From Sandra Vadasz

I am currently sitting in my room on my little comfy bed. I am surrounded by possessions that I brought from home: clothes, toiletries, shoes, books, makeup... my cell phone! and I begin to think. I begin to compare myself with India. I begin to think about what I have seen, fist in Delhi and now in Dharamsala, a small town tucked away amongst the lush forests of the Himalayan mountains.

India is a diverse country that differs vastly from region to region. As I look around I notice an enormous clash between the superficial and the reality. As I walk down the uneven, pot hole ridden streets, the most beautiful plants and flowers catch my eye. The sun is beating down on my head and I feel so grateful to be in such a serene place. As my eyes close I take a deep breath of air. The stench of human waste, rotting garbage and extremely strong body odour enters my nostrils. My eyes fling open, as my feet trip on he rocks beneath me. Startled I look up to find a woman, crying child in hand, asking, no begging me for money. Regaining my senses I stand up and keep walking. We had arrived at our destination, the National Museum of art in Delhi. We spent a few hours there feasting our eyes on paintings, sculptures and ancient treasures. Now it was time to fill our stomachs, so into our taxi with air conditioning we go. The first red light we stop at, children no older then 10 run up to our car and start banging on the windows asking for money. The driver slams on the gas nearly running the children over. We continue. Tin huts, out door bathrooms, garbage, green grass, bright saris, nice cars, beggars, stray dogs. The car stops. we exit the vehicle and find ourselves in a quaint Indian restaurant with the best Indian food that has ever touched my lips. Laughing, smiling, well dressed local Indians surround us also eating like royalty. Upon leaving the restaurant we freshen our breath with 'sweet paan', spices wrapped in a leaf. Satisfied and refreshed we are ready for an exciting afternoon of sightseeing. A woman with no teeth and a snot covered crying baby greets us with her hand cupped together pleading for anything she can get.

We have now left Delhi and travelled twelve hours by car to a remote Tibetan village in the mountains. Today was our first day of volunteering. I am working for an organization called 'Tibet Charity India', working in the health clinic alongside the head nurse. She is the head of the clinic, there is no doctor. She has selected girls and boys from the community to become nurses and she trains them herself. She mostly deals with the elderly and since there is not access to a doctor or prescription medicine she mostly prescribes homeopathic remedies. She serves as the elderly's doctor, teacher, mother, psychiatrist and friend among other things. I will be accompanying the nurses to visit patients that are too old or sick to walk to our clinic. Today I spent the morning talking to Tsering Lhamo, the head nurse about the Tibetan refugee life versus the western culture. After going back and forth with stories of poverty and the busy American life, we found ourselves in tears. We looked up at each other and before I could speak she took the words right out of my mouth. In a soft voice, she muttered "I feel so sorry for you." You feel sorry for me??!! I said to myself. As I sat in front of her with tears rolling down my flushed face she began to explain.

"I have not even half as much as many people from the West but I am happy. I love my job, I spend time with my husband and my children everyday. I am mentally sane, calm and peaceful inside my soul." She paused. I suddenly realized that I was crying for her and she was crying for me. What a bizarre feeling, a twist of faith and a moment that I will never forget.

"Wow!" I said as a stared back into this woman's eyes. This human being who has been through so much struggle and seen so much pain. A woman who lives every single day in a seemingly hopeless situation. A woman who fled her country to escape torture by the Chinese government. A woman who has not seen her daughter for four years because she wants her to get a better education. "You are right, my family and friends have every possession they could ever want and your family and friends can not afford to buy veggies every day. You see one hundred patients in a month or two, my father sees one hundred patients in one day. I am often so busy I don't get a chance to eat sitting down. Everything is so fast paced it's hard to look around and observe the world. In fact, sometimes it's difficult to find a moment in the day to breath!"
"This is not a life!" she replied. She is right. We must slow down and take time to enjoy life, spend time with our families and lend an ear and a hug to those in need. We are in desperate need of the opposite things. They need money yet they are happy. We need time and we are over worked, stressed and live a complex money driven life.

As I sit here on my little comfy bed I feel angry and ashamed of my makeup and fancy rain boots. I don't need my hundreds of pairs of shoes because really you only wear one pair at a time.

Mom and Dad, Karen, Brian, Greg, Grandma and Grandpa, Grandpa Peter, I love you, I am having a fantastic time and while opening my eyes to the realities that exist in our world. Spending time together is my favourite thing in the world. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for instilling values in me that have shaped the person I am today. You have all taught me so much but when I get home, I think I will have a few things to teach you.

I close my eyes and think about the beauty that surrounds me. The clouds that keep the thin crisp air moist, the wide variety of vegetation and the sunshine that filters through the canopy of trees that soar above my head on the winding path down the mountain. My eye lids open just a crack and quickly notice a black dot on the wall. Crawling down to my little comfy bed is a huge hairy spider coming to pay me a visit!.... I love INDIA!

Please visit www.tibetcharity.in to donate money and find out more about us!