My first week at Ashray

It's been a week and a half since I started volunteering at Ashray. I'm really enjoying it so far. It is an orphanage that houses 40 children either infected or affected by HIV. It also houses some of their mothers and other women that are critically ill. It is run by CCDT (Committed Communities Development Trust) – a charity that has several other institutes in the Bombay area.

There is one other volunteer here, Ed from the UK. Him and I have been working on updating Ashray's forms, guidelines and other important documentation. We're also working with the pediatrician here to set up a database for her to use so that all of the kids and women's records can be computerized. Last week we created a question and answer document for kid's questions regarding HIV, AIDS, health and general questions that most kids usually ask when they arrive here. It will be made into a children's book for all of the new kids that enter Ashray.

Ashray is a bright and happy place. It's not like most institutions. There is one huge playroom where the kids do homework when the tutor's are present after school and then they let loose and play games after they are done studying. They get yummy healthy food every day and they have regular medical check-ups. The youngest kids are 3 years old – a boy and a girl often referred to as 'The Mafia' or 'Hansel & Gretel'. They are absolutely adorable and too fun to play with…but also a handful! The other kids age ranges are between 5 and 12. There are some older girls that stay here, in their teenage years but all the boys that are older than 12 go to another orphanage, only for boys. My first day here, I was left alone with 3 or 4 of the young boys, just playing with them. Within 5 minutes, they all beat each other up, smacked their heads on the floor, cried and then got back to their usual selves. I had a flashback of my babysitting days! But, I'm glad I have a good mix of things to do. I spend most of the day plugging away at the database and documentation and then instead of taking relaxing breaks…I just head over to the playroom and transform into my 3 year old self. We also made a nice poster for some visitors from USAID. We looked through several photographs of Ashray and pasted them on the poster. The title of it was 'Welcome to our Ray of Hope' which is one translation of Ashray. It also means shelter.

Ashray is situated in Bandra, a very trendy happening place where several of Bollywood's biggest names live. They also visit the kids at Ashray as some of them are involved with NGO work so it was shocking to see pictures of Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachan here a few months ago!

Sometimes I sit with the women while they're learning new handicraft skills. They make absolutely beautiful cotton folders and ceramic candle holders as well as other crafts.

My commute has already become routine. If I'm staying at my aunt's house in Nariman Point (South Bombay), I take the local train from one of the main stations – Churchgate. It's like Union Station…on drugs. Ok, it's not THAT bad…quite similar to rush hour at Union Station, but still, since the population is excessive, you can imagine the crowds. Sometimes the trains don't stop for too long so it's a race to jump on but I always manage to somehow. My height helps since I tower over most of the tiny Indian women. There are 'ladies only' sections in the train which are great because they are not as crowded as the general sections that are mostly men. I have a first class pass which doesn't mean I sit in luxury. The difference between the first class and second class compartments are minimal…I think there is some extra padding on the seats of the first class compartments. However, the second class ladies compartment is usually at the 2 ends of the train so I tend to just hop on there. The only issue that is sometimes unbearable is the smell of fish. Some of the ladies that go fishing early in the morning bring their day's worth of fish to sell on the train and the smell is atrocious. Haha…I keep a handkerchief handy to cover my nose! Other than that, I find the train quite relaxing and it's the best way to commute in Bombay.

If I go to my cousin's house, she lives in Ghatkopar which is not on the train line from Bandra so I take a 3-wheeler auto rickshaw. The ride is BUMPY and the air is smoky from all the truck fumes. One driver was a young guy and he was trying to impress me by driving extremely fast and taking sharp turns. He reminded me of Mario in Nintendo's MarioKart as his body swayed with every turn and he looked in the rear view mirror to see if I was loving his macho driving skills. Instead, I gave him my notorious cut-eye and he stopped acting so macho after seeing my disgusted reaction.

Today, a new child came to Ashray. His parents dropped him off and he cried all morning because he wanted to go home. He sat in my lap for a while. I managed to distract him by talking about school, computers and Bollywood but he still kept saying that he wanted to talk to his dad and go home. It's absolutely heartbreaking watching a child cry for his parents for hours and hours. The only good thing about this situation is that I know he will be better off here. His parents looked quite ill and after looking through their history, their health and economic status is not sufficient to keep their child healthy. The only thing that will make this child a little more peaceful is time. He just has to wait for some time to pass and get used to the kids and schools here and hopefully he will settle in like the others. I like to peek into the playroom and check on him every so often. He seems to be making friends and he's eating the food so that's a good sign. I'm already attached to every kid here. I have a soft spot for all of them so it'll be hard to leave. I hope to get lots of work done in the next few weeks!