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!