A Sri Lankan Tornado

Posted by Ellen on Saturday, February 28, 2009

Last night Alia left Sri Lanka for the United States, and while getting my life re-organized again this morning I feel like I've been in the path of a tornado, albeit a happy one. The past three weeks have been a whirlwind, moving so fast I can barely keep track of everything that happened. Together the Sri Lanka team brainstormed about topics like the Bead Program curriculum, roles for new Sri Lanka team members in 2009, and potential expansion partners. We had 13 meetings over the span of two days. We had an event for all the girls in the Emerge Bead Program that was emotional and moving. And we came together as a team.

Over the next couple of weeks, more and more about February will come out - in blog posts, photographs, and email updates. But I wanted to share what I'm experiencing right now: a feeling of loss knowing that it will be awhile before I see one of my best friends again. Generally when I need to process things like this I try to throw myself into work, and the piles of jewelry inventory that I've been sorting all morning on our couch are a testament to that. And as life resumes back to "normal," I wanted to share with you all how fortunate I feel to be doing something I love with people that I love, care for, and respect.


Until next time,
Ellen Read more »

Small but significant

Posted by April on Monday, February 09, 2009

I just had the strangest experience. I was awake until the wee hours last night. Alia, our Executive Director just arrived from the States-such a treat to have her- and she and I were working and chatting until late.

I've realized over and over for the past three months that my productivity and organization is inextricably linked to structures that I have or haven't put in place in my every day routine. This may not sound like an epiphany to most people, but none of my jobs in the past 12 years that I have been working have required (or had) any daily routine. Of course elements of routine have always been present, but the skill set I have developed has been one to deal with unpredictability and continual change rather than consistency over time.

Ultimately I've come leaps and bounds in the past week or so. I had been trying to use Google calenders (so the Emerge team can see what each other are up to at all times) to plan my days and log my completed tasks, but for whatever reason it hasn't been the perfect fit. It has been frustrating to me to continually depend on an internet connection to see my to dos, and I am still unfamiliar with the full extent of Google's functions (and haven't prioritized learning them all). I finally realized it was time for a different tactic, and reverted back to iCal, my secret weapon. I now plan all to do's and overarching goals, long term deadlines, etc in iCal, and fill in my completed tasks in Google later. This has completely changed both my actual productivity and my sense of accomplishment (both increased at least 100 fold.)

Long story short, I was entering my "to do's" in iCal at about 1:30am, and forgot what day it was. I was confused because I have kept my computer clock on Eastern Standard Time so I'll know without calculation what time it is if I want to call family or friends. I reluctantly made the decision to change my clock to Sri Lankan time (Indian Standard Time) to prevent future confusion and to straighten out my iCal "to do alerts," (you can set times and due dates for tasks and meetings.)

I then went to sleep and forgot I had changed it. This morning I woke up and headed straight for my computer. I looked at the date and remembered. Then I had the strangest sensation of being grounded... as if I had just arrived in Sri Lanka. This whole time I've been of a split mind, always considering what is going on in the States and wondering what loved ones were up to. This tiny change proved to be incredibly significant, as I finally feel that my focus is here and I'm living in the present. Read more »

The Sri Lanka Team Has Grown!

Posted by Ellen on Monday, February 09, 2009

The Sri Lankan team headquarters has temporarily absorbed one more Emergenista. Alia arrived in Sri Lanka this morning, and we've already been bouncing ideas off of one another and getting excited about the next three weeks that she'll be here. There is going to be a lot of progress made in the month of February, and I can't wait to share it with you all!


I'm so excited she's here!




EmergeLove,
Ellen Read more »

Kolkata, India

Posted by April on Friday, February 06, 2009

I have now been in Sri Lanka almost exactly three months. I've been having fun, making friends, and learning- about the culture, about myself, about the girls. The project is going well. Ellen is now hard at work doing networking and outreach, and I am now cracking down on curriculum development. I was in Kolkata, India (formerly Calcutta) for the past week doing entity/curriculum research, and learned so much from the experience. I actually really didn't want to go until a day or two before because I felt rushed and a little disorganized (we pulled the trip together at the last minute,) but ended up getting excited and inspired and had a really wonderful and educational experience.

I was in Kolkata mainly for research. Emerge's program essentially combines rehabilitation (art therapy) with economic empowerment and income generation, and I had found a number of organizations to visit with specialties in each area. We are also considering expanding to street trafficked women, so no better place than Kolkata.

I ended up meeting with 6 different organizations in 3 days (1 the first day, 2 the second, and 3 the third) who all dealt with street trafficked women and children. I had really positive experiences at all organizations, and was pleasantly surprised at how receptive they were to my visits. My first visit was to Destiny Productions, an organization providing alternative income generation opportunities to ex-sex workers. It was great meeting the girls and hearing about the project. It also just so happened that I met a group of Bangladeshi ex-sex workers turned peer trainers led by an American woman and a couple of Bangladeshi social workers. They were also touring Destiny and other organizations for research purposes. It was such a fortuitous meeting and I spent most of the following day with them visiting Sanlaap, one of the largest and oldest organizations working with street trafficked women in Kolkata.

Ultimately the Sanlaap visit was the highlight of my trip though our initial contact at their headquarters was shaky at best. Although we had an appointment arranged by their director no one seemed to know of our presence, but things improved dramatically when we visited their shelter home and drop in center. The shelter home houses 125 girls- I believe all minors who were trafficked mostly from Bangladesh and Nepal. They have a really well thought out communication system and really professional vocational training classes. We visited girls working on looms and one girl demonstrated the block printing process and gave me the handkerchief she made. We then returned to headquarters to pick up our guide for the evening, and headed into Kalighat, one of the 6 red light areas in Kolkata. We were warmly received in one of Sanlaap's drop in centers- a small room with bags of rice and lentils on a shelf, and a bare floor covered with mats. During the day the room is a drop in center for sex worker's children- a place for informal education and a guaranteed meal- but that evening the room served as a meeting room while we chatted with the 10 community leaders... older women still in the sex trade who serve as neighborhood watch for minors being sold into slavery.

I could write for a very long time about our discussion and the rest of my trip, but all in all it was a wholly eye opening experience. It warms the heart to know that it's not only foreign aid workers who are working for the rights of trafficked women and children.... there are also people on the inside with the strength, the know how and the connections to make a difference.

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