To-Do list at Growing Opportunity

I'm nearing the end of my stay here. A little more than a week left. I've made a lot of progress. Here's my to-do list as of today:

Kattu Malli (Flower of the Forest)

Today I visited another Growing Opportunity client Group: Kattu Malli. It’s Joy of Giving week in India and Growing Opportunity is a part of it. As part of their community awareness program, they are encouraging each client group to give a tree. Today, Lam and I visited the Kattu Malli group and watched them plant their tree.


Though Kattu Malli has around 16 members, only three were there today. We watched them as they planted their tree and then we sat and talked for a while. The three women were extremely gracious with their time and patient with our questions. They are in their third cycle and they have been clients of Growing Opportunity for three years. Here I am with them (along with my fellow Global Fellow, Lam) where they usually have their group meeting (by a coconut stall):



The three women that we met all work their own stall in Pondy Bazaar. One has that coconut stand, another has a fruit stand, and the last has a flower stand.

The coconut lady prepared a coconut for me by first slicing off the top:


and inserting a straw:


for me to sip the juice:



Finally, she cust it in half and prepared tender coconut meat so that I could eat it:


Yum!

Lunch

There are food carts all over town that look like this:


This is the guy on the corner by my work. Almost every day I get a stack of fresh cucumber slices with a sprinkle of salt and cayenne pepper. It costs me 10 rupees. Yum!!

Auto Drivers

I've found that taking a tuk tuk (most people call them autos here) is the fastest and funnest way around town. Once you know the going rate, then it's pretty easy to bargain with them. And once the initial haggeling is over, the auto drivers show a remarkable amount of pride in their job. It's important to them that you get where you need to go and they often go out of their way to drop you right at your doorstep.

Autos are ubiquitous in the city and the drivers hang around together, eating lunch and lounging in their tuk tuks. Sometimes they ride in the front together so that they can finish their conversation while they drive you.

Another showing of pride is how they decorate their autos:

Mahapalipuram

I took the bus to Mahapalipuram and stayed in a little resort on the beach. As I walked out, I noticed the Shore Temple right away:




The temple is stunning and just incredible to see close up:


This temple is carved out of rock and was excavated by the British around 200 years ago. Due to the erosion, all the carvings look like ghostly images of Hindu deities:




The next day I went to the 5 Rathas. Each one of these mini-monuments was carved out of a single rock:


I also took a walk on the beach where there were loads of colorful fishing boats:


It was hot and even the cows were trying to shield themselves with the little shade that they could find:

I'm going to Mahabalipuram today

Mahabalipuram

Riverfront Property in Chennai

Rangoli

I found out what it's called!

Rangoli

What I'm listening to

Aahaa FM Uh huh!

Morning Sweep

In India it's traditional to sweep the front of your house in the morning: the path to your door, the driveway and the curb leading to your house. When done, many people put a design in front. They use a white powder to create it. (Some people have the design painted on, but that's cheating!)






Note to J and O: I have the tools so we can do this at home!

Bike Ride to Marina Beach

Today was an incredibly hot day. Even my knee caps were sweating. It was 37 degrees centigrade, which I guess is somewhere around 100 degree Fahrenheit. Since I got my bike yesterday, I had it in my mind that I would do a long bike ride today. But it was SO HOT!! I waited until about 4pm and then I had to go.

Map of the Ride

It was a pretty easy route . . . practically a straight line. And at the end, do you see that big river that feeds into the ocean? It’s really smelly.

I got a bike!

Today I will ride it to the beach!!

The Garbage System

I gather all the trash and recycling and put it out front in whatever vessel I have to hold it.

Then this guy comes to sort through it. He collects all the recycling and files it carefully into his bag.




He leaves all the trash bundled nicely in a bag. Then he walks to the next house.


And I take the rest to the dumpster.

Alaku Roja

There is a woman at GO, Rachel, whose title is something like Transformation Officer. It’s her job to make sure women who are clients of GO have the resources and knowledge they need to be successful. Today I accompanied her on a client visit.

We were visiting a group of about a dozen women who call themselves Alaku Roja. They’ve formed a group that borrows money from Growing Opportunity so that they can work. One woman uses her share to sell flowers. Another uses her share to make sarees to sell. They’ve borrowed up to their credit limit 20000 rupees (about $450) three times now and paid back every time. They have to pay back within 24 weeks, according to their agreement. Today we went to start them on their 4th cycle.

They were located in the West Mambalam neighborhood. When we walked up to the house, there was a pile of garbage and old, rusted bikes.


I noticed a set of outhouses along one wall and then the house on the other side. The house was small – only four rooms. The entry way also had a bed and the kitchen was basically a sink with stuff piled all around. The walls were blue and written on.


I asked if I could take pictures and they happily agreed. After I shot the first one, they couldn’t wait to see the picture in the camera. I anticipated this and showed them the picture as soon as they asked. They thought I understood Tamil!! We went inside and they offered me water and insisted that I sit on the bed. They were all so gracious and fussed a lot about my comfort. They were tickled that I was interested in this whole thing.

Every Client Relationship Officer (or CRO . . . think RM in Wells Fargo world) visits each group once per week. Each visit starts with the group reciting their group statement. I’m guessing this statement has something to do with their commitment to work, good business practice and other sorts of things. Then the CRO reviews their payment summary and meeting notes. The group has saved over 46000 rupees since they joined together.

Finally, the CRO gives them some information. Today we talked about how to notice when your kids are sick and when to take them to the doctor. That it’s important to be clean, brush your teeth, bathe, sweep your floors. You need to wear shoes outside and take them off before you come in. Always boil water before you drink it. The women listened intently and admitted that they don’t always do these things.

Next we talked about their group name, Alaku Roja. They said it meant Beautiful Rose. When the CRO was translating this to me, the women joked that they must be translating that I am the beautiful rose. Then she said to them that we are all created in God’s image and we are all Beautiful. They were really happy to hear that!!

Finally, I sat on the floor with them for a picture. They couldn’t believe that I would sit with them. They hugged me from all sides!

Street Food!

Last night I ceased my fast and finally ate some street food. There are a lot of little street shops that serve dosas and omlettes. The father cooks the rotis outside on a large, metal sheet outside. And the mom serves. And the kids are just running around being super cute. Every place you eat, and every home has a little sink to wash your hands. Except here, people wash their hands after they eat instead of before. Because you use your hands to eat instead of utensils.

Dad:


Kids:


Food:


Taste:

Working and Commuting

Today at devotionals we sung Come Thou Font of Every Blessing and I sang along happily because I know it from the Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums and I think it’s a beautiful song too. Then we prayed for Marketing and Office Management. There’s a schedule for the month and each department gets prayed for at least once a month. Can I ask them to pray for FXOL?

Today I’m going to dig in and write their DR plan. I’m not working with a lot of information, but I’m hoping that I will get it as I go. I noticed that their audit committee has identified their lack of a DR plan as a risk. I’m happy to help them remove the risk! I know what a pain it is to write one. But they will have to practice it once it is all documented.

I’m pretty bold now and can take tuk tuks anywhere I want to go. They are incredibly convenient and if you are firm about the rate they give you no trouble at all. Most people in Chennai are incredibly nice and they are very respectful towards women. My tuk tuk driver yesterday was so excited to practice his English, he wanted to keep me talking the whole time. He asked my name, my kids names, and what they all meant. He didn’t know where San Francisco was, but he did know California.

Neighborhoods

Last night I took a walk through a little slum near T. Nagar. It was a set of little alleyways lined with tin shacks about 8 feet square. Entire families live in these boxes. The kids play along the alleyways and a lot of people are outside. I noticed a women sitting outside with her son and they were going over the abc’s. The shacks are all connected with a vast network of extension cords so that they have power. I didn’t bring my camera! But I would like to take some pictures to show you.

Growing Opportunity

Aju, the CFO, picked us up at 8:30 am and drove us to work. The day starts at 9am with ‘devotionals’ where the entire office gathers to sing and pray. Then they recite their mission statement and core values.

Mission: Inspired by God’s love, Growing Opportunity’s mission is to alleviate poverty through motivation, training, counseling and microfinance, thereby enabling the poor to become self-reliant, attain dignity, holistic transformation and become citizens of excellence.

Values: Respect, Integrity, Stewardship and Commitment to the poor

There is one woman here who is responsible for the upkeep of the office. She’s around all day and brings you coffee in the prettiest little tea cups in the morning and after lunch. I realize that I don’t know the cleaning staff at my office at all and I think this is a shame.


Growing Opportunity is a very small organization. It operates entirely on one floor. They have 13 branches. There's a dog that hangs around out front and on the entry staircase. The owners of the building think that he is their grandfather. Here he is:


I’ve met with the head of the IT department here. The department consists of four people. Coming from a risk-adverse organization like Wells Fargo, we have a lot to offer GO in this area. I’ve determined that I can help them formulate a Disaster Recovery Plan. And I can assist with an implementation plan for their upcoming software upgrade. In addition, I will review their IT and security policies. Many of the best practices that we have at Wells can be applied here. GO is like a micro version of Wells Fargo.

My bungalow is close to a large shopping mall, via a trek down a busy street. When you walk in Chennai, you mostly walk right on the street, along with everybody else and all the vehicles too. It’s amazing that I didn’t see a single person get hurt!

The mall was a bright, loud, sparkly kind of place with some familiar stores, like The Body Shop and some others that are specific to India. It’s very popular and it was quite crowded, with young couples walking arm in arm and generally everybody very happy to be there.

After having super-yummy thalis at a restaurant in the mall, we came home and planned a quick trip to visit the Kapaleeswarar Temple. It took us some time to figure out how to dial the phone, but we managed to get a call taxi and Mahesh arrived to drive us there. We only had about 30 min in the temple and bazaar area, and we couldn’t shake this guy who was determined to be our tour guide. But I managed to enjoy it.


The temple is surrounded by flower sellers who make gorgeous garlands that people use in the temples to adorn the statues. There are a lot of other sellers too, but they offer mostly junk.


A lot of people ask me to take their photograph. Here are some of them:


Finally, this evening, I strolled around my neighborhood, or rather walked carefully. There a small street with shops on it, mostly Xerox stands, I have no idea why. And there was a bridge over a stinky river full of trash and sewage and a group of boys who, I guess had caught a bunch of fish in this disgusting river and they were selling it to passersby. I couldn’t get a picture of it because I really did not want to feel obligated to buy any of their fish. The stench was incredibly awful.


There were also boys playing cricket in the street. I loved watching them.

I ended the day at some place that seemed like an Indian fast food joint -- akin to the taquerias that we have in SF, I guess. I had a rava masala dosa along with a veggie, chili fried dish. The food was superb! I think that it's impossible not to be astounded by everything you eat here -- even at the cheapest place on the street.

Mornings at My Place

I’ve been up since 6am. A combination of jet lag and all the noise, noise, noise! It started with the church bells right at 6. Then the beautiful singing from the temple down the street. They’ve been at it all day so far. The kids have their own songs and dances at various times. Then the street sellers . . . not sure what you call them, but they come down the street chanting about their wares and calling out for prospective buyers. You can just walk out your door to buy flour or fresh veggies!! The birds call out for their mates – woo-OO, woo-OO. And the cars sing too: honk, honk, honk.

This guy walks down the street and sings about his vegetables:

India!!

The plane from SFO to Frankfurt was a typical international flight, at least for me. I had a center seat, but the other center was empty and I was able to spread out a bit. There was a lovely older gentlemen sitting next to me from Bulgaria. He was very courteous and considerate as he removed my tray and delivered glasses of water. We both read most of the time. I finished my Rabbit book and he was reading Cannery Row.

When I got to Frankfurt I had less than an hour to get to my Chennai flight and it was in a different terminal. I had to go through security again and all sorts of stuff that I didn’t expect, so I was kind of stressed. But I made it and I was greeted with a mass of people all trying to get on the plane at once. The second plane was high tech, with our own monitors. I watched a Hindi movie with subtitles, Raajneeti. And the food on this flight was really good! Gobi paneer masala for lunch and samosas for dinner – yum!

I tried to look out the window landing in Chennai, but it was pretty dark and stormy. I lined up to enter baggage claim and there were lots of people who pushed in front of me. I thought to mention to them that I was pretty sure their bags don’t come any faster if they push to the front of the line, but I just let them by. I waited a long time for my bag. When I finally spotted it, I threw my arms up in joy and exclaimed something that showed everybody how happy I was to see it. I managed to make everybody around me happy too, even though they were still waiting for their bags.

I walked out of the airport looking for my driver. There were a bunch of guys with signs and I walked past them because I couldn’t see my name. But as I went further I realized that my driver wasn’t there. So I went back to the first group of guys and asked them to let me thoroughly read their signs and we realized that many of them were holding them backwards or upside down. I got everybody sorted with their signs, but my driver wasn’t there.

So finally I walked all the way out to the parking lot and sure enough my co-volunteer, Lam, yelled out my name and then he took a picture of me. The driver was there too. And they carried my bags to the car. The parking lot was right there, no driving loop or anything. And people were walking all over. I even saw a circle of people around a fire on the side of the lot.

The drive home was through a lot of little streets lined with shops, some closed and some lit up with Christmas-type lights. There were a lot of barricades, piles of stuff and trash, tons of bikes parked all over the place, groups of people walking right on the road (and this is all at around midnight), cows eating from the trash piles, and dogs running loose everywhere. All this to the tune of tons of car honking. There were lightening flashes from far away going on constantly, but no rain. I’M IN INDIA!!

The shops are quite peculiar, just everything imaginable all right next to each other and all very small, like the size of our kitchen. Men’s fashion! right next to a TV shop. If the shop was open you could look right inside and see what’s going on. The guy in the TV shop had about 10 little TVs all turned on. Is he watching them? Is this shop even open at midnight? I wanted to take a ton of pictures, but I decided they really wouldn’t turn out.

My bungalow is on quiet street just off a main drag. I’m not sure what to think of it. It’s not particularly nice, like the kitchen is kind of gross and it has a hot plate for a stove. But my room is cozy and I have a terrace and a fan and this seems quite luxurious! There’s a small billiard table here and washing machines. And the internet works!!

I spent some time familiarizing myself with the bungalow and managed to get to sleep around 3am. It’s 7am now. I was woken up to bells for church and people singing at a temple two doors down at 6am. The temple reminds me of those little Latino churches on Valencia street that have services at night. Do you know those ones? I think I’m up for the day and I’ll try my best to push through without sleeping so that I’m really tired for tonight. Even though Monday is a holiday in the States, I will go to work at 8:30 am.

This is my house (that's my balcony):


This is my room:


Shops in my neighborhood: