Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Journey Begins...

And so the tour finally begins...

At 7am the platform at the Ahmadabad train station was bustling with the noises - From the laughter of children to the sobbing of parting families and the echoing of the morning station chai and biscuit walas (tea/biscuit sellers) - It seemed all of the city had gathered at gate 3 of the station that hour.

16 kids with matching backpacks that had white embroidered names sewn to the front, 16 matching red suitcases, and a smorgasbord of staff members of all ages and sizes - It was quite the scene if you happened to be people watching that morning!

Before we knew it, the train whistles chimed in our ears as we rolled our bags onto the compartment that would become our stomping ground for the next 12 hours as we began our fabulous journey to spread love and unity to our first destination, Karjat.

The joy the kids brought into the train began spreading the minute we got on as they shared seats with those who had forgotten to, or were unable to, reserve seats for themselves. Sanjay decided to squish himself between Vishal and Devram as he tapped the Kaka (elderly man) standing besides him and asked him to take his seat politely - The Kaka was delighted and kindly blessed Sanjay by touching his head.

Two of our staff members, Sunilbhai and Shirshbhai, bumped into some musically talented children on the train who were making music by hitting slates of marble together. It was a beautiful phenomenon as they ran through the different train compartments with joyful faces and contagious laughter taking their music with them. Its amazing to see the happiness music can bring to people's faces - In whatever form it comes. After showering them with hugs and familiarizing them with our family, we began giving them some lessons on general hygiene as they seemed they could benefit from the conversation. Sunilbhai started them on their understanding of cleanliness by cutting their nails while explaining how all the dirt from their nails would go directly into their food and stomachs causing sickness if not cleaned. Later they were joined by Nimeshbhai who directs the Ekatva project, aka Mustache Mom to the kids! He put his rapper hat on and together he and the kids created music that got the whole train up and excited dancing the hours away!

As our new musically talented friends got off the train at their stop, we could hear them screaming goodbye for minutes after our train began its departure to the next stop. They ran and ran alongside our train until they could see us no longer from the tracks. They were happy and you could see it in their eyes. Someone treated them like kids and showered them with love - That's all they ever ask for.



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Ekatva Performance in Mumbai, Dec. 4th, 4-6pm @ Nehru Centre



EKATVA’s Mumbai performance at the Nehru Center AuditoriumJoin us for a special Sunday performance of EKATVA in Mumbai, India! 

December 4, 2011
Nehru Center Auditorium - Mumbai
4PM - 6PM | FREE - a gift from the children

Doors open at 330pm.
 
Dr. Annie Besant Road,
Worli, Mumbai - 400018
India
Google Map: 
http://g.co/maps/3pvh6
  
EKATVA comes to Mumbai! EKATVA is a 90 minute dance/drama musical performed by 16 slum children, hoping to share a message of 'oneness' and universal love, to the world. A Manav Sadhna experiment, EKATVA features Sixteen children from some of the largest slums of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. They were selected through a nine month audition process, and are being trained and developed, by two mentors from Manav Sadhna and teachers from Darpana Academy, to perform a 90-minute dance-drama production sharing Gandhiji’s message of ‘Oneness’. After one year of training and development, the children will tour the show across India, the US, and the UK.
 
 Choreography by Mallika Sarabhai (Darpana Academy).
 
 Learn More at 
www.ekatva.org and join us on Facebook (ekatva-oneness)

Nov. 26th, a Special Performance at a Special School, IFF


Ekatva begins its Mumbai trip to a very special school, who's focus is on the wholistic development of its children from a Global perspective, The India First Foundation. We are privileged to be invited to such a school and look forward to the interaction between the kids and the energy created.

This show will be very unique as we will be creatively involving and working with the IFF children days before to prepare an integrated performance of sorts. They have just sent us their music, script and ideas. We are blessed to have schools and leaders who are willing to take such initiative and embrace the creative experience and journey of our children.

Thank you Arvindbhai, Madam Kavita Karve, and the India First Foundation School for your heart warming support along our Ekatva journey.

In humble gratitude.

WWW.IFFSCHOOL.IN

Love and Peace