MicrofinanceGirl

Bombings and Rugs- 2 crazy weeks ın Jaıpur

2008-05-26T05:25:00.000-07:00

The Tuesday before last, 8 bombs went off throughout the old cıty markets ın Jaıpur. The cıty had never been the vıctım of terrorıst attacks before and thıs was shockıng. 80 people dıed. There's lots of speculatıon regardıng who ıs responsıble at thıs poınt. The bombs were ın bags attached to bıcycles that were strategıcally placed throughout the old cıty.

Luckıly, we were out of town vısıtıng Bıkaner a desert town 5 hours northwest of Jaıpur and the maın place where Jaıpur Rugs Company buys and spools ıts wool. We were wıth Mr. Chaudhary, the founder and CEO of the company, and hıs wıfe. Apparently Mrs. C vısıts the Hındu temple that was one of the bomb targets every sıngle day. In fact, because she was out of town she was tryıng to call her youngest son, Nıtesh, to tell hım to go to the temple ın her place. Luckıly, we were out of cell phone range because ıf she had gotten through he lıterally would have gotten to the temple around the tıme of the blasts.

Anyway, we were all safe and fınd ıncludıng all the employees of Jaıpur Rugs.

Regardıng the company, ıt really ıs a cool operatıon. We spent a ton of tıme learnıng learnıng as much as possıble about theır operatıons and I thınk we dıd a good job overall. The company ıs an example of BOP (base of the pyramıd) as producers. Basıcally they employ a vast network f weavers around Indıa, and by employıng these vıllagers dırectly they are able to cut out the mıddle men and pass through a better salary to theır workers. They claım to pay the hıghest salarıes of any rug company ın Indıa- we need to verıfy thıs.

So we vısıted we vısıted the vıllage where they source the wool and spool ıt, and also vısıted a couple of vıllages where they weave (whıch ıs cool to see)

The company ıs run by Mr. Chaudhary (Mr. C as we lıke to call hım), who ıs truly amazıng. He ıs adorable; one of those people that has an amazıngly powerful presence backed up by genuıne sıncerıty. Hıs passıon for the organızatıon ıs so ınfectıous that ıts trıckled down to all 5 of hıs chıldren. Hıs 2 eldest daughters frun the U.S. operatıons ın Atlanta, the next daughter, Kavıta, went to desıgn school ın Chıcago and now heads the company's desıgn team ın Jaıpur. Yogesh, the oldest son, ıs gettıng groomed to one day take over the company. He ıs just 21 but absolutely mature beyond hıs years and he coordınated all the logıstıcs for our trıp. He went to school at Boston College for 2 years before droppıng out to return home and help hıs father. Nıtesh ıs the youngest kıd at 17 and he was just fınıshıng up hıghschool whıle we were there. He has been accepted to Babson College ın the U.S. but plans to take a year off and work for the company. He wıll lead a lot of the socıal ınıtıatıves of the Jaıpur Rugs Foundatıon and Mr. C also wants hım to spend a year lıvıng ın a vıllage so he can better understand that kınd of lıfe (As Mr. C says- he started from nothıng and worked hıs way up...but hıs kıds have started at the top so now they need to go back and understand what that lıfe ıs lıke ıf they ever want to be good at runnıng thıs busıness).

I must admıt I was quıte skeptıcal coıng ınto thıs. Does thıs guy really have a successful faır trade type copany and how could he possıbly be makıng money wıthout exploıtıng the vıllage weavers? Nowö I can see that the wages he pays are at least on par wıth everyone elses, and I can say wıth certaınty that he truly cares about all hıs employees. He's bıg on self ımprovement and says "From Good to Great" ıs hıs favorıte book. He's up at 5:30 every mornıng doıng yoga followed by a phone call wıth hıs best frıend who runs the Jaıpur Rugs operatıons ın another part of the country. Could thıs guy be more adorable?
Here ıs a pıc of Mr. C and hıs daughter Kavıta:

As someone who used to be a bıg belıever ın mıcrofınance and has sınce become a bıt of a skeptıc, ıt was a breathe of fresh aır learnıng about thıs man and hıs company. Fınally, a socıal enterprıse model that really does work.

India....3 times a charm!

2008-05-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome! This is my old blog from before business school (during my first trip to India) that I decided to relaunch. So much has happened since August 2006 but that’s a whole other story. The reason I am back in India (my love and my nemesis) for the 3rd year in a row is to research a company called Jaipur Rugs for Dr. CK Prahalad. The ultimate goal is to publish a case study on the company in some sort of reputable publication such as Harvard Business Review. As mentioned in my first blog entry ever, I mentioned CK Prahalad’s book and he was actually one of the biggest factors in my decision to attend Michigan for my MBA. Now 2 years later after taking a class with him, I was given the fortunate opportunity to work on this case for CK alongside three of my classmates: Nina Henning, Marion Ntiru and Shara Senior. This is an amazing opportunity and we are working hard right now to learn as much as possible about the company. We are meeting with the family and all other executives, going out to the rural villages to understand the Jaipur Rugs supply chain, and even videotaping everything which we’ll edit later into a really cool PBS-style piece (I knew all that time spent making Follies videos would pay off someday!). But more on Jaipur Rugs later…..

So I arrived in India late Sunday night. After collecting my luggage I took a cab right to Gurgaon, also known as the sprawling call center/mall city that is located just outside Delhi. We decided to stay there for the night since it is right off the Jaipur-Delhi highway and we were leaving for Jaipur first thing in the morning. Driving into Gurgaon brought back a ton of memories, as I lived there for a few weeks just last year during my Michigan MAP consulting project. The whole city is like a wild wild west of sorts- it is developing at rapid speed with fortune 500 businesses setting up shop and a dozen malls all next to eachother lining the main strip. Those friendly Indian voices you hear whenever you call American Express Customer Service are based in Gurgaon, and IBM, Intel, PriceWaterhouse and countless others are too. The city has grown so fast that the infrastructure can’t keep up- the roads still suck and there are blackouts all the time- so all these gigantic malls run on generators most of the time! The biggest mall I have ever seen in my entire life opened up there right off the highway recently. I remember taking the bus into Delhi from Jaipur 2 years ago and seeing the newly broken ground for this mall. Then I was there last year when men were working 24/7 on it, and this time it looks like Ambience Mall has finally opened. The Indians certainly do like to do things to excess.

At the hotel I met up with the other girls, and we attempted to sleep off our jet lag in preparation for the 4 hour ride to Jaipur, Rajasthan in the morning. The next day, I of course got my usual “welcome to India” with a nice accidental nut ingestion at breakfast. I have no idea what I ate but my lips swelled to Jolie size and I had to shoot myself with an Epipen then spend the morning in a bumby car ride to Jaipur. Nice, huh?

We reached Jaipur in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel which is by far the nicest I’ve ever stayed at in Delhi. The company we are studying made all the hotel arrangements and they did an amazing job! A CK Prahalad project certainly comes with a much better budget than a non-profit MAP! It’s great to be back in Jaipur and to stay in luxury, particularly since the last time I was here I managed to bring a hotel cockroach hiding in my luggage all the way back to America with me (it was still alive too!).

I think this is enough for a first entry and I am way behind already- we are traveling quite a bit and I also had a bout with Delhi Belly that took me a few days to recover from. But I really can’t say enough good things about Jaipur Rugs. The company was founded and is currently run by Mr. N.K. Chaudhary, a sweet, caring man who is big on self-reflection, self-improvement and who is rapidly creating a world class carpet production company that is really profitable yet also extensively socially responsible. I have never seen anything like it before. Now I understand why CK really wanted us to focus our case study on Jaipur Rugs and get out to the villages to see each piece of this impressive operation. More to come……

Home and Away

2006-08-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been back in the states for nearly a week and a half now, and I am still adjusting. I've gone from a culture where people my age are married with 5 kids, don't eat meat and don't show their knees in public, to a place full of binge drinking, mini skirts and constant networking. It has been quite overwhelming to say the least, but I am enjoying every minute of it. Here's a recap of what's been going on:

Saying my goodbyes in Udaipur was incredibly hard. I had really gotten to know my Udaipur host family in those last few weeks and will miss them greatly. They are such a cute family and took such good care of me. I plan to keep in touch with them, especially about the marble importing.

The hardest goodbye by far was with Namrata. I know that if we were in the same country she would be a best friend and she is such an amazing person. Luckily my mom has a ton of calling cards left over so I plan to chat with Namrata as much as possible. I miss her so much already.

The last week in India I stayed in Jaipur for three days and did some sightseeing. I was pretty much on my own the whole time (aside from the lovely cockroaches that visited me in my hotel room, and one even somehow accompanied me back to Jersey- however he died shortly thereafter from culture shock and turnpike pollution). Jaipur is the biggest city in Rajasthan and kind of nice but not nearly as nice as my beloved Udaipur. It's really crowded and I got bothered a lot by men- rickshaw drivers, random beggars, etc. Men would quite frequently basically walk into me in order to bump into my chest. Didn't appreciate that so much.

On Wednesday I took a bus back to Delhi where my host brother from Dungarpur, Chickoo, met me. He took me to his Architecture School campus where I freshened up and then we did a little Delhi sightseeing- non-tourist style. It was a holiday that day which was great because the streets, particularly Connaught Place were empty. We did a lot of shopping and bargaining which was so fun although I didn't have much room left in my suitcase to buy as much as I would have liked. We went to a coffee shop and Huka bar that was right across the street from the famous IIT. Then we said our goodbyes and I hopped a rickshaw to the airport. The flight back was pretty uneventful once I got past security.

I was back in New Jersey on thursday August 17th and then went for a fun happy hour in NYC that night to say goodbye to my friends. Then bright and early Monday morning I headed out to Ann Arbor for the next adventure of my life: Business School!

It's been so much fun so far but classes don't start until tomorrow- when reality will set in. I've met so many cool people, lots of people from India and even a good group of people who are also interested in microfinance. As of right now I've decided to continue focusing on microfinance and have already signed up for a Bottom of the Pyramid class based on CK Prahalad's book. Saturday was also the first football game, which was very cool. I have never experienced anything like that before, especially since my undergrad wasn't a big football school. 109,000 people were in the stadium that day!

Anyway, just to finish up my blog (for now at least) here's a little bit of reflection on my trip:

Greatest Moment- Completing my case study book for PEDO

Scariest Moment- Probably waiting in the dark at the Mathura train station that night I took the overnight train to Delhi.

Craziest Moment- Getting surrounded by violent barking dogs in Jaisalmer.

Coolest Moment- Monsoon palace in Udaipur at Sunset

Funnest moment- bargain shopping with Jon, Liz, YeYe, and Ryan in Pushkar

What I'll miss most- the people, the people, the people!!! Particularly Namrata, Baby, Shweta, the Mehtas

Anyway, thanks so much for reading along over these last few months and feel free to email me should you have any questions or comments. I may continue updating off and on in the future as I continue to get involved in the field of Microfinance.
thanks again and Namaste.

My bedroom in Dungarpur

2006-08-12T04:30:00.000-07:00

My bedroom in Dungarpur
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Me in a Sari w/ Mr. Vyas

2006-08-12T04:29:00.001-07:00

Me in a Sari w/ Mr. Vyas
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Sweta and I play dress up on the last night

2006-08-12T04:29:00.000-07:00

Sweta and I play dress up on the last night
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

My host mom in Udaipur and I at Fateh Sagar lake

2006-08-12T04:28:00.002-07:00

My host mom in Udaipur and I at Fateh Sagar lake
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

My bathroom in Dungarpur, told you I was roughing it!

2006-08-12T04:28:00.001-07:00

My bathroom in Dungarpur, told you I was roughing it!
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

My bathroom in Dungarpur, told you I was roughing it!

2006-08-12T04:28:00.000-07:00

My bathroom in Dungarpur, told you I was roughing it!
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Goodbye Udaipur!

2006-08-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe the internship has come to an end. I just submitted my final report to my supervisor at PEDO, an impact assessment about women from the Self-Help Groups selling Hindustan Limited Products through a program called Shakti. Hindustan Limited is owned by Unilever, and they make stuff like soap, shampoo, toothepaste, etc. Anyway, I don't have much time to write so here's a quick recap of what's going on:

I said goodbye to everyone at PEDO on Tuesday. The week before, Mr. Vyas' mother passed away. She was living with us and was a sweet lady, but she was in great pain ever since her husband died earlier in the year and she had a paralyzing stroke from the shock. As a result, Mr. Vyas, his brother and their wives had to go to this mother's village for a two week mourning period. So unfortunately I didn't get to see much of him toward the end of my internship but he kept me busy nonetheless. After a week, all the men in the family had to shave their heads as it's traidition amongst the Brahmins after a death. For the last week in Dungarpur Baby, my host sister, had to go to a microfinance conference in Chennai, which is in western India. So with my supervisor and his wife gone, the only people in the house were me, Sweta, my host brother Atikool (back from Russia), and my two little host cousins, Hillary and Maggie. On Tuesday we went to Mr. Vyas' birth village where the family has to stay until August 15th when the mourning period ends. It was good to see everyone one last time and say goodbye properly. Even my servant was there helping out so I got to thank him in person. As rough as adjusting to life in Dungarpur was for me, it was such an amazing experience and the family was so wonderful in how they opened up their home and hearts to me. Specifically, I will miss Sweta (host sister-in-law) and Baby (host sister) the most. On my last night, Sweta dressed me up in a Sari, which I'll post a picture of.

Back in Udaipur, it's been one last week of hanging out with the interns and friends I've made here. We had a fancy goodbye dinner, where I unfortunately had allergic reaction number 5 (apparently fancy dining is a culprit for nut allergies). I took a meeting with a guy from one of the NGOs who is setting up a new microfinance group within his organization, and I am hoping to help out remotely and maybe return for a project over my christmas break or next summer. I've also spent a bunch of time with the weekend host family and getting to know them better has been great. My host father owns a marble mine, and myself and the other Capitalistic Intern, Olen, are going to hopefully work with him on setting up a nice marble importing business in America.

Today, most of the interns left for a flight to Delhi where they all will scatter and return to their various parts of the world. We had one last slumber party at Namrata's two nights ago, and saying goodbye was tough. We had such a great group of people and everyone got along. They are all wonderful people and I feel priveleged to have gotten to know them. I only hope we all stay in touch.

Now today, there are a few of us left behind and hanging around. I had to scratch my Goa trip because between flight costs, monsoon season, and India Independence Day, it just got too difficult and expensive given the short time frame I have for travel. Instead, I am staying here until tomorrow night when I'll take a bus to Jaipur, the biggest city in Rajasthan. I'm excited to see it because it's obviously a not to be missed destination. Hopefully I'll meet some interesting people there to keep me company. Then on Wednesday morning, I'll take a bus to Delhi. My host brother Chickoo from my Dungarpur family is studying Architecture in Delhi and we plan to meet up at the bus station and hang out all day. Then, ta 10:45 PM I catch hoepfully what will be a high security and safe flight home to the big NJ. I get in at 4:35 in the morning and plan to be out on the town in NYC by happy hour that evening.....so if you want to meet up you know my number.

I'll try posting again from Jaipur to reflect more on my internship experience and will load some pictures up above.

Dirty American

2006-07-28T05:09:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that I have just 2 weeks left in my itenrnship! The time has really flown by and I feel like I've learned more in 2 months here than I have in the last 6 years of my life!

Weekly Recap
Yesterday, there was no electricity at the office due to a bad storm all morning, and the UNDP guys took the laptop for a presentation in Banswara. So Baby (host sister), Sweta (host sister-in law), Chickoo (baby's middle brother who is visiting from Delhi) and I went for a drive to see this really cool house that Chickoo designed for a family in a nearby village. Chickoo is getting his masters at the best Architectural school in India. He also does a lot of work with PEDO on the side, helping to design rural homes and towns. This house was really nice because it was made of slate rock rather than mud. He also showed me the house where the family used to live....or describing it as a tiny room would be more accurate. It was so small and only about 4 feet high. The roof had caved in because it was so poorly built. I can't imagine what it must be like for that to be the place someone calls home.
After seeing the house, we drove further out to visit a communal plantation that the villagers have been planting in since 1987. Then we walked through the plantation and eventually came to a beautiful lake and stream. It was so picturesque; I can't believe I forgot my camera! Definitely it was Dungarpur at it's finest. While hiking, Chickoo told me some interesting facts, like only 23% of the population of Dungarpur have electricity and only 8% have access to toilet facilities!

Today, I kind of skipped out of work to come back to Udaipur because early tomorrow morning I am going with some of the other interns to Pushkar, a town in northeastern Rajasthan. It's supposed to have a bunch of temples and also be a total hippy/tourist spot, so it should be interesting. Particularly, lonely planet says Israeli hippes (whatever that means) flock there.
I've been staying at Namrata's (the FSD Family Coordinator) house because she had an empty room for a few days and invited me to come hang out in her oasis! What a different way of life it is there! I sleep on a king size bed, internet and electricity are readily available, and the food is scrumptious! Total kid in the candy store syndrom.
I think my weekend host family is missing me but I'll be back to stay with them on Sunday night.

Jain Religion
Speaking of that family, I've been learning a lot about them lately. They are of the Jain religion, which is a sect within Hinduism....I guess I can best liken it to the Orthodox sect within Judaism, although you really can't liken 2 different religions to eachother can you? Anyway, learning about Jainism has helped me to understand why my weekend family are anal clean freaks. Apparently it's traditional to the religion. Hardcore Jains walk with a broom that they constantly sweep in front of them so as to not kill any living insects in their path. Some also keep a cloth covering their mouths at all times so that they aren't exposed to impurities. And they aren't supposed to eat anything that grows out of the earth either, like potatoes or carrots. Thank goodness my weekend family are modified Jains!

They are really great people, but they tell Shivani and I quite consistently that we are dirty and they won't let us get our own water from the water jug. It could've been worse; Namrata told me my host mom initially asked if we would tell her when we were having our periods so that she could warn the rest of the house (her sons, husband, mother and servants) so that we didn't touch or handle anything! I used to take offense everytime she called me dirty but now I can just attribute it to some religious fanaticism.

Work
Work wise things are good albeit a bit slower. My supervisor, Mr. Vyas, has been working like crazy on a million different things. He says he will give me an interesting project for my last 2 weeks but he hasn't had any time to sit down with me yet. Also, his mother who is around 80 and lives with us, is suffering from health problems and Sweta thinks she will die in the next month. So obviously he is preoccupied.
I finished the Case Study book and it is on Mr. Vyas' desk to review before we move to the next stage of printing it up. It is 50 pages long and turned out really well! I've very proud of it and excited to get my copy to utilize in pursuing future opportunities.

Right now I'm working on combining 6 years worth of 6 month progress reports that PEDO submitted to a foundation that funded 245 of the microfinance Self-Help Groups. The 6 month reports are filled with English grammatical errors, and it seems like this is where I can truly add the most value for PEDO so I am happy to oblige. Plus, I'm learning a ton about the structure of the microfinance program.

Travel Plans
Right now I'm at the Reliance internet cafe in Udaipur putting some charts together for the summary report. I'm also trying to figure out where I should go for the 5 free days that I have before I head back to the states. I'm having trouble deciding between Goa (tourist/party central- the Ibiza of India) or Kerala, an elected communist state on the southwest coast. They have a famous boat race in August and these amazing backwaters that you can ride through on a houseboat. It's supposed to be beautiful and less touristy than Goa. I'm pretty sure I'm traveling solo to either location, so hopefully I'll meet some cool people when I get there. If the flights are too expensive, then most likely I'll just head up to Jaipur, which is the biggest city in Rajasthan, on my way back to grimy Delhi.

Other than that, I can't believe it's all ending so soon! What an experience. Now, back to the real world and researching which loan to take out for the MBA. If anyone reading has any views on the Government Plus loan vs. Citiassit, or short/long- term views on interest rates (is it better to take a variable rate loan or fixed rate loan), then PLEASE do share.

Baby's cutest cousin- Gurlo

2006-07-23T05:43:00.000-07:00

Baby's cutest cousin- Gurlo
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Taken at a Puja ceremony in Dungarpur

Camel in Kumbagarh

2006-07-23T05:38:00.000-07:00

Camel in Kumbagarh
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

This is a quick snap of a camel Olen, Kristen and I had to run past during our little Indiana Jones trek at Kumbalgarh

Sweta getting tested for Malaria

2006-07-23T05:36:00.000-07:00

Shweta getting tested for Malaria
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Sweta got Malaria, Baby got some sort of parasite after drinking the village water, the Dutch girl got some sort of whooping cough....suddenly I was the picture of health. Don't worry it didn't last long and I got sick (bad cold) through most of last week!

Little Boy in the village

2006-07-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

Little Boy in the village
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

He was too cute and the only child below age 4 that didn't scream bloody murder the minute I tried to hold him.

Sunset ahhhh

2006-07-23T05:28:00.000-07:00

Sunset ahhhh
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Jon and Pretheep

2006-07-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

Jon and Pretheep
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Jon and Namrata's husband dressed for YeYe's party

The girls

2006-07-23T05:19:00.000-07:00

The girls
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

This is a picture of everyone dressed up in sarees (and me in traditional Rajasthani attire) for YeYe's suprise birthday party. From left to right: Diana, Namrata, Kara, Me, Kristen, Liz, Reena, Payal

Kumbalgarh

2006-07-23T05:16:00.000-07:00

Kumbalgarh
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

This is a picture of the extensive wall of Kumbalgarh Fort, which is 2 hours from Udaipur. It's absolutely amazing! The fort wall is so think that 6 horses can ride along it side by side.
Also, as a famous Rajasthani story goes, one of the Kings of Rajasthan was asassinated by his enemies and then they went after the King's son and only heir. When the son's servant heard they were coming, she removed the heir from his cradle and replaced him with her own baby. Then she took the heir to this fort for safe hiding.

Baby Monsoon Dancing

2006-07-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

Baby Monsoon Dancing
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

My Host Sister, Baby, dances in the rain

Eggplant Parmesan Indian Style

2006-07-23T03:41:00.000-07:00

So let me first start this entry by saying that the Indian government blocked my access to my blog! Check out this article which made the NYTimes. I feel like such a revolutionary. So there's my excuse for not updating in over a week!

FOOD

In other news....life has been pretty good in India, now that I am finally over a pretty nasty cold. Last weekend, I made eggplant parmesan as a show of appreciation to my new favorite friend Namrata. She has been absolutely wonderful to me so I wanted to do a little something. You can't get bottled tomatoe sauce here, so Olen, YeYe and I made it from scratch! The dish turned out REALLY well and it was so nice to have Italian food for once that didn't taste of ketchup.

WORK

Work wise, things are also going really well. I finally finished all my field visits to the women I am interviewing for the Microfinance Case Studies. I interviewed 13 women total and wrote up all their stories and then combined them into one document with pictures, a 3 page Introduction and a table of contents. It still has formatting issues but as of right now it's 50 pages long!
As I said before, Mr. Vyas didn't like my initial writings becauase he wanted more of the life story of each woman. As a reference he gave me a copy of a book Mohammed Unis published 20 years ago detailing case studies of the Grameen Bank project. Those stories are really detail-oriented and I tried my best to write in a similar way but found it difficult to pull life stories out of these women when I am meeting them for the first time and only for 2-3 hours each. Nonetheless, I'm very proud of what I wrote and when I head back to Dungarpur tomorrow I'll find out what Mr. Vyas thinks.

FSD

Now that the case studies are winding down, I'm not sure what my next project will be. My grant proposal got turned down my FSD (my program). They said, among other reasons, that they didn't think Bamboo trees could grow in Dungarpur. I'm a little bitter about this, because I'm not quite sure how a bunch of people in San Francisco are qualified to speak to the growing ability of bamboo in rural Dungarpur. But who's bitter? I did write them back to appeal but they responded and basically told me I was out-written by the other interns. Which could be since I wrote the whole thing in one night but still, I don't like losing and especially losing on such a worthwhile project. I think FSD's whole grant competition is seriously flawed. During the proposal process all of us got so excited by our projects and spent a lot of effort researching and writing our 7 page proposals, and then when some of us got denied, it was kind of like pulling the carpet out from under us. Okay, now what are we supposed to do with the rest of our internships?

Anyway, Mr. Vyas wasn't too upset by not getting the money and although he hasn't told me what I will be doing next, so far he has yet to disappoint me. I think if I have an open conversation with him regarding what I am looking to get involved with, then he will make it happen.

LIFE

In other news.....last week one of the guys working for the UNDP briefly introduced me to a woman who was visiting our campus. Coincidentally, not only was she the first American I had met at PEDO or Dungarpur for that matter, but she was also a rising second year MBA student at Columbia! We had a short conversation about my whole waitlist issue, and I can't determine if that was meant to be a sign- running into her like that.

Finally, last weekend while in Udaipur I went to talk with a man name Manish Jain, the founder of an organization in Udaipur called Shikshanter. I had been hearing so much about him from the other interns. Born and bred American but of Indian descent, Manish had an ivy league education through grad school, and then went to work as an I-banker in M&A at none other than.....you guessed it....Morgan Stanley! He spent a few unhappy years there feeling totally greedy and immoral, so then he left to work on consulting projects with the usual suspects: Unesco, USAID, World Bank. However, at those jobs he found the situation to be just as immoral and greedy, except in these cases, as he described it to me, the people working at these organizations actually believe they are doing good for humanity. So they are in fact worse than the typical investment banker, who fully acknowledges his immorality.

Anyway, we had a long interesting discussion about his organization and what they believe. It's very grassroots and hippy-ish as they are anti-globalization and anti-the traditional education system that they claim is plaguing the world and raping us of our creativity. Basically, they hate ideas like "civilizing" the people of rural areas and calling these people uneducated just because they haven't reformed to the norms that society puts upon us. He spoke of a time when he went to speak to a 70 year old man in a village to learn about something (I forget what) and the man said "Why are you talking to me, you should speak with my grandson as he passed 12th standard". Manish couldn't understand why the man would say this. Afterall, why would he want to talk to some teenage kid? The man had wisdom, knowledge and experience from years of living.

Shikshanter is also anti-waste and believes that everything has more than one use. Basically you can just go in, hang out and talk to Manish, read a book from their extensive library, and do all sorts of hippy arts and crafts like mosaics and stuff. It's pretty cool but a little too intense for me. I don't agree with everything they have to say, particularly their negative views towards microfinance. Still, I'm going to go back again to argue about microfinance with Manish and also have a good conversation with him about corporate America before I go ahead and sign my life away with that MBA loan.

Oh yeah, here's a good story. Yesterday I went to Shikshanter to see a movie they were showing as part of a film festival. However, I got into trouble within 2 minutes of setting foot inside. I walked in carrying a diet pepsi and a bag of kukare chips (the Indian version of Cheetos) as I was starving and thirsty and didn't think much about it. Manish's 4 year old daughter immediately grabbed my hand and dragged me to a back room to play with her. So I offered her a chip, because kids like that stuff right? Then I took a swig of my diet pepsi. Then her mom came in and said "We actually don't like to have processed food full of chemicals in Shikshanter, especially around my daughter". Uh oh...I sooooo could never be a hippy. So I consent and willingly get up to finish my pepsi outside (because Diet Pepsis are hard to come by in Udaipur and one must enjoy every ounce of it when one finds it), where I start talking with 2 guys working on a tile mosaic. I finish my pepsi and ask them if there's a garbage can to throw it out in. They look at me like I have five heads and one says, "We actually try to avoid waste here. Everything has it's use. You can just leave it here and we'll find a use for it." So I put the can on the ground and head back inside, wondering if they are silently cursing me for making them find a use for a diet pepsi can.

Another top ten list- pro America!

2006-07-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

Here's the things I now most appreciate about America (all fairly shallow of course...)

1. 24/7 electricity!
2. Steak
3. Toilets that accept toilet paper and flush (the way I flush my toilet in Dungarpur is by filling a bucket with water and tossing it in!)
4. A fuctioning garbage collection system
5. Garbage cans
6. Being able to wear clothing that shows my knees without feeling like everyone's thinking I'm a whore
7. Being able to eat eggs, chicken, or drink beer without feeling like everyone's thinking I'm a heathen.
8. napkins
9. Hot water
10. Quality italian food

The Gangs of Jaisalmer

2006-07-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

# of Allergic Reactions: 4
# of Chai Teas Drunk: 76

I apologies for not writing a quality entry in quite a while, but things have been quite hectic. I have decided to add a stat counter on the top of each entry a la Bridget Jones Diary so you all can know my vitals (aka, how often I have eaten a nut after being told it was safe). I've also decided to have more interesting titles for my entries- so I am using modified movie titles.

Anyway, here's a recap of the week:
Last week I was incredibly busy with work. We went out into the field every day to interview women for my case study project. However, my superivisor Mr. Vyas read my first rough drafts and wasn't very pleased with the results. Apparently he wanted much more of a story-telling feel to the case studies, whereas I stuck to mostly facts. The only problem with rewriting is that we didn't get nearly enough of the detail he was looking for when we were interviewing the women. But he is fine with a couple of the case studies being less detailed, and then ongoing we are spending much more time with the women to learn as much as we can about their entire lives. Some of these women are absolutely amazing and it's great to see how much they have overcome. Anyway, more about that later.

On Monday, a dutch girl came to PEDO to visit and learn about microfinance for the next 2 weeks. Her name is Marlies and she has lived all over the world because her father works for Echo, which I think is the equivalent of USAID for Europe. She has even lived in Pakistan and Angola! It's nice to have more english-speaking company and to have someone sharing the upstairs "apartment" with.

On Tuesday, I got back from the field around 9:30 at night. It was 4th of July and we stopped in Dungarpur to load up on a bunch of fireworks that are completely illegal in the US. The interns in Udaipur had quite a celebration too but I was happy with my small but quality display. After the show, Mr. Vyas told me he wanted to apply for the FSD grant competition. Basically, the organization that sent me here (FSD) has a competition for all their interns all over the world- Africa, India and South America. You can apply for up to $500 in funding for a project for your organization, but you have to write a full detailed grant proposal. I didn't think I was going to need to do one because we had been completely busy with the case study work, but then Mr. Vyas came up with an excellent project so I rushed to write the 7 page grant and submit it by thursday morning! So last week I basically worked investment banker hours, except this time for free.
The grant, if I win, will be used to plant bamboo trees in a village and train the villagers to make fine bamboo furniture and other handicrafts. Then they will be able to sell them at much higher prices either directly in the cities or to agents who visit the villages. I find out tonight if I got the money....but keep in mind I'm competing against a bunch of smarty pants ivy-leaguers so it's anybody's game!

On Thursday night I headed back to Udaipur because we left early friday morning for our FSD mid-term trip. That day we crammed 14 people in 2 SUVs and headed first to Kumbalgarh, a remote fort that is probably the most amazing one I've ever been to! It has the second longest wall after the Great Wall of China, and it was so much fun exploring it all. From the top of the fort Olen, Kristen and I spotted some more ruins in the distance and decided to go on an Indiana Jones expedition to find them. We eventually did and I'll post pictures of the trek...I was quite sore the next day!
Next we stopped in Ranakpur where one of India's biggest and most important Jain temples is located. We ate lunch there and saw the temple and also ran into my weekend host family who were en route of a pilgramigge to another Jain Temple.
By evening we reached our destination for the night, the city of Jodhpur. Jodhpur is an amazing city with another giant palace that overlooks a sea of blue-painted houses. It's totally gorgeous and I can't wait to post pictures.

On Saturday, 7 of us interns got really ambitious and decided to take on the SUVs and head to Jaisalmer, the desert city, for the night. Jaisalmer is located in the far northwest side of Rajasthan and it's only 50 km from Pakistan! It literally sprung up in the middle of nowhere in the Thar Desert. It took 5 hours to drive there from Jodphur and perhaps the most fun part about the trip was four of us rocking out to Journey songs that we syched up on our Ipods. I really think the driver wanted to kill us and was praying that the Ipods sponteously exploded before we began the drive back to Udaipur. It was fun nonetheless, and here's a picture of us jamming along:

We reached Jaisalmer around 10 pm. About 25% of the city lives inside the fort there, so it's so cool to explore and the alleyways and little shops- almost like Venice. We went to dinner that night at one of the many Italian Restaurants that exist in the city- we have no idea why there are so many but even the "French" Restaurant we went to for lunch the next day only seemed to serve Italian food.
Despite probably being closer to Osama's hide-out then any American ever should be, what really scared us most that evening were the dog gangs of Jaisalmer. Although it was a very short walk back to the hotel from the restaurant, the streets were filled with gangs of stray dogs. The first gang we came across, we'll call them the Crypts (might be murdering the spelling), came out one at a time until they fully surrounded us barking and screeching. At first we tried to scare them away but it didn't work. So there we were, a group of 7 interns with their arms linked thinking our combined intern power would ward off 20 angry dogs, and silenty cursing ourselves for being too cheap to get that darn rabie shot. Eventually, we survived the attack by the Crypts, but we still had a ways to go.

After we rounded a bend more dogs began shouting at us from the top of a small overlook. These were the Bloods. Soon, they had come off the overlook and emerged from the darkness to surround us and frighten the hell out of us yet again. But we kept walking and eventually perservered unscathed. Yes, that night we did overcome adversity and learned that together interns can accomplish almost anything. End Story.

That night we slept for about 3 hours and awoke to get to the desert for the "sunrise"- which we never really saw because there was too much of a sandstorm. After that we rode camels in the desert and then explored the fort city before having to pile back in the car for the 10 HOUR ride back to Udaipur.

On Monday I ended up staying in Udaipur for the day to sleep off my exhaustion from the weekend and to celebrate YeYe's (one of the interns) 20th birthday! Namrata, aka the Martha Stewart of India, threw a party at her house and everyone dressed up in Indian clothes. Most of the girls wore Saris but I wore traditionally Rajasthani attire that I will post pictures of shortly. The best costume went to the wittiest intern, Ryan, who had left all his traditional clothes at his village. Instead he wore jeans with an Indian scarf tied around his waist, a tight Indian shirt that was obviously meant for a slender girl, and carried a hand-carved/painted elephant that was damaged and cracked on the backside. The description doesn't do it justice, I'll have to post the picture soon!

Okay, now I am back in Dungarpur and my blog is fully up to date. Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I had my 4th allergic reaction yesterday to something I ate at Namrata's house. We didn't think it had nuts in it but I def. got very sick and had to wait for 3 hours on the bus to Dungarpur before I got back to PEDO and could vomit properly. I was out of commission for most of the day but now I feel fine and am about to head out to the field.
I hope all is well with everyone in the states and you had a wonderful 4th of July. In case you are wondering, I have seen the bomb blasts in Mumbai all over the news and thank goodness nobody from my program is anywhere remotely near it.
Take Care and leave your comments!

Top ten observations about India

2006-07-10T02:36:00.000-07:00

This is meant to be a brief entry regarding some interesting observations I've had since arriving in India over a month ago. Some are humorous, some are obvious. Enjoy

10. Begin bargaining by taking the shopkeepers price and dividing by 5

9. When walking in the streets you must always pay attention or you will most def. step in some sort of dung

8. Indian people are obsessed with the movie Titanic and that Bryan Adams song from the Robin Hood movie.

7. Indian celebrities are shameless promoters and will appear in whatever advertisement they are paid for- I saw one the other day for hemroid cream

6. Burping in public is totally acceptable and picking one's nose seems to be as well.

5. People have servants clean their houses every day so they are spotless, but then take their trash and dump it right where their property stops and public property begins.

4. Driving in India is the scariest, most nerve-wracking experience. People drive on the narrowest roads and head-on collisions "almost" happen evcery 5 minutes. I am yet to see an accident though.

3. Honking the horn is used to dodge animals, small children, rickshaws, people, cow dong, etc. It is also used as a signal light and rarely used in the traditional American ways

2. Arguing with a rickshaw driver over the equivalent of 6 cents is totally worth it as the satisfaction you feel for winning is priceless.

1. People in India are the friendliest most welcoming people I have ever encountered.

Work Week #2

2006-07-01T02:42:00.000-07:00

So I am back in Udaipur relaxing and catching up on emails after another week of work. It looks like I won't have much internet access afterall in Dungarpur, so I intend to post as much as possible to my blog every weekend.

Work is going well although it's absolutely exhausting! Typically this past week I would wake up and board one of the PEDO trucks to go out to visit women microfinance loan recipients in the villages all over the Dungarpur district. Usually Baby (my host sister) or her sister-in-law Sweta will accompany me, along with another PEDO employee, Dhumendra, who is doing the Hindi version of everything I do in English. Sweta is fluent in English and a lot of fun. She just returned from visiting her husband (Baby's oldest brother) in Russia. They've actually been married for 3 years but have hardly been together. He used to be a chef on a cruise boat in the US and now he works at a restaurant in Russia. He is wrapping up things there though and heading back to Rajasthan permanently in 2 weeks.

Anyway, back to work. So we head out in a truck for a 2 hour incredibly bumpy drive to a different PEDO Field Center each day. There we pick up the head of the field center and he brings us to visit 2 of the women under his umbrella that will make good case study participants. Once we find the women, we usually visit their house/shop or whatever they own and I interview them with Baby or Sweta translating. Usually every person nearby will gather around us, so a crowd of 30 children staring at me throughout the entire interview is not uncommon. In one village the town drunk came by and even started yelling at us saying nobody could talk without his permission. Everyone pretty much told him to shut-up though. After the 2 interviews we usually pack up and head back home, arriving around 8 pm each night. The drives make the trip very exhausting and it's the hardest work I've ever done, but also the most rewarding and interesting.

Some highlights from the week:
On Monday baby's family had a ceremony called Puja (kind of like a Hindu blessing) for her 5 year old cousin. Nearly 40 people gathered at her house so I got to meet everyone in her family! Although I am a hit with children older than 5, the babies seemed to scream bloody murder everytime I got near them. Nonetheless, I have some cute pictures of the kids that I can post in the future.

On Wednesday we went to interview a woman in a village where female empowerment is the way of life! Apparently during draught seasons, or whenever they just get really bored, the women dress up as men, take the mens' weapons and go on a robbing spree. If any man gets in their way they just beat him up. However, unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn't see this in action and I thought the women were all quite lovely actually.

On Thursday we inteviewed a woman who carries a hindu god-like status in her village (we interviewed her for the business she started with her loans; the god-like stuff was just something extra that was fun to learn about). Apparently she had a dream about a golden statue that was buried in the earth. She then actually went and found said statue where she dreamed it was located. Then, several years back a snake started visiting her and biting her. Every time she does something wrong the snake will come out and bite her again. She showed us the scars. The villagers have built a temple for her and people visit her with their problems. We met a man there who apparently couldn't speak for 15 years until he came to see this woman who cured him.
Baby asked her about my married life and she said that I will meet my husband in 6 months, that he will be a good man, and that if I ever come back to India then I cannot come without visiting her with my husband. She basically told the same thing to Baby, but for some reason she asked that I pay 11 rupees to the golden statue whereas Baby got her future read for free. Oh yeah, apparently last year this women became suddenly engulfed in flames in front of her house, but did not burn. Sounds a little difficult to believe right? Especially the part about me getting married in 6 months. I thought so too.

On Friday I spent most of the day with Sweta and Dhumendra trying to write-up all our case studies. We are going to make it into a book and formulate some general impact assessments on the whole PEDO Microfinance initiative so far. I spoke with my boss about what I will get involved in once this is finished, and he said I will be learning more about the next steps in their microfinance plan. Now that all these Microfinance Groups are totally self-sustainable, we want to go a step further and help them start larger businesses or micro-enterprises even. This is actually what I am most eager to learn about so I am very excited for the next few weeks of work.

Anyway, please continue to read (including my newly added entry below on arranged marriages). I have more pictures to post of the village women and Baby dancing in a monsoon rain, but might not get them up this weekend. Also, leave comments and let me know if you want to buy any jewelry/handicrafts from Namrata. Thanks for reading!

I'll take Arranged Marriage for $800, Alex

2006-07-01T02:16:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to think an arranged marriage is the way to go. Baby (my host sister) told me today that she'll be married within a year. She's not sure to who yet, but she's sure it'll happen within the next year. Basically her parents will do all the work. It's brilliant! They'll start looking around for prospects that meet her/their qualifications- he will most likely be from Rajasthan or the neighboring state Gujarat, he'll def. be in her caste (Brahman), and he'll have similar interests. I asked her what happens if she doesn't like the first guy her parents pick and she said, "Next!" It's so simple and practical yet so ingenious! The work is done for you....it's like when you send your laundry out in NYC to be done and you get it back all clean and neatly folded after having to do nothing!

Now I must add a disclaimer here- plenty of people do not end up in ideal situations...and since divorce is not common here and the women rarely own any assets, they do get kind of stuck in bad scenarios. But if you do your homework and get to know the person you parents have picked then you avoid all the hassle and bull&(*% dating games that I've witnessed since my college days at frat parties to the current NYC social scene. An arranged marriage culture would completely eradicate all the game playing because the mens' parents are also out for their match. It's tradition and so dating around, hooking up or even sleeping with a person that he will never plan on calling again is just not done. And for the women, they don't have to worry about when, how, and if they'll ever find their soulmate, and more importantly IF they find said man in time to have children. They are also spared the pyschological garbage, self-esteem defeating games that play out in many single women's heads in NYC. Am I good enough? Too Fat? Too Flat? Why doesn't he call...blah blah blah. Arranged marriages sound a lot less stressful overall. And the divorce rate in the US vs. that in India does say something. Indian women just might have the upperhand here when you truly think about it!

I think of one good friend I have back home who has a three date rule....basically in the last several years she has rarely gotten past three dates with the same guy. Why? Because by the second date she already knows there is no way it will work out. So I say, bypass all this dating garbage and go directly to the arranged marriage route where the weeding out process is done for you and you can focus on other things like your job or hanging out with friends who you know you already like to be around.
At the same time, I don't think I could ever let my mom find me a husband. Because if she's picking most likely his name will probably be Vinnie, he will run a pizzeria off the jersey turnpike and his idea of vacation is the boardwalk at Seaside Heights. No bad intentions meant here, just not my cup of tea!

Overall though, I am liking this arranged marriage idea more and more. I am confident that Baby's parents will find her the perfect match. She is a strong-willed, determined person and I'm sure she will get everything she wants- good career, good family, good life. Perhaps we Americans really don't have it all?

peacock earrings

2006-06-25T00:16:00.000-07:00

peacock earrings
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Namrata and I are selling jewelry and handicrafts that she orders from vendors all over India! Please have a look at the pictures and let me know if you'd like to order anything. Just click on this picture and then it will bring you to flickr. Once there click on the right side section where it says "Jewelry (Set)". From there click the slideshow option to view what is available. If you like the picture of something click on it to get the details (price, description). I will bring back as much as I can carry back in August to avoid shipping costs. Everything except the costume jewelry is real silver at excellent prices (Namrata inspects and buys everything, which is much cheaper than the prices I would get as a tourist at the street shops). The bags and tapestries are hand embroidered and the scarves are 100% silk from Varanasi, India. Email me with your requests!

Jen

First week at PEDO

2006-06-24T04:57:00.000-07:00

I have just finished my first week at PEDO, People's Education and Development Organization, and am back in Udaipur for the weekend. I totally needed to come back and the bus ride was actually quite pleasant. It was a rough but rewarding week out in the country! First, there are def. more hours of no electricity than hours where there is electricity. The power goes off around 10:30 in the morning and doesn't return until 6 pm sometimes. Then it also goes off periodically throughout the night- which is a bit scary since I live in my own area above the house. Dungarpur is much hotter than Udaipur, so I am sweating like crazy 24/7. I eat mostly rice, bread and curd to avoid anymore allergic reactions and also my family is Vegetarian. I was dreaming of chicken all week so coming back to Udaipur where there is electricity, working air coolers and chicken has been wonderful! I can't describe what I would do for a nice steak right now. To my friends in NYC, please someone make a reservation at BLT or Dylan Prime for Friday, August 18th!!!!

As for work, it's beginning to get very interesting. PEDO is an amazing organization. It was started by my boss back in 1980. He picked out some land, asked a local village leader for permission to build on it, and then he and my host mom began building the campus brick by brick with their own hands! To win the trust and respect of the people in the villages, they began running unofficial schools for the children. From there they branched into medical treatment services, land flattening and irrigation, microfinance for the women, and various other initiatives. Dungarpur means Land of Hills, and the name says it all. Each family builds a house on a seperate hill, so the area is vast and communication between the villagers is difficult. PEDO has very much brought the people together. There are even employees of the United Nations Development Program who work out of the PEDO offices because the organization is so well respected and trusted in the area.

At the beginning of the week I spent most of my time reading about the organization and their microcredit program. My boss wanted me to have a solid understanding of how it is structured. Basically there are around 7 or 8 Field Centers all across Dungarpur that roll up into the headquarters where I work. From there there are hundreds of groups with thousands of women members who roll up into each Field Center. It's extremeley efficient and impressive. Most of the groups are entirely self-sustaining and managed by the members themselves. Baby (my host sister) told me that a famous Indian director came to PEDO to make a documentary about the program a couple of years ago. It's called "Climb Every Moutain" and she is still trying to find the English copy so that I can see it.

The other night I watched a video of a huge rally that PEDO organized back in March. 7,000 women from the villages met in Dungarpur City to attend the event. It was also sponosred by Bank Borodo and there was an official ceremony where Bank representatives gave out loan checks to some of the women to signify how the poor are finally getting the same access to credit as the rest of the world.

On Wednesday I sat in on some training for the heads of the Field Centers. They had gathered at PEDO to learn some new software that will help them track the lending process via computer rather then notebook. It was quite exciting because after the training they each got their very first computers!

In terms of my project work, I have 2 assignments right now. The first is to interview 14 women from 7 different field centers and write Case Studies covering how the microlending has improved their livelihood. I will then gather all the studies together into one large book that can be used in future grant proposals and promotional materials. So on Friday I went on my first trip out to "the field" to interview 2 women. Baby and her very cool sister-in-law, Shweta, came with me. It was quite an experience and it was interesting to see how far these women have come yet they are still below the poverty line, which is 5000 rupees a year or $112. The second woman I interviewed actually used her loans to build a small grocery store. Before joining a PEDO group, her husband had to migrate for 5 months out of the year to a neighboring state where he was used as a cheap labor source in the factories. Now the profits from their farm and grocery store are enough to sustain them and she plans to expand over the next few years! On the way back I asked Baby if the women's children have a chance at a different life or if they'll be pulled out of school as teenagers in order to work just like their parents and the generations before them did. Baby said absolutely the children, at least the boys, will have access to full education given their own willingness to learn and hard work. Very cool!

I am running out of time at the internet cafe but there is so much more to tell. I will post again tomorrow but in the meantime please leave comments, and someone please work on that steak dinner in August!

Me at Monsoon Palace

2006-06-24T02:16:00.000-07:00

Me at Monsoon Palace
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Here's a few more pictures. It takes a while to upload them all but I'll get them up eventually. Enjoy for now. Cheers

Picture Time

2006-06-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

Qutb Minar8
Originally uploaded by jennif102.

Me looking uber toursity in Qutb Minar. This is everything I have managed to upload so far. Click on this first picture and hopefully it should bring you to my Flickr account where the rest of the pics are kept. It's only Delhi and Agra, so stay tuned for more pics from Udaipur.

Welcome to Dungarpur

2006-06-20T00:45:00.000-07:00

Rajul and Payul (the internship coordinators) dropped me off at Pedo (my organization) yesterday. Dungarpur is a little over a 2 hour drive from Udaipur and the actual Pedo campus is located about 1/2 hour away from the city of Dungarpur. At first I was in an extreme state of shock (as well as very tired and sweaty) as this is the real deal... a true Indian experience. My boss and host father is the founder of the organization and he was very soft spoken at first which made me nervous. However, he introduced me to his daughter and things got immediately better. She is 23 and just finished her MBA at a school in northern Rajasthan. She is very smart, nice and speaks fluent English! My host mother was away working in the field all day but she returned in the evening and is also very warm and kind. I live in a seperate area above the family's house. There is a large terrace (apparently where we'll sleep when the electricity goes out at night), a small common area, my bedroom, another guestroom and then a bathroom. There is no shower so I'm bathing with buckets! I also have a dedicated servant boy, which is a little weird but he's very nice. It is extremeley hot and pretty humid here given we are pre-monsoon. Luckily, my host mom put an air cooler in my room. However, the electricity goes out due to old power grids for several hours a day as opposed to just 2 hours a day in Udaipur!

Perhaps the best thing about Dungarpur is the lack of mosquitos. They have some plant here called Neem which is actually used to make malaria medication and it seems to ward off all the mosquitos.

My commute to work is exactly 1 minute long, as I need only take a few steps from the house and I am at the office building! I am sharing an office with the daughter, who everbody calls Baby as she is the youngest of 3 children. There is internet so hopefully I can update my blog often. My host father/boss is a very impressive man. Everybody in Udaipur knows of Pedo and he started the whole thing from scratch in 1980. My host mom said she even built the first building with her own hands. There are pictures on the walls of my boss receiving awards over the years from a few different Indian Prime Ministers. He has been invited to Washington DC and Sweden among other places for all the work he has done. He even eradicated guinea worm from this area, which infects the water supply and causes painful disease in its carriers.

On the weekends, someone will drive me into Dugarpur proper and then I'll take the 2 hour highly uncomfortable bus ride back to Udaipur. Namrata, one of the program coordinators and the designated mom of the group, decided to move me to a weekend host family closer to her since I had so many sickness problems last week. So now I can see her house from mine which is nice because her house and family are great and so much fun. Namrata has been wonderful to me. Yesterday she took me to a trustworthy doctor so that I could get the name and dosage (they don't use prescriptions here) of some more allergy medication before leaving town. Then we spent an hour going from pharmacy to pharmacy trying to find said medication. I felt like a druggie out to score some smack. But eventually we got what I needed....when I use it I have to inject it using syringes like diabetes patients do with insulin!

My weekend family is truly an interesting bunch. Another intern, Shevani, is living with them full time. We get along very well and it's always an advantage to be around Shevani because she is the only intern actually from India and is an excellent translator. The family consists of a husband, wife, grandmother, a son in college and another in highschool. When we enter the house, it is customary that we get down on our knees to greet the grandmother and simulate kissing her feet. She is actually only a few years older than my mother, which makes me realize I probably should be a lot more respectful toward her when I get back to Jersey. The kissing feet thing is def. out though!

The first night at the weekend house I felt like Shevani was the prodigal daughter and I was her "special but slow" sister. Everybody was speaking in Hindi and I was completely lost. However, it didn't take too long for the questions to begin. The father asked all sorts of random stuff like how much money I made at my job and how much Shevani weighs. I answered; she refused! The next day Namrata told me that the family is so impressed with me. They seem to think I am picking up Hindi extremely quickly and are impressed by how well I have done considering my father died when I was still a child. They said I make much more in a year than an entire middle class Indian family. And to think I left all that behind to live in the middle of nowhere and bathe with buckets! :)

I don't know about picking up Hindi quickly, but I am trying my best. Both of my host moms want to learn English so we teach eachother. As for my work, I hope that I can contribute something to this great organization, but am totally fine with just being here and learning. Baby told me that plenty of visitors come through. In 2 days her brother's wife is coming back to live here after a year or so in Russia. I guess I'll have soemone else to struggle in the heat with. Her husband will also return in July, and I think a Dutch girl is also coming around then to volunteer. Finally, my host father said a good friend of his is coming to visit who is a political science professor at Duke. I look forward to some good ACC basketball talk, but will probably avoid the whole lacrosse thing. That's all for now. I'll post again when I have more to tell about my work.

Keep the comments coming...makes me feel loved. Namaste!

The Cashew Cometh!

2006-06-17T01:10:00.000-07:00

Well the second hindi word I learned after mungfali (peanut) is masala, which means spicy. This particularly pertains to the Chicken Masala I had for lunch the other day. Apparently Indians use cashew nuts to thicken the masala sauce, which I learned shortly after finishing lunch when I upchucked on the sidewalk in front of 10 other interns and a couple of rickshaw drivers! From there I had to be taken back to the hotel where I stabbed myself with an EpiPen. Once that took effect I felt much better. But shortly thereafter, a case of Delhi Belly set in which still hasn't left me. As you can see, it hasn't been all fun and games so far. A couple of other people in the group have felt sick but so far I am the weakest link! Each day I get better and we are busy all the time so that keeps my mind off of the illness.

There are 11 interns total and everyone is great. 4 of us are older and seven are college students. They are all so wise, mature and nice. I am so impressed by each of them. My roommate is Krisitn, a grad student in International Development at American University. Her blog and some others are linked to the right.

Everday for the last week we have Hindi lessons from 10 until 1 pm. After that we break for 2 hours which is usually time to run errands. Over the last few days I've gotten a cell phone and picked out my clothes to be made. For $28 I am getting 3 pants, 4 suit shirts and 2 scarves tailor made!

The late afternoons are spent with our Program Coordinators: Payal, Namrata and Rajul. Usually we have a speaker from one of the non-profits come. Today we are going to watch a Bollywood movie and then head to the light show at the City Palace this evening. We've also been exploring a lot of the Old City, where our hotel is. The Old City is full of winding alleyway-like streets with shops of every kind. Rickshaws and motor bikes honk their way past pedestrians, cows, stray dogs and even the occasional elephant. The interns still tease me because apparently we passed an elephant in the road the first night here and I didn't even notice!

There aren't too many tourists here right now, but in a week the rains come and then as one shopkeeper told me, "on July 15 the Spaniards come!" Apparently that's when the fun begins. The people are all very friendly. Children shout hello and everyone will try to speak with you in English. By far the most beautiful part about Udaipur is the sunset. Yesterday we took rickshaws up to Monsoon Palace, an abandoned palace on top of a mountain, and watched the sunset. It was quite a climb up and one or 2 of the rickshaws couldn't make it! Some of the interns even got out and helped push with the driver.

There are lots of NGOs(non-government organizations) here...an entire street is called NGO row. All of the interns but 2 of us will be in Udaipur. Myself and the other guy will be about 3 hours away, but in opposite directions. On the weekeds we will both stay with the same family in the city. However, it is a 6-day work week here so while you all are relaxing each Saturday, I'll be grinding away!
Tomorrow our stay at our beautiful hotel ends and we will meet our host families (for me I will meet my weekend family). Then on Monday Payal and I will drive out to Dungarpur to drop me off at my site. I am very much looking forward to working with PEDO. I've been reading some material on them and they sound like an impressive organization. I think they've been implementing microcredit iniatives since the late 80's and the founder has received training at Grameen Bank, the most successful Microfinance Institution.

That's all for now. I promise to figure out the best way to start posting pictures soon. Also, PLEASE leave comments/questions/whatever. If you are in NJ, there is an article coming out about me in the Daily Record this Sunday I believe, so keep and eye out for it!

Namaste

Udaipur at last!

2006-06-10T23:58:00.000-07:00

I have finally reached beautiful Udaipur, the city closest to where I'll be working. I'll be here for a week of training/hindi lesson. To recap this last week of traveling:
Thursday I toured Old Delhi, visiting the Red Fort and Jama Masjid, a famous mosque. In between the 2 sights I had a very scary bicycle rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk. It's a bunch of alleyways full of bustling commerce (food stands, people hanging around, etc) and I probably would have enjoyed it more had someone explained to me first that it was part of the tour. Neither my driver nor the rickshaw driver did this, and so for a while there I was very confused and nervous about the whole activity! But the ride was legit and in the end it turned out to be a good day touring.

On Friday I arranged for a driver to take me to
Akshardom, a new temple just outside the city. It's so new that it's not in the guidebooks yet, so I was the only non-Indian there. However, no cameras are allowed in the temple so it wasn't a repeat of kids running up to me for photographs like I'm Donald Duck at Disney World. The temple was absolutely beautiful and although finished just last year, it is built with interlocking pieces instead of steel, like the temples were built before modern times. From there I toured the rest of New Delhi, including an interactive Gandhi museum that is best left for the children (the best part about it was the AC...not to diss Gandhi), Lotus temple which is beautiful and Qutb Minar- my personal favorite. Qutb Minar is a huge tower that was originally built as a sundial in the 12th century. There's also a few other historical ruins on site that were built and then subsequently torn down by the various ruling parties of Delhi over time.

On Saturday I met up with another intern, Jonathan, and we took my driver out to the Taj Mahal in Agra. It was wonderful! The town of Agra is more congested with traffic than even Delhi if that's possible. Then our driver dropped us off in Mathura, which is a stop on the overnight train from Delhi to Udaipur. The wait for the train was probably the worst experience I"ve had so far. He dropped us off 5 hours early and the station was extremely sketchy. We were the only tourists and people stared at me like it was their job. Thank goodness Jonathan was there as I couldn't have handled it alone. About 2 hours before the train came, the power went out. So there we are huddled together with our backpacks, exhausted and dirty waiting in the dark. However, the beauty of India is that you never know who you'll meet. Some boys on their way to some training for their school, IIT, started talkign with us and the next thing you know we are surrounded by young guys wanting to talk to us (well, mostly jonathan). IF we ever get back to Mathura we'll have plenty of places to stay! the overnight train was quite nice actually and we arrived to our pretty nice hotel in Udaipur early Sunday morning. Udaipur is great and so are the other interns and FSD workers. I'll update more on that later. Please keep reading and please post comments with questions or anything else!

It is a small small world

2006-06-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

So I'm walking through a park called Raj Ghat and about to enter the area where Gandhi wasa creamated when I look over and who do I see but a future Michigan Classmate! My friend Ojas, who is famous for tearing up the dancefloor in his "I heart NY" t-shirt at Rick's in Ann Arbor, happened to be in Delhi for the day with family! Although he was flying out tonight, it was so great to see a friendly face and chat for a little while.
Just a recount of my trip so far- I spent most of yesterday sleeping and then met another one of the interns for some shopping/haggling at the local market. Today I toured Old Delhi, tomorrow I will tour New Delhi and then saturday I head to Agra before catching the overnight train to my internship in Udaipur. Delhi has been an interesting experience. The driving is absolutely crazy but the people are very friendly. As a female solo traveler I am heckled everywhere all the time, so going out past nightfall is not an option. Even on the tour today, kids would beg to take pictures with me, like I was a celebrity! It's a good thing they didn't know my name- Jennifer Anderson, often confused in foreign countries with Jennifer Aniston.
I've definitely had my fill of the busy city life and am ready to move on to beautiful Rajasthan. Below are some pictures of the goodbye happy hour. Apologies for not posting them sooner, the pre-trip preparations got a bit hectic.

Keep reading!
Jen

One week left.....

2006-05-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HOUR this Thursday, June 1 beginning around 6ish at The Magician, 188 Rivington Street (b/n Essex and Norfolk streets). Click here for the citysearch map.
Please stop by to have a few drinks, say goodbye, and even drop off that donation check you've been meaning to send in :)
I would love to see you all!!!

Time goes by fast and I leave in a week with only 4 days left of work. I feel ready aside from not having adequate clothing yet for Indian weather/culture. Also, by far my biggest worry is the peanut factor, as I hear cooking with peanut oil is quite common across India. If you know anything about me your know peanuts (all nuts for that matter) are my nemesis. I am prepared with several allergy medications but am still concerned nonetheless. As a result, I learned my first Hindi phrase:
mein mungfali khake beemaar pad jaati hun (I fall sick after eating peanuts), and also:
mungfali nahi (no peanuts)!

I also received word of the families I'm staying with. In Dungarpur where my intenrship is, I'll be living with the Vyas family. They are the founders of PEDO, the organzation I am working for. They have a daughter in her 20's who will be there. She will be my translator and coincidentally enough she just finished her MBA. When I go back to Udaipur on the weekends, I'll be living with a young couple and their newborn baby. Their in-laws also live in a seperate part of the house. It's going to be a great experience and I'm glad I'll get total immersion into the lifestyle.

That's all for now, please come back and visit to read about my time in India all summer long!

Fundraising Letter

2006-05-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Dear friends and family,

This fall I plan to pursue my MBA at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Ross is one of the top business schools in the country and I feel blessed to have this amazing opportunity. While there, I plan to focus my studies and activities on the field of microfinance, an economic development initiative that provides financial services like low interest loans to people living in the poorest communities around the world. Access to this credit allows the poor to take advantage of economic opportunities like expanding businesses, sending more children to school, creating better living conditions and in general transforming households from every-day survival to planning for the future. You’re thinking lending to the poor sounds like an incredibly risky venture right? Well actually, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are popping up everywhere now that some of the oldest and biggest MFIs are seeing decent returns and loan repayment rates of around 98%. Even banks like Citigroup and Deutsche are getting involved in this effort to achieve decent returns through socially responsible investments. In fact, on paper it’s actually riskier to loan to me for grad school than to a couple of women in a remote village starting a sewing service!

This leads me to the purpose of my letter. Finance people like me are greatly needed to implement business improvements and standards within this fast growing arena of economic development. On a personal level, I want to spend my summer doing something that benefits the millions of people in this world who live on less than $2 a day. As a result, I have been accepted for a volunteer internship with a nonprofit organization that will send me to Udaipur, India. While there I will help a Microfinance Institution improve lending capabilities and empower business development initiatives for women in several villages. I am very excited to utilize my skills and knowledge base to benefit others in this way, but there are obviously costs associated with the program. My goal is to raise the $2600 fee through generous donations from family and friends. I will be paying for my flight. The money raised will cover in country travel, living expenses, visas, language training, administrative fees and finally a grant to the MFI to support my project work.

I would be extremely grateful if you would consider contributing to this cause. 52 donations of $50 each would pay for the trip, but whatever amount you can give will be immensely appreciated. All donations are tax deductible. Please note that the deadline for raising my funding is rapidly approaching as I will be leaving to begin the internship during the first week of June!!

If you would like to write a check please make it out to Foundation for Sustainable Development and send to me at: Jennifer Anderson
8 Ashland Road
Madison, NJ 07940

Include my name in the memo portion of your check in order to receive a letter from the Foundation acknowledging your contribution as tax deductible.

Alternatively, you can donate online by heading to my web blog, MicrofinanceGirl and following the instructions on the right side. Please make sure to drop me a note if you decide to donate on the Foundation’s website so that I may keep track of these donations. I will be writing about my experiences in India and posting pictures on my blog, so check there often to see how your funding is put to use.

For more information on the organization I will be volunteering through please see this link:
FSD
For more information on microfinance, please see these:
www.cgap.org or www.mixmarket.org

Thanks again and wishing you all the best,

Jennifer Anderson

Preparations!

2006-05-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

The fundraising is moving along slowly but surely. I thank you all who have donated for your support. For those of you who haven't, it's not too late! Send me a check or click one of the paypal links on the right (if you donate to FSD's paypal acct directly, be sure to let me know so they can mark your funds as dedicated to my project).

Today the article I wrote for my town newspaper, the Madison Eagle, was published. I am very appreciative of the editor for giving me this opportunity to spread the news to my hometown.

I also went for my immunizations this afternoon. Luckily, most of my Africa vaccinations from a few years ago are still good. In fact, all I needed was my final Hepatitis A shot and malaria pills. I decided to get Larium given the much cheaper cost over Malarone. Which means I could be having some interesting dreams over the summer. I already occassionally sleepwalk so this could be interesting.

Finally, I was more than thrilled last week when I saw a press release on the Morgan Stanley Today page talking about microfinance. Morgan Stanley is beginning to get their feet week in the microcredit world as they just issued a collateralized loan obligation (CLO) to be facilitated through BlueOrchard, one of the biggest funds that invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs). In this special deal, mainstream investors can purchase the debt and the total deal size is $100 mm. The money will be leant to 22 selected MFIs around the world. Pretty cool! I've actually been in touch with the people behind this deal at Morgan Stanley and I hope to remain in contact with them as they further pursue endeavors in the microcredit world. Click this link to read more about the deal.

That's all for now....

Welcome!

2006-05-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well here's my first post. The night before I give up my apartment in New York and return to NJ for a while. It's hard to leave and walk away from this fascinating city; all the great friends I've made and the good times I've had. I've learned so much about myself since coming here. But I think I am ready to move on (as hard as it may be to give up a very reasonably priced apartment!)

I really am excited for the future and hopeful that I've in fact opened myself up to a world of opportunities. No looking back now. India is ahead. I've been talking about this for years and I'm so glad I finally did it. Please read along as the blog is about to get interesting.

If you would like to support me by donating to my India Trip, please click on one of the links on the right. BE SURE TO EMAIL ME (click the "email me" link) if you donated directly to FSD as that is the only way for them to keep track of donations meant for my volunteer project. All donations are tax deductible.
Thanks for your support!