4 days in Ayer

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Finally…after a long absence I made ot back on the web. I’m trying to stay chronogical and that’s why this entry is dedicated to my stay in the village of Ayer. Four days without electricity and running water. Unforgettable. Not only because of the daily candlelight-dinners or the public morning shower at the handpump but because the people in that town have become so special to me. Sobhnath, an activist of my organisation who is living in the village provided us with shelter and his wife prepared the most delicious lunches and dinners for us. Best indian food ever!! We never ran out of chai and whatever we needed was prepared before we could even ask for it.

Upendra, one of my co-workers agreed to accompany Tae wook and me during the whole time and stayed the full four days. Maybe you remember him from my first entry in Varanasi – he’s the guy that picked me up from the airport. The serious face with the PVCHR-sign. Well the serious face turned into a very friendly one and we really had a lot of fun during those days in Ayer.

 

The days in Ayer haven’t been just fun of course. We were there to work. So I started with my research right on the first day to collect information that I need for my report on the village. The following two days we had one interview after the other to get a detailed insight of the community’s problems, ideas, needs, hopes, etc. and every talk contained ten times more information than I thought I would get. Those 4 days really helped me to understand what should be done and what is possible. Especially Madhu, Sobhnaths younger daughter cared for us a lot. She is a member of the children parliament and such a bright, sweet girl!

The most important thing I learned was that development is a process and above all it needs TIME… It was good to have Upendra there to remind me that there is no magic stick, no abrakadabra-magic spell that makes 3000 years of accepted discrimination disappear and change people’s midsets, makes them feel stronger, raises their awareness. It’s even hard to motivate some of the villagers to take the chances that they are given. There is no way I can learn at university what I experienced through the interaction of the people in Ayer.

The most intense and mostly wordless interaction happened with the kids though. It started at around 7 in the morning when they pushed our windows open from outside to see of we’re still sleeping and ended when they were gathering to see us drink our chai, play cards or brush our teeth.

 

 

The day before I left we did a project for the Indo-German society Remscheid and all kids could paint memory-cards which will be sent to their partner-kindergarden in Germany. The kids had a lot of fun drawing and even the staff from PVCHR became very creative.

 

 

 

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It was really hard for me to leave the village after those four days. Especially because I knew it could be the last time on this trip. About thirty kids escorted me out of the village, held me by my hand, jumped around me, laughing and joking. They really didn’t make it easy for me to say goodbye.

 

Here are some more impressions from our stay in Ayer. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

public washing at the handpump

 

 

 

our home for those 4 days…the guy on the pic is upendra, the brown stuff in front is dried cow dung, used to make fire. yup, it’s clever!

 

 

 

surprising news…remember the girl with the injury on the forehead? well…the girl is a boy named sandeep and he is fine now. well…let’s say he’s better - his wound healed but just by looking at him it is clear that he and his family would still need assistance to improve their condition. here’s a current picture of him.

 

 

 

 

and his little brother…

 

 

 

 

saying goodbye…

 

 

 

 

i’ll miss those kids

 

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