Time to cach up!

It seems I have a bit of caching up to do, at least if I want my blogg to be a reasonable travel jurnal. As I mentioned, time has been of limited supply, but that seems to be turning - thankfully!

Pictures...
So - I've been wanting to post some amazing pictures of this amazing country, and especially the amazing people who attended the JLS seminar with me. But uploads and downloads are proving hard to manage in most internet cafes in this country. There is an answer though, and the few of you currois enough to check my links might have noticed: There are pictures and daily raports from the JLS on a seperat WAGGGS page :) I especially like the picture of my patrol on the front page!

Juliette Low
I realize that I have not realy explaned on this page what it is, this JLS that I'm writing about as if it was an experience of a lifetime. Well, Juliette Low was the founder of Girl Scouts USA, and one of her most important work was starting leadership training for the young leaders in her assiostation. When she died, a trust was set up in her name, to fund leadership training in the future. From that developed a seminar that is now arranged by the World Assosiation of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (med andre ord jentespeiderne). The seminar provides a platform for young women from around the world to discuss leadership issues and develop their leadership skills, within the goals and values of WAGGGS.

And this WAGGGS, what is that? Other then an assosiation of girl guides and scout, of course... Well, I've come to love our mission even more over the last few weeks. Our Mission is to enable girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world.

I know that empowering women might seem unimportant and past tense to many of us Europeans, but I don't believe it is. Women have the same opertuneties as men - yes. They have the same rights, and to some exstent the same vages. But to who belongs the world we live in? And is it women or men who has to adapt the most to gain influence in our society? Still, we are the lucky ones, and in some areas the weight might be shifting too much in the womens favour. But a quick glanse at the rest of the world tells me that that is no reason to stop empowering women.

Women in India
Being a woman in India can be so many different thnigs. If you're lucky, it is a proper education, a love-merriage and a job you can enjoy while taking care of the family in cooperatipon with your housband. But it can also be a life of no school, hard work in the field, watercarrying, an early arranged marriage, continued hard work, helping the housband, but never being helped your self, an invisible worker and the property of your housbands family, hopefully not beaten or burned alive. Or it could be anything in between the two extremes, yet the latter is probobly the more common. Changing this is abouyt setting an example, about keeping the problem in mind, about lobbying and influencing the men in power. Most of all it is about ground work, empowering women in the family and in the local communities. All this we can do by guiding and scouting!

My journey
A long divercion on an important subject. I promised an update, and I will stick to my word. Step by step, this far:

Pune
Population ca 4 mill. Big city. Famous for the Ossia center where sex has become an important part of meditation... Most important site: Sangam world centre!
What did I do there? Well, mainly I met and shared ideas and thoughts with 44 incredible women. Toghether we discovered new skills and ways of talking of leadership. Our theme was light and color, as in the caledioskope. Together we were a live caledioscope, new patterns every second, all colours, shapes and backgrounds. Beautiful :)

Aurangabad
Population ca not as large as Pune, but still a big city. Famous for the caves of Ellora and Ajenta.
I was here with 7 other guides: Marie (Sweden), Connie (Germany), Denice (UK), Kate (UK), Roberta (Malta), Ellanora (Madagaskar) and Elsebeth (Ireland). It was good fun when people asked where we were from! We saw the caves, with excuised carvings in one set, and amazing paintings in the others. Even though the hostel was a nightmare, it was so worth it!

Mumbai
Biggest city in India (hard to know, but probebly ca 16 mill). Famus for it size, the crouded Gateway of India, a huge laundery area, the hanging gardens, nice architecture, some museums and very active salesmen.
The gang from Aurangabad joined Geraldine (Switzerland), Anabelle (UK) and Tina (Fiji) for some sightseeing, shopping/bargening, the Ganesh festival, good food and good laughs. We also got thinking about a new WAGGGS world song, more or less serious suggestions posted :)

Ahmedabad
Population ca 3,3 mill. Big city. A lot of industry, as well as an intersting mix of arab/muslim and indian culture.
When all hecticed-out I settled in a mosqe for writing my jurnal. Interesting experience! In Ahmedabad I met to sweet travellers from New Zealand, stayed at a nicer hotel than what will be common this month, discoverd how poor the maps in my guide book are (got a little lost), enjoyed some nice walks, visited the Ghandi Ashram (where he lived for 12 years, and from where he started the famus salt march), I absolutely rediscovered how much I love Ghandi. I also wisited something called SEWA - check their page www.sewa.org I had red about them in my guide book, but was unable to find the reseption (maps!). I asked a rickshaw driver who ended up taking me to another office, also run by SEWA. I walsed in, said hi, and that I wanted to learn about SEWA, and was welcomed. Turns out I had entered their social servecis office, but still a woman took the time to talk to me. So inspiering! I repeat www.sewa.org !

A little tired from the caos and dust of Ahmedabad I went to find out if the trains had started running to Udiapur again (flodding had blocked the tracks). When they had I made the spare of the moment decicion to go on the forst train, and I haven't regreted it for a second! Well, maybe for a slight second in the train when a bangels salesman gave me a pair of glass bangels, sertainly only to be able to tuch my hand. Did he really believe taht I would contact him when I reched Agra? That is about as likely as that I come from all the contries I have claimed the last week, just to avoid the hassle of comming from a place people know is rich. Polen and Russia are good, Europe is nice and gerneal, but my favorite is Lithuania, cause noone has heard of it :)


I've been writing for ever... Hope you enjoyed reading (if not: pretend!)
Love you loads! Huggs :)