You are bound to meet some interesting people when you travel, it's just a fact. This past weekend I travelled to Mumbai and met someone who captured my heart instantly.
While walking to the Gateway of India a young teen girl approached my friend and I with several strings of flowers. These flowers are meant to be strung from your hair. (Side note, they are really great because they make you smell quite lovely even though you probably smell really bad from constantly sweating.)
Her main goal was to try and sell us flowers. My main goals was to get to know who she really was. She was friendly and kind. She greeted us with a smile. She was very intelligent. I discovered that her English was very good after asking her a series of simple and more complex questions. She insisted that the flowers were a gift and asked us to give her money to feed both her and her sister. She was patient and very persistent. She had a sparkle in her eye that made me even more intrigued.
During this 10 minute interaction with the young girl there were a stream of questions running through my head. I wanted to know if she was educated. Where did she learn her English from? What is her family like? Did they encourage her to go to school? Did she go to school? What will her future look like? Will she have many opportunities for success ahead of her? All I really wanted to do was sit down with her for some chi and dig deep into her soul to reveal her true story.
This bright young girl opened up my eyes on that rainy Sunday afternoon. She reminded me why I am so interested in and passionate about the empowerment of women. The women and girls here in India fascinate me. They are so similar to me, yet so completely different. Each girl has her own story. Some are being told while others are being kept secret.
While walking to the Gateway of India a young teen girl approached my friend and I with several strings of flowers. These flowers are meant to be strung from your hair. (Side note, they are really great because they make you smell quite lovely even though you probably smell really bad from constantly sweating.)
Her main goal was to try and sell us flowers. My main goals was to get to know who she really was. She was friendly and kind. She greeted us with a smile. She was very intelligent. I discovered that her English was very good after asking her a series of simple and more complex questions. She insisted that the flowers were a gift and asked us to give her money to feed both her and her sister. She was patient and very persistent. She had a sparkle in her eye that made me even more intrigued.
During this 10 minute interaction with the young girl there were a stream of questions running through my head. I wanted to know if she was educated. Where did she learn her English from? What is her family like? Did they encourage her to go to school? Did she go to school? What will her future look like? Will she have many opportunities for success ahead of her? All I really wanted to do was sit down with her for some chi and dig deep into her soul to reveal her true story.
This bright young girl opened up my eyes on that rainy Sunday afternoon. She reminded me why I am so interested in and passionate about the empowerment of women. The women and girls here in India fascinate me. They are so similar to me, yet so completely different. Each girl has her own story. Some are being told while others are being kept secret.
Lovely to see India through your eyes Jenny. Enjoying all your posts
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! It has been such an interesting experience and I'm loving every minute of it. :)
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