“but we have 400 girls. where can we get more ukuleles?”

our survivor girl ukulele band project is nearly underway. i say "our" because i'm not doing this all on my own. many people are part of this endeavor, and i'm grateful for each and every one of you!! here's the low-down on week one in india. after 22 hours of air travel, i was glad to have friends in navi mumbai who had invited me to stay with them. and they didn’t seem to mind that i arrived at 2:30 am, in fact they rustled up some food and we talked for hours.

the next day is a blur, but the day after that i pulled out my list of after-care homes in mumbai and called one, a well-known protective home for girls who have been rescued from mumbai’s brothels. i asked them if they would like to hear about my ukulele project, and they said, “yes."

three hours later, i arrived at the head office on the other side of mumbai. when i pulled out a couple of orange and candy-apple red makala dolphin ukuleles, they said, “ooh, they’re beautiful!” and i when i told them that kala brand music had partnered with me and donated twenty makala dolphin ukuleles and that i wanted to teach twenty survivors of human trafficking how to play ukulele and help them form a survivor girl ukulele band, they said, “this will help the girls! yes!” and then i played ed tree’s “survivor girl ukulele band” song, and they said, “we must translate that into hindi!”

and then they said, “but we have 400 girls. where can we get more ukuleles?”!

so i will be on the lookout for more ukuleles, and if anyone is heading over to india, please put a makala dolphin ukulele or two in your suitcase.

slight change of plans: rather than stay in the super congested city of mumbai, i am shifting my base of operation to another city. a friend of a friend made a few phone calls and got me a low-cost room at a nice guesthouse as a base from which to look for an apartment.

here's a photo of the guesthouse telephone. you don't see too many of these classics around anymore.

i will be working in the ngo's smallest home, which houses forty girls. it is super exciting to think about growing this project to 400 girls. i’m quite sure that some of the first girls will be able to teach others, and so on, until the only limitation will be the number of ukuleles available -- and my own skill on the ukulele. i just hope i can stay one step ahead of those girls!

below is a video of what i had for dinner last night. masala dosa on the street. i'm experimenting with video, so please let me know what you think.

[wpvideo oc4Tj4YM]

and that’s week one in india. so far, so yay!!

catching up

in case you've wondered what i have been up to since my last blog post, here's a few notes and photos to catch you up. april 2012 -- to guwahati, assam to volunteer with 7 sisters international. here's a photo of the brahmaputa river.

may 2012 -- write, produce, and direct short film, "i want to be."

-- last day in guwahati, ride elephant!!

june 2012 -- back to minnesota, usa -- start taking care of my dad who had a stroke in december of 2011. he's doing pretty great!!

-- start playing ukulele!

august 2012 -- start editing "i want to be" project.

september 2012 -- to california for two weeks! hang out with friends, work with producer/musician ed tree on original music for "i want to be project," and say good-bye to my 1985 volvo.

october 2012 -- still taking care of dad, still working on the edit.

december 2012 -- twenty donated kala brand makala dolphin ukuleles arrive to take to india.

january 2013 -- to california for three weeks -- survivor girl ukulele band benefit concert!! big thanks to sharon hannah, brad colerick, ed tree, john o'kennedy, bliss bowen, lorin hart, severin browne, phil parlapiano, dale laduke, brendan carlson, and bethany church of sierra madre, and everyone who came to support!! -- and world premiere of short film, "i want to be."

march 5 2013 -- back to india!!

cool things i've been doing

one of the things cool i've been doing at apne aap was get involved in the “cool men don’t buy sex” campaign -- a call for india to get help stop sex trafficking by signing a petition. the petition will go to the president of india, smt. pratibha devisingh patil, asking her to amend the immoral traffic prevention act and criminalize the purchase of sex similar to what sweden and norway have done. the idea is that if you eliminate the demand, then you will eliminate trafficking. we went out to a student fest at delhi technological university to collect signatures.

a high percentage of the students are men, and it was interesting to see the various responses to our petition. as soon as some heard what we were about, they turned and went the other way. but many of the students signed enthusiastically. here’s a few of the encouraging comments that they included with their signature:

i am very grateful to you that you have raised voice against this issue. and i am totally agreed. thank you.

we have to take strong action against this and it’s very necessary to buildup some rules and regulations.

i appeal to the concerned authorities to protect the women against male violence & to give them freedom so that women can enjoy a fearless life.

women signifies power. we must stand and support women and give them their basic rights. we must respect them and give them their proper place in society because without them our life would be incomplete and the life cycle will not run! save girls!

i think and believe that prostitution must end and respect for women must increase. they are mothers and sisters.

and if you would like to sign the petition, here’s the link:

sign the petition

i also designed a poster for the campaign. it will likely not see the light of day other than here, but i rather liked it. and yes, that’s my rear end!

one day i brought my guitar to the field office and learning center on the outskirts of delhi, where apne aap works with girls and women of the perna caste. in this community of the perna, a high percentage of the families engage in intergenerational prostitution. the females are married off when they’re only fourteen, and soon their husbands or fathers pimp them out to support the family.

girls come to the center to learn sewing and computer and other life skills. here’s one of the posters on the wall:

i had the chance to play my guitar and sing the abc song with two little girls, who did a nice job strumming the strings while i played the notes.

then we were off to another perna community to present an apne aap legal training on domestic violence. it was meant to be a training for the women, but no women showed up, so they rounded up all the little girls instead.

after the training i brought out my guitar again and we sang twinkle twinkle little star. then i tried to teach them the hindi version of “sweet home chicago.” i’ve been working on that song for over a year -- but it turns out some of my hindi lyrics didn’t make any sense! so that song was a big fail. but it was someone’s birthday, so we sang happy birthday instead. yay!

the girls were entranced by the guitar -- wanted to strum it, wanted to know how it works. it's a dream of mine to learn to play the ukulele, and -- when i come back to india full-time with an organization -- start an all survivor-girl ukulele band! :-D