When I visited Pune during the rainy season in 2011, I had the opportunity to get to know Pune in a different way. This was helped by a chance contact through one of Lea's school friends and the request for me to take a few letters with me to Pune.

This mail is addressed to children who live in the slums of Pune. Students from a school in Munich have taken on the sponsorship of some of these children and they were supposed to bring the letters to Pune with a few gifts. This was no problem, especially since my luggage did not exceed the 20kg limit anyway.

The initiator of these sponsorships and other aid projects is Miriam, who in her Blog describes the project and the current situation. She works with a number of volunteers in Germany and can rely on the active help of social worker Alice in Pune. Alice also received the mail and, as my schedule allowed it, I met her in person in her house in the Bopodi slum in Pune.

I went to Bopodi with mixed feelings, as I had only experienced the "upscale" side of Pune so far: good hotels, restaurants and Wipro's campus. Of course, I have often seen slums in India, but have never voluntarily gone there before; I was all the more excited about this experience.

The first and lasting impression is one of the hospitality typical of India: Alice welcomed me with warmth, as if we were old friends, and to welcome me I was given a sweet Indian dessert that had been cooked especially for me. Alice was of course happy about the mail and other things that I had brought with me, and told me about the project and the families we were to visit.

All the families on our tour left a positive impression: a warm welcome, even if most of them did not speak English, some tea or even a planned lunch. When you consider what the families have to do to survive, this is certainly a big sacrifice, but one that is made with joy. I never felt unsafe during the visit.

The dwellings are extremely small and so a small room has to be enough for seven people. Despite the mosun season, the temperature inside is very high and I dare not imagine what it will be like in the Indian summer. In order to make the heat bearable, in one case an old fan was quickly borrowed from somewhere...

Of course, the resources are very limited, but the housing is clean and functional. The shortage particularly affects the old and young residents: senior citizens who have been abandoned by their families, or children who, at the age of under 10, already have to support a family. Alice has plans for these cases that include not only material but also religious and thus psychological help.

There is now a registered association in Germany and a counterpart in Pune, so that donations can reach the poorest of the poor without any "friction loss". For more information on this, I can only refer you to Miriam's blog, where the association is also described in more detail. I have made it clear that I will keep in touch on my trips to Pune if possible and would be happy to work part-time as a "postman".

The photos of the visit are in the album about Pune.