Dirty Wall Project

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Brand new baby Radha

by Cindy Ryan (with Aarti Kalro) (photos by Aarti Kalro)

Maya’s howling, healthy, full-term baby girl, born in a cramped, low-ceilinged home the size of a small bathroom in North America arrived not in a hospital as we had hoped, but in her home with the help of neighbours. Prem, Suman and Nandini have a new sister named Radha. The news of Radha’s birth was given to us by Aarti Kalro who, along with Jaita Guha, has been helping Maya keep her appointments with the Foundation for Mother and Child Health. Dr. Rupal and her excellent caring team were responsible for giving Maya the much-needed advice to keep her healthy during her pregnancy and give hope to all of us that she would have a healthy child.

Just before I left Saki Naka, I helped Maya register at a municipal hospital with the thin shred of hope that she would manage to give birth there when the time came. While municipal hospitals are in need of scrubbing and staff with more time to give, giving birth in one is possibly cleaner and safer than giving birth in a slum home. A hospital birth ensures the baby will have paperwork, a leg up on the system of becoming a bonafide person in India.We can only speculate as to why Maya gave birth at home. Her husband may have been at work when Maya’s labour started and Maya may not have had time to make it to the hospital or she decided she wanted to give birth at home. Radha was born without benefit of doctors, nurses or bureaucracy, as well as being a girl, all a possible recipe for poverty in the mired caste system. What she does have is a loving mother, a father who seems to be excited by her birth and two sisters and a brother who have managed to live through malnutrition and stunted growth to become healthy, active, very smart children. Given a chance in India’s complex social system they could live a fruitful life. Maya is about 25 years old and is a strong, yet physically very tiny woman who is able to stand up for her children and herself and do what’s best in very difficult living conditions. Since Radha’s birth about  6 weeks ago, Maya’s family has chosen to move from Saki Naka to a different community in Mumbai where they will have some help from her husband Pramod’s relatives and a larger room to live in. For that we are all grateful. DWP will continue to assist Maya’s children and support the family with much help from Aarti and Jaita.

Below, in Aarti’s words, are her thoughts on Maya and her involvement with the family.

Maya. 

More than words I am overcome with emotion when I think of Maya.  
While many who don’t know her, might make the assumption that she is shy and a victim of her circumstances, I think differently.  
Maya has been a positive influence in my life. Rather than me giving her anything she has given me a lot. Maybe (it’s my hope) that we give each other strength. I know that Maya has become more brave now that she has DWP’s support. In return, she is an inspiration for me and a reminder that your circumstances do not dictate your happiness.  With her perennial smile, and her innocence, she lifts my spirits when I feel low. 

The last nine months have been exciting and also fraught with worry. Maya calmly left it to us, accepting help and suggestions with full faith. We all hoped at DWP that Mayas pregnancy would go smoothly and the baby be born in a hospital with a birth certificate. We tried. It was not to be so. The baby was born at home with the help of the neighbour . However the baby is healthy and that is most important.  She has an aura of calmness about her and beautiful curious wide eyes like her older sister Nandini. Will she be mischievous like Prem ? Or bubbly like Nandini ? Will she be blatantly truthful like Suman? I don’t know.. She will be loved without doubt.. By 5 wonderful people-her family-and then many more. While she may not grow up with the chances that a lot of us are fortunate to have, I know that she will grow up into a loving individual and have a vibrant life.I hope we can give her a chance to study and a chance to dream. 

Aarti was given the honour of naming the baby which required her to think passionately about what she hopes for this new life. Below is her reason for choosing the name Radha.

Radha was Lord Krishna’s advisor and friend. He was in love with her but she was married. However they are always depicted together, and some say she was even more important than Lord Krishna himself. She is also supposed to be the original goddess of Shakti ( power/energy ).

It is a beautiful name and just has a loving feeling , and softness to it…   Aarti.

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DWP has a new home right here in downtown Vancouver ..

Last Monday we opened the doors to my newest project the “Lost + Found Cafe”.

We are located in Gastown/DTES on 33 West Hastings St. We took over the old (1906) Chelsea Inn’s ground floor space which has lay vacant for the better part of the last decade in middle of October. Over the last 3 months we have completely restored and transformed the old space into what is now the new home of Lost + Found.  The space is huge and the front restaurant space is nearly 2400 sq ft, plus we have a 500 sq ft meeting space in the back that we plan on renting out for meetings or donating to charity/non profit groups that need a space to meet.

We want to create a space that brings the world to Vancouver both through art, philanthropy and great food. The food at Lost + Found is simple and fresh and all made in house daily. Every morning we bake fresh dough (my grandmother’s recipe) and turn it into cinnamon buns, sandwiches and an array of baked goods. Our cookies, brownies, dessert bars are made fresh every morning and go great with our fair-trade, locally roasted coffee from Republica Roasters in Fort Langley. We also do house salads, Spinach Quinoa and Lentil, Thai Noodle and our Roasted Vegetable with Garam Masala. You can also create your own salad with over 20 ingredients coupled with our home made dressings; Lime Cilantro, Honey Ginger, Herb Vinaigrette and Creamy Lemon Feta.

The space itself is warm, relaxed and well travelled. We have hundreds of travel books, magazines and there is always world documentaries playing on our 8 ft projector wall in the back of the space. Our charity section is filled with products from India, Uganda, South Africa , Mexico and Cambodia all sourced from women’s groups, charities and NGO’s. The proceeds from these items go directly to the Dirty Wall Project Foundation. The money raised will benefit our current projects and families in India and give us the opportunity to begin helping locally right here in the downtown East side. With such a large space we want to start by giving other charities currently working in the area a venue to raise funds and awareness by holding events at Lost + Found. We will also be hosting for profit events ranging from photography exhibitions and music nights a couple times a month. The back half of the space will be a forever changing gallery for local artists to showcase their talent.

Travel is an essential part of everyone’s life whether it be backpacking through Peru, a beach vacation in Hawaii, volunteering in Africa or simply day dreaming of getting away. It is something we all think about and the trips you go on stay with you forever.  But it is rarely the things your are supposed to see  that stick with you. Like seeing the Taj Mahal or visiting the Empire State building. It is always the days when you are “lost” in a foreign place and you stumble across something amazing and unplanned. It is those days that years later you speak of with fond memories of that day you “found’ that great place off the beaten track.

At Lost + Found we want to give people a chance to come in, have great food and a chance to pick up a book or have a chat and day dream about somewhere they’ve always wanted to go or reminisce about that trip they took.

I look forward to catching up with DWP supporters and friends here in Canada and am excited about our  new beginning for DWP locally.

Cheers,

Kane

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lost-Found-Cafe/368797173218618

33 west Hastings st/ 604 559 – 7444

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The ladder shakes as I reach the top, I steady myself and turn around. I look down through the top of the window where the brown paper has started to come undone and watch people as they walk by. I remember three months ago my bike leaning against the window, face pressed against the dirty glass looking into the space for the first time. My memory flashes forward and I see myself weaving through downtown traffic on my bicycle, a roll of brown paper tucked under my arm, a personal loan, and a rolled up copy of the lease jammed into my front pocket.

It has been two months since I have written a post about DWP and our newest project but things have been anything but quiet. Ten weeks ago, my parents, Salomeh and I walked into the 100 year old building on Vancouver’s downtown east side armed with a tool box and energy. Since then the floors have been ripped up, walls built, puttied and painted, equipment purchased and the kitchen built.  Perched on top of the ladder I look out at the space that will become the ” Lost + Found Cafe”. Four years ago I combined my love of travel and photography into a way to give back to the communities who had welcomed me and DWP was born. Now with the help of my family and Salomeh we are combining my love of travel, photography and social work and adding great food and atmosphere to the mix plus a great space for fundraisers and events. DWP will have a permanent home in the new space. Products sourced from women’s collectives and independent NGO’s have been purchased from South Africa, Cambodia, Uganda, India and Mexico giving funds directly to the people who make them and in turn providing DWP with retail products to sell which will generate funds for DWP projects both in India and Canada. Although the website and Facebook pages have been quiet, India and the communities we support have been steadily in our minds. With the help of Jaita and Aarti we have been able to monitor Maya’s pregnancy from afar. Maya has passed her suspected due date but is relatively healthy. She is nervous but resilient and we all anxious for the arrival of the newest addition to her family.  We speak often to Ranjana, Usha, Indu, Shashi and the girls of GCB.

Over the last month DWP supporters have not gone quiet and donations have continued to flow in despite my relative absence from the website. The continued support has been amazing and I can’t wait to show all of you what the DWP team has created in a 100 year old vacant space in what is dubbed the poorest neighbourhood in Canada.

On behalf of all us we wish you all a Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year…

 

Cheers,

Kane

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