On the road with George...

Six months ago if you had mentioned the words, “work trip”, I would have rolled my eyes, sighed and strapped myself in for endless nights of PowerPoint slide creation, early starts and late arrivals on the Eurostar and a world of pain. How life changes...

I’ve just spent the last 5 days with my boss, George, on a work trip like no other. I’ve been lucky enough to visit one of the most beautiful and remotest parts of India and learn more about disability, the rural situation and insurgency which is a part of everyday life for many who live in the North East of India.

Firstly let me explain why we were headed off to Assam and Meghalaya, which is nestled between Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar. I am volunteering for an organisation that is a knowledge resource for people with visual impairment. We fulfil a roll that in the developed world most governments and health authorities would do. We empower, inform and inspire the blind and visually impaired through various channels of our Project Eyeway www.eyeway.org which include a radio programme, website, helpdesk, SMS service, talking books library, workshops and cricket camps.

Until you live in India you can’t really understand the frustrating lack of information that is available to do the most basic of things. I myself have experienced it trying to even register as a foreigner. So you can imagine what it must be like if you are, or become blind in a society where blindness can be through malnutrition, is seen as punishment from the gods therefore a sin on your behalf, you are considered worthless and are stuck at home with little or no opportunity for independence. This situation is even worse in rural areas and in the North East. It is a particularly deprived area, with poor infrastructure, home to over 200 tribes, many dialects and infrequent insurgencies. So we were off to complete a research project to find out what life with blindness is like there, find organisations we could partner with to provide a bespoke Eyeway programme.

We started off in Assam. We spent two days in Guwahati the capital. We touched down at the airport, skimming past a group of boys playing cricket near the runway and it seemed as if we had landed in the Caribbean. Lush jungle hills, palm trees and the huge Brahmaputra River dotted with islands which could have been the sea. The place was so relaxed, people were even wearing shorts, including the girls – I’ve never seen so much leg on display in India. There we met our contact who we nicknamed ‘The Don of Disability’. Having managed the research project, he has more connections than a telephone exchange, which was reinforced by the fact we rode around in his pimped up white jeep the whole time.

We had a successful partner meeting and then moved onto Shillong in Meghalya. The 3 hour drive involves winding up a very narrow jungle pass, which is a truckers bypass and based on our taxi drivers skills, also a local Formula 1 track. It was amazing how quickly the landscaped changed. Palm trees were replaced with bamboo, the air became cooler, and we passed a Mediterranean like lake and arrived to Shillong’s colonial charm. It felt like being in South America, with timber clad chalet like buildings with tin roofs, wide open streets with pavements (believe me a serious luxury in India) and amazingly no rubbish. Sleeping without a fan at night was a novelty, it was so ‘cold’ compared to Delhi, George and I went shawl shopping . At this partner meeting we found out more about the rural situation, listening to blind students who had grown up in the Khasi tribe. One girl explained how as there was no information on blindness, her mother did not know what to do and treated her with traditional medicine of an alcohol, black pepper and spice mix. Luckily she had access to information about a blind school through a visitor to her village, she attended and is now working for a local NGO.

After an 11 hour journey we returned to Delhi last night to be greeted by 36° heat and I think it was the first time I had ever returned from a work trip invigorated and looking forward to writing up the meeting notes.

Highlights: it’s still only spring but it’s got up to 38° in the last few days – it’s hard work sleeping but your washing dries in seconds, enjoying a cold beer from the fridge – when you are constantly drinking water it’s so good after a day at the office and a dusty walk home, a package arriving from another wonderful friend full of chocolate and a copy of Grazia – a girl needs her fashion and WAGs gossip to keep in touch with life at home, work – by seeing another part of India, spending time with my boss and meeting so many interesting people I really feel like I’m understanding the world of NGOs, disability and India so much more - VSO really is a privilege.