PUNE, INDIA - April 2008

Parveen, Salma, Noushad, Rani, Malika, Nishat, Sridevi, Anita, Fatima, Savitree, Samreen, Ashreem, Swati, Bhagyashree, Sulakshina, Rani, Ruksana, Heena, Neha, Pyeren, Parveen, Laxmi, Nilofar, Pooja, Gauri and Shanehej.

These are the 26 Indian girls I just spent the last five days with in Pune, India and who are enrolled in ASHA’s Better Life Education Program---the CCC-supported charity that helps Indian children in need.

Coming from both Hindu and Muslim families, the girls are between 13-18 years old and live in one of India’s most oppressive slums. Life is especially tough for women in these shantytowns where domestic violence, illiteracy and health issues make it nearly impossible to ever create better lives for themselves. Most girls drop out of school by the 7^th grade, are married off by 16 and have babies by 18…and the girls in this program are no different. Some already have arranged marriages in the works, those who have dropped out of school work full time as domestic servants, and those still in school spend their free time taking care of younger siblings and doing housework.

However, ASHA’s  (Action for Self-Reliance Hope and Awareness) Better Life Education Program was created in 1997 to help empower Indian girls by teaching them life skills, providing counseling, encouraging the younger ones to stay in school, and trying to get the dropouts re-enrolled. They also provide monetary school support, tutoring, and they deal with misguided families who simply don’t see the point in educating girls at all. Overall, they encourage girls to have bigger dreams and try to give them the tools to create better lives.

This week’s adventure actually started 11 months ago when I stumbled upon ASHA while in India adopting my second daughter. All it took was one look into the bright, beautiful faces of these girls and I knew that we had to add them to the CCC-supported charity list, however, I’ve been plagued by one question: How do you know what to dream for in your life when you wake up every day in a slum?

Well, I had this crazy idea where we would raise enough money to take the girls on a 5-day inspirational adventure. We would show them life outside the slums, infuse their world with new images and sensory experiences, ignite their dreams, inspire them, exhaust them, and then give them the tools to express themselves in new ways. We would also help give them a chance to be teenagers for a little while longer before the adult world swallows them up completely.

So last October we held a special fundraiser dinner to come up with the money, and afterwards, in an unprecedented event, the directors of ASHA painstakingly convinced nearly all of the girls’ families and/or employers to let them off duty to go on this weeklong retreat without penalty or loss of pay. Impoverished parents agreeing to pick up the household slack for the sake of their children’s entertainment? Employers paying their domestic help to NOT come to work for an entire week? It was truly remarkable!

Over the last five days we visited temples and parks, restaurants and ice cream parlors. We hiked in the mountains, watched hang-gliders sail off of cliffs, went on a road trip, sang songs, played games, and even partook in something called a “rain dance” --an enclosed courtyard where Bollywood dance music blares from loudspeakers while water sprays out of pipes overhead.  For 45 minutes I watched 26 screaming, laughing Indian-girls-gone-wild in soaking wet saris dance like there was no tomorrow—likely to never be this carefree again.

We also organized art projects, gave them disposable cameras and had them document the meaningful things in their world, and we outfitted each of them with their own journal to practice expressing their inner thoughts and feelings. We all had the most amazing time together and I think we did a pretty good job of getting them inspired. By the end of the week, three who had dropped out of school came to the director to ask for help re-enrolling.

So what will the future be for rest of these girls? Only time will tell, I guess, but I feel pretty certain that their lives will never be the same.

I know mine will never be.

-Dina Fesler

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PORT AU PRINCE - March 2008

As I wrap up a five day visit to L'Athletique d'Haiti, the Children's Culture Connection-supported NGO that serves Haitian children in need, I realize that I need to get this experience written down as soon as possible…partly in fear that I may convince myself that it was all just a dream.

Although I always look forward to my CCC trips abroad to visit the kids served through our program, I was nervous coming here because I really only knew three things about Haiti:
 
1. It is a politically unstable country in the Caribbean.
2. It is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
3. 80% of the people live below the poverty line.
 
From what I have seen in only five short days, there is no question that those things are true. I saw UN soldiers patrolling neighborhoods on foot, driving the streets in heavily armored vehicles, and running random check points on street corners. All with their fingers on the trigger of their assault rifles, ready to engage at a moments notice. (Apparently all hell will break loose if they were to withdraw, and intimidation remains the name of the game.) 

I helped unload a trailer filled with dried food aid from US nonprofits and saw it distributed to hungry families with no other options. For people who wonder where all those boxes of food packed by the Feed My Starving Children volunteers and Food For The Poor ends up, here it is.

I also had the experience of riding shotgun on a water truck that distributes water to a Port Au Prince slum that looks like the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. A place where thousands line up to receive a bucket of water that must last them up to a week. Waiting in the oppressive heat for a bucket of water. Not concert tickets, not a Wii, not the latest video game to hit the market...but water. Just. Plain. Water.
 
Unbelievable.
 
The water truck is funded by a Minnesota-based charity organized by Father Bernard Reiser, a retired Catholic priest, in response to the lack of facilities provided to the people of this slum. As I stood alongside the water truck watching the seemingly endless stream of men, women and children hoisting 5-gallon buckets of water up on their head to carry home, I wondered how long an elderly priest can carry on such a major undertaking. I wondered what would happen if the money stopped coming in from his friends and parishioners that support this. I wondered if I would ever be able to take a guilt free bubble bath again.

However, while Haiti’s problems seemed so overwhelming at times it made my head hurt, the spirit of the Haitian people was so overwhelming it made my heart melt.

Despite the harsh realities of their world, Haiti is also a country filled with color, chaos and a passion for life...no matter how difficult the lives there may be. Haiti's winding narrow streets are filled with colorful stores, billboards, bougainvillea bushes, tap-taps (artistic graffiti-covered taxis), and the lively sounds of Compa music coming from nearly every street corner. On breezy afternoons, kids fly colorful homemade kites (ingenious creations crafted from plastic bags, a few sticks and some string), and in the evenings, 'rah-rah bands' (rag-tag bands of musicians) stroll up and down the streets in a make-shift parade, playing music, laughing, singing and basically celebrating anything at all. It’s like at the end of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” when even though the decorations and toys were gone the spirit of the people (or the Whos in Whoville) was still completely present.

It is this spirit of hope that radiates off of the Haitian people...and in particular, Robert Duval.

Robert (Boby) Duval is not only the founder of L'Athletique d'Haiti, he is a one-man revolution bringing hope and opportunity to the Haitian people and their children through his incredible program. (And to any of you who think that that I am high energy, intense, and dramatic...just wait until you meet Boby.)
 
He is a former soccer star, political activist, political prisoner, and humanitarian-turned nonprofit founder. Twelve years ago he started l'Athletique d'Haiti, a sports training/education program that captures the dreams of impoverished Haitian kids, infuses their worlds with structure, discipline, team-building and education, in addition to one hot meal per day. Often the only meal these kids will have.
 
Over the years he has grown his program from one training center to five and he currently serves 1,300 children around the country. His goal is to open 25 centers and give the same opportunity to every child in Haiti. After spending time getting to know the kids in his program I can say one thing for certain: this idea is working!!! These kids who came from the same slum I delivered water to were some of the most energetic, spirited and healthy kids I have seen...and they all have big dreams for their futures.

I spent an afternoon with a group of L’Athletique boys who I challenged to a friendly competition. I told them that I wanted to show some Minnesota soccer teams that not only can the Haitians athletes tear up a soccer field, but their creative ingenuity is a force to be reckoned with as well. So I collected a pile of garbage from around the area (plastic bottles, old rice bags, bottle caps, sticks, plastic bags, etc.), placed them in a pile on the table and told the kids to show me what they can turn this stuff into. In less than 30 minutes, the boys had created toy cars, kites and other imaginative items that just blew me away…although I imagine the Grinch would have been pretty pissed off.

We shall see if I can find a Minnesota soccer team game to reciprocate.

Whether they become the future soccer stars they dream about or not, they are becoming the future problem solvers of their world through their education, life skills and competitive spirit. Personally, I believe that these kids are exactly what can pull Haiti out of the trenches of despair and put Feed My Starving Children out of business (in a good way, of course). Despite the political instability, unrest, poverty, and overwhelming need, the Haitian people are proud, passionate and loving people who all want to see a better life for their children. According to Boby, “kids are the only thing that Haitians can agree on.”
 
I couldn't agree more.

-Dina Fesler

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