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Global PeaceWorks | |
peace among religions is the key to world peace |
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A Global PeaceWorks Journal9th December:Good morning! Today everyone will be going to the work site and no one will be at DPS. Today Moonhwa has joined us in our work. Moonhwa has been living in Delhi since 9 years. She is from Britain. Her father is British and her mother is German. Umesh also joined in. Umesh is Bahá’í. He lives in Delhi. Today, the group would be divided into two. One half would work at the work site while the other half would clean up the playground. The task of cleaning up the playground was rooted in the idea that it would be used on the last day for a cultural programme. When we reached the playground, we found that only Indians could clean the playground because the presence of ‘white’ people would attract outsiders and this in turn could create a ruckus. Subba, Shakeel, Roshan, Harkirat, Ammu, Fazida and myself took on the task to clean the playground. The playground was, in absolute terms, horribly dirty! It had every kind of rubbish on it, a lot of shit as well because it is also used as a big toilet. As we got about to clean it, a lot of people came forward to help us. An old lady gave me some sacks from her house to collect the rubbish. Some of the children brought wooden sticks to use as brooms and to collect the rubbish and throw it into the bags. Someone else brought us brooms. The women and older men from the community were very happy to see us cleaning the playground. One woman from among them came up to me and said, “Why don’t people from our colony use their own houses to defecate? Everyone throws rubbish here. And our children also play here. We really want to keep our surroundings clean.” I was touched by these words. After a lot of cleaning and sweeping, we were called to take some refreshments. While the refreshments were happening, Eric asked if some of us would like to do house visits. Umberto, Ricky and myself decided to go. One of the team members of Chetanalaya took us to a house. On the outside was a cot. Two elderly ladies were sitting on the cot. They welcomed the three of us as we came. The Chetanalaya lady told them, “Yeh log aapse milne aaye hain.” (These people have come to meet you.) Umberto greeted them namaste (in Hindi, hello!) with his warm smile. Umberto’s smile is very comforting. Ricky joined in. I gave my salaam. I started asking questions. “So what do you do?” The lady replied, “I take care of the house. This one (she said pointing to the other lady) does embroidery work. She is a daily wage earner.” I asked them how they feel about the dirt around them. She replied, “It is awful. We have asked the municipality to come and take the garbage everyday. They don’t do it. When we start to do it, their men come and shout at us, asking us why are we doing it. They say they will do it. Neither do they do it nor do they allow us to clean up our surroundings. Now you tell us what should we do?” I asked them if there is any tension between Hindus and Muslims in the community. She replied, “No problem at all. We attend their ceremonies and functions and they attend ours. We know that if we fight between ourselves, it is going to harm us most. We believe in harmony and peace.” I asked if any marriages take place between Hindus and Muslims. She said, “Nahi bhai, yeh nahi hota hai!” (No, no! This does not happen) and she began to laugh about it. Ricky asked me to ask them how many children they had. Both ladies bit their tongues and said that they have lots of children. There was a sheepish grin on their faces. I asked what their daughters were doing. She replied, “Shaadi ho gayi unki.” (They are married.) “ At what age,” I asked. Again both of them bit their tongues and said, “Early ages. Like 15, 17.” I asked, “Is it because of the safety factor?” She said, “Yes. We have to protect the honor of our girls. Here in the slums, there is danger. Men look at our girls with different intentions. We feel that it is better to marry them off and let their husbands protect their honor. They are safe in their husbands’ custody.” [I was interpreting the questions and answers to Ricky and Umberto.] I asked, “So, did you have to give dowry?” Both of them replied, “Yes, of course!” Ricky said, “Tell them that when men marry women in our country, it is the men who give dowry to the women and not vice-versa.” (Ricky is from the Philippines.) When I interpreted this to the two ladies, they jaws dropped in surprise. “What,” said one of them, “really? This doesn’t happen here. Wish it would happen here!” We finally realized that it was time for us to leave. We bid good-bye to our hosts. It felt wonderful and warm to talk to them. Ricky also had a grateful and satisfied look in his eyes. We went back to the work site, did a final prayer and left. As we were leaving, the children who had helped us to clean the playground were running behind us and following our vehicles. Umberto was playing with the children as we were leaving. He was lifting them up and they were squealing in delight. I was laughing as I heard the children squeal. Umberto said to me, “Isn’t this wonderful? Look how much happiness we are creating here, just by coming here and working.” I nodded in agreement. We pushed into the jeeps to get back to the center. Agyat was waiting for us there. During the ride back, Roshan who was sitting beside me in the jeep, said to me. “You know, it is very confronting to do work like this. We have to confront ourselves.” I felt very touched when Roshan said this. I was feeling this myself and when Roshan said this to me, I felt a sense of affirmation. Was each one of us feeling this way? Back at the Center, some of us joined Agyat who was teaching us games in the lawn. I saw people rolling with laughter as they were playing the games. Dinesha was singing, “Dippi dippi dappa – dappa dappa – dippi dippi dappa”. The song seemed to have gotten to her. In the evening, we went to attend the Dalai Lama’s speech at Gandhi Peace Mission. Each one of us was dressed in our Global PeaceWorks t-shirt. We looked like a contingent! The Dalai Lama emphasized the importance of working on our individual selves, changing ourselves, being active! He said a lot of important things and finally, each one of us stood up and lit candles as we sang, “We shall overcome some day! Deep in my heart, I do believe, that we shall overcome some day!” We went for dinner organized by DPS. DPS ends today. Close of yet another day. Reflections from my diary for 9th December: Roshan mentioned how it is confronting to work with our hands and in dirt. Today, while cleaning the playground and lifting the shit, I felt for those who clean the drains and sewers in our cities. How do they feel when they have to jump into the sewers to remove shit which is produced by millions of us, that too on a daily basis? Do they feel ‘yucky’ like how I felt? For me, I just have to pull the flush and lo behold the shit is gone. But what about them? How does it feel for them? I loved visiting the house today. It felt so nice. Just the sheer fact of talking to the people there made me feel as though we were creating a bond together. I don’t know whether I will ever see them again in my life after this and whether they will ever see me again, but both of us have touched each other’s lives and have produced that moment of joy, oneness and happiness which is precious and invaluable. I love building relations. Maybe this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I feel the world will take care of me if I do just this. Today, I feel even more strongly that I want to be a gypsy. My guitar is all the more valuable to me today. I feel singing and talking are so important. But how much do we really spend our time doing this? We love structured lives and that is important to some extent, but what about room for emptiness, for leisure, for nothingness? |
Fazida
was surrounded by children. They were helping her to do the cleaning.
Children were all over. Some of them were just watching
us. After a while, they would get bored and move away. But some of
the children were very helpful. I offered my gloves to one of them
as he was using his bare hands to work. After that, a lot of children
came running and said, “We want to clean, can you give us gloves?” A
big bunch of us were at the task.|
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