A few weeks ago, on the 12th, I sent my second quarterly report to the Watson Headquarters. I have been gone from home for six months, and I can't believe it. I have grown and changed so much in the time since I flew from Memphis to Warsaw, and as I keep traveling, I know I will continue to adjust my perspective on a wide variety of things.
Anyway, I thought I would share my second quarterly report, a brief recap of the past three months, and a few pictures as well.
Hello from Delhi! It is my third week here and lots has happened, but I should start with my months in Argentina.
A few days after I sent my last quarterly report, I walked into a house in Salta, in the northwest of Argentina, hoping that I would find the LGBT group that supposedly worked at that address. The house was in a residential neighborhood, and after a few failed attempts to get in touch with other organizations both in Salta and in other parts of the country, I was nervous that the address that I had would be outdated and I would find myself in someone's living room. Luckily, I was in the right place and had happened upon a meeting of an HIV support group. They not only welcomed me but invited me to introduce myself and speak a little about the project, nodding politely as I tried to remember the Spanish equivalent for fellowship (una beca is the closest, now burned into my brain). They then promptly made room for me on a sofa and provided me with drinks and snacks and later, birthday cake. After listening to the group discussion, I had a chance to talk with many of the members of the group, and I spent the day learning about Salta, the community there, and its specific needs.
The experience in Salta was typical of my experience in Argentina as a whole. It quickly became clear that email communication would be ineffective, so I adopted a just show up strategy. I spent my first few weeks in Buenos Aires knocking on doors (and indeed found myself nervously explaining to a stranger why I was bothering him at home after one of many address mixups) or trying to find doors to knock on. All told there were around a dozen addresses to check. These first few weeks pushed me in new ways. I learned how to work through a language barrier, grateful for some knowledge of Spanish but fully aware of my limitations. I learned to use public transportation and to carry a map, to budget time to travel to different neighborhoods and to be prepared for anything when I arrived. Most of all, I learned to push through nervousness and speak to total strangers about my project, hoping that they or their organization might have a way to get involved in the community.
Once I found organizations, the hospitality and opportunities continued to grow. During my time in the city, I regularly attended the meetings of La Fulana (loosely translated as Jane Doe or in its harshest version, whore; a group for lesbian and bisexual women with separate meetings for activism and social discussion), Sigla (a general LGBT advocacy group that had meetings for both women and young people as well as men and HIV-positive individuals), Juventud FALGBT (the youth arm of the Federation of LGBT organizations in Argentina), and Gay Geeks (the social group that Saulo, a hostel staffer, invited me to join during my first week in Argentina). Where it was obvious to me that I wanted to work with the KPH in Warsaw, there were so many opportunities in Buenos Aires and I did not want to limit my perspective and interaction.
Every group was different and introduced me to new sides of the queer community in the city.
In La Fulana, I found a group of women very comfortable with each other and open to visitors but also fiercely dedicated to their cause. In Sigla and Juventud, I found a close-knit community of young people working for change and providing support for one another in the process. The Gay Geeks were my main social connection in the city, bringing me along on a camping trip in Tigre and to picnics in the parks in Palermo, a short and gorgeous walk from my apartment.
I spent my days with these groups and meeting new people, speaking to different members of the community about their work and experiences. Leaders of various organizations were kind enough to give me lots of time and mate as we talked. I went to Casa Brandon, the gay cultural center, to see a play. It was clear from my first week that I would need to improve my Spanish, so I took courses during my first few weeks. I explored the city, sprawling and diverse, to find different groups and to see new sights, taste new foods. I became a pro at the metro, ate too many empanadas, and learned to like mate, if only for the ritual. I spent my birthday with friends and the Saturday before I left, had a late Argentine night talking, playing board games, singing karaoke, and dancing with some of my favorite people in the city.
By the time Pride rolled around a little over a week before my flight to Delhi, I felt comfortable in Buenos Aires and in the community. Throughout the day and night I saw various friends from weekly meetings and although I spent my time at the La Fulana tent, I was able to chat with Juventud, who were just one tent to the right, and to end the day with the Gay Geeks, meeting first in the crowd and later in a friend's apartment.
I participated in Pride as security for the La Fulana truck, marching alongside to keep people from getting too close. It was a different perspective on the celebration, and I learned from my experience working to set up the truck and tent and making a barrier for the dancing and drinking crowd. I also found that Buenos Aires Pride was an interesting mixture of other celebrations. The music, large trucks, and huge crowds reminded me of the CSD in Berlin, but there is a rule that no corporate sponsors are allowed to have representation the way that they did in Berlin, so there is still more of a homegrown, political feel to what happens during and after the celebration, when speakers from various organizations give speeches about community progress and goals. I was especially interested in this commitment to progress. Argentina has marriage equality, adoption, and a fantastic gender identity law, but the community does not rest and still fights even those less obvious inequalities, something that I hope will be true in the US as progress continues.
I felt pangs of sadness eating dinner with friends that last week and a loss as I boarded the plane to Delhi. Of course, I was excited to explore a new place and meet the people with whom I had been corresponding, to seek a new community and continue my project. Still, the emotional investment is real in each city, and leaving requires saying goodbye in a way that feels more final than it does with friends at home. I could not be more grateful for these bonds and the amazing people that I have met, which is why saying goodbye is so difficult.
Pride festivities were under way when I landed in Delhi, and I was lucky enough to have a great welcome from Bismay, with whom I had been corresponding. He brought me flowers and introduced me to many people who worked to put the parade together and who worked within the community. It was through Bismay that I met Ankit and began work with TARSHI (Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues). It is also thanks to Bismay that I have connections to other social meetings and groups in the city.
Pride was wonderful, a comparatively small but spirited and celebratory group marched close to Connaught Place and danced with a massive rainbow flag while a group of drummers provided music. Marchers carried signs in Hindi and English and some wore colorful masks as a way to participate without endangering their jobs or alienating their families. The march went at its own pace and left room for conversation, a great day and a great way to meet people.
Unfortunately, things changed here yesterday.
When I arrived in Delhi, the city was still awaiting the appeal of a ruling by the Delhi High Court in 2009 that decriminalized homosexuality by invalidating a portion of Section 377. Added under British rule in the nineteenth century, Section 377 was meant to stop "perversion" in many forms, and it included sodomy along with beastiality as a crime against nature. Yesterday, the Indian Supreme Court invalidated the Delhi Court's ruling, effectively criminalizing homosexuality (specifically homosexual acts) once more.
The community here is open, proud, and working constantly for progress but things are difficult in so many ways that it is an entirely separate struggle from the others that I have seen so far. Before anything, they now must work to achieve the basic right to exist openly without legal repercussions. Yesterday afternoon there was a protest, organized quickly but extremely well attended. The general attitude was one of resilience and determination. There is a fight on the way.
Six months have passed, unbelievably, and I am getting settled in Delhi. I am different now in many ways, the result of traveling alone and spending my days with my project in mind. More confident and flexible, I still struggle with the desire to color code my meetings and plan every tiny detail, with loneliness, with the emotional struggles of leaving a place that is beginning to feel familiar for a whole new world, but I am not overwhelmed in the same way that I was early on in Warsaw or scared to the same extent that I was even just a few weeks ago on the flight from Buenos Aires. I am learning and growing and meeting people who do amazing work, who fight even as their government tries to deny them the right to love one another. I am thankful and happy and excited to continue every single day.
Thank you for this opportunity.
All the best from Delhi,
Sarah Holland
Anyway, I thought I would share my second quarterly report, a brief recap of the past three months, and a few pictures as well.
Hello from Delhi! It is my third week here and lots has happened, but I should start with my months in Argentina.
A few days after I sent my last quarterly report, I walked into a house in Salta, in the northwest of Argentina, hoping that I would find the LGBT group that supposedly worked at that address. The house was in a residential neighborhood, and after a few failed attempts to get in touch with other organizations both in Salta and in other parts of the country, I was nervous that the address that I had would be outdated and I would find myself in someone's living room. Luckily, I was in the right place and had happened upon a meeting of an HIV support group. They not only welcomed me but invited me to introduce myself and speak a little about the project, nodding politely as I tried to remember the Spanish equivalent for fellowship (una beca is the closest, now burned into my brain). They then promptly made room for me on a sofa and provided me with drinks and snacks and later, birthday cake. After listening to the group discussion, I had a chance to talk with many of the members of the group, and I spent the day learning about Salta, the community there, and its specific needs.
The experience in Salta was typical of my experience in Argentina as a whole. It quickly became clear that email communication would be ineffective, so I adopted a just show up strategy. I spent my first few weeks in Buenos Aires knocking on doors (and indeed found myself nervously explaining to a stranger why I was bothering him at home after one of many address mixups) or trying to find doors to knock on. All told there were around a dozen addresses to check. These first few weeks pushed me in new ways. I learned how to work through a language barrier, grateful for some knowledge of Spanish but fully aware of my limitations. I learned to use public transportation and to carry a map, to budget time to travel to different neighborhoods and to be prepared for anything when I arrived. Most of all, I learned to push through nervousness and speak to total strangers about my project, hoping that they or their organization might have a way to get involved in the community.
Once I found organizations, the hospitality and opportunities continued to grow. During my time in the city, I regularly attended the meetings of La Fulana (loosely translated as Jane Doe or in its harshest version, whore; a group for lesbian and bisexual women with separate meetings for activism and social discussion), Sigla (a general LGBT advocacy group that had meetings for both women and young people as well as men and HIV-positive individuals), Juventud FALGBT (the youth arm of the Federation of LGBT organizations in Argentina), and Gay Geeks (the social group that Saulo, a hostel staffer, invited me to join during my first week in Argentina). Where it was obvious to me that I wanted to work with the KPH in Warsaw, there were so many opportunities in Buenos Aires and I did not want to limit my perspective and interaction.
Every group was different and introduced me to new sides of the queer community in the city.
In La Fulana, I found a group of women very comfortable with each other and open to visitors but also fiercely dedicated to their cause. In Sigla and Juventud, I found a close-knit community of young people working for change and providing support for one another in the process. The Gay Geeks were my main social connection in the city, bringing me along on a camping trip in Tigre and to picnics in the parks in Palermo, a short and gorgeous walk from my apartment.
I spent my days with these groups and meeting new people, speaking to different members of the community about their work and experiences. Leaders of various organizations were kind enough to give me lots of time and mate as we talked. I went to Casa Brandon, the gay cultural center, to see a play. It was clear from my first week that I would need to improve my Spanish, so I took courses during my first few weeks. I explored the city, sprawling and diverse, to find different groups and to see new sights, taste new foods. I became a pro at the metro, ate too many empanadas, and learned to like mate, if only for the ritual. I spent my birthday with friends and the Saturday before I left, had a late Argentine night talking, playing board games, singing karaoke, and dancing with some of my favorite people in the city.
By the time Pride rolled around a little over a week before my flight to Delhi, I felt comfortable in Buenos Aires and in the community. Throughout the day and night I saw various friends from weekly meetings and although I spent my time at the La Fulana tent, I was able to chat with Juventud, who were just one tent to the right, and to end the day with the Gay Geeks, meeting first in the crowd and later in a friend's apartment.
I participated in Pride as security for the La Fulana truck, marching alongside to keep people from getting too close. It was a different perspective on the celebration, and I learned from my experience working to set up the truck and tent and making a barrier for the dancing and drinking crowd. I also found that Buenos Aires Pride was an interesting mixture of other celebrations. The music, large trucks, and huge crowds reminded me of the CSD in Berlin, but there is a rule that no corporate sponsors are allowed to have representation the way that they did in Berlin, so there is still more of a homegrown, political feel to what happens during and after the celebration, when speakers from various organizations give speeches about community progress and goals. I was especially interested in this commitment to progress. Argentina has marriage equality, adoption, and a fantastic gender identity law, but the community does not rest and still fights even those less obvious inequalities, something that I hope will be true in the US as progress continues.
I felt pangs of sadness eating dinner with friends that last week and a loss as I boarded the plane to Delhi. Of course, I was excited to explore a new place and meet the people with whom I had been corresponding, to seek a new community and continue my project. Still, the emotional investment is real in each city, and leaving requires saying goodbye in a way that feels more final than it does with friends at home. I could not be more grateful for these bonds and the amazing people that I have met, which is why saying goodbye is so difficult.
Pride festivities were under way when I landed in Delhi, and I was lucky enough to have a great welcome from Bismay, with whom I had been corresponding. He brought me flowers and introduced me to many people who worked to put the parade together and who worked within the community. It was through Bismay that I met Ankit and began work with TARSHI (Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues). It is also thanks to Bismay that I have connections to other social meetings and groups in the city.
Pride was wonderful, a comparatively small but spirited and celebratory group marched close to Connaught Place and danced with a massive rainbow flag while a group of drummers provided music. Marchers carried signs in Hindi and English and some wore colorful masks as a way to participate without endangering their jobs or alienating their families. The march went at its own pace and left room for conversation, a great day and a great way to meet people.
Unfortunately, things changed here yesterday.
When I arrived in Delhi, the city was still awaiting the appeal of a ruling by the Delhi High Court in 2009 that decriminalized homosexuality by invalidating a portion of Section 377. Added under British rule in the nineteenth century, Section 377 was meant to stop "perversion" in many forms, and it included sodomy along with beastiality as a crime against nature. Yesterday, the Indian Supreme Court invalidated the Delhi Court's ruling, effectively criminalizing homosexuality (specifically homosexual acts) once more.
The community here is open, proud, and working constantly for progress but things are difficult in so many ways that it is an entirely separate struggle from the others that I have seen so far. Before anything, they now must work to achieve the basic right to exist openly without legal repercussions. Yesterday afternoon there was a protest, organized quickly but extremely well attended. The general attitude was one of resilience and determination. There is a fight on the way.
Six months have passed, unbelievably, and I am getting settled in Delhi. I am different now in many ways, the result of traveling alone and spending my days with my project in mind. More confident and flexible, I still struggle with the desire to color code my meetings and plan every tiny detail, with loneliness, with the emotional struggles of leaving a place that is beginning to feel familiar for a whole new world, but I am not overwhelmed in the same way that I was early on in Warsaw or scared to the same extent that I was even just a few weeks ago on the flight from Buenos Aires. I am learning and growing and meeting people who do amazing work, who fight even as their government tries to deny them the right to love one another. I am thankful and happy and excited to continue every single day.
Thank you for this opportunity.
All the best from Delhi,
Sarah Holland
Birthday Dinner
Marching in Pride in Buenos Aires
Drinking Malbec in Mendoza
Gay Geeks Anniversary Party
Camping with Juan, German, and the Gay Geeks
At the Qutub Minar
377 Protest
377 Protest
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