January 11, 2012
by the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
on tour in India
Ali, Faiz and Abdulai at the Gandhi Memorial in New Delhi, India
Indian, Afghan and human poverty
Faiz, Abdulai, Ali and I are travelling in India to learn from Gandhian practitioners ( in Ekta Parishad ). We wish to learn how to mobilize people from the villages to protest non-violently.
Immediately, we’re encountering our own poverty.
Our flexible travel itinerary :
6th Jan to 9th Jan : New Delhi
10th to 15th Jan : Bhopal
15th to 21st Jan : Ahmedabad
23rd to 26th Jan : Aliabad?
27th Jan : Return to Kabul Afghanistan
6th Jan : Firsts for Faiz, Abdulai, Ali
First time on plane
First time above clouds
First time having pineapples
First time on elevator, travelator
First time using standing urinal and automatic sink-tap
First time in a big city that’s green ( Delhi )
First feelings penned at Kabul International Airport :
Faiz – ‘excited’
Ali – ‘very happy’
Abdulai – ‘eager to learn’
Hakim – ‘opportunity’
Kathy Kelly – ‘relieved, open’
Maya Evans ( UK peace activist ) – ‘discovery, adventure’
7th Jan : Other Firsts
First time up close to a Hindu temple
First time seeing so many women with uncovered heads
First time in underground Metro
First time being a foreigner
Homeless in India
8th Jan : More Firsts
First time in multimedia memorial museum ( Gandhi Memorial )
First time seeing a lifelike statue ( of Gandhi and his wife )
First time presenting to an audience abroad ( about 100 students at Jawaharlal Nehru University ) – AYPVs spoke about : ‘Upon awakening, do not live normally.’
9th Jan : Lodhi Garden and Gandhi Peace Foundation
Lodhi was a Pathan [Pashtun]
– the garden had green lawns, old ruins, swans, squirrels, parrots and other birds, smooching lovers
Gandhi Peace Foundation
-meeting held to discuss a high court case of an Indian activist charged with visiting a political prisoner, sedition included as one of the charges
-short messages to Indian human rights activists, AYPVs spoke about : ‘Dissolving the borders of peace’
The youth with peace activists Maya Evans ( UK ), Kathy Kelly ( USA ) , Paul and Kathrin ( Canada ) at the World Peace Gong
10th Jan : Railway train to Bhopal
It was a comfortable 8-hour ride on the train from Delhi to Bhopal.
Fields, fields, fields, litter, litter, litter, cattle, cattle, cattle…
We shared a urgent feeling for human livelihoods to return to the fields.
