Dear Girlfriends,

On October 10^th, 2008, I boarded a plane with 14 strangers for a two-week adventure. But this was no Caribbean cruise we were taking. Having been selected to be part of a documentary, I was one of seven women who would take part in an experience of a lifetime – in India. This team of women, with nothing in common with the exception of our willingness of spirit and love of learning, would be followed by a camera crew as we were challenged to come to grips with the contradictions of India, our views on poverty and injustice, and what – if anything – we would personally do about it.

After a 20-hour plane ride from Dallas, we landed in Mumbai, previously known as Bombay. Affectionately referred to in India as “Bollywood,” this would be the most cosmopolitan city of our four-city tour. As we drove out the gate of our luxury accommodations near the airport, we were immediately confronted with debris, poverty, and some of the most inhumane living conditions we had ever witnessed.

As I sat in the air-conditioned bus, I looked out the window at men, so skinny you could see their ribs, sat helplessly and hopelessly with their heads in their hands. I watched out the window as a beautiful woman, dressed in her immaculate hot-pink sari, emerged from a gray lean-to slum home; she gracefully walked around the human waste spilled out on the ground. But I looked away as children walked the crowded streets alone, some totally naked.

As extreme as these conditions were, it was still not quite real to me as I peered through my impenetrable window. Until we stopped and stepped out of the bus.

On the ground there was no buffer; the experience – first witnessed as someone else’s misfortune – became personal. Life in India became real. Real fast.

As we enter a brand-new year, I would like to share with you what I learned about the world – and about myself – during the most enlightening two weeks of my life. And to challenge you to step out of the bus with me, in 2009.

Forever changed,

Ellen