The Stuff that is on my mind...

"Its a new dawn, its a new day, its a new life for me...yeah... And I am feelin good..."

cdavisfischer — Mon, 01 May 2006 20:04:41 GMT

Well. After several years, several detours, several mistakes and several lonely nights, i am finally home. Upon returning from India last week with a very programatically successful trip but the dispointing news of Echoing Green, I found myself very alone up there in Portland. Having never really existed there professionally, the little town looked like a big nut to crack while trying to fund Gamanam. A phone call from a friend in the Bay Area extending her home to me for "as long as needed" was all it took. All the pieces fell into place. And my trusty chariott brought me home. It all makes sense now. I have all the pieces to pull this off here. More to come on the details but as Nina Simone says "Its a new dawn, its a new day, its a new life for me and I am feelin good..."

To stay or to go?

cdavisfischer — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 12:38:02 GMT

Technically I am supposed to head back to the US on Monday... Although, after being here for over a month I realize that I need to work on several things and being here would be ideal- BUT>>> I need money... So here are the reasons I need to stay: 1. Drafting the curriculum over the internet is doable but will be challenging given the language issues 2. After my trip to Kolkata, I want to explore a more comprehensive rehabilitation strategy that includes the dance but is more focused on sustainable alternative employement. That seems to be a critical missing link here. Finding ways to remedy that will make all the difference in the world. 3. There are several possible funding sources here that have expressed some preliminary interest in the work. I am not sure I can continues to stoke the fire from abroad. 4. There are so many opportunities that just present themselves to you when you are in the field. Would hate to miss them. That said, with no immeadiate funding in sight, I am really playing with fire as I would have to forfeit my free return ticket in order to stay- banking entirely on a successful conclusion to my trip to pay for my return. As many of you know, I have taken countless risks with this idea. Some have paid off and some have not... Now I am feel very worried about this one... What do you all think? Should I stay or should I go?

Very dispointing...

cdavisfischer — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 11:40:59 GMT

I have a total of 10 minutes to get this email out. Most of you know that I have been competing for the Echoing Green fellowship and have been working my butt of to jump through all their hoops... Well, yesterday, the faitful email came... And it looked a little something like this: __________________ Dear Davis - Echoing Green regrets to inform you that your application is no longer under consideration for our 2006 fellowship program. We want to thank you for being a part of our application process. The applications that we received this year were of very high quality and the process was extremely competitive. We were truly inspired by your passion and creative ideas for social change. We were very impressed by the credentials of our applicants and their personal commitment to making the world a better place. Please note that we review each application and evaluate the strength of the proposal, the applicant and the fit with the Echoing Green fellowship program. Our decision regarding your application is specific to our application process and selection criteria and is not intended to reflect the strength of your idea or the need for the proposed program in your community. As we were going through our internal review to select the 20 finalists, we found ourselves saying again and again “I’d really like to meet and talk to this person.” Unfortunately, we have a very small staff and simply don’t have the resources to follow up individually with you. As much as we would like to provide personal feedback and suggestions on your proposals, we simply don’t have the manpower to do it. We wish you the very best as you pursue your dreams and work for good. Sincerely, Heather McGrew Vice President, Fellow & Alumni Programs _________________ Can I just say that I a little pissed that they cannot give me anything better than a form letter after I spent a month drafting their application. Well. In someways this is a blessing disguise. Since I arrived in India, I have been thinking that I just needed to stay here to finish the curriculum with my new partners and explore some of the ideas I have been having to combine vocational skills into the curriculum. Before yesterday, the only thing calling me back was the potential interview on May 2nd for Echoing Green. Now that that is out of the question I may just stick around for the next couple months and get things all set up for a round of fundraising. That said... I am still disapointed. I really had my heart set on getting some funding in sooner rather than later. Best to you alll and more news to come soon. I have been going morning til night with no time to write. Davis

HELP- Laptop needed

cdavisfischer — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 05:36:21 GMT

Does anyone out there have a lap-top that they can donate to the project. It does not have to be a super fast one or have wi-fi. Mostly it will be used for word processing and emailing. My colleague Sohini desperately needs one so that she can travel around doing workshops and keep up on our work and keep it all in one place. So, if anyone has recently upgraded and would like to donate one to a good cause, please send me an email. I think it can also be a tax deductible contribution at this point given the stage I am in with the IRS. THANKS... Davis

Another full day March 29, 2006

cdavisfischer — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 05:26:27 GMT

Yesterday was another incredibly full day. We started our morning in the West Bengal Agency for HIV positive people. It is a government arm that works with the positive population in WB... According to them, they have 10,000 people registered in their network and 65% of them are women. Most are from predominantly poorer sectors of society so most are not able to access the cocktail drugs that we might use in the US. I am really skeptical that out of a population of 14mili (in Kolkata alone) only 10,000 people have aids. However, due to the types of services they offer i.e. basic food rations, support services etc... It does make sense that many women would seek them out. Our next stop was in the red-light area of Kidderpur. We were visiting another community center run by Apne aap that caters to the children of prostitutes is this rather destitute area. This one was very different than the first in that, there was no other business going on but sex... The first one we visited was Kalighat Ward 83 about 5 minutes from mother Theresa Home for the Destitute and Dying. Kalighat is also a major bazaar so the women blend in with the shopkeepers many of whom are not involved in the sex trade. Apparently, Kalighat is known for being a higher end corner because the women wear only Saris and are primarily self-employed with Pimp affiliations. Munshiganj in the Khidderpur red-light area is another story. Taxi's and Rickshaws line the road and women are clustered all along the street. And the diverse features of the women definitely indicate a predominance in trafficking. The community center constitutes several small operations. There is a small shack-like room right in the middle of the community that serves as the education center. This is where Sohini and her students do movement therapy with the children. Down the road, they have another small room that serves as a crèche and doubles up as a carpentry apprentice room. And, finally, up the street a bit further, they are remodeling the top floor of another building to serve as a crisis center and overnight place for at-risk girls whose mothers are in prostitution. Apparently, the most at risk age for these girls is around 11-13 when their mothers might make a hefty sum off of her virginity. The movement therapy that Sanved does here serves two purposes. First, it is a REALLY fun activity that keeps the kids coming back to the center. Apparently, another group proposed teaching them traditional Odissi dance and the kids who participated told the Sanved teacher that they much preferred her class. Odissi is a much stricter form of dance that is entirely about teaching choreography. So the second purpose is that, the children are able to create, explore, experience and express themselves both as individuals and as members of a collective. The Sanved classes teach them skills in communication, collaboration, problem solving and conflict management. Sohini asked me to lead a part of the class so that she could see how I might approach it. I was really happy to show her some of the exercises I have developed. We have a different style of working with the children and part of it comes from a slightly different philosophy. That said there is not too much of a gap for us to be able to work together. I use sound and alternative communication strategies to mitigate challenges. For instance, when a rambunchous group of children are trying to get into a circle, you will have many competing voices ordering each other around. So, instead, I just made a single sound that calls everyone in "OOOHHHHH". That way everyone can be in unison instead of the chaos. You get the idea... Anyway, it was also really interesting to meet and see Sujata, one of Sohini's students turned trainer, teaching the class. She is truly amazing with the children. Apparently, she has been in the Shelter since 1992 when she was rescued from a very abusive situation with a mother in prostitution. She is now 21 and was one of the first students to work with Sohini. It’s a little weird to me that she is still in a shelter because there is really nothing damaged about this woman. However, she is currently in school and is saving the money she makes working with Sohini until she can get her own place. Normally a full rehabilitation cycle in a shelter should not exceed 3 years however, she was so young when they took her into custody that she had no where else to go. I have to run now but I will finish this story later....

I just dont have time to write it all...

cdavisfischer — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 14:44:46 GMT

The days have been so packed that I could literally fill a book at this point. But they are also so packed that I have very limited time to write so you will have to settle for what will be a brief update. And also, apologies if my language gets a little garbled. Not much time to edit... Yesterday, after three days of intense collaboration meetings in Hyderabad, Sohini and I flew to Kolkata to begin our field visits. She has been working in this area for over 10 years so she has well established relationships in the red-light areas. Before I get to that, however, I have to describe where I am staying. Sohini invited me to stay with her "family" while we are here in order to save money. I use the term in quotation marks because I will never exactly understand the relationship between her and this wonderful couple who she refers to as brother and sister. They live in a two bedroom flat in the southern part of Kolkata. Normally their mother occupies the other bedroom but they are so kind, that they are reconfiguring their entire life for the next two weeks so that... get this... Sohini, the wife Sreboni and I sleep in one bed and the husband and his mother share the other room with a pull out bed. They are taking such good care of me that I have no a clue on how to ever tip the scales back in their direction- minus them coming to the US... The concept of family is so incredibly different here, so too is space... It is going to be hard to get my normal writing time in the morning but this opportunity to really get to know and be a 'part' of an Indian family is worth a couple lost pages of descriptions. Anyway, this morning, Sohini and I began our day at the Daywalka Foundation where she has office space. We did not meet with anyone yet as we got there much before the regular business hours begin. Then we headed over to one of her dance classes in a community center of Apne Aap. We taught a two hour class to children ages 4-13 who attend school at this center as their parents are often day laborer in the leather making business (which qualifies them as untouchable by the supposedly outdated caste system). For those of you who have been to India and have had your car attacked by a band of kids at a street light asking for money, then you have a visual of the kids in our class. Although the difference in the class is that they are very sweet, somewhat distracted and all too happy for the opportunity to do something new and different. This community center is a preventative measure to trafficking because it offers an alternative route. Visit www.apneaap.org. The founder is an Emmy award winning journalist who used her connection to get a serious ball rolling over here with several shelters throughout India... Anyway, that was just the first of 3 appointments. As I am running out of time, I want to take some time to talk about the last one. We had a 5:30pm meeting with Urmi Basu, the founder and director of the New Light Foundation in the Red light district. As I mentioned earlier, Sohini has been working in that area for some time so we walked down the little corridor, lined with women, waiting for a John and were greeted warmly by almost every third person. The New Light is literally Smack dab in the heart of the community. It offers a cresh for mothers who are working late into the night, a formal education program for kids ages 2-20 and is literally a vibrant community alternative to stigmatization that this population might experience. Urmi Basu does not condone prostitution nor think it should be legalized but she takes a VERY practical approach that this community cannot better itself to move away from prostitution until they have a vision of an alternative. Please take a minute to visit their site if you have time http://www.uddami.org/newlight/ Also Kristoff from the NY times did reportage on this group so if you have the times select, you can see the video. www.select.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/opinion/24kristof.html Anyway, we came a on very busy day. There were volunteers from all over the world. A Spanish class being taught by a major league pierced woman. A Japanese guy helping a kid with his German, a computer class happening in the background, a lawyer describing human rights on the porch and a drama coach staging a skit on the other side. The place was bustling with incredible energy... Sohini and I are scheduled to have dinner with Urmi on Friday and will discuss how our program might fit in the mix... Now I must head back to my 'family' for dinner and bed. Tomorrow is another day full of activities. Hope all is well for you all. Davis

A friend's response that I wanted to share with you all

cdavisfischer — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 07:19:44 GMT

Thank you Duncan for taking the time to engage with this issue... Here is what he wrote to me in response to "a dilema in globalization" ______ I was thinking about that a lot in Mexico. The goal of many (including my friend Angel) is to get a job working either in the US or with an American Company. But I will throw another wrench into your dilemma; on the outskirts of Matamoras (and Juarez, and Tijuana) are empty maqueladora factories...because the companies have abandoned Mexico for China's slave labor and artificially depressed currency. . . I wonder how much manpower, money and human capitol is wasted moving production arond to the location with the cheapest/least orginized labor? Globalization isn't really all good or all bad; but the problem is that it plays out hardest in the lives of those that have the least margin of error. The people who are now getting jobs working for western companies (and it isn't just service sector and customer support; things like GIS digitization, drafting, engineering, computer software development and even X-ray radiology are all currently being outsourced to India) may indeed find themselves at a loss in fifteen years when China has a generation raised learning English from grade school come of age, but until then it is understandable that people want to improve their lives, get better jobs (even if it means catering to the norte americanos) and that they will do what it takes to get there. But I don't think the current situation is stable in any long term sense of the word. But in the current world, globalization has meant an influx in money for India, and assisted in the development of educational systems and opportunities for many. The biggest problem that I see in the living standard equation is the continued excess of American (well to be fair, Western European) culture. The US (when I was in college) comprised 7% of the worlds population, and consumed 47% of the world's oil production. China, comprising 20% of the world's population wants a comparable standard of living; and India (with 936,000,000) wants the same. Now I believe that we can all live well (really) but I doubt that we can all consume raw materials at a rate of late twentieth/early twenty-first century Americans. I think if western civilization doesn't get around to reducing its consumption it will inevitably end up in a resource war with the economically emerging nations of Asia and that with the these nations’ larger land and economic basis, I think that we may well lose out. Someday Americans may well be taking Hindi classes to serve credit card customers in New Delhi. Historically dominant cultures have risen and fallen, and while many compare America to Rome, I see us more as our immediate predecessors the Brits. We are masters of a far flung empire that we are drowning in debt to maintain. This concerns, not because I like to think of myself as the member of the globally dominant military nation (rather that is a fact that irks me no end) but because I think that many of the ideals to which Americans aspire (equality, freedom of thought and speech, the concept of due process and a fair application of the law) are good things. Not that we actually have them, but that there is a concerted effort on the part of many in our nation to achieve these ends. What concerns me is that I see the next emerging globally dominant nation as China, and I do not wish my country to be influenced by the Chinese government's attitudes towards the rights of individuals, the press, speech, expression, the arts, and I see this happening in the subtlest of ways already. Many in our country admire the lack of terrorist attacks in countries without freedom, and many marvel at the efficiency of economy of Chinese manufacturing plants. It is easy to be efficient when you do not believe that workers need to eat or use the bathroom more than once ever twelve hours, when workers at plants are competing with prisoners for work, and when such things as childcare, education, clean water and air are considered non-essentials. I believe that unless the consuming nations require improvements, that globalization will become not a way to lift everyone up, but a system by which the rich will use the poor of different nations against one another to gain more and more of the world's income. Until we, as a culture, quit using to much, there are going to be those who get the short end of the stick. Historically those who have the most find reasons to justify there position; generally those justifications center on the alleged "superiority" of one group over another. Until we reach a point where we can empathize with others, and truly understand how deeply our wastefulness leaves others wanting, I believe that the cycle of haves and have those who do not have, will continue. We are at a strange crossroads of human evolution, an evolution that since the dawn of language has taken place entirely in the mind. I think the answer is not o much in what we do but in how we see others and our place in the world, because if that understanding could be reached, the correct actions would follow. I think that the essence of the correct direction of human evolution was summed up in the biblical quote "love thy neighbor as thyself" - and I am no Christian, but here I think that here in the current state of our species, we will either embrace this idea or we may well fall into the waste basket of failed evolutionary experiments.

What am I doing in India?

cdavisfischer — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 05:30:11 GMT

Many people have been sending me emails about this latest trip to India wondering what the hell I am up to over here. Funny how your world can become so consuming that you forget that time and distance has seperated your details from the people close to you... So here is the skinny... As many of you know, I have been working on a rehabilitation strategy for women emerging from sex-trafficking. The program uses movement as strategic tool in helping them to gain the skills and community to successfully negotiate their freedom. Please feel free to download all the information you could want about this project from this site http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/FileSharing.woa/wa/default?user=cdavisfischer&templatefn=FileSharing1.html&xmlfn=TKDocument.1.xml&sitefn=TKSite.3.xml&aff=consumer&cty=US&lang=en Anyway, I have started an NGO (Gamanam: Progress Through Movement) to complete this project and have identified two movement therapist in India with whom we will collaborate to finalize the curriculum and its implementation plan. We are meeting daily in Hyderabad to discuss the various details involved in our collaboration and the curriculum and then I will be heading to Kolkata with one of them to visit her current project sites. No webpage as right now because I wanted to hold off until I can accurately represent the nature of our collaboration. Please... if you are interested, feel free to read the documents and drop me an email. It may take me a while to get back to you but I welcome any ideas or suggestions you may have. Best to you all and thank you for your support. Davis

A dilema in globalization

cdavisfischer — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 05:10:54 GMT

Yesterday Sohini and I visited and training center for the CAP (Child and Police) project in part of town known for being very poor and housing what was referred as "criminal tribes". Based on the descriptions of the social organization of these tribes, they reminded me of what we might associate with 'gypsies'. A whole hierarchical structure that includes various levels of criminal activity. Kids start off as young as 5 or 6 with begging. By the age of 8 they are trained pick-pockets. Then they go into stealing motorcycles and cars and the final step is house break-ins. On the streets they function much like our gangs in the United States. Issues of drug/alcohol addiction compound the problem. Parents are struggling and cannot control their kids etc... You get the idea. Anyway, CAP decided to put a life-skills training center smack dab in the center of town. Using its usual 'process' students come in and are taught English, grooming, practical skills. Vocational skills etc... The course lasts a mere 3 months and at the conclusion the program helps them to find jobs in the formal sector, often making more than they would have made in criminal activities. Their real coup was when they got a big gang leader into the program. Now that he is seeing the success of his opportunity, he is out recruiting other neighborhood members into the program. The director was telling us that one day about 5 guys showed up wanting to see what was going on in the center because Anvil was no longer on the streets and always looked clean these days. They are all enrolled now. On the one hand, I am terrifically inspired by this work but I am also a little torn. English is the medium. Western Dress means groomed and they often go into service sector jobs selling various products in town either for national companies of multinational corporations. Like in Mumbai, the CAP project helps trafficked victims with the same skill set and has a contract with Dominos Pizza for employment. While I totally see the value of getting these kids off the street and giving them a tangible/practical solution to their lack of opportunity, I am a little hesitant to crack open a bottle of champagne that Dominos is getting this cheap labor for profit margin. When I step back and ask myself what a plausible alternative might be, I come up short. Gandhi advocated returning to the village and working the fields to become self-sustaining. Somehow, I dont see that as a feasible alternative. Hmmm....

Arrived in India Safe and Sound

cdavisfischer — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 04:16:10 GMT

Arrived Safe and Sound... and tired... Well, I arrived last night after a meer 39 hours in transit... A small price to pay for the opportunity to travel through Taipei and Singapore on Air Singapore. The entire trip was fascinating... Just this past December I traveled the most direct route on Continental with a minimal flying time of about 20hours between Portland and Delhi. IT WAS HORRENDOUS... The service was abysmal and there was no flair to the journey... Go to bed in NY and wake up in Delhi-voila. In my experience, half the fun of getting there is the journey of stopping in foreign lands and figuring out foreign airports with a half-baked sleep deprived brain...Time? Ah, who cares... Flying is already so damn quick that I can't really complain about adding a couple more hours. And sometimes the layover is long enough that you can actually get out of the airport and into town for a very brief taste of another land... This was one of those times. But first, I must start with the airline. Air Singapore is by far the best aircarrier I have experienced in years- probably ever but its hard to say. What makes them so great? I think it is simply the perspective. Thinking back to my early years on transatlantic carriers like Air France or Pan American, Air Singapore seems to have kept up with the business of customer service. Although, there is something a bit special about their flavor. For example, most European carriers tend to make their flight attendants wear stiff officer-like uniforms. A.S. had flight attendants who are literally beauty queens in a traditional batik kebaya. Its a very colorful long skirt. These women all have smiles that could light up any room and their idea of customer service is taken quite literally. They understand that the best possible job at 40,000 feet is to make people feel as comfortable as possible. Most European carriers have really confused the job of the flight attendant. Maybe its the stigma of being an "air waitress" that has put so much pressure on flight attendants to become glorified air security officers. Or maybe it is the Amero/European fascination with security and safety that has literally beheaded the art of customer service. Yes, I realize that there are several budgetary concerns that have informed these trends of late but really... Flight attendants get paid the same whether they actually make themselves available to passengers in between meals or drink services instead of blockading themselves in the back with book in hand. Its a dying art and a very valuable service... Would had to see it fade away entirely. Now, as for Singapore... Wow... When I was a wee-economics major in college, while the tiger economies fell, I remember learning about these progressive Asian economies that really bit the globalization carrot and ran with it... I had no idea what it looked like on the ground. Imagine traveling half way around the world and walking into your local mall lined with the Gap, Victoria Secrets, Abercrombie etc... Now add a couple Europeans and Asian trademark stores and you have the Suntec City mall at the heart of the city. The only reason I went there during my layover is that the department of tourism offers a free guided tour into the city that ends at the mall. If that is what the dept. of tourism wants you to see about Singapore then who am I to complain... I went shopping. Midday on Monday, the place was bustling. Clearly a national passtime. And when I asked a shopkeeper why there were so many people in the mall she said it was because that was all there was to do. I only had a couple hours to walk around the city which included a pit stop at Starbucks Coffee where the internet connection is FREE... Yes they get it for free in Singapore. I fired off some emails over a cup of joe and then got on the bus back to the airport for the last leg of the journey to India. Total purchases: One manicure, one pastry and coffee. A disappointment to the tour guide who was eager to tell me where I could get my taxes refunded at the airport... I arrived in Delhi at 10:30 pm and this time was smart and remember to forget my manners. Once off the plane I literally RAN through the crowd to get to the head of the immigration line- a line that can consume the better part of an hour if you are even in the middle of the plane. My rudeness bumped me up to 5th or 6th in line and I was waiting for my luggage in less than 15 minutes. WORD TO THE WISE... If you come to India, run like hell when you get of the plane. You will quickly learn that no one is polite when it comes to waiting in line so get your groove on early... More to come..