about the blog

Aleyamma lived in a very different time, in a place far from here, but she represents the circle that repeats– woman, Christ-follower, Indian traditions, living each moment of life to it’s fullest.

This blog is the voice of the new Aleyamma…living, moving, pushing, surviving, achieving, serving, breathing.

Aleyamma is a Machiavallian woman with diverse interests, and so you will see topics that relate to some of the things below…

Faith

• I am blessed to believe in Christ, and to walk in relationship with Him since I was a child, although the past 2 years have been particularly meaningful in my understanding of God.
• I still struggle with daily discipline in things that should come easier by now, but have also never before understood grace and forgiveness better.
• I attend Christ Tabernacle in Glendale, NY.

Family

• Succintly my family is Malayalee Pentecostal, aka Christians from Kerala, India. 
• My sisters are BC and Jinx (aka Koche) who comment on the site, as well as honorary sisters like Mal.

Work

• I’ve been working in the field of domestic violence for the past 7 years.  I specialize in faith-based responses, child welfare, community organizing, and training.
• I have been volunteering on a project in New Orleans for the past 1 year supporting survivors of human trafficking.
• I am interested gender, class, race, immigration,media and family/community violence issues.

 Photography

• I started taking pictures as a way to remember life because of some severe memory loss issues.  It has slowly transformed into a way of self-care and relaxation.  Looking through the lens, editing, sharing– it is one of the joys of my life.
• Equipment: Nikon D80, Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR Nikkor Lens (not extremely fast but so versatile), Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens (amazing speed but not great for traveling), Nikon Speedlight 600 (when I feel like lugging it around)

 Other Stuff

• Food: can’t cook, but love to taste and analyze food
• Language: I enjoy languages and this year have had the opportunity to practice & learn Malayalam, Tamil, and some Spanish & Hindi.  As evidenced by “Malayalam Monday,” I am trying to use this as a space to keep track of lessons.
• Travel: In 2008 I traveled (very conservative estimate) 35,000 domestic and 25,500 international air miles to places like Germany, Paris, Brussels, Delhi, Kerala, New Orleans, California, Chicago, Fargo, Dallas, Houston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Albany, and more… This does not include the driving miles at each of these places or the daily commute I had of 100 miles/day to get to work.  I spent all or part of 100 days outside of NY.  I don’t think I will beat that number in ‘09 but I do enjoy visiting new (and old) places.