home for the day.

Photo of the Day

Oct 4th, 2011

• Ashley and I arrived by 7:30am and cleaned and set up the school.
• After morning classes ended we worked on 4 sponsorship cases that ITC Maratha Hotel will be sponsoring this year.
• Deutsche Bank approved our proposal for the two industrial sewing machines for the new GCB centre.
• At 11am I took my mother and father over to Saki Naka to Nanchya school to pay the fees of Shaksi, Riya and Abishek. We sponsored these 3 beautiful children last year and will continue to sponsor their education. The fees were 6350 INR – $140 CDN. Total – 19,050 The headmaster of the school is an adorable elderly man who loves to chat and visit so paying fees at his school can be a lengthy but always enjoyable experience.
• Ashley and I headed to Bandra to meet with our friend Bina Shah at the  Signet office in BKC. Signet puts out a calendar every year which is sent out to thousands of businesses across India and abroad and this year Bina has chosen to use DWP photography. Not only have they given us the opportunity to showcase our community and projects to a huge audience they have also donated a more than generous payment for the photographs which we will use for our community. During my time working with corporates, I have always found it difficult to relate, to have these big companies see the benefit of working with small grass roots charities like DWP. But Bina, Harish, their daughter Amira and their company have knocked down the imposing formalities and extended amazing, generous support and trust in our work and it has renewed my faith in the CSR policies of big business. I am excited to show Signet what an amazing impact their trust and donation can have on our community.
• Back to the community the children asked if we could get a football match going and Ashley and I headed to the new garden, football and kids in tow. For more than an hour a hotly contested match was played out until Ashley and I were exhausted. Try as I might I am no match for the kids endless energy…

Photo of the Day

Oct 3rd, 2011

• At the school by 7:30 am this morning. My parents and I swept and cleaned the school and arranged the desks for morning classes.
• Downstairs, Ashley was calling the women  who were starting training at the Kama Schachter diamond company today. The women were supposed to meet at the school by 8am and much to my frustration we didn’t leave until after 9 am and with only 7 women! But 7 women earning good pay with a great opportunity is still amazing. Ashley, my parents and I and the 7 women then headed by bus over to Andheri train station and then to the south of Mumbai where we met with Sager and showed the women where they would be training. Every time we drop women off here it feels as though I’m dropping my kids off at school..
• Next we headed to meet Asha and Andrew ( Janvi Trustees) at their office for lunch.
• Then to the frenetic and chaotic Crawford Market area to source backpacks and school supplies for Deutsche Banks gift to our children on the 15th. They have offered to pay for 10,000 INR – $217.CDN worth of school supplies for 40 kids. We found wholesalers today that will give us a good deal and we will be showing the samples to Deutsche Bank tomorrow.
• My friend Connie who has supported DWP by letting me stay with her in her home for months on end during my first couple of working trips invited my family for lunch. It was nice to see her.

Photo of the Day

Oct 2nd, 2011

• In my attempt to find a balance between work and play I have begun to take Sundays as a day away from the community and work.
• My parents and I were up by 5am and in a rikshaw heading to Bandra by 6am . Today, being Gandhi’s birthday, celebrations and charitable events were held all over the city and country. I was headed to Bandra to race in the “Foot steps for Good” 1okm charity race. Over 150 runners competed with the top three winning prize money for charity. This was my first race in plus 30 degree heat  and I found it tough and fell just shy of the top three coming in at 4th place.
• The race over, we headed  home for breakfast and a little computer work before meeting up with Ashley Fernandes. A month ago I joined Ashley’s soccer team the “All Saints” for the 20 team tournament in Bandra. Our team is a rag tag group of players of al shapes and sizes competing against very athletic and well trained teams. But for some reason these teams have struggled against us and our record is 1-1-2. Today was the last game of the tourney and we finished strong beating the second place team for our first win of the tourney, 1-0 thanks to a brilliant goal by Ashley.  It has been so much fun being part of a team again and look forward to finding more sports to play in this crazy city.
• Exhausted from the day of sports, we headed home, where I began working on the final images for Signet and DWP’s calendar.
• Ashley Pereira has not learned the word “balance” or “day off” and spent the day working in the community at the centre. It’s my goal to slowly wean him from his 7 day 140 hr weeks to something  more manageable…Time will tell…

Photo of the Day

Oct 1st, 2011

• With the monsoon finally over our Saturday ritual of having our kindergarten class use the garden resumed. Led by our teachers the children ran and played games enjoying the break from studies.
• With an empty school I began to organize and clean.
• My parents arrived by 9:30am and were invited into Rahul and  Pranita’s home for breakfast.
• My dad and I descended on the school, locked the seemingly millions of curious children out and cleaned like mad -men! Slowly we are stripping the school of  clutter, trying to make our small space clean and organized.
• I then left my dad with Indu and Shashi to finish the cleaning and took my mother to a nearby hospital with 2 families in tow. Maya, Nandini,Prem and Suman followed by a new member of the community and her sick baby boy. The young child has bronchitis and will need a week or more of medication and visits. DWP will handle the costs. This young mother has 6 children and the family needs help.Once the baby is healthy again I will see where and what can be done to help. We also had Maya’s newest, 9 month old Nandini, checked. She requires some medication but is relatively healthy. 950 INR – $20.65 CDN
• Back at the school, the GCB centre was turned into a artists enclave with more than 30 children drawing and colouring  with my mother.
• My dad and I began to paint Janvi’s new signboard which will hang near the main road.
• Mansi arrived at 2pm and women started to join her on the upper level of the school and soon laughter and english could be heard as the literacy class was in full swing. It is wonderful to see the women so excited about learning.
• My dad purchased a soccer ball yesterday and we headed to the new garden with kids joining us as we walked the pipeline. 10 minutes after the ball was first kicked more than 40 kids joined us for the hour long game.
• Indu and Shashi returned from training and our dance class began at 4pm.
• My parents and I headed home by 5pm after another fun day in the community.

Photo of the Day

Sept 30th, 2011

• Arrived early this morning and stopped by Rahul and Prantita’s home along the pipeline. They have been looking after Ritik and Akash since their parents death. We had tea and chatted with them. DWP has been helping them financially by donating 1000 INR – $21.75 CDN to help offset the costs of taking care of the two boys.
• Next my father and I swept the school and  set up the desks for morning  classes.
• My parents then had tea and breakfast with Sujatas’s family.
• Ashley and I headed by train to meet Summer from Atma in the south to meet with the Mother and Child health organization. Trying to meet with different NGO’s to get a sense of how we can best help the women of our community. FMCH does a wonderful job and I hope we can find a way to create a partnership.
• Ashley and I then headed back to Saki Naka to meet a patient at the hospital. A young women had been having severe headaches and vomiting for the past 3 days but the doctors were unable to find the cause and the husband was very concerned. DWP helped pay for some medicines and took the young couple into see a neurologist. She has been discharged and hopefully the new medication will help. 2800 INR -$60.86 CDN
• Back at the school my parents conducted another art and drawing class for the kids.
• Shashi and Indu trained again at the factory today.
• Our 2nd women’s literacy class was a success today with our friend and volunteer Mansi Roy.
• My family and I headed home by 7pm.

Photo of the Day

Sept 29th, 2011

• My parents and I arrived to the school before 9 am and while my parents hung with some of the children I headed up stairs to set up the desks. Frustratingly found that all our teachers were late and the class was filled with kids and no teachers! Finally Indu and Usha arrived and soon the class came to order.
• Sujata invited my parents and me in for “nasta” (breakfast) and chai.
• While my mom and Ashley worked on a proposal to Deutsche Bank for Girls Can Be my dad and I headed into Saki Naka to drop off photos at the printers.
• Ashley and I then headed over to the ITC Maratha Mumbai Hotel to meet with the Executive House Keeping manager, Seema Chaturvedi. Seema and her staff joined us last week at our school to have a first hand look at our community and projects. In an amazing show of support and generosity Seema and her team of 30 have come together as a group and started a monthly giving program to support our activities as well as sponsoring the monthly salary of our head kindergarten teacher, Usha’s, full salary! They have agreed to an initial one year  commitment to us! But just when you thought their generosity was finished they have added the full one year educational sponsorship of 4 children from our community! This is a show of amazing support for both our work and the communities children!
• Ashley and I then headed over to Powai to pay the fees of one of DWP’s sponsor children. 7200 INR – $156.52 CDN.
• We headed to the paint shop in Saki Naka to pay our bill for all the paint and supplies for the new centre. 3990 Inr – $86.73 CDN
• I had printed off 60 photos of children and members of the community and spent an hour giving the photos away, which is always a fun and exciting thing for the community. 285 INR – $6.20 CDN
• Back at the school we finished typing the DB proposal and while Ashley worked on finding 10 more women for the Diamond factory job I headed over to Deutsche Bank to meet Leon and drop off the letter and photos.
• Back at hoe my dad and I headed to the gym while my mother wrote  anew post for the website that will be up tomorrow.
• A nice dinner  and am now writing and editing the days photos.

Photo of the Day

Sept 28th, 2011

• My parents and I arrived to the community by 8:30 am this morning  and went directly to Ashwni and Bhoomi’s home. Bhoomi had a high fever last night and we purchased some medication. Bhoomi wasn’t so happy about taking the meds but hopefully it will make her a little more comfortable.
• Two days ago we had a meeting with Tata Power and they have agreed to set up spot lights to illuminate our garden which will make it safe during the evening which is great!
• We also had a meeting with Abbey’s who builds playground equipment and Daniel has graciously donated a new set of swings for the new garden! The kids are super excited!
• The BMC used our new GCB centre today for a general health camp and saw over 100 patients.
• After morning classes Indu, Shashi and my mother caught a rik shaw to Priyanka’s factory and my dad and I walked and met them. While the girls continued their training we had a meeting with Priyanka about the purchase of two machines and fabric for our products. Priyanka has extended amazing support amongst her ridiculously busy day and we are so thankful for her support.
• Back at the centre before 2pm I began to setup the upper level for the start of GCB’s women’s literacy classes. It was our first class today led by Mansi Roy and we had 1o women who were all very excited.
• During the same time my mother and father used the GCB centre to hold a drawing class with about 30 kids. Fun was had by all..
• As the women left our after school play group arrived and the toy box was opened and 30 new kids filled the school and played games  until 5 pm.
• My parents and I then headed home and I gave my Dad a tour of the area around my apartment.

Photo of the Day

Sept 27th, 2011

• My parents have arrived in Mumbai and were welcomed to the community with open arms.
• Two nights ago we picked them up and and my parents and I stayed up and chatted through the night.
• My mom, excited to be back and my father excited to see this community for the first time we arrived at the school by 9 am.
• We spent the morning showing my dad around and visiting with the community. Had countless cups of chai and my parents were fed in numerous homes, truly welcoming them to the community.
• At noon we headed into Saki Naka to pay pending school fees with my mom and dad with us. 3 more children’s fees were paid in full and we are slowly catching up on the sponsorship work.
• Next we headed to Sabina and Fayez’s home. For the last year DWP has been paying for her monthly medical bills to help the family. Years ago she had a tumour removed from behind her eye and it has caused paralysis on the left side of her face. We sat with her and her family discussing her issues and dropped a 6 month supply of meds with her. 4500 INR – $98 CDN. We will be taking her to see a specialist soon as her eye is causing her pain again.
• Back in the community I watched as children grouped around my parents, excited to meet them. My parents instantly felt at home and sat in the garden playing with the kids.
• Ashley and I met with a mother who school fees we paid last year. She is complaining that she cannot afford either child and want us to pay for her son and she will remove her daughter from school. I sad that I will pay for the daughter’s fees in full to keep her in school but she must find the finances to cover her son.
• We asked Shashi to canvas the women in the community informing them of a new literacy class to be taught by a volunteer.
• By 5pm jet lag caught up with my parents and we headed home to unwind. We had a lovely dinner with Ashley and his mother in Marol and went to bed early.
• It’s great to have my family here and I’m looking forward to their ongoing involvement.

Photo of the Day

Sept 25th, 2011

• Being Sunday, I enjoyed a slower pace and worked from home writing and working on the computer.
• At noon I met up with Ashley Fernandez , Mitesh and Collin and headed to Matunga for our soccer game. We have played the last 2 weeks in a local tournament and are 0-1-1 and desperately needed a win today to advance to the next round. Our team is a rag-tag group  with several players out with injuries. All the teams we have faced are full of young fit footballers and it has been amazing how well our team has done given the competition. Today’s game was no different and the teams were locked in a o-o tie up until the last 10 minutes when the opposing team scored. We had a couple close chances at tying the game but came away empty handed. It has been so nice to be part of a team and I’m looking forward to our last game next week.
• I arrived home in the late afternoon and spent a few hrs editing the video for Drashta design and will be handing it over to her tomorrow.
• In exciting news my parents and DWP directors Cindy and Todd Ryan will be arriving in Mumbai late tomorrow night and both the community and I are really excited!

Photo of the Day

Sept 24th, 2011

• I arrived at the school by 7:30 am and began cleaning the upper level of the school and arranging the desks for morning classes.
• At 9am we got 20 of our young students together to help me shoot a quick thank you video for a new DWP partner.
• By 9:30am we went live to the Girls Can Be Foodie event in Victoria BC hosted by Veronique Desilva. All the proceeds from the event are going directly to GCB. Check out a few pics courtesy of Yukari Peerless who attended the event. Here.
• Pakia and Gotia continued to paint the outside of the school. It seems as though there is more paint on them and the lane way than on the building…
• Kavita joined me at noon at the school along with a young mother and her 3 daughters. Kavita has generously sponsored one of her children. We sent the group along with one of our staff to the school to pay the fees directly. A big thank you to Kavita for the support!
• Next I headed across town to Holi family school and the Mohalla Movement Trusts “Peace Poster Contest” that brought together over 200 children from the nearby schools. I have donated my time as a photographer for their events over the past 3 years. Check out a few of todays pics: Here
• Ganesh’s spirit has been showing up at several homes along the new garden since his death 2 weeks ago. He has spoken to several members of the community saying that his “sirs” (Ashley & myself) were the only ones that helped him. The community is fearful and is organizing a feast for him tomorrow in the community to rid the area of his spirit. DWP will not be contributing to this as I feel that the community should cover the costs as they only seem to care because his spirit is bothering them. I miss Ganesh,his laugh and his smile and I hope that his spirit can find peace.

Photo of the Day

Sept 23rd, 2011

• I worked from home this morning on computer work and then joined Ashley at the centre just before 11am.
• Pakia & Gotia were hired again today to finish painting the front of the school. It’s starting to look really nice.
• We also hired the welders today to start work on Janvi’s sign board which will be proudly displayed on the main road above the community.
• A new volunteer, Mansi Roy dropped by today to visit. She is new to social work but very keen and excited. I showed her around our school and community and we have decided to have her begin teaching our Women’s literacy course that will start Monday. Mansi also surprised us with a more than generous donation. We will be using some of the funds to take Maya and her daughter Nandini to the specialist.
• Ashley took Ritu in for further tests as every medication that has been given to her has had bad side affects. Blood and urine samples were taken today.500 Inr – $11.40 CDN
• I then headed home and continued my computer work before meeting Ashley in the evening and we headed to Usha teachers house. Her oldest brother has been causing major problems and has been threatening Usha. He had told her he was coming over tonight to remove her from the home and Ashley and I waited there to support her if he came but he did not show.
• Home now a little bit more computer work and then bed time…

Photo of the Day

Sept 22nd, 2011

• I stayed home this morning and waited for the painter to arrive as I’m hoping to get my apartment painted before my parents arrive on Monday night.
• Arriving at the school by 9am. Ashley and I set out to Samata school and Modern English to pay DWP sponsor kids fees. Javit, Ravi, Amir and Deepak’s fees were paid in full.
• Then headed across Saki Naka to the printers to pick up photos of Simon’s funeral for Simon’s wife, and to have DWP stickers and business cards made.
• Next it was back to the school to ensure Indu and Shashi were on their way to Priyanka’s factory to continue their training.
• Ashley and  I worked in the area watching over the painter and hired Gotia and Pakia to begin painting the front of the school.
• Mary and Summer from Atma came to tour our area and I showed them around for a couple hrs. Janvi and Atma will be doing site visits with their other partners next week and follow up with some workshops to continue the beginning of our partnership.
• Our day ended by 6pm and I’m back at home working on the Drashta video.

Photo of the Day

Sept 21st, 2011

• Ashley reached my apartment by 7:30 am to shoot a scene from my roof top for the Drashta video and it went well.
• Reached the school by 9am and set up the desks as the children joined us for morning classes.
• Usha teacher came back today after a more than 10 day absence after the death of her mother. Ashley and I have been helping her deal with some terrible family issues that stem from her brother and his greed for acquiring the mothers property. It has been a terrible situation and it is unfortunately not over yet and we will help her where we can but for now we are happy that she is back at the school.
• Our kindergarten class had the pleasure of speaking with two good friends of mine this morning via skype video chat. Salomeh Jalali has helped DWP raise money in Vancouver and will be joining us here in Mumbai in November. Taylor Conroy joined our class late this morning and was welcomed by our curious students. Taylor is a brilliant philanthropist doing some amazing work on fundraising platforms in Canada. Taylor runs Destroy Normal and DWP will be joining forces with him on an exciting project early next year.
• Our business students arrived today and 10 of them spent the day running DWP & Janvi’s women’s survey of our community. Over 60 homes have now been spoken to giving us a better understanding on where and how to help.
• Next, Ashley and I headed to St. Anthony’s school in Saki Naka and met with Tahir and Shrutika (DWP sponsor kids) and paid their full years fees.
• We finally decided on a colour for the GCB centre and dropped the paint off to our painter who should finish tomorrow.
• I then headed home and worked on the Drashta video for the rest of the afternoon.
• I met with Ashley in the evening and we purchased Muna and his wife a six month supply of medicines. Muna’s wife suffers from Asthma and TB and her monthly med bills are high. 44oo INR – $95 CDN for 6 months.

Photo of the Day

Sept 20th, 2011

• My love and (mainly) hate relationship with the rikshaw drivers of Mumbai has hit an all new low. Ashley and I have logged km after sweaty km, walking over the last two days trying to get our sponsor kids fees paid. The riks are on strike!!
• Our school classes ended early this morning as we began to prepare for our monthly general health camp with Larsen & Toubro. Our doctor saw over 150 patients today. We were also able to discuss 3 new health camps in regards to GCB and will meet with L & T next week to finalize.
• I visited with Maya this morning and ushered her and her young family to see our doctor and will be taking her and her youngest (Nandini) to a specialist this week as I’m very concerned for her family’s welfare.
• Once the camp was in full swing Ashley and I walked across Saki Naka and to the top of the hill overlooking the area to shoot the opening scene for the Drashta video that will hopefully be played at her upcoming fashion show in Germany.
• Next up we headed across Mumbai taking 3 modes of transport and walking inbetween and ended up 30 mins late for our meeting with the Shopper Stop company in Malad West. We are hoping to somehow tie GCB and this large outlet together but its early days and to early to tell what will come from todays meeting.
• Yesterday we got a call from Deutsche Bank and they are excited about GCB and are donating two industrial sewing machines to our centre.
• Also 10 ladies from our community started work at the diamond company with 20 more starting soon.

Photo of the Day

Sept 18th, 2011

• Sunday is always a little slower in the community with our school closed with the exception of our dance class.
• We arrived early to have the area cleaned and to have a small argument with the 4 women hired to clean the new garden. The women have been taking it very easy and the garden has become dirtier and we had to put some pressure on them to ensure the area remains clean for the community.
• Subash,Paki, David and Keshore were hired to clean the gutters and drains for the community as well as help the women remove the garbage left over from the Ganpati celebrations and mandaps.
• Amira and Bina Shah visited us today. Amira is an aspiring social worker and was interested in our work and her mother Bina is from one of India’s largest Pharmaceutical companies. Bina is looking at having DWP photography for their annual calendar that reaches over 4000 companies. Amira also writes a blog and posted a story about our work today after her visit.Read it : HERE
• Our painter for the GCB centre continued his work today and will be finished tomorrow with any luck bringing the centre that  much closer to opening.
• In the afternoon I headed to Bandra to join my soccer team in the tournament, and after a hard fought game that saw me come away with a yellow card, we lost 1-0.

Photo of the Day

Sept 17th, 2011

• I stayed home this morning and worked on catching up on bookwork and computer work.
• Ashley was at the centre to meet with the painter of the GCB centre and get him started as well as find more women for the Kama job.
• Gotia, Pakia, Subash and David were hired in the morning to finish cleaning the garden and cut the trees.
• We met at the centre at 11am and decided to take Indu, Shashi and Chedra (staff) to the Bandra fair for a day out.
• We spent the afternoon on the ferris wheel and rides and had a great time wandering the shops around Mt. Mary.

Photo of the Day

Sept 16th, 2011

• We started off the day by doing a live video chat with Stephanie Hinton of Breathe Athletic in Victoria BC. People had gathered for her new stores first birthday party. Stephanie has generously donated 10% of this weeks sales to Girls Can Be and has been a wonderful supporter right from the start! We can’t thank you enough Stephanie and congratulations!
• Our daily workers started work by cutting down a large section of a tree in the garden. It had started to break a wall of a nearby building and was a safety concern.
• After morning classes finished I sat with Indu and Shashi   who will be working with GCB teaching sewing. After a conversation with Priyanka yesterday we came up with helpful product for the women of the slum and I wanted the girls’ opinion. The product in question is a sanitary napkin and the lack of clean hygienic ones available to poor women. Our idea was to make these in our centre for very cheap using free fabric from Priyanka Bapna’s factory and be able to distribute the clean pads to the women in the community. The problem lay in my explanation using broken Hindi/English and sign language in an attempt to tell our all female staff. The women of our community are very shy and having a white guy try to explain this was enough to turn Shashi bright red and nearly pass out and Indu’s eyes became so big she looked like a cartoon followed by fits of laughter. I think its a great idea and the ladies think I’m crazy  and this won’t be the first or last time they’ve had this thought..
• Ashley and I then headed across Saki Naka to pay Shavia’s school fees at SA public school. 8000 INR – $173.91 CDN
• Next we climbed the hill behind Sangarsh Nagar to start shooting a video for Drashta Design.
• Back at the school I hung with our after school playgroup and watched as the kids learned a new song.
• We then had a group of people from the Mumbai Sheraton hotel visit our school and give some gifts to our children. We discussed possible collaborations and it looks like some interesting things may come from this.
• I then headed home to my apartment which  has been without water for the past two days and I then headed to the gym to shower…frustrating!

Photo of the Day

Sept 15th, 2011

Photo of the Day

Sept 14th, 2011

• Ashley and I headed to the school early and spent the first part of our morning working with our computer students and collecting fees. Our computer class is probably the cheapest in Mumbai but our teacher has been too lenient and fees have  not been collected for months.We have had to become strict and it is paying off and the majority of fees have been collected. A small victory…
• I then headed upstairs to clean the upper level and prepare it for our morning class.
• As morning classes ended our business students (volunteers) arrived and led 70 kids in games for over 2hrs! Laughter could be heard echoing down the pipeline!
• Meanwhile Ashley had sent our staff out to speak to women in the community about a job opportunity with a large jewelry company. The company is looking to hire 40 women from the area and is paying a very good salary and provides training. We were able to arrange 2o women today and will tour the factory tomorrow to check out the facilities.
• Next we organized the volunteers and have had them organize a survey for our area. They interviewed 40 homes this afternoon trying to give us some insight into which women are looking for work and how we can help them find jobs with GCB.
• Ashley and I then headed over to meet with Atma which is a non-profit with a  mission is to help other charities become better in all areas. Once they pick a partner they work with them for a 3 year intensive program. I am hoping that they will pick Janvi for their partner and help give Ashley the support he deserves. It would be amazing for Janvi to work with them.
• Next we headed back to Saki Naka to meet with Priyanka Bapna who runs a large clothing manufacturing factory. She gave us a tour and has decided to support “Girls Can Be” in a large way! To start she will be training Indu and Shashi (our staff) starting Monday and help them learn how to use professional machines. She has granted us free use of fabrics and a host of other amazing possibilities. This is an amazing connection for GCB and will kick start our new initiative!
• At the end of the day Kane was interviewed by the Mumbai Boss, an online publication and the article will run soon.
• Happy Birthday to my friend Caitlin Harrison in Canada.

Photo of the Day

Sept 13th, 2011

• I spent the early morning at home doing computer work while Ashley met with a company interested in hiring 30 women from our community for his diamond company. The offer sounds really good almost too good and Ashley and I will be checking out the factory tomorrow to see if everything is as it says it is..
• We arrived at Usha’s (our kindergarten teacher) home by 10am to join the rest of her family for her mother’s funeral. It was a very emotional morning and Usha has taken her mothers death very hard. We marched with the procession through her community and said our goodbyes.
• We then headed across town to meet with HDFC in their office building. HDFC is looking at possibly working with Janvi and DWP. They are mostly interested in tree planting and I’m not sure if it’s the right fit for us.
• What Janvi needs as an organization is funds! With the support of DWP Janvi has done amazing things for this community but as an organization it is underfunded. My mission for this working trip is to pursue a monthly micro giving campaign with socially conscious corporates at their offices, where each employee is given the opportunity to donate 100 Rupees per month ($2.20 CDN) or more that will help Janvi run the day to day expenses. Most large corporates employ hundreds of staff and this would give Janvi the steady funding that they so deserve! If you work at a corporate office here in Mumbai and are interested in helping us make this happen contact Kane at dirtywallproject@gmail.com
• Ashley headed back to the centre to work finding more women for the job at the diamond factory while I finished up bookwork at home.
• Tomorrow will see us criss-cross the city in meetings to establish connections for Girls Can Be and Janvi…keep your fingers crossed for us…

Photo of the Day

Sept 12th, 2011

• Ashley and I were at the school by 8 am to arrange the desks and ready the school for morning classes.We have been short staffed all week. Usha teacher has been away as her mother is ill and Rinku has gone indefinitely back to her village.
• Raquelle, a friend who is interested in working with both Janvi and DWP joined us this morning.
• The community and I chatted with my mother and father via skype video chat this morning. The women of the community were very excited to see them and word spread quickly along the pipeline. We are all looking forward to their arrival in a couple weeks.
• I found Ashwini curled up on the floor of her home this morning and took her and Boomi to the Doctor.
• We also took Raju’s wife, who just two days ago had a miscarriage with their first child to have her examined and tested.
• We also took Sneha’s grandmother who is HIV positive into the hospital as she has not been feeling well and her sons have refused to help her.
• DWP spent a total of 5155 INR – $112 CDN on all 3 of our patients today.
• I spent the afternoon with our kids in the after school playgroup colouring with Aman.
• We had a visit from a potential volunteer who is also interested in sponsoring a girl from our community.
• Just as Ashley and I were heading home at 6pm, Usha teacher phoned and told us her mother had just died. We went immediately to meet her and over the next few hrs moved back to her home to help her ready her house for the arrival of the body where it will stay until tomorrow’s funeral.
• We will attend the funeral in the morning.

Photo of the Day

Sept 11th, 2011

• Being Sunday I  took the morning off from the community and finished writing Ganesh’s story and editing some of the photos to go with the post.
• Ashley had caught the train in the early morning to meet with our friend and Lakshyaa founder Shirish Patil in Badlapur to discuss his work with the tribal community.
• I met with Ashley late in the afternoon as the entire city was preparing for the final day of Ganpati celebrations!
• We walked to Powai lake and helped organize the immersion volunteers for a few hrs before heading home for the night.

Photo of the Day

Sept 10th, 2011

• We arrived to the school in the morning and rounded up Pakia, Gotia, Keshore and Subash.With the rains being very light over the past few days we decided to capitalize and clean the area and school.
• At 9am DWP held its first live skype video chat with Delaney Tosh in Canada during our morning classes at the school. I was able to introduce Delaney to our kids, staff and show her around the area. I look forward to using this tool to connect with DWP supporters around the world.
• Komal Thakur joined us in the morning and helped teach the children.
• Jaita and Debjani dropped by and brought biscuits, chocolate and tons of new school books for the childre. Along with bags of used children’s clothes. We will distribute the  clothing this week to the community.
• At 2 pm a group of volunteers from St. Andrews College came by and played games with the children in the school for a few hrs.
• A Deutche Bank  representative dropped by as well to speak to Ashley about our communities needs and strengthening the connection with DB.
• I spent the majority of the day hanging with our guests and children and enjoyed a relaxed and stress free day after what has been a long week.

Photo of the Day

Sept 9th, 2011

• Ashley and I arrived at the school before 8 am and spoke to Pakia and Gotia to find out how Ganesh was doing. They went to the hospital to visit last night but used his nickname, Ittiya, and could not locate him. So, we gathered his sister and headed to the hospital. We were told he was in ward 7 but when we got there he could not be found. While I was asking a nurse about him, Ashley came back with sad news. Late last night Ganesh had died.
• We went outside to tell his sister and then over the course of the next 5 hrs dealt with Indian bureaucracy  in order to have his body released.
• Ashley and I had to carry his body from the morgue into our rented ambulance where 7 of us piled in and drove the truck into the new garden where the community was waiting.
• His body was washed and decorated with garlands and dressed in new clothes before a bamboo stretcher was made. The men gathered and we marched his body through the community to the crematorium.
• It was an extremely sad day and Ganesh will be sadly missed by myself and the entire Saki Naka community.
• I am working on writing a full post about his last few days.
• DWP wishes him a safe and peaceful journey where ever he has gone.

Photo of the Day

Sept 7th, 2011

• After a stressful afternoon at our centre I headed across town to Bandra to have dinner with friends. A few minutes after the food arrived on the table I received a phone call from Ashley saying that Ganesh had fallen seriously ill and needed to be take to hospital immediately. Ashley picked him up from the slum and I hopped in a rickshaw that took me 45 minutes to reach the hospital. Ganesh was in terrible condition, puking with bouts of serious “loose motions”. To make a long story short, Ashley and I spent the night in the trauma ward of Sion municipal hospital with Ganesh and finally reached home at 7 this morning. Ganesh is still in hospital. I will be writing a full post about the night spent in one of the dirtiest hospital wards I have witnessed.
• After showering, Ashley and I headed back out to the centre to meet with our new painter and show him the GCB centre. We have agreed on a price and he will start as soon as the walls have become dry.
• Next we headed into Saki Naka to meet with the head of the Holiday Inn, Mrs Elizibeth Shu, about a possible connection with the hotel and our community. The meeting went very well and I hope that this large company and DWP will be joining forces soon!
• Back to the centre to meet with the business students that are volunteering with Janvi and DWP to discuss and brainstorm ideas for GCB.
• It is nearing the end of the Ganpati festival and Ashley and I visited Powai lake to check on a few of our lady volunteers during the immersion.
• I’m back home now and excited for a much needed sleep!

Photo of the Day

Sept 6th, 2011

• Ashley and I headed over to Malad this morning to meet with a DWP sponsor case. DWP has added Shivam and Donia to the growing list of sponsor children. DWP paid 10,000 INR – $220 CDN for both of the children’s school fees for this year. We spent some time with the family again afterwards and I feel very privileged to be in the position to help this young family. The children were sponsored by an individual from Canada.
• Next we headed back to our centre to organize some pending programs.
• Mid morning we went across town to Kurla to pick up the hats for our volunteers for the Ganpati immersion tomorrow night. Janvi has sponsored 200 hats and will be arranging for volunteers to work with police to control the crowds during the immersion of the idols at Powai.
• We then dropped off the hats at Powai police station and had a meeting with the new head of Powai police. It is vital for us to have a good relationship with the police as we deal with our community and the plethora of problems that arise.
• In the afternoon I hung out with our children for our after school program and played games until I ran out of energy.
• In the middle of this a huge problem arose in the community. One of our teachers, Rinko, was in the middle of it. Rinko was seeing a young boy from our area last year and it caused serious problems with both families involved. There was allegations of abuse  and with Ashley’s intervention the relationship ended. But it seems as even though this boy has beat her countless times, she has gone behind her family’s back and ours and continued to pursue a relationship. Yesterday when Ashley and I were out, the boy came into our school and slapped Rinko. We only found out a few hrs ago and caught the boy and as crowds gathered huge yelling matches and fights occurred.  The next 2 hrs were very heated and nothing has been resolved yet and I am worried, as this is a small community and more trouble will follow. Ashley and I are only interested in keeping our staff safe from abuse and are dealing with this situation as best we can.I am constantly frustrated by the abuse that takes place against women in India and this is just one more reason why our new project Girls Can Be is so important.

Photo of the Day

Sept 5th, 2011

• Happy Teacher’s Day to Indu, Usha, Shashi, Chedra, Rinko, Vanessa Hendricks, Jaimala Gupta and Vignesh Manjeshwar for their wonderful work here in India. To my teacher friends around the world, Joel Deleenheer , Kevin Monkman, Katrina Harrison and Mike  St.Claire, keep up the wonderful work. Education is the key to changing our world.
• Ashley called me before 7 am today explaining that our head teacher Usha’s mother had fallen very ill and was taken to hospital. Usha is a single mother and has medical bills of her own and has been struggling with family issues due to her brother and sister. Ashley and I reached the hospital before 8am and spoke to the doctor. She is over 70 and has many health complications. We stayed for two hrs in the morning with Usha and helped by leaving the deposit to the hospital. and paying for her medications. We will continue to support her where neccasary. 13,000 INR – $282 CDN
• Next we headed across Saki Naka to visit with Ritu who we helped with medicines last week. She was complaining that the medicines were causing swelling in her legs and face.  Ashley has been working with Ritu for sometime as she has been on the edge of prostitution for some time. She is beautiful and vulnerable and many of the local “massage” and  mens “beauty salons” have been offering her work. We are attempting to find her other means of employment and keep her safe.
• Leaving Ritu we headed to Our Lady School and celebrated Teachers Day with the staff. We then paid the fees for one of DWP’s sponsor children named Priya Shewale. 8500 INR – $184 CDN
• We then headed back to our school. With the last week being so hectic I realized I hadn’t spent much time with the kids of  the community so I invited 3o kids upstairs in the school, blasted some Hindi music, opened our toy box and partied like a 6 yr old for two hours!
• At 6 pm we were told of a case of a family that lives near Shashi teacher in Marol. The mother of the household is suffering from TB and asthma and with 3 small children the family was struggling to pay her monthly medical bills. Indu, Shashi, Ashley and I headed to their home to see their situation. We spent an hour in their tiny, cramped home and spoke to neighbours about her condition. We have decided to purchase her next month of medications and continue to monitor her situation. 15o0 INR – $32.60 CDN
• We ended our day with chai and snacks with Shashi and her family and finally reached home just after 8 pm.

Photo of the Day

Sept 4th, 2011

• A friend and representative from Atma, Bronwyn Grace, (a fellow Canadian) visited us at our centre in Saki Naka. Bronwyn has lived and worked here in India for the past several years and it was a pleasure to finally meet her. Her knowledge of the Hindi language is amazing which made me look terrible with inside jokes from the local women on my lack of  Hindi! Thanks for that Bronwyn…
• Atma  is an organization that helps other NGO’s become stronger with support and we are looking to have Janvi join forces with Atma.
• Yesterday, Ashley and I went across the city in the morning to visit St. Catherines women’s home. This institution has been running since the 1920′s and is a beautiful property in the middle of Mumbai. The head sister and our friend Komal showed us around their many projects. It was really interesting.
• Payal Talwar a friend of DWP’s and writer of the article that made front page news all over India invited us to her home for Ganpati celebrations last night. It was a wonderful evening with great people and her group Connect Ticket donated to DWP and has shown us amazing support!
• Since DWP hit the front page of the Times on Monday there has been an amazing response from the Indian community with tons of interested individuals and companies interested in supporting DWP projects!
• This morning Ashley and I arrived at the school before 7 am to meet with a new volunteer named Meera and her friends. They had arranged for a field trip to a nearby waterfall for the children. We took 26 kids on a busy public bus across town and hiked up to a beautiful waterfall. I had no idea this place exsisted and our children had an amazing time. We all sat under the waterfall in the pouring rain and loved every minute of it! 26 kids enjoyed the day and it cost less than 800 INR – $17 CDN!! Amazing right?
• This afternoon I was asked by a friend to join his soccer team in a local tournament in Bandra. It was the first time I had played soccer since I was 15 and it was great to play. The field was 3 inches of deep mud and half the field was covered in 4 inches of water due to the monsoon. We played the best team in the tourney and came out with a nil-nil tie! Looking forward to next weeks match!

Photo of the Day

Sept 2nd, 2011

• Ashley and I arrived at the centre by 7:30 am and quickly picked up our patient that we had met last night. We ushered her and her husband into a waiting rickshaw and headed across town to the specialist. Meera met us there and helped us understand the medical diagnosis. As it turns out the surgery before has left it in a bad state and she will require another surgery. The Doctor was kind to us and did not charge us for the appointment  but he could not offer any other help but diagnosis. We will now take her to a municipal hospital in hopes of getting her on the surgery wait list in the next couple of days.
• After the appointment I headed back to my apartment to catch up on some book and computer work that has been pending.
• In the afternoon Ashley and I met up with 8 1st year business students who have to volunteer as a part of their course. We laid out what we thought they could help us with and they will be coming every wednesday for the next 3 months.
• After the volunteers went home I spent some time with our toy club kids in the school playing games and lost to an 8 yr old in heated game of chess!
• Next Ashley and I headed across town and got stuck in a two hour traffic jam due to the Ganpati festival that is rocking the city. We had gone to do a house visit with a young family looking for educational sponsorship.

Photo of the Day

Sept 1st, 2011

• The first day of the 11 day long Ganesha festival began today. Several Mandap’s have been created along the pipeline to hold the shrines to Lord Ganesh. DWP donated small amounts of money to each to help decorate the shrines. 2000 INR – $44 CDN
• Ashley and I met with Andrew and Asha who are the trustees for Janvi Trust this morning and all headed together to Sudha’s home. Sudha runs an event management company called “Little Starz” and for the past 6 years has been contributing to Janvi and the Saki Naka community. She welcomed us to her home for Ganapati.
• Due to the festival our school was closed and I headed home for a few hrs to work on my apartment and to write a new post for the website.
• In the evening Ashley and I headed back to the centre to meet with a young women named Meera who is a physical therapist. Meera had read about our work in the newspaper and is interested in working with us.
• Ashley, Meera and myself paid a visit to a young family that is new along the pipeline. We had heard that the wife had just come from the village because of a botched surgery on her leg and has been in severe pain for the last 6 months. We spent an hour in their home and will be meeting them at 7 tomorrow morning to take her to a specialist and see what can be done to improve her situation.
• Last night I met with Jaita Guha. Jaita has been a great help in supporting education through Janvi and with the help of her friends has sponsored 10 children. Jaita is very interested in helping more with Girls Can Be.

Photo of the Day

Aug 31st, 2011

Photo of the Day

Aug 30th, 2011

Photo of the Day

Aug 29th, 2011

• Woke up this morning to a call at 7 am saying that an article about DWP was on the front page of “The Times of India” paper. I was so surprised and couldn’t believe it! I have been humbled by the outpouring of support from the Indian community since the article came out today! Thank you to Payal Talwar for writing this article!
• The Times of India has the largest circulation among all English-language newspapers in the world and DWP is on the cover!! So amazing!! The paper goes out to more than 3 million homes!
• About an hour after picking a copy of the paper, I sat reading it in our school, showing the children and teachers.
• The funny part came when one of our kindergarten children had a “loose motion” on the floor of the school and we were without a cloth and ended up using my article to clean up the mess.
• Work continued on the GCB centre , electricians and masons continued to do the finishing work.
• Ashley and I headed over to Chandiwali to pay our bill for cement and sand. 12,324 INR – $267 CDN
• Also settled up our bill from the electric hardware shop of 4186 INR – $91 CDN
• After morning classes I headed home with the Raju and Gotia to finish some work on my leaky apartment. Gotia fixed my overhead fans while Raju worked on my bathroom.
• In the evening Ashley and I had dinner with Vignesh, Vanessa and Yvonne from Discover Urjaa to celebrate the article.

Photo of the Day

Aug 28th, 2011

Photo of the Day

Aug 27th, 2011

• Rain, rain and more rain today! It has been a torrential downpour all across the city today causing flooding in many parts and making life very difficult for the poor communities.
• I arrived at the school early this morning. Ashley and I waited for our electrician to come. The electrician has been busy the whole day wiring the Girls Can Be centre and is nearly finished.
• Tonight our plaster guy will start working on the walls with the hopes of completing and enabling our masons to acid wash the tiles and clean up tomorrow.
• Shavia, a DWP sponsor child, came to our school today for a visit. We spent an hour together reviewing her case and fees for this school year.
• Wokhardt Foundation has donated toys, books and games to Janvi and DWP, and Indu teacher has been keeping an after school class in the afternoons for 3o children. Today, employees from Wokhardt joined us in the afternoon.
• Several other Indian college students from St. Andrews college dropped by in the late afternoon and played with the kids in the upper level of the school.
• I paid GCB’S final bill at the tile shop which was 17,000 INR – $369 CDN for all the new flooring and side walls.
• With all the heavy rain I was a little concerned about my apartment and came home to check, and luckily there was no major leakages and the plumbing from yesterday is holding up! I look forward to my first shower in the apartment tonight!

 

Photo of the Day

Aug 26th, 2011

• Arrived early to set up the desks for morning classes.
• Our workers arrived by 8am and started preparing the floor for the masons.
• The masons have been busy and are nearing completion of both the side walls and flooring. After today they will return to acid wash the floor and clean it. The GCB centre will be open very soon!!
• Held a meeting with the BMC garbage collector. We have been having problems in our area with pickup and the BMC has still not hired anyone. We argued about price for sometime with both Ganesh and the BMC man and finally came to an agreement  on the BMC paying 1000 INR and DWP paying 1000 INr – $22 CDN to Ganesh to pick up the garbage from each home in our area in the morning.
• Late in the morning Ashley received a call from Asfari’s husband that she had received a bad burn to her leg and was in hospital. We arrived 3o mins later. She was in pain as the injury happened 5 days prior and she had not seeked medical help and her ankle had turned septic. We spoke with the doctor and donated 3000INR – $65.20 CDN towards her treatment. We will stay in contact and help again if the family requires it.
• I’m currently sitting at home watching as my plumber tries to install my new water tank at my apartment.

Photo of the Day

Aug 25th, 2011

• Ashley and I arrived at the school early this morning to have a look at the new GCB centre’s flooring work. The new tiles are look amazing. today the masons will be tiling the side walls.
• It was a really rainy day here and it’s driving me a bit nuts! I’m ready for the monsoon to end so we can dry out everything and clean up the school and gardens.
• I spent the morning waiting for the plumber to come to my apartment. He was 3 hrs late but at least he showed. My apartment has been without water since I returned a week ago so I’m having a large 500 ltr tank installed. The work will go on tomorrow as well…
• I spent the afternoon writing a new post for the website while waiting for the plumber.
• I joined a nearby gym and was able to have a shower tonight, which was wonderful…

Photo of the Day

Aug 24th, 2011

• My laptop went on the fritz and I went across town to drop it off at a repair shop, luckily it was a quick fix.
• We ordered 3 tempo’s of sand and cement for the new GCB flooring.
• Spent the morning picking out the tiles for the centre and had them delivered in the afternoon.15,000 INR – $333 CDN
• DWP hired David, Gotia,Pakia and Ganesh to bring the supplies from the main road to the centre. 1050 INR – $23.25 CDN.
• We finally agreed on a price for our masons to tile and finish the flooring for the centre. 12,000 INR – $267 CDN
• Janvi and DWP has been sponsoring a team of young boys to play cricket in local tournaments for the last two years. The team has been able to save 4000 INR this year and DWP helped to donate a further 2000 INR  - $ 43 CDN to purchase new uniforms.
• A few more DWP sponsor children came to the school today to discuss further sponsorship for this school year.
• I spent the afternoon at a Karate tournament  and was honoured to be the chief guest along with Ashley. This was a national level event and DWP sponsored the trophies for the children. Over 250 children participated. 5000 INR – $111.CDN

Photo of the Day

Aug 23rd, 2011

• The community was alive with energy yesterday with the celebration of  Dahi Handi throughout the slum.  A huge meal was prepared by the local women and the huge pots of rice and curry were shifted into the school. Over 175 people gathered over two hrs on the upper level and enjoyed a free meal.
• The last two days have been filled with renovation work on the new “Girls Can Be” centre in Saki Naka. Welders, masons and daily wage workers have been putting in long days to help get the centre open.
• Ashley and I made a home visit to a young mother’s house. She has been having medical issues  and she cannot afford treatment or doctor’s visits.
• We called several of DWP’s sponsor children to the school to discuss continued sponsorship.

Photo of the Day

Aug 21st, 2011

• It has been a crazy, busy time my first two days back in Mumbai as I slowly rejoin this wonderful community.
• Yesterday, Drashta Design invited both Ashley and me to the Lakme Fashion week show, which is one of India’s most prestigious events. We were treated to front row seats at her opening show. Drashta and DWP will be joining forces for an upcoming project. More info very soon!
• We celebrated the festival for Krishna’s birth at the school yesterday and the community will gather for a huge feast tomorrow.
• The government operated polio drops for children under 5 yrs was held at our centre today. This is a monthly program which is free of cost for each child.

Photo of the Day

Aug 19th, 2011

• After over 40 hrs, a boat ride and three flights I have arrived back in Mumbai!
• I spent a sleepless night in my apartment waiting for sunrise, excited to get back into the community.
• I arrived at the school by 8am and spent the entire day visiting families and friends.
• The teachers and children welcomed me with a welcome puja ceremony and offered me cake and flowers.
• Ashley has been hard at work renovating the new Girls Can Be (GCB) centre in hopes of surprising me on my return. Mission accomplished! We gathered with a group of local women who held another puja ceremony to bless the new project.
• I’m writing this from my apartment at 11pm and the temperature is hovering a little below 36 degrees!

Photo of the Day

Aug 16th, 2011

• I had a meeting with Carolyne Taylor and Veronique Dasilva yesterday morning. Veronique was the event photographer at the “Girls Can Be” event. She has some beautiful images of the night and I will be writing a post about the event and what the money raised will do to give this project life.
• When the smoke cleared and bills were paid over $3200 was raised for Girls Can Be. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.
• I am writing this from beautiful Vancouver, spending the day with my sister before flying out early tomorrow morning.
• DWP has a meeting later today with an interested donor for the new project. Details to follow…

Photo of the Day

Aug 14th, 2011

• I would like to pay my respects to a family friend and DWP donor, Brian Carl Apland, who passed away on July 30th. My family and I attended his celebration of life service yesterday in James Bay. A few months ago, Brian and his wife Kathy donated the funds that built the new cricket pitch in DWP”s new garden. The Saki Naka cricket pitch is used by dozens of boys who otherwise played make-shift cricket in the crowded laneways. Rest in Peace Brian.
• Ashley has been busy in Mumbai moving my things (small refrigerator, bed, gas cylinder) into my old apartment. The apartment has suffered a quite a bit of damage during the monsoon (green mould on the walls and peeling paint) and will need repairs when I return.
• I had a meeting this morning with Tania who is the founder of One International, a Canadian Charity that is based in Mumbai. Tania has been working in Mumbai for the past 12 years and I ‘m looking forward to working and learning from her during this next trip.

Photo of the Day

Aug 12th, 2011

• I had a meeting with Heidi Kuster from “In your Corner Virtual Assistant Services”. Heidi has come on board with DWP and has offered to be DWP’s virtual helper. She will be in charge of the paper side of DWP’s work, keeping DWP organized . This is a great start to the next working trip and I’m excited to have her help.
• I had a meeting today with the owner of Abstract Designs in Oak Bay. Abstract is a high end construction company and will be showcasing DWP photography in their newly finished show homes. Thanks to Kyle Ryan for presenting DWP with this opportunity.
• I set up the Girls Can Be bank account today giving the new project its separate identity.
• With arrival of my Indian Visa yesterday I was able to book my plane ticket back to Mumbai. I will be back on the 18th and am ready  and excited to be back.
• I spent the afternoon framing the last of the photography orders from the Girls Can Be event.

Photo of the Day

Aug 11th, 2011

• Aug 10th was the launch of  ”Girls Can Be”! The night was a huge success as over 70 people joined us on the night at Union Pacific Coffee. This evening was made possible by several volunteers including Carolyne Taylor , Delaney Tosh, Linda Hunter, Victoria Taylor, Veronique Desilva and my wonderful parents Cindy and Todd Ryan.  I will be publishing how  much money was raised as we figure out the final tally on Monday.
• Two days ago a friend (Simon) and part time worker of DWP in Saki Naka died suddenly. With Ashley’s help DWP paid for the ambulance to take his body to the hospital as well as travelling expenses for his family. DWP also paid 600 rupees to the Andheri courts to try and get his two sons released from prison for two hours for the funeral. Total – 1500 INR – $ 32.60 CDN
• DWP was interviewed for the Seaside times magazine by  Heidi Kuster. The article will be run in the September issue.
• DWP was also interviewed by Bianca Bartz for Visual news this will be up sometime this week.

 

Photo of the Day

Aug 9th, 2011

• I had a meeting with Delaney, Carolyne and Linda this afternoon about the Girls Can Be fundraiser tomorrow night. Tickets have been selling fast and more and more wonderful auction items have poured in over the last few  days.
• DWP and Girls Can Be was written about in today’s Life section of the Times Colonist paper. Follow the link to read the article.
• Picked up two more large images from Art Box today which I framed this afternoon in time for tomorrow’s event.
• Carolyne picked up DWP merchandise to sell and promote at the E women event tonight in Sidney.

Photo of the Day

Aug 8th, 2011

• While I was waking in Vancouver and organising my papers for the consulate, a dear friend named Simon decided that life for him was too much. Simon (photo above) was a a friend and a daily worker on DWP projects in Saki Naka. Simon helped with construction on the school and the latest slum cleanup project that we completed in March. Simon’s life was difficult and made more so by his severe alcohol addiction and extreme poverty. In the weeks leading up to Simon’s death he had become easily angered and the community was fearing for his wife and daughter. Today, after finishing a painting job in the community, Simon hung himself in the family home. Life in these poor communities is difficult and incidents like this are too numerous to mention.  I am not aware of all the reasons that led to Simon’s decision, but I am thankful that his wife and daughter are no longer in danger from his rash behaviour. Simon caused numerous problems in the community, but despite this I enjoyed his company and considered him a friend. Life is full of mysteries and I hope that Simon is in a better place.
• I just spoke to Ashley and Simon’s wife on the phone. They are busy filing the neccasary paperwork at the police station.
• My documents and visa papers have been filed this morning at the Indian consulate. I should know by the end of the week when I will be able to return to Mumbai.

Photo of the Day

Aug 7th, 2011

• Finally have all my documents ready and will be heading over to Vancover tonight and will be the first person in line at the Indian Consulate tomorrow morning.
• Finished work on the slideshow for the Girls Can Be fundraiser on the 1oth.
• Received two large boxes of products made by Vatsalya’s women’s collective yesterday. Girls Can Be and Vatsalya will be joining forces to help create income generation for both women’s collectives. These items will be sold at the August 10th event.

Photo of the Day

Aug 5th, 2011

• Kane was interviewed by the Times Colonist’s Amy Smart today about the launch of “Girls Can Be”. The article will run in Tuesday’s paper.
• Black press took photos of the “Girls Can Be” aprons outside of Union Pacific with Carolyne and Kane. This was the follow up to yesterdays interview that will come out next Wednesday.
• I spent the morning organising all my documents for my visa application.
• With the help of DWP directors Cindy and Todd Ryan we framed several new photographs for the upcoming event on the 10th.

Photo of the Day

Aug 4th, 2011

• Kane and Carolyne were interviewed by Black Press and Victoria News today about DWP’s new initiative,“Girls Can Be”. The article will be out next week.
• Chapters on Douglas street is now backing Girls Can Be and is selling tickets for the August 10 event.They are offering 10% off anything in the store with your purchase of a ticket.
• Breathe Athletics is also carrying tickets for the event at 1031 Fort st.
• Met with Darshan Stevens of Darshan Photography who is donating several images she took of the Saki Naka community which will be displayed and for sale at the event.
• More and more silent auction items or pouring in for the event. Joan Athey is donating one of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono prints which I am on route to pick up now.

Photo of the Day

Aug 2nd, 2011

• The photo above  which is one of DWP’s earliest photographs from 2009 was just picked as the Smithsonian Editors pick of the week. Follow the link to see it on Smithsonian.com
• Met with Karen Hira this morning, Karen has been busy getting silent auction items for the “Girls Can Be” fundraiser on August 1oth.
• Had a meeting with Carolyne Taylor today from yoUnlimited about “Girls Can Be”.The support behind this new DWP initiative is so exciting!
• I spoke with Ashley last night in Mumbai and things are as normal as they can be in Saki Naka. I can’t wait for my return!

Photo of the Day

July 31st, 2011

• Happy Birthday to my oldest friend Michael Acton!
• I have been back in Victoria for the last couple days and have enjoyed a relaxed pace after the 40 straight working days in the Yukon.
• Yesterday I had a meeting with Fabiola, the young woman who was interested in shooting the DWP documentary. I have decided to stop this project as I just don’t feel the timing is right for now. The Doc idea is still something I’m open to, but not this trip.
• I met with Taylor Conroy of Destroy Normal Fundraising yesterday. He is helping DWP get a photo site up to help sell DWP photographs.
• An epic adventure is brewing for DWP…news to come soon!

Photo of the Day

July 28th, 2011

• DWP’s Kane Ryan was interviewed by Tara McCarthy of CBC North in Whitehorse yesterday. The interview will air tomorrow morning across the Yukon and Canada’s North.
• Our boss Linda Lewis took our entire crew out for dinner in Whitehorse to thank us for a job well done .It was a great way to end my contract with Golden Predator and say good-bye to the many new friends I have made over the last 6 weeks. Cheers to our crew and to Golden Predator for a great summer.
• DWP is now back in Victoria for the next 2 weeks before returning to Mumbai, India.

Photo of the Day

July 26th, 2011

• Bianca Bartz wrote an article about DWP for Trend Hunter.com. Follow the link to read the article.
• It is our crews last day in the Yukon. We are all eagerly awaiting our early morning supply plane to take us out of camp.
• Bikram Yoga has been supporting DWP through weekly Karma classes and yesterday sold lost and found items with all proceeds going to DWP. Cheers Bikram Yoga Sidney!

Photo of the Day

July 24th, 2011

Photo of the Day

July 23rd, 2011

• Congratulations to my cousin Tracy McNaughton and Anthony Mancini on their wedding day.
• DWP will be back in Victoria in less than a week, to start work on “Girls Can Be”
• Another tough day in the bush here in the Yukon, we had a bear less than 20 ft from us today.

Photo of the Day

July 21st, 2011

• I got news today that the CBC in Whitehorse is interested in interviewing DWP later this week. I’ll keep you all informed when things are confirmed.
• Today was our hardest day in the field yet. Stuck in heavy bush and tall trees, we spent most of our day cutting landing spots for the helicopter.
• Work is winding down here in the Yukon and I should be home in a week, in time to organise and prepare for the August 1oth fundraiser for “Girls Can Be”.

Photo of the Day

July 19th, 2011

• Our friend, Shirish Patel, has been busy with his newly founded organization, Lakshyaa. DWP worked with Lakshyaa several times over the last two working trips. Shirish and his team have almost completed surveying the villages surrounding Lavhali. Lavhali is the village where the first study centre and eventual school will be located. Shirish’s work with the tribal communities has generated local press in several of the state papers. DWP will be joining forces with Lakshyaa when I return in August in hopes of bringing quality education to the rural areas outside of Mumbai.
• Things here in camp are starting to wind down as our crew gets close to our first break. My crew and I spent the afternoon climbing to the ridge of a 6000 ft peak at the end of  the day.

July 17th, 2011

• I spent the early morning before work and the evening tonight writing a new post for the DWP site.
• The “Girls Can Be” fundraiser on August 10th is starting to really build momentum, with local businesses coming on board and donating silent auction items.
• It was a mixed bag of weather here in the Yukon today. As we walked down the valley early this morning, a herd of more than 20 caribou crossed our path. There were several young ones which made it really beautiful.

Photo of the Day

July 16th, 2011

• Ashley has put the word out to friends around the Saki Naka area for an apartment or place to stay for me. Looking forward to my return…
• Pakia and Ganesh, two men whom DWP and Janvi regularly help and give work to, have been falling ill recently due to the heavy rains. Both of these men are severe alcholics and are without a place to stay. DWP paid 100 rupees ($2.25 CDN) for medication  for them yesterday and Ashley purchased raincoats for them today to try and keep them dry.
• Sudha, a friend who runs Litte Stars entertainment, has been a big supporter of the school and has just donated all the new material for this years school uniforms for our kindergarten classes.
• It was a beautiful day here in the Yukon. Caribou and beavers were out enjoying the day alongside us.

Photo of the Day

July 15th, 2011

• I spoke to Ashley in Mumbai last night and things are going well in Saki Naka. Our roof has been leaking at the school but was being fixed as we spoke. I had the chance to speak to two of Shalu’s sons, Akash and Hritik as well. I’m really looking forward to my return to the community.
• The government hired garbage collector for the slum quit several weeks ago and the governement has not replaced him. DWP has now hired Ganesh (Drunken singer post) as our garbage collector for the area and homes that sit opposite the new garden.
• Day 25 here in the Yukon for me and starting to get a little bushed. The work has been great but you can really see the time in camp starting to take its toll on our crew. 10 more days till our first break.

Photo of the Day

July 14th, 2011

• Our kindergarten teacher, Usha, has been experiencing  chronic back pain for years. DWP has helped her numerous times with medical expenses. Today Ashley helped purchase her 500 Rupees – $11 CDN worth of medication and a doctor’s visit. She is a wonderful teacher and we value her as a part of our team in Saki Naka. DWP currently sponsors her son Siddarth.
• DWP’s photography show at Habit Coffee has come to an end. It was a great show and we sold over 75% of the photographs. A big thankyou to Shane (owner of Habit) for allowing DWP to use the wonderful space.
• Happy Birthday to Sarah Weisz a friend and supporter of DWP!
• After a slow couple of days stuck in camp due to weather the sun finally came out and we were able to get  out in the field for a half day of work here in the Yukon.

Photo of the Day

July 13th, 2011

• 3 bomb blasts rocked Mumbai today at around 7pm local time. I spoke to Ashley in Saki Naka and some of my close friends in the city and all of them are safe. My heart goes out to all the injured, and families of those caught in the blasts. While this is sad it is also an unfortunate reality in our world today with terrorists striking and killing innocent victims in countries all around the world. Mumbai is a great city in a wonderfully safe and amazing country. Don’t let the selfless act of a few scare you away from this beautiful country.
• Some minor repairs and a new metal door was welded to our sideroom of the school. This is the beginning of the “Girls Can Be” headquarters in Saki Naka. 2500 INR – $54 CDN
• Meanwhile, back in the Yukon….Happy Birthday to our wonderful boss in and friend, Linda Lewis.

Photo of the Day

July 12th, 2011

• Delaney Tosh spoke at the University of Victoria to Business students on ‘entrepreneurs as global citizens’. She outlined DWP’s new project “Girls Can Be”.
• With the monsoon dumping heavy rains on our school in Saki Naka, the roof has been leaking. Ashley will be using DWP funds to fix the roof.
• It was a ridiculously hot day here in the Yukon, but beautiful. Spent the day in some beautiful valleys with curious caribou watching our every move. This was day 22 in camp for me and the crew.

Photo of the Day

July 11th, 2011

• Janvi Trust and DWP’s monthly general health camp was held in support by the Indian company Larsen & Tourbo. L & T supplies the medicine and Doctors while DWP and Janvi supply the space and other costs incurred for the camp. Over 100 patients were seen. 900 INR – $20 CDN
• I spent the early morning writing a new post for the website.
• It was a beautiful day here in the Yukon and it was the nicest day in the field yet. On the way home we stopped at beautiful glacial lake in the high alpine.

Photo of the Day

July 10th, 2011

• Ritu Vishwakarma who has been having severe abdominal pain due to uterus problems was admitted to Rajawadi hospital. DWP paid for her test. 1350 Rupees ($30 CDN) .Ashley will assist further as we find out more about her situation.
• Things are really picking up steam with the new “Girls Can Be” project. I will share some great news soon…
• Here in the Yukon it was a soggy wet day of work. We are starting to see more and more caribou herds, which has been cool.

Photo of the Day

July 9th, 2011

• 2000 Rupees ($45 CDN) was given to Rahul (Shalu’s brother) who is looking after Akash and Hritik since her death. This money will help to pay for the childrens educational expenses and help offset the financial burden on Rahul’s family. We will look into other ways of helping this family when I return.
• It was a beautiful day here in the Yukon. As we approached our first landing site by helicopter we saw a huge grizzly bear. We spent the next 4 hrs in the valley  working with the bear ony a couple hundred yards away the entire day.

Photo of the Day

July 8th, 2011

• 500 Rupees ($11.20 CAD) was used to buy tarps for Sangeeta Shankar. Sangeeta is a young mother who lives in a small tin shack near our school with her two children. Her home was leaking badly during the rains.
• Anyone interested in donating a silent Auction Item to the “Girls Can Be” fundraiser on August 10th , email : dirtywallproject@gmail.com For more information read the Girls Can Be post on the homepage.
• Spent the day wading through swampy lowlands covered in mosquitos but I’m another day closer to Mumbai…

Photo of the Day

July 7th, 2011

• After a week of rain soaked days, the sun finally emerged today in the Yukon.We flew over 8000 foot mountain peaks and huge glaciers. I have never felt so small. This country is stunning and huge!
• Being out in the wilderness of the Yukon hundreds of miles away from civilization, it’s hard to believe I will be in Mumbai (population 18 million) in just over a month and I can’t wait!

Photo of the Day

July 6th, 2011

• DWP’s photography show at Habit Coffee (Pandora st location)will be taken down next Thursday. Come down and check it out while you still can.
• DWP currently pays 10,000 Rupees ($220 CDN) a month to pay the 4 women who clean the new garden daily and help support salaries at the school. Janvi Trust who operates the school handles the rest of the teacher salaries.
• Sumeet, Akash and Hritik who were orphaned when both their parents Shalu and Suresh passed a few months ago are doing ok. Akash and Hritik live with their uncle in Saki Naka while Sumeet lives farther away with Suresh’s sister. It seems as though Akash and Hritik are doing well, but Sumeet has stopped talking to his brothers. I’m looking forward to my return and hope that I can help young Sumeet.
• It was a miserable, wet and cold day here in the Yukon. We managed to get our work done and I’m happy to be back, warm and in my tent.

Photo of the Day

July 5th, 2011

• DWP made the local Marathi language,Badlapur newspaper for its involvement with the newly founded Lakshyaa Foundation yesterday. DWP will be helping to sponsor rural tribal children and help in the construction of school houses in the upcoming months.
• Yoga instructor and DWP friend/supporter is hosting another outdoor yoga class in Vancouver’s English Bay this Thursday with all proceeds going to DWP’s new project “Girls Can Be”

• Finally a beautiful day here in the Yukon which made work dry and enjoyable! The animals were out enjoying the sunshine today as well. Our crew saw moose and caribou while the other crew saw a young grizzly bear less than 6o mtrs from them.

Photo of the Day

July 4th, 2011

• Check out DWP & Lab Salon in the new issue of Snap Magazine out now or follow the link to see the pics online – Snap
• DWP’s “Girls Can Be” fundraiser has changed venue and date. It will be moved to August 10th at Union Pacific Coffee on Herald St.
• Today I spent a cold and wet day working in the field. It’s been raining for three straight days in the Yukon.

Photo of the Day

July 3rd, 2011

• Rain and low visibility has kept our teams from working the last couple days here in the Yukon.
• I spoke to Ashley in Mumbai tonight and the monsoon has been very sporadic and could cause water shortages in the months to come.
• DWP’s first event for its new project “Girls Can Be” is less than a week away. Check homepage for more information.
• Thanks to Jaita Guha, 7 new children from the Saki Naka area have been sponsored by her and her friends for the upcoming school year.

Photo of the Day

July 2nd, 2011

• Bikram Yoga Sidney held their Karma class today at 4:30 with all proceeds going to DWP. Thanks to Wendy Crowther.
• I spent the evening and early morning writing a new post for the website.
• It was a beautiful day here in the Yukon and it looks like I could be back at the end of the month.
• I’m getting excited for my return to Mumbai….

Photo of the Day

July 1st, 2011

• Happy Canada Day!
• If you havent had time to check out DWP’s photography show at Habit Coffee (pandora st location) you have about a week or so left before the show comes down. A big thankyou goes out to Shane (owner of Habit) for the support.
• While I am up here in the Yukon working, Cindy and Todd Ryan are organising and running DWP from Victoria. Couldn’t do any of this without them.
• My Canada day was spent hiking through the bush collecting sediment samples. My crew set the camp record for samples today with 14 taken.
• DWP’s next event is July 8 in Sidney, BC at the Mary Winspear Centre with yoUnlimited. Follow the link for more information  - yoUnlimited

 

Photo of the Day

June 30th, 2011

• Images have been dropped at Art Box for printing. DWP will have a show hanging at Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney BC for the July 8th women’s conference.
• It was a beautiful day here in the Yukon. I was dropped by helicopter on a glacier this morning and spent the day walking through a beautiful valley collecting river soil sediment samples.
• Colquitz middle school grade 8 class raised over $300 for DWP last week. Thanks to Sonia Furstenau!

Photo of the Day

June 28th, 2011

• A friend and supporter of DWP, Karen Hira, is setting up and hosting Victoria’s Best Dance Crew Competition on Sept 25th with all proceeds going to DWP. For information on the event email: karenhira1@gmail.com
• DWP will be entering a team from the Saki Naka slum to compete via video.
• Thanks to a DWP supporter, Priya Shewale , (who is in grade 8 and lives in the Saki Naka area) was fully sponsored for the upcoming school year.
• It was a rainy day here in the Yukon but things are moving smoothly.

Photo of the Day

June 27th, 2011

• On the 17th I got a call from a friend in the Yukon offering me a 6 week contract in the Yukon  and I was on a plane first thing on the 21st. Over the last two years I have not taken a wage or travel and living expenses from DWP. So I was happy  to accept this offer and head North to make some much needed funds for myself.
• After a week in the bush we have finally been able to hookup satellite internet so I should be able to keep everyone informed with the new things planned for DWP.
• The Yukon is a stunningly beautiful place and its been a fun adventure so far, I will be writing a full post with pictures of my work up here to give you a glimpse into life in one of the most remote parts of Canada.

Photo of the Day

June 19th, 2011

• Feeling a little groggy from all the festivities of yesterdays sold out fundraiser with Lab Salon.
• 3o minutes before opening there was a line of more than 20 people waiting for haircuts. Every chair was full the entire day and we were able to raise over $1700 for DWP projects!
• The after party show with Katie Schaan, Christopher Aruda and Lindsay Bryan was great as well and helped pull in another $500 for DWP!
• Watch for DWP and Lab in the upcoming issue of Snap Magazine.

June 13th, 2011

• Delivered some of the remaining aprons and a large DWP photograph this morning.
• At 10am I met with Dan Kahan of Shaw television for an interview about DWP and the photography show currently hanging at Habit Coffee. The interview airs tonight on channel 11.

Photo of the Day

June 12th, 2011

• Had a great meeting with Delaney Tosh, Carolyne Taylor and Taylor Conroy this morning about women’s projects and new fundraising platforms. The future is exciting for DWP!
• Been delivering photographs to Zebra design customers all day.
• Had a lovely meeting with Author Leona Fowler who is getting ready to launch her first children’s book on June 26th here in Victoria. 25% of the proceeds will go directly to DWP!
• As the monsoon looms over Bombay there has been rolling water shortages across the city including Saki Naka with violent demonstrations and clashes with police.
• Congratulations to my friends Clark and Tatiana on their wedding last night. It was a beautiful day!

Photo of the Day

June 7th, 2011

• I spoke to Ashley last night. He is busy preparing the school for the monsoon by tarping the sides and roof.
• I have had several meetings with companies in both India and Canada over the last week and there are some very interesting things on the horizon for DWP. News to come soon…
• Ordered 22 special Lab Salon and DWP shirts for the upcoming event on June 18th.
• Busy framing and delivering the Zebra photography orders here in Victoria.

Photo of the Day

June 5th, 2011

• The first rains of the monsoon have hit Mumbai.
• Had a great meeting with yoUnlimited’s Carolyne Taylor and Surge Groups Delaney Tosh about a possible collaboration that will help to benefit woman of the slum.
• Framing, framing and more framing today as I finish up the last of the Zebra design orders.

Photo of the Day

June 1st, 2011

• Finished printing and packaging the photography orders for Rundle Academy.
• Over the last two days I have held two very interesting skype meetings with people in India. There are some very exciting things on the way for DWP!
• I spoke to Ashley this morning and things are the usual hectic Mumbai way. The monsoon is due to hit the area sometime in the next two weeks. Ashley is busy preparing the school by adding plastic tarps to the sides to keep the kids dry.
• Picked up the posters from Lab Salon today! They look great and Lucky Bar is now onboard for the afterparty! Going to be a fun night. Check out the link for event information- Clean Cuts for Dirty Walls

Photo of the Day

May 31st, 2011

• Spent  two days in Vancouver visiting my sister and picking up new frames for all of the Zebra design orders.
• The printing orders have been dropped off at Art Box Victoria (who gives DWP a partial sponsorship) this morning and the orders will be ready in the next week.
• 9 am this morning I was invited to speak at Colquitz Middle School to a group of grade 8 students about DWP’s work in India. It is always a pleasure to speak to children and bridge the gap between my community in Saki Naka and Victoria. Thanks to Colquitz and Sonia for making this happen.
• Leona Fowler and Carolyne Taylor from yoUnlimited have just set up a Creative Writing workshop  for June 15th and all proceeds from the event will be going to DWP!

Photo of the Day

May 28th, 2011

• Thanks to everyone who attended last nights photography exhibition at Zebra Design group in Oak Bay last night. The show was 100 % sold out by the end of the evening. Several images have been put on order from the event which helped DWP raise over $2500!
• Thanks to Rus and Kirsten for organizing the event, Zebra is an incredibly talented design firm and I am proud to be associated with them. Cheers!
• Working tonight, putting the orders together for Calgary and Victoria.
• DWP has raised almost $11,000 over the last week, and I can’t wait to get back to India and show all of you what we can accomplish with this outstanding support!

Photo of the Day

May 27th, 2011

• Putting the final touches and prints together for the event this evening with Zebra Design Group in Oak Bay. (Check home page for event details)
• Spent the afternoon being interviewed by Monday Magazine for an upcoming article about DWP.

Photo of the Day

May 25th, 2011

• I Sspent the entire day with Rundle Academy College yesterday.
• I was given the opportunity to speak and showcase DWP’s work to three  different age groups of students throughout the day.
• In the evening Rundle and DWP held an art gala including food and music by the school’s kids. DWP photography was on show and I gave a short speech about Rundle and DWP’s connection and the work I have been able to accomplish with the school’s support.
• I’m on my way back to Victoria this evening just in time to finish hanging the new show at Zebra Design Group for the event on Friday.
• A big thank you to Jason Rogers and the entire teaching staff  at Rundle for organising and creating this wonderful connection.

Photo of the Day

May 22nd, 2011

• I arrived in Calgary bright and early this morning, bags full of DWP shirts and merchandise.
• Headed out to find frames and spent the afternoon framing a photography show for Rundle Academy.
• Cheers to Barry and Gail, my wonderful uncle and aunt for lending their home to DWP and me to frame the show and for a place to stay during my visit.

Photo of the Day

May 20th, 2011

• Yoga teacher Karina Acton is hosting an outdoor yoga class in Vancouver on June 2nd. With all proceeds going to DWP. Cheers, Karina!
• Finally the new school desks (pic above) have arrived at the school in Saki Naka. These desks were designed and made by a local man and funded by the Deutsche Bank. DB has been a big supporter of Janvi and DWP projects in Saki Naka.
• A new batch of DWP shirts have also arrived in time for DWP’s fundraiser with Rundle Academy.

Photo of the Day

May 18th, 2011

• A new batch of DWP shirts have been ordered for next weeks fundraiser with Rundle academy in Calgary.
• Busy printing photographs for the next exhibition, my house is covered in the smiling faces of Saki Naka.
• Just finished a meeting about an interesting potential fundraiser, details coming soon.

Photo of the Day

May 16th, 2011

• DWP continues to prepare for its Calgary visit coming up next week with Rundle Academy.
• Kane Ryan will also be speaking here in Victoria at the end of the month at Colquitz secondary school.
• Akaash and Hritik are doing fine in their new home but Sumeet has run away and has been accused of stealing from the orphanage. He is now back in Saki Naka with his uncle but is causing the family problems. Sumeet is refusing to go and live at the home and has told us that he is old enough to take care of himself. Sumeet is 13 yrs old.

Photo of the Day

May 14th, 2011

• A big thank you to Kirsten and Sammy and the lovely owners of Les Cafe in Munich, Germany for holding a DWP photography exhibition and fundraiser. I had the chance to speak live via skype to a full house during the exhibition. Thanks to the efforts put in by Sammy and Kirsten , DWP was able to raise some much needed funds for our sponsor children.
• Here in Victoria, I’m busy preparing for DWP’s visit to Calgary, Alberta. I will be visiting Rundle Academy for a fundraiser with their Kids for Kids program.

Photo of the Day

May 10th, 2011

• DWP’s new photography show is up in Habit Coffee on Pandora st in Victoria B.C. This show will be running for the next 6 weeks, pop down for a great coffee and have a look!
• A big thank you to Darshan, Andrea and Fabiola for helping me hang it and to Shane from Habit coffee for showcasing my photography.
• I am now preparing for DWP’s next event in Munich Germany which will be in a few days on May 13th! This event will show DWP photography as well as selling shirts, bags and an incredibly beautiful Italian racing bike designed by Sammy Cama.

Photo of the Day

May 8th, 2011

• Happy Mothers Day to my amazing mother and all of the other mothers that do so much for their families!
• A special note and Happy Mothers Day to Shalu, a dear friend who is greatly missed.
• I have spent the morning taking down DWP’s photography exhibit at Langham Court Theatre and will be spending the afternoon framing the next show for Habit Coffee on Herald St that will be up tomorrow.

Photo of the Day

May 3rd, 2011

• Spent the day dropping off images to Art Box Victoria who partially sponsor DWP photography. DWP’s new show will be hanging in Habit Coffee on May 10th.
• Final preperations are also underway as I get set to head to Calgary, Alberta for a fundraiser with Rundle Academy’s Kids 4 Kids program.

Photo of the Day

May 2nd, 2011

• In Vancouver today to purchase new frames , DWP’s current photography show at Langham Court is over 75% sold.
• DWP’s next show will be running at Habit Coffee in Victoria May 10th.
• A friend and DWP supporter, Sarah Petrescu, is holding her birthday party and donating proceeds from her gathering to DWP. All of the money raised will be going directly to help sponsor DWP’s 44 sponsor children for the upcoming school year starting in June.
• Thank you Sarah!

Photo of the Day

April 30th, 2011

• Happy Birthday Bhoomi! I spoke to Ashley on the phone tonight in the early morning in Mumbai. I also had the chance to speak to both Ashwini and Bhoomi who is celebrating her 2nd birthday!
• Back here in Victoria work continues as I prepare for DWP’s next fundraiser. Next will be a new photography show at Habit Coffee followed by an exhibition in Munich, Germany on March 13th.
• DWP will also be adding a new sponsor child to our group of children. Vishal will be given a one year sponsorship starting in June. 3300 INR – $75 CAD

Photo of the Day

April 25th, 2011

• Back in Mumbai, Ashley is working hard at finding a suitable boarding school for Shalu’s three sons.
• Here in Victoria I am busy preparing for DWP’s upcoming events.
• DWP will be in Calgary, Alberta May 22 nd-25 th for a fundraiser with Rundle Academy.

April 22nd, 2011

• Spent the day organising the next set of DWP fundraisers.
• May 6th at Zebra Design Group.  We will be showcasing DWP photography. Stay tuned for details. http://www.zebragroup.ca/

 

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