FIRST DAY!

My Dad and I spent a week in Hyderabad, where we caught up with relatives and friends, and celebrated the New Year. Today morning, we hopped on an Air Asia flight and landed in Jaipur, Rajasthan. After that rather quick ~2 hour flight, we got in a car and drove another 2 hours to reach our final destination: Bal Ashram.

Currently writing from my homely little room at the Balika Ashram, a place for women in the nearby areas to get vocational training and jobs in the future. The Balika Ashram is right opposite Bal Ashram and also houses all of the volunteers and visitors. My heart is beyond content and I am ecstatic to be spending the next few weeks with the boys at the Ashram.

 

Here’s the rundown of what happened:

We arrived at the Bal Ashram and were warmly welcomed by the team, who are literal superstars! We also met some new guests who spent the day with us today. One of them was Dr. Alexandra M. Harrison, a Board Certified Adult, Child, and Adolescent Psychiatrist. She’s also an Assistant Professor Part Time in Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School at the Cambridge Health Alliance, and Core Faculty of the University of Massachusetts Boston Infant Parent Mental Health Post Graduate Certificate Course. In 2017, Dr. Harrison co-founded Supporting Child Caregivers.

I had the blessed opportunity to interact with Dr. Harrison and one of her team members, Rashmi Singh, who is also a licensed therapist and also has a PhD from Oklahoma State University-Center in Biomedical Sciences. I watched them in action as they taught the Squiggle Technique to the teachers at Bal Ashram.

After the workshop and the discussion, we had some tea time as one of the older boys of the Ashram gave us a tour of the meeting room, which is where all the cultural programs and daily meditation occurs. Rashmi, my Dad, and I sat in and practiced the meditation with the boys. They did a variety of breathing techniques and chants followed by a little cultural program. The boys sang for us and recited poems. We sat in a circle and watched and interacted with these gems.

It was then time for dinner, so we relocated to the dinner hall where we sat alongside the boys and ate amazing food. Honestly, I think this was my favorite time of the day. Every single boy was so eager and enthusiastic to come say hi and speak to me. Despite the language barrier, we somehow made it work and broke the ice (this trip is honestly making me want to learn Hindi ASAP). One kid told me he wants to be an astronaut, another wants to be an engineer. One is an artist, singer, and a guitarist. Another is interested in computers. 

The common thing between all of these children is the fact that they are all survivors. Survivors of labor, trafficking, homelessness, and lack of education; yet, they have so much freaking love to give. Love that I didn’t even know existed. They’ve experienced the worst of the worst conditions and have seen the world through such dark lenses and still, their smiles go ear to ear, their eyes glisten with happiness, and their voice rings with eagerness. These are the children that I want to dedicate my career and life to. The children of Bal Ashram have been iconically life changing.