Cooper
International Business Major
Jan. 2, 2007

After two long days of travel, and missing New Year’s Eve at some point over the ocean, the group finally got into Kolkata on Monday afternoon. It was a long trip, but with four layovers the team spent a lot of time getting to know each other and playing games. We felt as though we had already been on the trip for a week and everyone was pretty exhausted when we left the airport in Kolkata. Until Friday the group will be staying at the Lake Land Resort which is about 15 minutes outside of the downtown area. The accommodations are a bit more comfortable then we were expecting making the adjustment to a very different culture a bit easier. The group found comfort in the ice cream that was served for dessert; it will definitely be a regular occurrence in Kolkata.

On our first full day in Kolkata Paul had arranged to have our breakfast at 8 a.m. in order to get our day started, however as we soon found out things in India run on a slightly different time table than in the U.S. Breakfast was served around 8:45, after which we hopped on the coach (which is more like a 1960’s bus) and headed into the Red Light District of Kolkata. The group spent our time visiting a business run by a New Zealand couple called Freeset Bags. This company’s mission is to take women who had formerly worked in the brothels and train them with life skills including how to participate in the production process of the business. The way that Freeset describes their mission is:

“The Freeset Bag tells a story of one woman’s journey to freedom. She used to stand with 6,000 other prostitutes in a small but well known area of North Calcutta. She didn’t choose her profession; it chose her. Poverty does that. It robs people of their dignity and children of their innocence. She still lives in the same area, but instead of selling her body she makes Freeset Bags. Now she has choices, the choice to work decent hours for decent pay, to re-establish her dignity and her community and to learn to read and write. Now her daughter won’t have to stand in the street selling her body like she did. Freedom had been passed on to the next generation.” 

The group first met with Cary and Annie to discuss how they were led to Kolkata, how the business was started and how the business has expanded over the last few years. We were then led on a tour of the facilities and allowed to wander around the production area and speak with the women who were working. The visit lasted a few hours and many members of the group purchased bags before saying goodbye.

After the business section of the day was finished Boyd (our second leader) took the group around to various temples within the city. The most interesting experience was seeing the Kalighat temple as it is three different temples in a market representing three different sects of religions. We were fortunate enough to have Dr. Wilson on this trip. He is an Indian Religion professor at Hope College and was able to explain to us the meaning of everything that we were taking in. We took our shoes off at the first temple and the group was a little shocked to discover that we were expected to walk through an outdoor market barefoot in order to see the other two temples, probably not the most hygienic experience but worth well it. After a busy first day around town the group debriefed over ice cream back at the hotel.