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We understand that some of you are having problems commenting on the blog.  First, please feel free to comment on our posts.  We have enabled anonymous comments so if you do not have an account or are not a follower you should still be able to post.  If not, please email either Jess or I.  All we ask is that if you post anonymously please do not post anything offensive or obscene.  Second, to post a comment, scroll down the page you wish to comment on and click on the number of comments.  So, at the bottom, click on the zero, or one, or whatever number is listed down there.  A block should appear that you can type your comment in.  Type in your comments and then click the post button.  There is an option to post anonymously at the bottom.  If you wish do post anonymously, please select anonymous and post away.  

Jess and I encourage you to post comments and questions.  We want to share as much of this unique experience with you as we can.  Your questions help us to think about what we need to focus on.  Some of your questions have prompted Jess and I to consider things we were missing.  Of course, we are very happy to show you everything we are doing, but please, if you have questions, ask us.  We will get more out of this experience by trying to find answers for you.  

IRRAD in Action

IRRAD has painted this mid-day meal menu on the wall to inform parents and children of the meal each child is entitled to on for every day of the week


Preparing the mid-day meal. Today on the menu was a dish similar to oatmeal.




Visiting a school in the village of Goy La, the children are patiently awaiting their mid-day meal. The Indian Education Act entitles children between the age of 6-14 to free and compulsory education, a mid-day meal, school uniforms, and textbooks. Previously before IRRAD informed the villages of this right, schools were almost non-existent or non-functioning throughout Mewat. Today, IRRAD works with the trainees to exercise this right and to make sure the schools are functioning without government corruption. One issue many of the schools face is the weekly rations of nutrients for the children were only being distributed every 3 or 4 weeks, as opposed to every week.




Orchard built by IRRAD in the village of Notki. Previously, this land was barren. IRRAD planted pomegranate trees, lime trees, and various herbs, then turned the land back over to Notki to harvest and make a profit off the cultivated land. Unfortunately, a large storm came through the day before our visit and destroyed their green house.






Training center in Goy La, which we have now visited twice and met village trainees from over 10 villages. The women sit on the floor of the center on large carpets, while the men sit behind them on a bench. We have heard testimonial stories of villages applying information they have learned about their rights and entitlements as a result of IRRAD training and the success that has come from exercising their rights. The trainees meet once a week, transportation and lunch are included for those who attend.



View of the community center established outside Notki. This is on location where trainings are conduced, including: computer training, training for farming and irrigation, education on sanitation and various trade skills. There are also instruments here to measure rain fall and test water sanitation.



Checking a block dam in a nearby village of Mewat. There is no water in the dam yet, the village is eagerly awaiting the monsoon season. Meanwhile, I feel like I am in the desert and need a camel to trek me through the hot sand!





Video of pre-schoolers reciting a nursery rhyme about food

A Break From the Play, Our Actual Work

After having a brief introduction to IRRAD on Monday, May 23, we were giving our objectives for our six week internship with IRRAD. One of our objectives is to establish four new Legal Aid Camps in the district of Mewat by the end of our six weeks. By the end of July, IRRAD would like to have established two hundred new camps throughout rural Mewat. Under the Legal Authority Act of 1987, every woman, child, disabled persons, scheduled castes, and those living below the poverty line (BPL) are entitled to free and competent legal services to ensure the opportunities for justice are not denied to any citizen. The Act mandates that the Central Government organize legal aid camps in rural areas with the purpose of educating the weaker sections of society, as well as to encourage settlements and disputes. The government has failed to establish these camps so IRRAD has taken up their job and has commenced action to establish the camps for rural India. On Tuesday, May 31, Tommy and I will be presenting a proposal we drafted to the Sonepat District Authority, asking for the government to collaborate with IRRAD to continue to establish the necessary legal aid camps.

An overall goal of IRRAD is good governance throughout rural India. Today, rural India faces a large disconnect with the rest of society. As a result, the villages face government corruption, are uninformed of their rights, and continue to live disadvantaged. IRRAD has developed a “learning by doing” model to empower the villagers of the Mewat District in order to be active participants in democracy. The final goal by 2012 is to have the 441 villages of Mewat become recognized as a good governance village. In order to be recognized as good governance village there must be established rights for food, education, healthcare, and social security benefits.

India's 21st article of their constitution is the right to a dignified life. The Supreme Court of India defined that right to include: education, access to safe drinking water and food, healthcare, and social security benefits. However, with the large disconnect between what is promised by the government and what actually happens, these rights are hardly fulfilled in the rural areas mostly due to poverty, corruption, and uneducated people.

IRRAD has established a program to train villagers of their rights and how to act on them. Today, IRRAD has 293 trainees and 147 of them are women. The training program lasts one year. The first step begins with educating the trainees of their rights and entitlements and then through awareness they will be able to participate in effecting good governance in their villages. The trainees take what they have learned and introduce and implement it in their own village. IRRAD educates the trainees on building community centers, clean water pumps, delivery rooms and dispensaries, orchards, improving schools and sanitation huts.

After completing my first week of work for IRRAD in India, it has been an eye-opening experience so far. Never in a hundred years could I have imagined I would be in the remote district of Mewat, India having lunch with villagers whose roots date back centuries. The villagers are just as amazed by us as we are by them and the experience has truly been lifting.

A second issue we will be working on, in collaboration with another group of students, is the rights of street vendors in India. Recently, the Supreme Court of India issued a decision mandating that the Street Vendors Association be regulated by the appropriate government by June 11, 2011. However, the decision failed to delegate which government, state or central, would be drafting the legislation. We will be drafting a proposal asking for Central Government legislation on street vendors’ rights.

Mixiology

We are sorry for the previous brief and out-of-order post but our new digs do not have the most reliable internet.  Here is the rest of the last post, which will catch you up to our transition from tourists to interns in India.  


Jess and I spent our last two days seeing everything we could in Delhi.  First we went to the hand crafts museum.  The exhibits were amazing, both in their simplistic presentation – most were just in a case or hanging on the wall without any description or approximate date – and in the artisan's attention to detail.  (We are learning that, here in India, most tasks are done by hand, with great care, even if subject to the minor imperfections of humanity.  Not everything is done well, but everything is done slowly, with attention to details.) We saw a three-foot model boat carved out of what looked like an Elephant's tusk, the oars in the tiny hands of the oarsmen winnowed down to less than a centimeter.  There were also hand-carved rooms, which attached to the outside of a house, to be used as a guest room.  Some of the artisans lived in a little village next to the museum and made hand crafts for demonstration and sale.   Jess and I were able to snap a few pictures of the village that the artisans lived in. 

Jess and I ate lunch at a delicious restaurant our driver chose, Lazeez Affair.  Our food was rich and very flavorful, but apparently not enough for Jess.  She piled on the “green” sauce, leaving her to suffer the rest of the day from what is colloquially known as the Delhi belly.  Her stomachache could not deter her from trying the markets again so we stopped at the bustling Cannaught Place.  When a place gets crowded here it can be intense.  Cannaught Place was crowded as you can see in our pictures.  It is a testament to how quickly we are catching on that Jess and I managed to hard-haggle a street merchant down to a reasonable price for a shirt and a free pair of pants.  Not bad.   

It was about to rain so Jess and I asked our driver to take us to Gandhi’s Smriti. Mohandes Gandhi was an Indian patriot and one of the greatest human beings of the 20^th century.  On January 30^th, 1948, Gandhi walked from his room at his house to a prayer meeting. When he reached the congregation, Nathuram Godse shot him 3 times.  Gandhi would not recover.  Gandhi’s Smriti was moving because you can literally walk in Gandhi’s final steps to the place where he was shot.  Concrete footprints are raised in perfect measurement of his tread and gate.  A simple marble monument marks where the great man was felled.  You must take your shoes off to walk around the monument. 

Gandhi’s memorial closed and Jess and I still had time left with our driver.  So we went to a bar.  A great bar.  We went to Rick’s bar (sorry they do not have a website to link to) inside the majestic Taj Mahal Hotel.  Security for the Taj was very tight and required a thorough inspection of all moving parts of our cab, and the passengers.  We were not allowed to snap pictures while we were being examined but the guards saluted us so we didn’t hold it against them.  Inside the hotel, Jess and I found a swanky upscale bar with a famous mixoligist, Maxime, from France, but with a British accent.  It can be difficult when you are a foreigner trying to engage a native culture, and it is very difficult for Jess and I to make friends here.  So we were eager to hear all about Maxime’s wild experiences with Makers Mark owner Bill Samual’s Jr.  We didn’t know who that was either, but who cares.  He was talking to us!  And it only cost us 4 drinks and $75. Being with a talented and gregarious mixologist, Jess and I dug deep into our sophisticated selves to find a drink we desperately wanted to try.  Jess ordered a Mojito and a beer and I had two vodka and sodas.  Success. 

We are moving south to Gurgaon now, and heading straight out to Mewat, the district we will be working in.  We are transitioning from tourists to legal advocates.  We apologize in advance for the lack of touristy pictures but we promise what we post from here on out will be just as interesting, if not more so.  

Briefed

We are several days behind and the internet at our new place is not great, so here are just a few pictures from our trip to Qutab Minar.  Qutab was the first of the seven cities of Delhi.  Qutab Minar is the largest Minaret in the World.  Jess and I were very tired and drawn from our touristing and I think you can tell in our enthusiastic posses.  

When we get our internet figured out we will continue posting pictures from our trip to the crowded street market, Ghandi's Smirti, and pictures of our new residence in Gurgaon.  Jess and I also started work yesterday and have updates from our trip to the villages today.  Please stay with us while we search for a stronger connection to you. 

Touring Delhi: Day 2

We continued our tour of Old and New Delhi yesterday with visits to Humyan’s Tomb, the Lodi Gardens and the Khan Market.  Originally we had hoped to go to the city of Agra and visit the Taj Mahal, but all the trains were booked for the next 4 days.  So, we will try to go after we move south to Gurgaon.  

Getting around Delhi is a challenge so Jess and I hire a car and driver for 8 hours.  We pay between 1,000 and 1,600 rupees, which comes out to between $22 and $35.  Our driver meets us at our guesthouse and takes us wherever we want to go.   We began yesterday at the Lodi Gardens, a 90-acre manicured sanctuary situated near the U.S. embassy.  In order to fit in, Jess purchased a beautiful piece of clothing at a moderately inflated price.  Her she is modeling her outfit for me, and you.  

 Lodi Gardens is home to several Tombs, a Mosque, a few kissing teenagers, a gaggle of geese, and much more.  Jess and I walked the grounds for probably two hours, seeing everything we could before we had to retreat from the heat.  The first pictures are of the entrance to the Garden over the bridge and past the geese that guard the water.  The architecture is amazing.  The Tomb behind me is Shish Gombad.  It is known for it’s blue tiles, which according to our officiously meddling “guide” were molded and glazed in Afghanistan. (See our “guide” persuading the never-skeptical Jessica into a “tour” of the Mosque in the 6th photo.) The Arabic inscriptions in the wall of the Mosque are impressive in person.  I don’t know what it says, but the delicacy required of the chisel must mean they are important words.

After leaving the Lodi Gardens,  Jess and I went to the Khan Market nearby for some lunch and shopping. We ate at Latitude, a very nice restaurant above a shop called Good Earth.  We didn't take any pictures of Khan Market because Jess was busy shopping and I was eating.  We left Khan Market after a very long lunch talking politics with a nice old woman from France and drove over to the Humayun's Tomb.  Unfortunately, the pictures do not do justice to the hugeness of Humayun's city of tombs.  Both of our cameras died before we could photograph most of the grounds.  Jess and I climbed the monument and walked around inside the Tombs.  Humayun's tomb is famous for the stone pattern over the windows cut into a spider's web to represent the spider's web weaved over the mouth of a cave that saved the Prophet Muhammad from being killed by enemies one night. 

It was so hot that the dogs living at the tomb dug holes in the dirt under the trees to sleep in.  Jess and I beat the heat to a nice little bar for a few cold beers and some authentic Indian tobacco.  So far we have been serious tourists.  We are really looking forward to starting work on Monday.