Global Service-Learning: India
The summer before my junior year of high school, I had the great fortune of travelling to India for four weeks alongside ten of my classmates through my school's Global Service-Learning Program. This month was one of the most engaging and eye-opening of my life, as I explored the city of New Delhi, lived with a homestay family in a rural village, and completed a local service project.
Although I spent the majority of the trip in the foothills of the Himalayas, one of the most exciting aspects of my experience was spending a few days in New Delhi at the beginning and end of the trip. It was incredibly hot there, but we managed to visit open-air markets, several mosques, and a Sikh temple. I was blown away by the fascinating history and vibrant culture we experienced, and also by the deep poverty that we witnessed. Overpopulation is clearly a huge problem in the city, and it was difficult yet important for us to see how many people were begging on the streets and living in unsanitary conditions.
We spent the rest of our trip in Ranikhet, a town in northeastern India. There, I lived with a mother and her three teenaged children (one girl and two boys), and participated in family activities such as cooking, farming, and collecting firewood (pictured below). I also worked with the Pan-Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation to assess the impact of the organization’s work on local women. This experience helped me develop a nuanced understanding of the local culture, both through my (translator-assisted) conversations with local women and through the deep connections I developed with my host family. Overall, I was overwhelmed by how kind and welcoming everyone was to me, and by how much affection my host family expressed towards me, even though we could hardly communicate verbally. In spite of our many cultural differences, my family and I were able to find common ground, and the connection we formed was to me the most valuable part of my entire experience.
Today, I am still in contact with my host family in Ranikhet. My host brother, Ajay, and I exchange updates on our lives over Facebook. Ajay is now in college and he says his family is doing well (of the members of his family, Ajay is the most competent in English). I am still surprised by how vivid many of my memories are from my time in India, and how I still remember many Hindi phrases even though I haven't spoken the language for a couple years. In the future, I certainly hope to return to India, as there is clearly so much left to explore in this multifaceted and dynamic country.
Although I spent the majority of the trip in the foothills of the Himalayas, one of the most exciting aspects of my experience was spending a few days in New Delhi at the beginning and end of the trip. It was incredibly hot there, but we managed to visit open-air markets, several mosques, and a Sikh temple. I was blown away by the fascinating history and vibrant culture we experienced, and also by the deep poverty that we witnessed. Overpopulation is clearly a huge problem in the city, and it was difficult yet important for us to see how many people were begging on the streets and living in unsanitary conditions.
We spent the rest of our trip in Ranikhet, a town in northeastern India. There, I lived with a mother and her three teenaged children (one girl and two boys), and participated in family activities such as cooking, farming, and collecting firewood (pictured below). I also worked with the Pan-Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation to assess the impact of the organization’s work on local women. This experience helped me develop a nuanced understanding of the local culture, both through my (translator-assisted) conversations with local women and through the deep connections I developed with my host family. Overall, I was overwhelmed by how kind and welcoming everyone was to me, and by how much affection my host family expressed towards me, even though we could hardly communicate verbally. In spite of our many cultural differences, my family and I were able to find common ground, and the connection we formed was to me the most valuable part of my entire experience.
Today, I am still in contact with my host family in Ranikhet. My host brother, Ajay, and I exchange updates on our lives over Facebook. Ajay is now in college and he says his family is doing well (of the members of his family, Ajay is the most competent in English). I am still surprised by how vivid many of my memories are from my time in India, and how I still remember many Hindi phrases even though I haven't spoken the language for a couple years. In the future, I certainly hope to return to India, as there is clearly so much left to explore in this multifaceted and dynamic country.