“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” -Rabindranath Tagore

I have a relative game plan now! Wahoo!

I met with the DO in charge of education for Udaipur and showed her the M100 to see if there were any schools she knew of that needed clean water  As it turns out, there is a huge school in the city that serves roughly 1,200 girls annually. They do have a filter, but it is not big enough to serve the entire student body. Therefore, her plan was for me to build the chlorine generator in that school and compare it to the filter. Suddenly, this system will go from serving 40 students to 1,200. Whoa!

Another really cool thing that happened was, I impressed the DO who wondered if we could continue a partnership for all the schools under her care in the future. I told her I
am young and don't have the resources a huge NGO would have, but I would help out if I could. Therefore, I might have the opportunity to continue serving the schools in Udaipur later in my life. The blind school is also under her care because it is a public school, so maybe I can talk with her more about specific needs they may have now that clean water isn't an issue.

I have decided to wait until the huge holiday of Dewali is over before I complete this project. For one, I need some time to regroup and contact some people about how to make this able to serve over 1,000 girls a day. Additionally, if I come back  after the holiday, I will be able to see all the boys in the blind school (which I so want to do) as well as teach the girls at the new school how to use the M100. You see, they are gone for Dewali holiday as well. The last really amazing thing was all the relationships and connections I made during this time. Ever since coming to India the idea of someday opening my own NGO will not leave my head. I can't explain it, just like I couldn't explain the need I had to come to India in the first place. When I get crazy ideas like this I can almost hear God yelling at my stubborn self to do them haha.

I spoke with my friend Samvit about NGO's in general and he shared some great wisdom about many aspects of the field. Above all, he talked about how the motives behind your work are the most important. Also, I visited the family I grew close to last summer: Jamila, Mustafa, and Alifya. I missed them so much that I'm pretty sure I tackle hugged all of them the moment I walked in the door. Also, let me take a minute to talk about my host family from last year, the Sareens. First of all everything I will say about them they wouldn't ever brag about themselves. As a couple, Madhu and Dr. Sareen do more for their community than I've ever seen anyone be willing to do. As a medical doctor, Dr. Sareen has treated probably thousands of people in his lifetime and most out of only charity. Madhu has one of the biggest hearts I've ever seen and if I could be more like her I think I'd be doing alright.
As a principal and huge philanthropist in Udaipur, her network and connections were able to get a location for my project the very next day!

All in all, my project will continue after Dewali (second week of November-ish) and until that time I will return to Kolkata to continue my work there. Never thought I'd say this with only 2 weeks away from it, but I miss my city with all the Daya Dan and New Light kiddos. So, with God's help, this story will continue later. For all those involved with this project, be expecting a call from me soon! ;)

Actual picture of me taken at 3:15 am

Oh an on a completely unrelated note, while I was in Udaipur I had the weirdest medical incident in probably my whole life! Oh India.... A mosquito bit me on the top lip while I was asleep. Yes, I realize how silly that sounds. My top lip swelled up the size of a cherry at 3 am. No joke, it was huge, I was super ugly, and it wouldn't go away!!!!!! Luckily Dr. Sareen gave me some Indian drugs and it shrunk to a reasonable size (only about an hour before I met the DO of education haha!)