Actor and humanitarian Ashley Judd, board member of Population Services International (PSI) and the Global Ambassador for YouthAIDS,
will be writing posts for the ONE Blog during her March 2007 travels
through India. During the trip, Ashley will address women’s issues, and
have the opportunity to discover how families can be empowered to
protect themselves against HIV/AIDS and unintended pregnancies.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Except for feeling lethargic today, I have felt so very well and
balanced. The positive self talk, boy, I can’t say enough about it.
Here in India, “I can stay present” has been a key one, as the mind has
a mind of its own. Yesterday I was catching my mind fleeing toward this
giant slum I visited this week. It is shockingly densely populated, a
million suffering souls. We had a bit of a melee yesterday with the
press at one of our activities; it was quite out of hand – and I was
allowing myself to become really scared about what it would be like in
the slum if the press found out I was there.

Yesterday I had a lovely time visiting our Saadhan Call
In Line program. It is a free, anonymous, and confidential service
available to all Indians, a number they may call with any and all
questions about their reproductive health, which will be answered by
trained, non-judgmental staff that also have at their fingertips an
entire data base of medically accurate information. The shame
surrounding sex education is a worldwide phenomenon, and people can be
so woefully uninformed, to their own and others’ severe detriment and
even death. The Saadhan line and its caring workers help individuals
make informed decisions, increase risk perception, and choose safe
behaviors. It’s a fabulous program. I sat in the little call room and
did interviews. I was very proud to be there. They’ve taken 66,000
calls to date.

***

I also visited the Mumbai home of the Great Soul, Gandhi. I read
every word, studied every picture, and spent quiet time in front of the
plain palette where he slept. I imagined his hand on his walking staff,
and was amazed at the crude mug from which he drank. It was wonderful
beyond description. Of his many, many inspired teachings, perhaps I
love best that he said, “I am a Jew! I am a Christian! I am a Hindu! I
am a Muslim!” I have no timidity whatsoever in declaring I am a devout
follower of his teachings and believe without reservation that
nonviolence is the only way toward peace.

***

Seane Corn, profound yoga teacher dedicated to service, arrives
tonight! She taught me how to make my physical practice, and by
extension my life, a prayer. One day we will practice yoga with sex
workers, an idea for which Seane feels deep tenderness. Helping them to
bring something healing to their own bodies, an antidote to the abuse
heaped on them for years, is her dream.

In the meantime, it is a quiet day. It seems some jet lag has
hit; everyone else says their days 3 and 4 were really rough. Oh well,
it’s a Sunday. A nap, self care is all that is on the docket. I feel
some loneliness; I wanted to go visit my friends in Faulkland Road, but
Sundays are hard work for sex workers. They don’t have time to hang out
with me. I guess I’ll check basketball scores (how glad am I that I
didn’t organize this trip around the SEC tournament?), and reflect on
how totally weird it was to be pinned in a porn theatre lobby, trapped
on one side by men watching exploitation films, a throng and press on
the other?

I hope soon to have the cord required to send snap shots. I have
some doozies. My mind is full of one: A tall, narrow, 3-faced building,
10 stories high, each little walkway, window, cracked opening, and
stairwell, crammed full of the bodies, minds, and souls of sex workers.
They were waving at me. I loved them right back. Of that, I have only a
memory; I hadn’t asked each and every single one if I could take a
picture. I always ask. They have so much shame; it’s abusive not to ask.

Busy week ahead; I hope you’ll join me.

Love,

Ashley