The Beauty of Technology...

My Dad says "Technology is a great thing until it stops working" he said it best. This trip has brought forth many technological issues since the beginning. I'll just give you a quick rundown.

1.) I left my camera charger in the USA so I couldn't take pictures on my professional camera for about 6wks till my dad brought the charger.

2.) The wire to my iPhone 5 charger shorts out leaving me to try to find another charger so I can at least take photos on my iPhone. Since I have an iPhone 5 the wire is a tad bit harder to acquire especially in a city that doesn't have an apple store.

3.) The teacher at the school I work in helps me locate an iPhone 5 charger for a reasonable price and within 2days it won't charge the phone at all. Leaving me to wait 5days till my dad can bring me another charger.

4.) My Dad finally gets here and all of my technology is charged synced and ready to go! I'm taking great shots of my environment uploading them to my computer all is right with the world until I get to Agra ( the city where the Taj Mahal is) my MacBook had been acting rather slow leaving me no other choice than to force power it down (holding the power button for 10seconds it's not the best way to shut down the computer) once I turn it on it stays on the apple loading page for about 45mins instantly I knew something was wrong! After about 3 hours of troubleshooting on my iPhone and Dads iPad I discover its a hard drive issue. I instantly go into panic mode! All my work, photos, videos, calendars are on my MacBook! Just my luck I didn't set up TimeMachine nor do I have an external hardrive. Therefore there's a chance that all might be gone. I literally was in the verge of tears.

I threw my hands up and decided to roam around the beautiful hotel my father had booked for us in Agra. During my walk I did some meditation and brainstorming. After doing that I came to a few conclusions. 

1) I realized how dependent I am on technology and how much of my life relies on it. Maybe this is Gods way of  slowing me down and finding alternative methods to finishing my work here.

2.) If my biggest problem right now is that my MacBook isn't working then I need to  really be grateful for all that I have (I'm not saying I'm not but sometimes I can admit I loose sight of how truly blessed I am).

3.) I leave Udaipur in 19days I'm surrounded by a great support system who are willing to help me finish my project here!

After that meditation I was still a little flustered at thought of loosing my photos and work but I was calm, grateful and grounded. I'm just going to wait till I return home to get my computer fixed and look at this as an opportunity to write more in my journal, meditate, and explore my neighborhood rather than staying glued to my laptop. I write about this experience not to complain but to share my experience I could've easily continued to stay frustrated about something that I no longer could control but instead I did something that would calm me and help me regain my focus. "This too shall pass" words I hold near and dear to me I hope next time you're  in a frustrating experience you can stop, breathe, refocus and find the silver lining in the situation. Namaste.

Sidenote: I also wrote this blog for those of you who are traveling or plan to for extended periods of time. Always bring a back up chargers! Especially those with apple products and you're traveling to a country that doesn't have an Apple store. It's like they're made to break!

2nd Sidenote: Due to the fact that I'm without computer I will be writing the remainder of my blogs and posting them when I arrive home and get my computer fixed because I want to post photos along with my blogs and many of my best photos are captured on my camera. 

But stay tuned I might surprise you and post a few short ones from my phone ;-)

Apna Jatan

For those of you who don't know the purpose of my trip here to India was to create a sustainable development project with a local NGO ( Non governmental organization) as my time in Udaipur is winding down my project is picking up. Udaipur has many NGOs that do amazing work with the community and neighboring villages but this summer I've had the pleasure of working with Jatan Sansthan which is a grassroots NGO working with the rural population of the districts of Rajsamand, Udaipur and Bhilwada, within the state of Rajasthan. Jatan covers 250 villages across various blocks including Railmagra, Amet, Mawli and Gangapur. In the last 9 years, Jatan has worked on programs ranging from women empowerment and youth development to migration. Its scope of association has covered various existing and emerging drawbacks in rural communities occurring due to lack of basic resources, health care, education and employment. My first work week with Jatan I was completely unaware of what project I was going to take on that was until I visited Apna Jatan centers provide educational opportunities and overall support to the children from poor and undeveloped areas of Udaipur. Therefore alternative non-formal education and support in developing life skills for children up to the age of 14 as well as pre-school education. After my first visit to the center I instantly fell in love with the kids and the community and had to work there. At Apna Jatan I teach English and basic arithmetic and they teach me Hindi, games, and lots of patience.

 My first week there I realized that the center is equipped with many shelves but very few text books and picture books. This observation sparked my project to begin an in classroom library for my kids. After sharing my project with my supervisor and director I got the green light to start the library and they also added the task of obtaining a computer for the children. I developed a work plan, budget, and have arranged a training for the teachers on classroom management and technology implementation. In order to purchase the computer for the children I need to fundraise half the cost and money for software (the other half will be met by my organization) this computer will be the first one many these children have had access to. It will provide these children with a different learning outlet as well as give the teachers a way to monitor the library through a catalog system. Your donation will be very helpful and all donations are tax deductible. By clicking this link you can read more about the project as well as donate http://www.fsdinternational.org/donate/projects/taylor .These children have touched my heart in the short time I've been here and my goal before I depart is to leave them with something that will not only educate them but impact their lives as well. Namaste