Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.
Weston H. Agor
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Pregnany Woes
It is always hard to make mistakes in life and then to have to deal with the consequences, but it seems that even more difficult for our children in Mumbai—and probably for children in India in general. When school started up again after summer holidays in June, we found out that one of our older students was pregnant. She made the decision that she wouldn’t be able to nurture the baby and had an abortion. As traumatic as the experience already was, many of the One! families who had girl children in the school harassed her and refused to send their children. We were very proud of this student for facing the consequences straight on and then moving on with maturity.
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New Nallasopara
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As summer approached in May, the enthusiasm of the families and children of Alka Puri (the district of Nallasopara that we were teaching in) waned. It was understandable as they only had electricity for a couple hours a day and the heat and humidity was unbearable.
What was not predicted however was the lack of welcome that was given when classes started up again in June. The officials in the area were overtly helpful in March and April but in June the same men were almost planting roadblocks. We were not able to find any space to run classes and though the energy of the children was still fantastic, it was simply impossible to conduct anything effective.
A hard decision was made in the middle of July to pull out of Alka Puri and shift to an area called Santosh Bhavan (still in Nallasopara). Two of our old families had moved to this district, and were overjoyed when they heard about our decision. Along with Sandeep, Sushama and Mahendra, these families were instrumental in getting everything ready for classes to begin. They allowed us to teach in their house for a couple weeks—reminiscent of the simple beginnings of the Khar school. It worked the first time, so hopefully this second attempt in Nallasopara will be successful also!
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Vinod’s Mistake
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A crazy month, June also brought even more chaos to Vinod’s life (One! International’s first street child).
Vinod was having a hard time dealing with being an adult and adjusting to married life when it finally seemed like he was heading in the right direction. He got a job as an elevator operator at a large apartment complex in May. He worked well for two months.
In June, he was accused of molesting a girl. The facts of the incident will never fully be known, but Vinod sticks by his version of the day: he was in the elevator with a girl when she was flirting with him and he kissed her. She left the elevator—not upset—and was then attacked by one of the watchmen. Vinod was new to the job and so accused of the other man’s crime.
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Vinod was beaten up badly by the girl’s father before being hauled off to jail for five nights Then his wife was finally able to manage bail.
The Indian judicial system is almost twenty years backed up. What this means is that Vinod Will now live his life in fear because of the case against him. He will have to visit the courts once a month and pay to get his case extended, and he will have to visit the police station once a month also so they do not add another charge to his name and put him back in jail.
If the charge is valid then he will have to face the consequences for it. If the charge is false, then hopefully Vinod will learn to be careful and learn responsibility. Either way, his life is changed forever.
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