Shillong and Cherrapunjee

This past week we all went to Shillong, which is in North East India. One has to get special permission to go to this part of the country (or so I hear) so I feel very lucky that I got to see it! We went to see the original Maitri office as well as to give HIV/AIDS presentations to schools. Shillong is up in the high hills of North Eastern India so, the idea to pack seven people in one car for the winding car ride was not very smart. Four people got sick half way from the airport to Shillong, I luckily wasn't one of them. We had to pull over and there was a little throw up party on the side of the road. I'm sure the crazy Indian driving didn't help either!! Along with giving presentations, we were lucky enough to go to Cherrapunjee, which is the wettest place on earth with an annual rainfall of 450 inches. It was beautiful with an Indian twist of course. The main source of light, cooking, heat etc. is fire here so the air is constantly thick with smoke, making the otherwise breath taking views rather foggie. But, like I said, it was beautiful. We also went through a cave in Cherrapunjee, caves are neat and I remembered how much I like them!! After our Cherrapunjee adventure, it was down to business as we had to give presentations for the next two days. We were going to give a powerpoint presentation on adolesence, puberty, STD's, and HIV/AIDS but in the end we just ended up preforming our ingenious skit which talked about the different stigmas, ways of transmission, and misconceptions surrounding HIV/AIDS. It is amazing how informed the children and overall population is regarding HIV/AIDS. Even in such a rural area, people are very well aware of the risks and misconceptions surroudning the disease. All in all, Shillong was an adventure. Quite impossible to fully relay to anyone. Anyway, I love you and I hope all is well where ever you may be! Namaste!



Winnie and the General's house in Shillong, as well as the original Maitri office

Our view of Shillong from the house