Conclusion of my time in India (also conclusion that IVHQ sucks at dealing with complaints)

Ok, so this is sooo waaaay long overdue, but I have been re-adjusting to being back home and what not.  Oh also, the second part of that header is primarily so that hopefully my blog will pop up if anyone is searching for IVHQ and complaints... lets hope it works!
   So before I head into my conclusion of my India trip, I will preface with a bit about IVHQ.  So still have heard NOTHING from them about any type of refund or compensation for our placements totally NOT being anything to what they had promised.  I find this extremely odd, because personally if this were my organization, I would want to do everything I could to make sure that this matter was taken care of so that people would not end up being bitter and angry and therefore putting bad news out there.  Also, I just spoke with Alice and she said that they deleted the pictures she posted of her placement as well as a review of them.  Now, I find this also quite strange that they seem to be going above and beyond to hide all kinds of bad news and reviews but they don't seem to be doing anything at all about actually trying to fix the situation.  Instead they seem to just be trying to sweep things under the rug.  What.The.Hell?! This organization is seriously mismanaged and seem to totally have their priorities crossed. 

   So, India.... ohhh India.... it has been interesting this past week with re-adjusting to daily home life and all of it accessibility's as well as now being much more aware of Indian people in my neighborhood.  I mean I was definitely aware of the Indian couple that live across the hall from me, but I just seem to see a lot more of them now.  Perhaps it is more the fact that I am more aware of what ethnicity they are, where as before it seems that all middle eastern people seemed to blend into one ethnicity.  This would be the same for if you were not really aware of the differences of all Asians exp. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese etc..
Anyway, so that's that.

    So back to my whole reflection on India...  My time in India was absolutely one that I would not trade in for something else.  While it certainly did NOT go as planned, thanks to IVHQ and their inadequacies and poor organizational skills, I did meet some fantastic people, got to travel a bit and more importantly, I learned a lot about a completely different culture in a way that one can't really get unless actually living there.  There are certainly many things, which I have mentioned quite a bit, that I will never fully understand, but upon further reflection of them I have come to understand that this is simply how they live their lives, and to them it is perfectly normal... well almost.  Not all Indians necessarily agree or find their cultures actions "ok" or "normal" which was nice to hear, mainly so that I didn't feel like I was being overly judgmental.  So I guess a good word to sum it all up would be "bittersweet". 

    I have also been thinking a lot about Africa vs. India, and why exactly my reactions to India were so strong when my reactions to Africa were so not.  Africa has just as much poverty as India, yet my reaction to Africa was much more sympathetic.  So far, the conclusion I have come up with is this;  India overall is much more harsh than Africa.  The people are much more abrupt and hostile as well as many of them (them meaning rickshaw drivers, street vendors, beggers etc..) try to cheat you and take advantage of you in whatever way they can.  In Africa they are very gracious, calm, and proud of whatever they do have and want to share with you whatever they do have.  In India I did come across quite a number of people on the trains who wanted to share their food (well rather they were worried that I wasn't eating...) but this is not necessarily what I am talking about.  When I visited the "slums" in Africa, the children came running up to me, smiling, grabbed my hands and pulled me along because they were so excited to show me their home, which was made of tin and billboard signs, but they were so proud that they in fact had a home with 4 walls and a roof.  While a few of those kids did try to slip off my aunt's rings, that was about the extent of any type of "thievery".   However, I must also take into consideration that the memory I have of Africa was when I was 18.  I was much more naive then and had a very different perspective on life than I do now.  So there is also that take on things.  Back then I was very resistant to any other types of views on life, my view was "save all the children!!! cure AIDS!!" while this is all well and good, it was just very one sided and I refused to see any other types of realistic outlooks on how to go about helping those in poverty. 
  So I suppose that is the best example I can come up with of trying to compare the two, without rambling on and on.  It is really more an experience that you would have to see first hand to fully grasp what I am talking about.
  Another really interesting thing was when I was in London and talking to Betsy about my experience there, her comment was "wow..... I never experienced any of that... you saw a very different India." Meanwhile I am thinking "wait.... huh?? how is that possible??" well the difference here was, that she was staying 5-6 star hotels and never walked around, she went from hotel to car to hotel and never really went into the poorer areas.  But still, in India it is so very very mixed, you've got 6 star hotels and then a few feet next to it, you'll have a mini slum.  In any case, I thought it rather interesting to hear her experience of India in comparison to mine.  In a way, it sort of put things into perspective of how mixed our world is and the vast differences in how people see things.  This is in no means a negative comment, it is more a reflective comment.
  People keep asking me, "so will you go back?" and I kind of pause for a good minute thinking about this and then respond with "if I ever go back, I will avoid Delhi as I have had quite enough of that area and go either to Dharamsala or Goa".  I would have liked to have gone up to Dharamsala since it is about as close to Tibet as one could get without actually having to go to Tibet.  I would have really liked to actually go to Tibet, however, a special visa is needed and well... I didn't bother trying to go through that process.

   I am definitely quite disappointed that the volunteering didn't work out, but another life lesson learned... next time, go through a reputable organization that is big!! Lol I have been looking at various other organizations for my next big adventure, as I am now re-hooked on traveling :-)  not that I was ever unhooked, but school kinda took precedence for a while as did not having any money... but now that I am free from school (at least for a lil while until I decide to go to grad school) I want to travel as much as possible!!! I also would like to get that under my belt before I "settle down" and start a family.... HAH! that's quite a ways off though.  Annnnd I'm rambling....
  So basically, India, an amazing experience in so many many aspects of life.  I now have a much higher appreciation for the things that I have in life and the opportunities that I have been able to experience growing up.  Viewing such extreme poverty really hit me hard this time, and I had this overwhelming emotion of gratitude.  It was a very humbling experience.  I for the first time saw first hand what polio looks like.  We are extremely lucky to have wiped out polio, it is a devastating disease and truly pained me to see people scooting along on the butts (sounds funny but really it is quite sad).  It made me more aware of things, small daily things, that we take for granted... i.e. clean tap water, trash cans, trash service workers, plumbing, less pollution, fresh vegetables and fruit.... just to name a few.  There were so many observations I made on a daily basis that could probably fill an encyclopedia, but just basic things that could tremendously help clean up India, and it got me to thinking of how one could do that.  I dunno, perhaps start a fundraiser to buy trash cans to put around Delhi?? Lol sure I know it sounds silly, but just little stuff like that can literally make a "world" of a difference.

    So there it is folks, the conclusion on my time in India.  It has been wonderful sharing all of my adventures and experiences with everyone.  I definitely have enjoyed doing this whole blog thing, maybe I'll start up another one!! Just need to find a good topic to write on.... And the next time I travel, I'll be sure to start up another one!

  Namaste everyone, take care!