Impressions of the day

Some days I notice things clearer than other days, today I think was one of those days. Perhaps it's not that I saw things clearer maybe it was the rain or  that I couldn't let myself dehumanize the things around me when walking down the streets. I caught myself smiling, thinking of the women from the village visit earlier in this morning. Thinking of how they have empowered themselves through microcredit. I did not smile directly at people, because I'm not supposed to here, which smiling on the streets in various countries is a another story. But certain encounters made me think of how we dehumanize situations in order to cope with it. What are you supposed to do when children swirl around you, with big brown eyes, begging for money? But you know that if you give them anything, especially money, they might not be the one receiving it anyways and that you're actually contributing to a negative situation for the children. But then again, what do I know? I'm just trying to avoid unsafe situations. It tears wholes in my heart when I see people without legs or hands, just laying on the ground with a begging tray.. I want to do something, but what can I really do? I feel weird thinking this way, knowing I'm from a fortunate background.

When leaving to go home today, the rain was coming down so heavily the roads flooded. I've learned to enjoy the traffic jams as rest time, and today several things happened during one. When the car stopped only the main road was flooded, but within 5-10 min the sidewalks were also flooded. I guess I'm learning about what the Monsoons really are.

Perhaps the sun will be out again tomorrow, which hopefully means that I will continue to see things as they are, without anything in between, but that perhaps I learn to find a way to deal with it.
I think going out in the villages on Saturday for a five day field visit with the Grameen Bank will.




Pass the Peace.