We took a trip north of Mumbai (Bombay) to Kalwa. Here
we visited the slums and a one room school. This is a
ceremony where I was honored and they placed a red dot
on my forehead.
The
REAP program, trains illiterate women to read. "If the woman
can read, the family will read." I felt so under-dressed all of
them were dressed in their "best." The women told us through translators
that they were so happy to be learning and that now they could
help their children learn to read.
North
of Mumbai on the highway that connects Mumbai to Delhi we
visited a Jesuit school that boards children. They sleep on the
floor
and they eat rice twice a day. This is much better then they
have at home.
These
lovely children stopped to see what we were doing in the REAP trainiig
session. I couldn't resist the picture.
This
is a high school north of Mumbai. These boys were studying for
their final exams. They were lined up and introduced to us. The
priest told them they should be honored that we had come to vist.
These boys also sleep on the floor and eat rice twice a day. They
speak 3 and 4 languages.
In
downtown Mumbai the children are always begging. It is hard to
resist. The priests, however, urged us not to encourage begging.
Many of them are sent into the streets to beg and their money is
taken from them.
