By Way of Introduction

The title up there makes basics pretty obvious, but by way of formal introduction, here they are:
I'm a Canadian girl, born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Monday i board a plane to Varanasi, India, and I'm pretty excited about it. That pretty much covers the premise of this blog.

After graduating from McGill in the spring i started applying for CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) internships in various parts of the world, especially South Asia. CIDA internships are government funded placements with various NGOs -- basically a free trip, a few months of living and meaningful work overseas, and fantastic professional experience. I was lucky enough to get a pretty cool one -- I have been placed with a tiny Canadian organization which works almost entirely in India, focussing on adult and child literacy and the empowerment of women. Their Indian branch office is located in Varanasi, in northern India, and after a month of getting to know the Canadian office and the basic workings of the organization, I leave on Monday to spend the next six months living and working in Varanasi!

Varanasi sounds like a pretty amazing place. It's located on the bank of the Ganges, and is considered one of the holiest places in Hindu religion -- it is believed t hat those who die and are cremated there ascend directly to heaven. It's a 3000 year old city, and a major place of pilgrimage. It is also located in one of the very poorest states of India.

During my internship, i will be attached to World Literacy's childrens' projects, helping to administer some of their programs,
conducting some research on the health of children in their programs, and even doing a bit of work directly with the kids. I am travelling with two other very cool Canadian interns, and the three of us will be working separately but living together in the organization's headquarters, a former palace (although smallish and run down as palaces go) overlooking the river.

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy with full time work at the Toronto office and the stress of preparing for departure, but as the stress of preparation winds down I'm growing more and more excited. I think this is going to be a pretty weird/wonderful six months.

Love Emily