Sister Sudha

My two months interning at Nari Gunjan are over and I can't quite believe how fast it all went! It was so difficult to say goodbye to Sister Sudha and all the girls from the hostel--we had a rather prolonged cry-fest on the day we left. Although I couldn't promise the girls I would be able to afford to come back and visit, I'm hoping to figure something out over winter break.

Working with Sister Sudha has been an amazing experience. She is such a strong, committed and inspiring woman. Without her, Nari Gunjan would be unable to function...in fact when she was ill with typhoid for the last couple of weeks, it was difficult for her co-coordinators to run things without her direction--they would need to either call or visit her at the hospital. It was really touching the day she was discharged from the hospital and she returned to the hostel. The girls literally ran out in the middle of class to greet her, and many were crying. It was hard for them to not have her around, knowing that she was sick, and missing her...actually, I think it was pretty hard on all of us. By the time we left Patna on Tuesday, she was getting stronger and was preparing for a weeklong trip...thank goodness! It would have been that much harder to say goodbye if she were still sick. Mumbai has been great so far (we're planning to also visit Agra, Jaipur and Ladakh), but I miss Sister Sudha and the girls already.