Bragging moment

I very quickly mentioned in my last post that my husband is the creative one. He writes, he takes photos, he can make a beautiful video, etc, etc--Kyle is pretty much amazing.
Last summer he went to India with American Councils for International Education (I just had to copy and paste that name since I usually just say he went to teach), but he did soooo very much more than that on his trip. He met another creative teacher, Breanna, who introduced him to a nonprofit agency in Kolkata called New Light. Since I would never be able to include all that this amazing place does off the top of my head I'll again just copy and paste what they have to say.

"New Light is a non-profit community development project and charitable trust based in Kalighat, Kolkata, one of the oldest red light districts of the city.
Since 2000, New Light has provided shelter, educational opportunities, recreational facilities, healthcare and legal aid for the children, girls and women in the Kalighat community. There is a crèche and night-shelter for the protection and education of victims of trafficking, women in prostitution, and children rescued from red light areas. New Light also provides micro-credit facilities and an income-generation program (Anchal) for mothers within the area. With regard to healthcare, New Light is particularly concerned with HIV/ AIDS prevention, care and treatment. New Light is a secular organization, and women from all religious communities are invited to join the organization. The demographic composition reflects India's diversity, with Hindi-speaking and non-Indian women from Nepal and Bangladesh representing 30% of the community."

In other words--just like my husband--New Light and the founder, Urmi Basu, is pretty much amazing. 

Kyle and Breanna saw an opportunity to be creative, but also to get a word out where a word was needed, and applied for a grant to create a book that would tell the stories of these children at New Light. They took beautiful pictures and were given stories of the kids, and with the kids own creativity through words and drawings they designed a beautiful book called A New Light in Kalighat that they were able to do a small printing of, and then made it into an e-book--which you should definitely check out! 

And THEN Kyle e-mailed people at Half the Sky, a movement that first began as a book by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn and later was made into a film. Half the Sky raises awareness and encourages action to fight the oppression of women worldwide. I would highly encourage everyone to read the book or watch the film. It's an eye opening look into different places in the world where women are oppressed and deserve the chance to be seen and have someone stand up for them. New Light happened to be one of the places they visited, and they were very eager to share about this book on their blog. Which meant being on their facebook page, and seen by thousands of people. I'm prouder than proud to be his wife. For his stepping up and doing something for these kids, for not stopping when the nights got long with editing, for pushing for it to be put out to the world through an e-book, and for being acknowledged for being an awesome man who was willing to do all that.

Kyle could tell you more about this trip and his feelings about it and maybe I'll make him post some time soon, but until then I get to speak for him. He fell instantly in love with the kids. Yes, he respected Urmi and everything she stood for, he thought New Light was a great place that did inspiring things for children and women, but mainly, he was in awe of the kids and the hope and beauty that he saw in their faces. I know--mainly because he tells me a few times a week--and also just because I know how pretty much amazing he is, that he would go back in an instant. He would sit with those kids and play with them and teach them for hours, but because he knew that that wasn't possible at the time or in the very near future, he and Breanna accepted a challenge of doing what they could while they were there. 

I hijacked Kyle's fb earlier so I could get a glimpse of him in the limelight, and was reading the comments that people were saying about this book on Half the Sky's page, and someone said "SEE we can make a difference....thank you." And he's right--we can. Kyle went to India thinking he was going to get to spend five weeks teaching kids in a school and explore as much of his favorite country as his extra time would allow, and he came home with a grant and photos and words and ideas that would affect the lives of so many. He had no idea--he just lived in the moment and seized an opportunity to make a great impact for others. Someone else said, "These people are living my dream..." And I'm thankful that Kyle was able to live this dream--his dream. I can't wait to see where this will lead. Pretty much amazing, right?