Happy Thanksgiving!

To my family & friends:

Well, today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. and, while I am not there, I am certainly no less aware of the day and its meaning.  My friend Karla sent me an email and signed it "Happy Gratitude Day!".  And that is it, really.  We should be reflecting on everything God has provided for us and show our gratitude.  To him, to others and through our actions.

What am I grateful for today?  So, so much!!!

• That I was raised to believe in God and that he has blessed my life in more ways than I can ever, ever count.
• For the family I was gifted to be born into - my amazing parents, my 3 big sisters, my brother-in-law, my nephews, my niece, and all my extended family.
• All the amazing people whom I have met and am privileged to call my friends.  Their generous hearts and their caring ways I can never repay.
• For the fantastic journey my life has been so far.  With all the good & bad, highs & lows - I still have such wonderful memories.  I can look back on everything and understand why every event had to happen in order to get me to where I am now.
• My health.  Nothing more needs to be said there.
• Someone new in my life who was completely unexpected.  I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know him and he makes me smile every single day. : )

And so when I look at this list of things for which I am thankful, grateful, blessed to have...it isn't really "things"at all, but people, moments, lessons, my faith that really matter most to me.  How great it is that at this point in my life I know this to be true deep within my heart & soul.  And I will spend the second half of my life working to make sure I never forget it.

Happy Thanksgiving & Many Blessings...from Kolkata.

Much Love,

Susan

The Two Sides of India: My First Glimpses

I am now going to jump back in time to the first weekend I spent in Kolkata.  Those first few days here really gave me a feel for the dichotomy of life in this country.  I'm sure it will be easy to pick up on that from my thoughts and some photos I will be posting.

Because Denish & Alexis were really only in Kolkata for one day, Noah & Dora wanted to spend some time with them, so we all spent the day seeing some of the interesting sights.  Our first stop was Flury's for breakfast.  It opened in 1927 and is a throwback to the old British days in India.  It is the only place to get a "breakfast" by our definition and is a tradition in Kolkata.  Victoria Memorial was our next stop.  It is probably the city's most famous landmark and is a tribute to Queen Victoria who became the first Empress of India on May 1, 1876.  It is an amazingly beautiful building that houses Indian artwork, statues and a museum of Kolkata's history.  In addition, the gardens surrounding the Memorial are exquisite.

From there, we headed to Kalighat.  This area of Kolkata is the home to two very noteworthy spots.  The most noteworthy is the Missionaries of Charity - Mother Teresa's Home for the Sick & Dying Destitute.  She opened this home to provide the poor who were dying in the streets a place to die with dignity.  Noah spent two summers during college working there and it obviously had a lasting impression on him.  When we got there, he recognized a women sitting on the front stoop that he said used to greet him every morning and joke with him.  She was so small and frail that we all wondered how she could be surviving.  Noah got her some coconut milk to drink since a man sitting next to her told him she hadn't been eating or drinking (see the photo on my second page).

The second spot in Kalighat is Kali Temple, a Hindu temple dedicated to the Goddess Kali.  She is an interesting character, so you may want to read about her further!  The temple itself is only about 200 years old.  Denish was willing to take Alexis and me inside.  I don't know that we could have entered the temple otherwise.  It was a little scary as people were loudly pleading to Kali - for what, I have no idea - and they presented her with their gifts of flowers and other items.

We next headed to a very modern mall to look around, and I won't go into details, but you can see where I am going with the dichotomies...

After that we headed to Mother House, the place where Mother Teresa lived and is now buried.  They have a wonderful history of her life there which cites many of her wonderful quotations.  I really enjoyed the time there.  On a lighter night, when we first walked in there was a display that was put together by the children of Mother Teresa's orphanage that we all got a chuckle from.  The reason being is that they had several scenes displayed of Mother Teresa's life, but using Barbie dolls to represent her.  Somehow it just seemed comical.

The rest of the weekend was somewhat low key during the day.  I needed to catch up on some sleep and get prepared for what was ahead of me.  However, both evenings provided me with the ability to see even more facets of Kolkata.  Saturday evening Noah, Dora, Danya, and I went and had Chinese food in one of the two Chinatowns within the city.  Kolkata is the only city left in India that has a Chinatown.  It sounded so strange to me to have Chinese, but then I realize...its really not that far away from here!  Danya, by the way, is half Bengali and half American, has her Masters in Public Health, and is helping Noah with a project while her husband is assigned for duty in Kolkata by the State Department.

On Sunday, we were invited to join a couple for dinner that Noah had stayed with during his first 5 years living in Kolkata.  Mr. & Mrs. Chaudhuri treated us to dinner at the Bengal Club.  The Chaudhuris are an adorable Indian couple who, as Noah put it, are more British than the British.  The Bengal Club is a very historic club dating back to 1827 and it definitely has that Colonial look & feel to it.  Indian natives were not allowed membership until the 1960's and the Chaudhuris joined during that time.  We had a fabulous meal, but I enjoyed the company so much more.

I'll write more soon.  In the meantime, hope everyone back in the U.S. is gearing up for Turkey Day!!!

Manila, The Philippines

Early this morning I returned to Kolkata from the 6th International Microinsurance Conference in Manila (via a layover in Bangkok, Thailand).  I thought I would share a few brief comments about it while it is still fresh in my mind.  I still need to report on my first weekend & week in Kolkata, so that will be my next post.

I was invited by the Microinsurance Innovation Facility (MFI - a part of the Int'l Labor Organizations, which is part of the UN) to attend a 2-day seminar prior to the main conference.  It was intended for consultants to assist them in improving their skills so that can be of more value to their clients.  It was a small group made up of some fantastic people.  It was extremely helpful to me and well worth the time.

The day before the actual conference, the MFI had a forum for their grant recipients, consultants, Fellows, etc. to share their ideas and lessons learned.  I met a number of people and learned a great deal about the other projects going on in the field with regard to innovation of new products and processes in microinsurance.  I will be following up with several of the attendees to see if we might be able to implement some of their projects with Calcutta kids.

The conference lasted from 11/9-11/11 and had morning and afternoon sessions that allowed those of us attending to learn as much as we could about what seems to be working and what isn't in this somewhat new field of microinsurance.  There is a lot going on out there - think it is now a matter of finding the best ways to make all the programs & projects work, most importantly, for the recipients (the poor), as well as for the sponsors or deliverers.

I met some amazing people and made some new friends while in Manila.  Hello to my new buddies around the world - you know who you are, so please keep in touch!!!  It was nice to have friendly faces to look for each day as we attended the sessions.  And we did find a little time for fun in the evenings.  I will post a picture of the group soon!  Unfortunately, didn't get much time during the day to see Manila.  I guess a return trip will be needed. : )

My first day...

The first week or so here has been soooo busy.  Between that and adjusting to all the differences, I just haven't had much of a chance to write a new post.  I headed to Manila at 2 am Friday to attend the 6th International Microinsurance Conference.  Since there may not be as much to write about during the week I am there, I am hoping to catch up on the events of my first week in Kolkata!!

I woke up at a normal time last Thursday (10/28) even though I didn't fall asleep until about 2:30 am.  I was already hot and sunny at 8 in the morning.  I chose to wait to go into the office at lunchtime just so I could get a chance to unpack and adjust a little.  The driver picked me up about 12:30 and I had my first ride through Kolkata - and what a ride it was!!

I had seen pictures of the streets and traffic, but let me tell you it is something else to be in it.  There really are no lanes.  Buses, truck, cars, taxis, rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, and carts are all weaving in and out, constantly beeping their horns while people try to cross the street in the craziness!  And they really don't pay attention to the traffic lights much at all.  As we drove, the driver asked me if it was my first time in Kolkata (even though he doesn't speak much English).  When I said yes, he began to play tour guide and started pointing out various buildings and highlights for me.  It was very sweet.  

We crossed the Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu) that I later came to find is one of the busiest cantilever bridges in the world with over 60,000 people crossing it a day.  This took us from Kolkata to Howrah  which is where the Calcutta Kids office is located.  We turned down a very narrow street and I could see we had entered a altogether different neighborhood.  This is where the work is done.

Most of my afternoon was spent getting to know people and getting a feel for the micro health insurance program from the people in the office that are focused on it - Sujata Tripathy & Chandan Das (I'll provide a picture soon).  In addition, I went with Noah and several others from the U.S. who are volunteering or working at Calcutta Kids, to look at the new Diarrhea Treatment Center that they will be opening sometime in November.  Our walk there was my first time on foot in the slum area and it was a little daunting.  The people in the neighborhood have gotten used to seeing non-Indians around, but it isn't typical.  And I saw my first cow & chickens in the street - that did make me chuckle.  The treatment center is wonderful and I know it will be able to help a lot of children and families.  Just another amazing thing that Noah & his team are doing here.