A year ago I decided to make the change from traveller and observer to someone with the ability to change, however small, the lives of the poor in India.
I was bitten by the travel bug when I was four years old, sitting on my mother’s lap in a bright yellow 1973 Volkswagen campervan, heading south to escape another debilitating Calgary winter, to the warm tropical climate of Central America. Every 5oo miles my father would tell us to “get rid of another winter jacket or sweater”, as the sun grew hotter and winter faded from my memories. The next two years were spent on tropical beaches, fixing our van on the side of lonely roads in Belize, and living in small apartments in colonial Mexico and Guatemala with the pure enjoyment of being somewhere we didn’t know or understand.
Two years later when I was able to mumble words in Spanish, we made our way back to Canada. This time, every 500 miles, my father would tell us “remember what this feels like, it will be a long time before we feel this freedom again”. He was right. It would be 13 years before I would hit the road again. On my 19th birthday, my parents bought me a backpack, I bought a one way plane ticket, and I was off, excited by the possibilities that travel would bring, and the twists in the road that lay ahead.
Nine years and numerous countries later, I still have the same backpack and the same excitement about the travel and new cultures, but a new purpose. I arrived in India in 2008, nervous, like any traveller that is lured by the enchanting chaos of India. I spent the next several months cruising the trains and being constantly amused, saddened, baffled and stressed while trying to get a grasp of the complexities of India. It was in the south, at an orphanage just outside of Chennai, that I first realised I wanted to not only come back to India, but come back with a purpose.
Returning to Canada with a mission, I set up a photography exhibit in my parent’s restaurant, held a burlesque fundraising event, launched the Dirty Wall Project website, worked two jobs to fill my own bank account, and was back on a plane to Mumbai two months later, with $4000 in donations to the Dirty Wall Project, excited and anxious about how to use the money. I had a mandate to “see a need and fill it”.
A year later and now a recognized non-profit called the Dirty Wall Project Foundation, DWP has helped over 2400 people receive medical treatment through health camps, sponsored 20 slum children for this school year, funded several emergency surgeries and just completed the construction of a school in the Saki Naka pipeline slum community in Mumbai, India.
I have learned more in the last year than at any other point in my life about myself, but most importantly, about the world and the people in it. For all the problems, heartache, disease, human rights violations and everything else the media portrays as the latest news story, there is an amazing amount of good in the world. People do want to help those less fortunate, and there are a million small or big ways to do that. Two big realizations I have had this year, are that one person can make a difference, and that anyone can do this, you just have to start.
Currently back home in Victoria BC, I am working and fundraising for my next trip to India at the end of September. I will be heading back to the Saki Naka slum in Mumbai to continue working with this amazing community. Straddling two different worlds is routine for me now. It is always an exciting challenge to disengage from Canada and blend back into a culture and a community of people so different than the culture I was in only days before. My work in India is amazing and intense, filled with tough decisions, heartache and beautiful human moments. My life in Canada is all about fundraising and working at jobs that enable me to make my India moments come to life.
To celebrate my first year as a non-profit, and to raise money for upcoming projects in India, and to thank everyone who has made it possible I am hosting a fundraising dinner. The night includes a five-course Indian vegetarian meal, created and donated by Dr. Surinder Kumar, the CEO of Vecima Networks. Randy “Loungerino” will be playing Jazz & Blues throughout the night, and MC and Auctioneer Roshan Vickery will be hosting the live auction. Dr.Kumar’s charity dinners are legendary and this event shouldn’t be missed.
Check out www.dirtywallproject.com and be inspired to do your own volunteering or become a donor.
Dirty Wall Project — Upcoming Events!
Dirty Wall Project 1st Anniversary Fundraising Dinner
- August 29th, Victoria B.C
- Ambrosia Centre 638 Fisgard st.
- Doors @ 6pm, Tickets $25
- Available online @ www.dirtywallproject.com or
- Lyles Place 770 Yates St., Victoria, BC or Chronicles of Crime Bookstore 1057 Fort St.
- Indian vegetarian meal created by Ceo of Vecima Networks Dr. Surinder Kumar.
- Music by Randy “Loungerino”
- MC & Auctioneer hosted by Roshan Vickery of Kilshaw’s Auction House.
- 100% of proceeds go to Dirty Wall Project
Another Burlesque Extravaganza
- September 10, Victoria B.C.
- Victoria Event Centre,1415 Broad st.
- Doors at 8pm, Tickets $15
- Available @ Garden of Eden
- 1483 Douglas st.
- 100% of Proceeds got to Dirty Wall Project
Rosie Bitts Burlesque Show
- September 12th , Nanaimo B.C.
- Red Room Grill, #1-75 Front st.
- Burlesque & Photography show
- 100 % of all proceeds go to Dirty Wall Project
- Tickets $15, Doors @ 7pm
Photo Credits
All photos © Kane Ryan
Recent Kane Ryan Articles:
- Water Kids In The Pink City
- To be Loved — Part 2
- To Be Loved - Part 1
- A Death in Mumbai: Ganesh's Last Days
- Ashwini and Boomi
Your life and purpose are very inspiring.
I was not aware about this until I saw and read an article. Hats off man! That really took me aback. I really appreciate what you are doing for Indians and above all for humanity. Can I be your FACEBOOK friend?
Kane –
Wonderful article! I went to India in 2002 at the invitation of a company I was going to represent. I started in Mumbai, then later in the week we flew to New Dehli, drove to Agra, did the Taj Majal, Red Fort and Fahtepur Sikri! I saw only a bit of the “enchanting chaos of India,” and was somewhat protected from a lot of it! But the visual overload of it is still extraordinarily clear to me today! Some of it was heartwrenching! People living in cardboard boxes by the side of the road, with a TV on inside!
I think what you’re doing is extraordinary! Keep up the great work!
Dan