No electricity? No problem.

Life is much more difficult without electricity. After spending a week in Karawara I learned this hard lesson by spending almost three days without any fans, lights, or running water. Good thing it is only 110 degrees everyday of the week. All jokes aside, I changed my perspective on what I thought were basic necessities. I take a lot for granted back home and experiencing this lifestyle makes me appreciate that I can turn on my lights at any time during the day. I can't say I was the most comfortable during this past week, but I have learned how to adjust to new and challenging environments. This attitude could serve most of us a lot of good back home when we complain about how slow the Internet is! Trust me, slow Internet is always better than no Internet.

Aside from the electricity situation, I had my best week yet in the village for a variety of reasons. Lokesh and I started work on our main project proposal for the CRY organization which aims to generate funds for Alfa's youth project. My first week lacked direction, but last week Lokesh and I worked tirelessly each day to create a successful proposal. Hard work was exactly what I needed to take my mind off of the scorching heat. My main priority for this internship is to sustain Alfa and create an accounting system that is easy to maintain and budget. Currently, Alfa will have no source of funding when Lokesh's fellowship ends in October. There are many problems in Karawara that Alfa has worked to fix and I am determined to continue this progress. Our youth proposal is designed to sustain Alfa's creative learning environment, or Sanjha Manch as we call it, for the next three years. Many children come to Sanjha Manch for fun art activities, presentations on social issues and an open environment to learn and express themselves. The proposal outlines many of these activities and provides CRY with a budget that will sustain Alfa's operations for up to three years. We are submitting the proposal this week and hope to hear some good news soon!

Last week I spent a lot of time engaging with the Karawara community. Everyone wants to get to know you as an American because they are intrigued by our culture. The most common question I have been asked is whether or not I love John Cena (a professional wrestler). For the sake of making friends I may have exaggerated my interest in wrestling just a little bit. I've also fallen in love with the village cooking. I thought I would have trouble finding food that I like, but it has been the opposite problem. I can't say no to anything! My favorite is the bread pokora. It reminds me of popcorn chicken that you would buy at KFC, but better. I've probably eaten about four pounds of eat in the past week.

Unfortunately my supervisor Lokesh had to schedule a last minute trip to another state. I will be working at the FSD office all week trying to find more partners from funding agencies. I am very excited for this upcoming weekend because I will be traveling to Agra with my fellow interns to visit the Taj Mahal. How many opportunities do people have to see one of the Seven Wonders of the World? I'm lucky to be here and have all of these great opportunities. Thanks again KISI! Also, Lokesh has some great pictures from the past two weeks so I will make sure to add them to my next post when I see him.