I’m writing this blog in India. I’ve been in India for the past 10 days and I’ve visited 5 different towns/cities in the state of Andhra Pradesh. India is indeed a land of contrasts.
I landed in the spanking new airport in the high-tech city of Hyderabad. We landed at midnight but the airport was filled with Indians welcoming their loved ones home. Most of my fellow travelers on the Silkair flight over from Singapore were Indians who were working in Singapore returning home for their vacation. They were mostly well-educated or highly skilled workers who were making invaluable contributions to the economy of Singapore. Many were busy on the flight working on their laptops or busy watching movies on their iPods.
As we left the high-tech airport with its high-tech crowds, we drove into the city It was late at night but I could already sense the vast difference between my fellow-travelers and the poor Indians who were walking bare-footed on the pot-holed streets and sleeping on the pavements.
During the course of my 10-day stay (the purpose of which was to visit the families of many of my Indian friends in Singapore) I had the privilege to visit their villages and their homes. The vast majority of homes of my Indian friends that I visited were simple Indian homes – some of wood and attap roofing, some simple tiny bare brick structures, Occasionally, I would visit an impressive two-storey new building built with the money that was sent home from Singapore. I was sure that if I had another occasion to visit them in the near future, most of those simple homes would be replaced by nicer homes funded by Singapore dollars.
I had made friends with so many of them in Singapore but did not fully realize the backgrounds from which they came. One home that I visited was so bare – the doorway was so low I had to bend to half my height to get in. I met the mother of my friend in Singapore. I was told that he was a rickshaw-puller in his little village until a kind neighbor lent (or gave, I’m not sure) money for him to go to a job agency and take a test to come to Singapore to work in a shipyard. Today, he is sending money to feed his family and hopefully his younger brother will be taking his test shortly to join him in Singapore. Who knows how that little village will change, just because of the act of one kind man.
As I thought about the successful Indians and the poor Indians. I realized that there was really one difference – one had the chance to get an education or a job and the other didn’t.
This is what Goducate is all about – giving chances to the helpless!