SJPD Family Reunion

So the field visits are complete. We are all back at Visthar, with the final group rolling in yesterday at 7 am. It’s crazy the ownership you can feel for a place after such little time. We were driving through Bangalore on the way back from the train station, and it felt a little surreal. Almost like we were having our homecoming – I was so happy to see billboards I recognized, roads where the shops’ names were a little less foreign. Of course it’s a bit of a relief to be back to comfortable, but at the same time, it’s sad. The whole visit was the most rewarding experience of my academic life – it’s the experiential approach to learning that made everything just so powerful and meaningful. Instead of reading about child bonded labor, we were made witnesses to such practices. This was also really challenging as well- you can’t easily retreat from the “subject material”. Denying the existence of these truths was so tempting, but it was loud, in your face, and asking “What are you willing to do about this?”.

I feel a little like I’m stalemate with the experiences we had while visiting the town of Hospet in North Karnataka – don’t know where to start. Our days were super busy, filled with meeting people representing aid organizations and also those directly affected by the systems of child labor, bonded employment, untouchability, and sexual abuse. So instead of starting from the beginning and recapping each day, I’ll just highlight one very memorable day.

Tuesday, September 25th:

The focus of this day was child bonded labor. We met with children who were sent to work for employers as part of a model for repaying debts their parents had accumulated. Most of the kids were boys between the ages of 7 and 15 that were spending their childhood years herding their employers’ sheep. It was heartbreaking to meet kids who have basically resigned to the fact that their futures hold little more than animal husbandry. We asked them if any of them were interested in going to school – they said yes, but noted that dreaming of education did them very little good. It just wasn’t a practical option anymore. This caused some serious anger in me – when did these young boys morph into pragmatic adults, almost bordering defeat? You could see the youth in their eyes, but when they spoke of what they had experienced, how they are treated, you realized how they matured out of necessity and have surpassed you in the knowledge of tragedies. One of the boys asked us what we could do to help them. We were silent; before the previous day, we had not even known that child bonded labor existed, let alone thought about how this abstract concept could be fixed. So we responded saying that we could serve as voices to millions of other people, broadcasting their stories and calling out the systems as a horrible and very real truth.. Yeah, we were eloquent, pretty satisfied with that answer. More silence ensued. We countered with “What do you think we should do?” The same boy answered saying all he needs is two cows and a couple of chickens – that’s his freedom from the practice.

That evening, we went to a tribal village of the Lambani to participate in cultural singing/dancing. The Lambani are a group of indigenous peoples in India and have a very vital and exciting culture. While there, we all (including Ben, the only gent on our trip) were invited to wear traditional women’s dress and dance around with the ladies of the community. This quickly turned into a whirlwind of emotions. At some points, I was so pumped to be breaking funky moves with these women and really experiencing the culture first hand. At other times, I thought I was going to break down in tears because I would suddenly be bombarded by a small mob of people holding my hand or trying to fix my dress, and I couldn't understand what they were saying to me - I felt royally overwhelmed. Highlight of my day not because it was so incredibly happy and flawless but because it was unique, complicated, and just straight up chaotic – and everyone was better for the madness… sort of liberating!

Oh, and the group I traveled with were amazing! It was great to have the small group so “getting to know you” was a bit easier. Members: Ben Wagner, Emily Nelson, Sarah Timien, KatyAnna Johnson, PaKee Vang, and me. Of course we needed a leader – that’s where Sham Kahlil, a Visthar staff member, came in. We kind of turned into a much-needed family with Sham as our surrogate uncle.

So greetings y’all! It’s good to be back!

Cricket is Confusing

Last Friday, we went out into Bangalore proper for a little taste of Indian Nightlife. Apparently, there was an EPIC match/game/battle of cricket that night between India and Pakistan. So every place we went, all TVs were set to watch this ultimate showdown. At one joint, a South African student named Josh did us a favor and explained this sport to us. Here's what I learned:

1. You don't pitch in Cricket; you bowl.
2. Pakistan has a phenomenal bowler.
3. There are wickets everywhere, but there aren't colorful balls that you try to smash underneath them with a massive mallet.
4. Games can last for days.
5. Not so big stateside; HUGE everywhere else in the world.

Seriously, it's that important here. It rivals soccer. I'm really open to the idea of adopting Cricket as my favorite spectator sport. I totally dig the flattened bat and "Gentleman's" attitude. I have to apologize to Asitha Jayawardena for never really ever getting this game - let's hear it for the Sri Lankan Team!

Today we were given the afternoon off. Michael P., Ben, and I headed out to the garden on campus to do a little cultivating. When we got there, we were given hand-held machetes and were told to hack up all the tall grass we could see. It was kind of liberating; I was maniacal with that mini-sword. The work really wore us out; I guess I'm used to seeing unwanted plant life and thinking that someone really needs to mow or it's about time for a "controlled burn". So much for agricultural mechanization - this was so much more fun! We got to work with a few of the girls and two adults who got a kick out of our sloppy slashing style. After a bit, we all took tea. Here's the thing with tea: we have it every morning with breakfast and at two tea breaks, around 10:30 pm and 4 pm.

Tomorrow our group of 18 splits three ways to go on different field visits around Southern India. The group I'm traveling with is headed towards northern Karnataka (the state Bangalore is in). We will be observing a Non-Governmental Organization that works with women and children from the Untouchable (Dalit) community. The purpose of the field visits is to explore different organizations that are trying to empower those who are typically marginalized in Indian culture. So one other group is learning about the fishing industry and how it has recently been quietly destroyed by local resorts and tourist attractions. The other groups is going to visit traditional and tribal farmers. We will be away from Visthar from the 19th - 28th, so I will give the play-by-play update once we've arrived back in Bangalore.

Enjoy your time!

Party People!

Man, what a week! Most of the weekdays were spent in introductory lectures on India (e.g. political structure, Hinduism, Indian economics, Caste System)... basically India in whirlwind form! We learned a lot and had many of our questions answered. One surprising thing I learned is that in Hinduism, there is no such thing as a martyr; you cannot die for the faith and be viewed as having the "ultimate good karma". But now with religious fundamentalism in Hinduism, this is being challenged. The concept of caste is still an element that is difficult to address. The general idea in our group is how can this practice be legitimized? It seems so counter-progressive, yet we are becoming aware that great emphasis is placed on maintaining Indian tradition and culture, regardless of how it stands when thinking about social equality. Every morning of this week was devoted to practicing Yoga with a chap who we just called S.K. (Indian names can get kind of lengthy, so initials have become clutch!). S.K. is a trained gynecologist/Yoga guru (sort of a "Jack-of-All-Trades" if you will). We are on our own now to carry on the practice...

So this time in India is HUGE for festivals. Yesterday was the festival of Ganesh. Ganesh is the Hindu god of prosperity and has the body of a man and the head of an elephant. The young girls living at Visthar invited us to their dormitories for a ceremony. At the celebration, we all sat on the floor in front of a statue of Ganesh and all his offerings given by the girls. Everyone was given a bit of rice that we threw at Ganesh. Then all adults, including us students, had a pile of this powder spooned into our hands. Most of us wanted to throw it at Ganesh seeing how well it went with the rice. But after watching the rest of the adults there, we were apparently supposed to shove the 3 tablespoons of this powdery white stuff in our mouths. Some just lapped it up; I went for it and most of it missed my mouth. But the bit I did managed to pour in there tasted super sweet. It reminded me of the crushed Fruit Loops at the bottom of the box that you throw away because it only makes your milk taste like Toucan Sam is trying to give you diabetes. Funny thing about cereal here: the milk we get for our corn flakes every morning is hot. We asked Nassar, our program guide/caretaker, if he had ever had cereal with cold milk. He laughed at us and said no; that's just crazy talk.

I'm starting to feel like I'm becoming a member of a community here. It's more than being a student with the Social Justice, Peace, and Development group (we call ourselves SJPD for future reference) :). Fellowship with our neighbors in this new city of ours has been greatly needed and never in short supply. Invitations to visit homes are streaming in from friends of Visthar. And I'm now in a place where I'm comfortable saying "We are Visthar, and Visthar is us." Now that we're adjusted to the life and times of Bangalore, it only seems right that we give credit where credit is due - I'm glad my life is being supported in a place where all the people live by the idea that the purpose of their lives is to affirm the lives of others regardless of social standing, economic status, age, gender, or religious affiliation. This place is incredible.

Check out the link to my photos for some visual India! Also, I'm going to add links to other blogs of the kids of SJPD just to give you all a different perspective of what is going down in Bangalore. It's never the same trip for any of us here - I learn new things myself just by reading what my group mates have to say! They're all so brilliant - I think you'll enjoy their thoughts!

Thanks for stopping by!

ang

Namaste!

Greetings from India!

I first have to apologize to all those lovely, important people in my life who haven’t heard any news on my whereabouts in the last two weeks! Things have been complicated - the really unstable internet connection compounded with my general laziness has made this post a long time coming!

We are staying at a place called Visthar 16km north of Bangalore. Visthar is a Non-Profit Organization which typically hosts groups of students or professionals for their various events. Our relationship with the entire campus is very intimate – we eat all of our meals in a large common room, take-in lectures in classrooms, pay our phone bills at the finance building, research in the on-campus library, and do everything else in our dormitories. I stay with one other girl (Jessica from Concordia, Moorhead) in a room that is nicer than any of my college dorm rooms, hands down. Each room has its own bathroom equipped with a shower! Just whenever we want a hot shower, we have to flip a switch 10 minutes beforehand to turn-on the water heater.

Bangalore is a pretty incredible place to call home. It is dubbed “The Silicon Valley of India” due to large international investment into the technologies industry. This translates into a city with abounding wealth and a lot of diversity. On a few occasions, we have been able to travel (via Visthar bus) into the city to get acquainted with our new college town. A book store and coffee/chocolate shop have already been located! All of our outings are tailored to give a unique cultural perspective. We are challenged not only with the basic navigating of the city, but also to thoughtfully process more than the superficial. My attendance at a lot of these group activities has been very low, so I might be just vague on specific tours taken and sites seen. I was out for almost 8 days with a pretty nasty upset stomach. I did manage to travel with the group for two days to Mysore, a city southwest of Bangalore, but I only saw the ceiling of my room for that trip. It has been really heartbreaking to miss those group bonding activities and witnessing India the way I had initially hoped and expected. I was under the weather while immersed in a completely different culture, on the total opposite side of the world from all the remedies I was familiar with, yet I was still comforted. There is something to say for the people here in India and with me on the trip. Without knowing me, people were willing to do whatever they could to bring me a little more comfort. It was really touching – I am so appreciative of countless people. It’s a little overwhelming!

I hope you are all enjoying the wonderful fall weather wherever you may be. Those turning leaves, apple treats, crisp nights, football games, and hot drinks – nah, I don’t miss it at all! (well, maybe just a little). Good luck with all you do, and I hope to hear from you all soon.