On our third night in India we board a boat before sunset in the ancient and holy city of Varanasi to watch evening puja at the temples, a theatrical, rather beautiful Hindu ceremony performed by seven priests on the edge of the River Ganges.

As we walk down to the water we’re accosted by two hustlers selling postcards. They’re about 12 years old and they laughingly introduce themselves as “Pablo Picasso” and “007”.

It’s soon clear that none of us is going to buy anything from them, but they hang around anyway, entranced by the young woman hiding her blonde locks under a white scarf that demurely winds round her throat, conforming to local custom for modest dress.

“Your friend is very beautiful,” says 007. And it’s true – she really is.

In the 10 days we spend visiting Oxfam projects in India and Sri Lanka, in sometimes unbearable heat, Scarlett Johansson rarely wears a great deal of make-up and she dresses in the same casual combination of jeans, t-shirts and locally bought tops and trinkets you’d see on any 23-year-old backpacker.

But while the rest of us become increasingly unkempt as the trip progresses, she looks amazing throughout, her pale, clear skin glowing as if lit from within.

After a newspaper prints a story about Johansson’s arrival in India – also helpfully telling readers where she is staying and exactly what we ate for dinner on our first night in New Delhi – we have to move hotel to avoid the press; she is recognised a few times while we’re out and about in the capital.

But even in the rural areas where the people have limited access to newspapers or television and no way of knowing Johansson is a big Western movie star, they are instantly drawn to her beauty and warmth and her genuine interest in their lives.

“I was really nervous packing to come here,” Johansson admitted on the first night.

“I had no idea what to expect. Everybody kept telling me how exotic and amazing this country was and I’ve always had a fascination with India.

"But I didn’t know how I’d deal with seeing this kind of poverty for real, rather than on TV, so I was very conflicted. But as soon as we landed, it was just thrilling.

"The drive from the airport was insane, with all the people, the traffic, the bikes, the rickshaws and the animals. It’s like being in another world. I feel like I’m in a dream."

REAL-LIFE STATISTICS

India is a country of extremes. After a 10-year economic boom, its cities boast shiny new air-conditioned shopping malls, fast-food chains and affluent young professionals in designer clothes, but 60 per cent of the population – estimated at more than 1129 million – still lives on less than $2 a day and can barely afford to eat, let alone pay to see a doctor or send their children to school.

Of every 1000 children born in India, 62 will die before they reach the age of five. One in six children over the age of five has to go to work instead of attending school.

It wasn’t until we walked into the slums, however, that these grim statistics came to life. Johansson smiled throughout, admiring babies, visiting dark, overcrowded homes where whole families sleep together on damp floors, helping girls collect water from the pump and asking intelligent, searching questions of the local Oxfam team.

But afterwards she admitted she was horrified by what she’d seen: children playing in garbage by open drains, and toddlers squatting in the street to go to the toilet.

“I’ve never seen such a dirty place in my life. The air, the burning garbage all over the place, the dirt, the smells, the plastic everywhere.

And I thought New York was filthy! How can it be there’s no water, no sanitation? And I was especially surprised to see it in the middle of this area with brand-new housing, a six-lane highway and McDonald’s.”

MAKING PROGRESS

Millions of people live like this in India’s cities, with more arriving every day from even poorer rural areas, looking for work.

At first the sheer scale of the problem is overwhelming and it’s hard to see any hope.

But then we visited a tiny, barely furnished room in the vast Dakshinpuri slum, where Oxfam is working with local organisation Action India to reduce violence against women.

Here informal women’s courts mediate in marital disputes, naming and shaming abusive husbands. Women can get advice and help to divorce their husbands if they refuse to change.

There are courses that teach young men basic life skills while gently encouraging them to rethink their ideas about women.

We met Nami Bimlesh, 37, who built a new life for herself and her two children after 18 years of horrific beatings from her husband, and Ravi Ujjenwal, 20, who took a life skills course when he was 15 and now helps his sister with the household chores – and argues with any of his friends who hassle women.

“I now see that boys and girls are the same,” he told us. “At first my friends thought I was mad but now they think it’s important, too, and they agree with me.”

“You start to see how a few people in a community can make a big difference,” enthused Johansson. “It’s a long process, changing attitudes, but there is progress.”

In a rural part of Uttar Pradesh, a four-hour drive from Varanasi, we saw another inspiring example of change: a small village primary school designed and built by the local community with help from Oxfam.

The people here are Dalits, the lowest of India’s caste system. Although no longer considered “untouchable” in rural areas, they still do the most menial work and few consider their girls worth educating.

Only 3 per cent of Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh can read or write.

The school is tiny and its facilities basic, yet in its first six years it has transformed village life, with parents learning from their children. Girls here no longer get married between the ages of 10 and 12; they want to finish their schooling first.

“It was a great community,” said Johansson, who was so taken with the students that she offered to support the school financially, along with three other similar schools for Dalit children in the same area.

“I asked one of the girls if she wanted to get married and she was banging her fist and saying, ‘Not until I’m an educated woman!’ It was amazing! She would wake at 3am and study for an hour before doing her chores and coming to school.

"And like all those kids, she also worked with her mum in the fields. For a bag of potatoes. Or 25 rupees. That’s only 80c for hours of intense labour.”

REBUILDING SRI LANKA

After visiting India we flew to Sri Lanka to see how Oxfam was helping to rebuild not only homes and businesses devastated by the 2005 tsunami but also communities.

Women in the coastal areas most affected by the disaster aren’t given handouts; they’re offered small, interest-free loans. They attend weekly meetings where they make not only payments on their debt but also friends.

“We all support each other, because we’re all in the same situation,” said Chandlani Lokuge, who lost her husband in the tsunami and now supports her five children by selling soft drinks and snacks made in a kitchen built with loan money.

A group of women who had started a small mushroom farm in a hut behind their village houses proudly got out their accounts to show us how business was thriving.

We also met coir workers – mainly elderly widows – who soak coconuts in foul-smelling swampy pits then painstakingly strip the outer husks and turn them into rope, matting and other household items.

Oxfam had helped them rebuild the pits after the tsunami swept them away and is now encouraging the women to form co-ops so they can sell their goods for better prices.

“You never think about the labour that goes into making something like this,” said Johansson as she tried out a new machine the women had bought to spin the coconut fibres into rope – a long, tedious job they’d previously done by hand.

“It’s unbelievable. At home most of these women would have retired. Here you work until you die.”

At the end of the trip Johansson agreed to become an Oxfam ambassador to help publicise and support the charity’s work, as do Dame Helen Mirren, Coldplay, Colin Firth and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

“It’s been exhausting – emotionally as well as physically,” Johansson smiled as she prepared to go home to New York. “But I’m so satisfied. I feel my life will never be the same.

“I’ve learned that the world is a far bigger place than I ever imagined and also that you can make a difference. In places like this, even small amounts of money go a long, long way. I can’t ignore the things I’ve seen – and I can’t wait to see more.”

***

MiNDFOOD: What attracted you to Oxfam?

Johansson: I became aware of Oxfam when I was in London filming Match Point. Before I support a charity I look at how much it spends on overheads. With some, a large part of donations goes towards running the charity, not to the people who are supposed to benefit.

Oxfam sounded like a reputable organisation with impressively low administration costs. Then after the tsunami, I wanted to go to the afflicted areas to see if I could help. Not many people have the opportunity to see the things we did and it was great to go with Oxfam because you not only see the problem but also the solution.

MiNDFOOD: What struck you about the village in rural Uttar Pradesh in India?

Johansson: Though it was very poor in the village and the people had to get their water from a pump, everything was very clean and pretty.

Until you see it for yourself, it’s difficult to imagine how hard their life is: many of the kids work all day in the fields at weekends just to earn some potatoes for their family.

A simple task like cooking a meal can take hours when you have to pick the vegetables, grind grain into flour, fetch water, make a fire and then struggle to keep it alight.

But it was a great community and it was amazing how warm and gracious they were towards us. As we were leaving, one of the teachers was so grateful we’d eaten and danced with them – until then I’d forgotten they were once known as “untouchables”.

MiNDFOOD: Why did the Oxfam school in Uttar Pradesh affect you so profoundly?

Johansson: The girls there were so determined to get an education. The villagers told us that life in the community had changed since the school opened, with the children, in turn, teaching their parents about hygiene and health and expanding their vocabulary. The biggest change, though, was in the women.

Seeing their daughters grow in confidence inspired them to speak up and take part in village life far more. Some of the girls now want to work in government or become teachers and doctors, to help their community.

If the school has changed things so radically in just five years, imagine the influence these young women will have on the wider community in years to come.

MiNDFOOD: One year on, how has the trip influenced you?

Johansson: I’ve done as much as I can for Oxfam since. But mainly it has made me want to do more travel and meet more amazing people. I can’t wait to go on another trip, maybe to Africa.

MiNDFOOD: Why is doing charity work important to you?

Johansson: My family is politically aware and I grew up in New York, a liberal city where most people are opinionated.

I feel fortunate to have grown up in an environment like that and I’m moved by all kinds of social strife. My passion is film – that’s what I love to do – but it’s great when I can use my “celebrity” to raise awareness of the work Oxfam does, or of a community centre in New Orleans, for example.

I also work with charities like USA Harvest and I raise money for them all the time, whether by asking for a donation in exchange for wearing a company’s jewellery at a red-carpet event or doing an advertising shoot and donating the fee.

MiNDFOOD: Many actors are branching into different types of work. Are you wanting to try your hand at something different?

Johansson: I have my own casual clothing range for Reebok and my first album is due out later this year. But I’m doing this interview to talk about Oxfam, not me!

MiNDFOOD: What do you feel positive about in the world?

Johansson: I learned on this trip that small changes can ripple out and have a huge effect on a community, then on a country and eventually on the world.

It’s a long, tedious process to change deep-rooted beliefs and traditions and our governments’ attitudes, but there is progress.

Besides, what else do we have? You can’t look at a problem and say, “This is going to take too long to solve.” You have to keep trying.

For more information or to donate, go to www.oxfam.org.nz or call 0800 400 666

MiNDFOOD © 2008
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