'Now I'll give you something to believe. I'm just one hundred and one, five months and a day.'
"'I can't believe that!' said Alice.
"'Can't you?' the Queen said in a pitying tone. 'Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.'
"Alice laughed: 'There's no use trying,' she said; 'one can't believe impossible things.'
"'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'"
–Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Now in wonderland here are the 6 impossible things that the queen was talking about:1. Theres a Potion that can make you shrink.
2. Cake that can make you grow.
3. Animals can talk.
4. Cats can dissapear.
5. Theres a place called Wonderland.
6. I can slay the Jaberwockey.
So now I am thinking what are the six impossible things that have become possible in the last 5 years:
1. Staff in Kolkata lasting more than 5 years on the ground
2. Sari Bari itself--started with no money, no skills, no idea what we were doing
3. Freedom from the sex trade--businesses here here employ about 1-2 percent of the 10,000 women in this area--previous to 2003--zero.
4. Former Madam being one of our best seamstresses and one of our best advocates for freedom
5. Kolkata no longer is only about death and destruction--Kolkata is also a place for new life in the making
6. Poor/at risk girls who may have ended up locked in room for 7 years with out pay or escape are making a life and future for themselves in the Prevention Unit.
I am sure there is more but that is a pretty good start on the impossible becoming possible in Kolkata.
6 more impossible dreams for the next year:
1. We would be able to buy the entire property of Sari Bari in Sonagacchi.
2. We would be able to employ 150 women by the end of 2011.
3. That we could make inroads into musharrabad for our next prevention unit.
4. Professional counselors for after care
5. The people of God in india to take a legimate and active interest in being apart of giving freedom to women in the red light areas
6. still imagining...want to dream with me?
3 comments:
I loved this post and believe 100% in the complete possibility of all the "impossible" dreams you have. May God make it easy for you and bless all the people who have made this possible. This is no small feat.
Also, just as a note, I think the better word is "seamstress" rather than "sewer". ha ha. "sewer" gives only the connotation of the dirty dingy stinky place under a city (like Kolkata).
thanks----seamstress is definitely a better word. appreciate your encouragement!
yes! I love those dreams and think that they could become a relaity. i just wrote a paper on the possibility of doing therapy in a place like SB.
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