unexpected

I read a lot. Books keep me busy and informed. But after reading & researching India I knew I had to take myself there in order to get a real taste it. I strongly believe that you get out of life what you put in. After planting the idea in my head it wasnt long before the exact opportunity I was looking for landed in my lap! I was asked to travel to India with a charity I had been working with for over a year, RED DUST Role Models. We travelled with the Marybanong cricket club who spent the time playing cricket and connecting with Indian women throughout the country. This was the perfect opportunity for me to get a taste of a new and very different culture. Over three and a half weeks we moved from Delhi to Chennai and & then finished up in Mumbai. During this time I took the opportunity to take the back tracks and do a bit of wandering. I met a guy on the streets of Mumbai who worked in the mass slum of Dharavi. As it turned out it was the same slum that our cricket team where planning on visiting later in the week.
I was lucky enough to be taken through the streets of Dharavi to see and experience the life that people were living. Although it was a Slum, a very condensed one at that, there was a economic system that gave the place a heart beat of its own. Each part of the 1km radius area played a part to make the system work. I was particularly moved by my encounter with thirty young girls living in the heart of Dharavi in an orphanage. I sat with these girls, all educated to some degree and shared my story with them. I was pleased to get to hear theirs also. I was in my final of uni, as was some of the oung ladies I was talking to. Although we both came from adversely different backgrounds we could connect through what we were aiming to do in life and that is to succeed at it. Some of the stories where so moving and I remain in contact with many of the girls. I would like to go back one day but to live in the slum with these people.