Construction in Full Swing at SEAM

December 23^rd

Work in earnest has begun. The ultimate goal of this voyage is to be able to walk the talk by doing what is required to better the lives of those significantly less off than ourselves. What better place and who better served than the orphans and otherwise deprived children of India? We are members of a 15 man work force under the aegis of Global Volunteers International, a US based charitable foundation dedicated to improving the lot of those in need, anywhere on the globe. We have gathered together, many of the group members for their 4^th or 5^th mission. We are disparate in terms of age, gender balance, income level, ethnicity, religion, nationality and cultural background. What is shared among us all is a deep seated desire to help those in need and this sensitivity proves to be the strongest bond.

Our particular mission offers various opportunities to lend a hand. There are needs for tutoring, health care, day care, education, conversational English and construction. Lori has chosen to work with children in a day care environment and to provide primary level education. There are two schools, a hospital and a residential facility that come under the wing of Global. I have chosen to assist young children in linguistic development and to spend the largest portion of the day on a construction site, helping to build a new level for additional dormitories at a facility that offers a residence and education for about 40 children aged 3-17 The project is known as SEAM (South East Asia Mission) and if anyone is reading this, I can attest that they can use your financial support and that the money is well spent. The construction project has three volunteers including myself and employs two local labourers who, in accordance with GV’s philosophy of teaching sustainability, are only brought in to work when there are volunteers available. The project will not be completed by the local workforce alone, only in tandem with volunteers. The other two volunteers are Candice, who was discussed and described in an earlier posting and Kathy, who is maybe 5 foot tall in her stocking feet, assuming she is wearing elevator socks, weighs 90 pounds after a good meal and has the tenacity and strength of body and character that makes her right for the job

Perhaps you have seen pictures of Indian labourers toiling under primitive conditions in the hot sun, proceeding at a snail’s pace. If you look more closely at those pictures you may see two American girls and yours truly under those metal baskets, carrying bricks on our heads up two flights of stairs Our shifts are 3 ½ hours long of non-stop, demanding physical labour. On the first day we were provided with rags, wrapped around in the shape of a bun to provide a cushion for the weight of the bricks (anywhere from 25 to 40 pounds, depending who is carrying them). My ration per trip was six bricks, Candice 5 and Kathy 3. Fifteen minutes into the day, I was sweating profusely as I made my way up and down, up and down, up and down those stairways. In my earlier youth I had some limited experience on construction sites but never applied myself seriously. This was penance for those earlier transgressions. Aside from the very occasional re-hydrating water break, the three of us toiled on in ways that kept bringing the Bataan Death March to mind.

To make matters worse, the two locals, a married couple, Batma and Vartan, made us look like rank amateurs, which of course we were. Nonetheless, the sight of Batma in her saree, all 5’2” of her hoisting 8 bricks onto her head, without the benefit of a basket, and then walking up the stairs, balancing the entire load with nary a mis-step nor a supporting hand brought tears of shame and amazement to my eyes. I realize that she has been doing this since I don’t know when, but the level of respect I instantaneously felt for this woman will never leave my psyche The three of us worked hard, damn hard. By the end of the day, I had noticed a little sparkle and smile in the eyes of Vartan and Batma. Our linguistic diversity prevented much discussion, not that there was any free time to chat, but she and I communicated to each other that we each had two children. She has a boy and a girl. This was conveyed by her raising an index finger to indicate one, and then gesturing with her finger under her nose to indicate a moustache. She then showed the one again and touched her ear lobe to indicate an earring. I assume the first was a boy and the second was a girl although I’ve seen enough of our friends children to know that the reverse could be true.

There seemed to be about a million bricks to be carried up They were being used to build a second storey. I think we brought about 900,000 up that day, or so it felt. As day two dawned, I was gripped with the fear that we’d arrive on sight only to find that another million bricks had arrived overnight. Fortunately, they had not multiplied over night, so we picked up where we left off the previous day. After less than an hour, the job description changed. We were asked upstairs and turned into a human chain, passing the bricks to Vartan, who handed off to his wife. While far from an easy task, compared to lugging bricks upstairs on our heads, this was cushy. The rest of the day involved hauling up buckets of sand, which weighed significantly less than the bricks. We were even invited to share a chai break with the two regulars, a testament, I believe, to our diligence and dedication.

When the work day was completed we returned to our compound for lunch followed by a walk into town with 4 of the female volunteers. Of the 15 of us, two were male, the rest you can figure out by yourselves. The mission was the purchase of sarees for that evening’s do at the hospital. The children that we have been working with in the evening were putting on their Christmas pageant and we were all invited to attend. Lori picked up a beautiful gold and black model and looked stunning in it. The show featured the routines that we have been watching in rehearsal. The volunteers felt a deep hearted pride in seeing the little ones strut their collective stuff in front of a couple of hundred onlookers.

The show was followed by dinner for the fifteen of us and Stephen Raja at the Grand Residence Hotel. Lori and I resisted the temptation to check back into room 305 to see how the construction out back was progressing. The group continues to gel and the level of kibitzing and entertainment as well as the depth of conversation continues to augment. We are bonded by common purpose and to that end are enjoying each other more and more and opening up and leaning on each other.