Page 18 - Priorities #55 2013-March/April

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As I sat by the window on a 14-hour plane ride back from India, I had a decision to make after my experience in the beautiful country I had just left. I could choose to finish writing in my ragged journal, close it up, and say, “Gee, what an experience!” Or I could choose to make a difference
for others who need help. I chose the latter, and after an unforgettable time spent in India, I learned about the great sadness of the world and am now trying to make a small amount of happiness for others.
I had no idea what to expect. Sure, I read the Rough Guide of India and looked up all the various facts regarding population, climate, and travelling dangers. I thought I was ready to experience a third- world country. However, nothing in my life or my readings could prepare me for the absolute poverty, corruption, and waste I was about to experience. Traveling through the cities of India by bus, we saw dead dogs in the hustling streets of Delhi, we saw mothers in Jaipur holding drugged “sleeping” babies begging against our windows, we saw elephants, horses, and camels in Johdpur tortured for rides, and we saw countless children running barefoot through traffic asking for 20 rupees (about 35¢). And this is what I, along with 15 other highschool students, saw only through the small windows of our bus. We
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