A great volunteer experience

As many of you know, I decided before I left to volunteer for a few weeks during my stay in India. I worked with a group called Cross Cultural Solutions which organizes volunteer placements all over the world and arranges room and board in the country. I wanted to do this not because I was necessarily being altruistic, but because I thought volunteering would allow me to not be a tourist and to be settled for a few weeks in one place.

Program was excellent and really exceeded my expectations. There were about 10 volunteers at the same time as me, working in all different types of placements -- old age homes, nurseries, other schools or at health professionals. We arrived in Delhi and received a brief tour and our organizers took us shopping for kurta’s and dupetta’s, appropriately long and modest shirts and scarfs to where at our placements. Anything which could make us seem more familiar to the host organization makes it easier to be accepted and to be able to become part of the culture more easily -- so although I don't think I'd wear the clothes at home, it was the right decision.

The program organizers also gave us a great introduction on places to go and how not to get ripped off by the auto rickshaw drivers, although all the volunteers still were charged a premium, but it was more like 25% instead of the 3-4x that the drivers usually ask from the tourists. They also organized speakers for us – professors in economics, history, a women’s studies expert and a tour of the national art museum by the ex-director. Collectively, the education gave me an amazing perspective and many of the facts and opinions I mention come from them. The housing was as promised -- upper middle class apartments with hot water and electricity most of the time.

My Placement

I worked at the Hope Project School. Two days before I arrived the business development project fell through because the women in the program received a big Christmas order for their crafts and had to postpone the training until January. Instead, I was assigned to the school to teach English in the same Basti, or slum, which turned out to be a great experience for me.

The school is not public, but it is financed by a charity – the Hope Project, so its not the same as a private school. It is located in a basti, or a slum area, and provides school, medical services, education, life improving/self-sustaining skills activities, such as business development. (more about the situation of women later).

I’m not sure exactly how to describe the school because by western standards the school would fall short. While better than many schools my co-volunteers were working, with classrooms, blackboards and old, un-networked computers in almost every room, supplies are still very limited. Students don’t have text books. They use one notebook for all subjects. There are no worksheets or any printed material to work from, aside from what they copy from the blackboard or a few picture books. The school had no copier, scanner, even, paper, tape or staplers -- things we all take for granted, but really are important learning aids, were scarce or rationed. Even chalk was kept locked away. That said, and despite the physical shortfalls, there was an incredible amount of dignity and sense of opportunity held by the students and the teachers. At the same time it was blended with a sense of realism about the challenges and potential economic and social boundaries of their lives.

The girls and young women I worked with are wonderful and warm. I think I benefited far more from our experiences together than they from me. I worked with four classes, roughly 7-8 yrs, 9-10 yrs, 11-13 yrs, and 14-18 yrs, with overlap depending on the level. They were all girls except for the youngest class which were mixed boys and girls, before the girls were in "seclusion". Also, the boys were typically sent to school because their parents thought it was a priority. The population I worked with was majority Muslim. More than anything they crave attention. It was a welcome change from the kids on the street who see tourists and beg for money. They called me "Didi" which mean’s "older sister." It is not respectful to call an elder by their name. One of my favorite things, for reasons I don’t understand, the same class didn’t take place in the same room everyday. So frequently, I’d be in the wrong place and one of the students would find me and take my hand and protectively say, "come, Didi."

With the younger kids I worked on their ABC's and even taught a few songs -- their favorite was "head, shoulders, knees and toes" -- which by the end of my three weeks, they would begin singing and doing the hand motions for when they saw me in the hallways. The older girls asked me questions about NY and my family. Mostly, I worked on verbal skills with them because they know more grammar than they practice speaking. Their English is fairly basic, so we were a little limited in what we could cover. Big topics included movies, cricket players, that my building really had 20 floors and it wasn't considered a tall building, why my parents hadn't arranged my marriage yet, my education and work, etc. I was surprised and impressed when I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and they answered, teachers, doctors, lawyers, pilots, nurses, reporters, and one girl wanted to be Miss India.

I considered whether I wanted to tell them I was Jewish, but decided it would be ok (and I wouldn't have to talk about Christmas all month). They had heard of Jews, but knew nothing about the religion and they knew nothing of the tensions between the Muslims and Jews in the Middle East. Like other Indians I met, they were very accepting of other religions. I’ve thought a lot about why religious differences are such a big problem in other parts of the world and seem to be a non-issue here. My theory is that because the Hindu’s have 6 million gods and they are not threatened by the god(s) of other religions. This carries over to the other religions since they are such minorities. Also the Seiks are very welcoming to all other religions. For the most part none of the religions proselytize except for the missionaries. That was the only group about which I heard anything negative. The tension is because some say the Christians missionaries have sometimes paid people to convert by buying them land or giving money to the most poor to convert. But they are as open to Christianity as a religion as to the other religions.

At one point, I mentioned to the head of the school that I knew Excel well. I ended up training the head of the school, the office administrator and had some good conversations about Excel with the computer skills teacher. Also, (and the Schick people will get a kick out of this), I ended up restructuring the database that they keep in Excel to make it easier to use.

One of the hardest points for me was when there was a fire in the basti and many, many homes were burned to the ground. The school became a central point for distribution of blankets, used clothing, and utensils so they could cook -- because people had lost literally everything except the clothes they were wearing. Very few, if any have bank accounts, insurance is non-existent and frequently the entire extended family lives under one roof, so they couldn't necessarily move in with another family member. In the days after the fire, women and children were coming to the school in soot covered clothes. They looked exhausted and shocked, but at the same time not as paralyzed as I would be. Maybe groups who face total loss together are more resilient. Maybe they've seen other people lose everything in their lives and consider it as a greater possibility than I do. I don’t know how or why, but some of the students whose families lost houses were in school and somewhat functioning. So at the same time when I look at the school and see that they don't have many of things that are so familiar I don't even notice them at home, they are stronger and more capable in ways I hope never to have to experience.

On a positive note, the director of the school who was super –high powered woman and a motivational force for the girls, used the opportunity to bring more students to the school, by telling their parents that if their kids couldn’t be at home, they could come to the school and receive free lunch. It was not uncommon for families to resist sending their daughters to school. An education was thought by some to make the daughters less marriagable.

A highlights of the program for me was being adopted by one of the older girls doing an independent study in English. We worked on her conversational English and she answered some basic questions for me about her life and the basti. She wants to be a nurse, but is not sure how to pay the tuition or if her father will allow it. Lunch time was another of my favorite times too. During the first week, I was more or less out of place and didn't know where to go, but eventually, both the students and the teachers began to invite me to sit with them. I was told by my program organizers not to take any food they offered because "my American stomach is sensitive", but it looked good and it was important for me that they knew I accepted their hospitality. The girls especially liked giggling at me, when they gave me something spicy to eat. Also, I told one of the girls I liked her henna painted on her hands and the next lunch, they stopped me and told me they had all the materials to paint henna on my hands. They did a great job and I got compliments on it from everyone -- especially the Indians, who asked where I got it done.

Finally, I'd like to say a word about the teachers. At first they didn't know exactly who I was or why I was there, but eventually they opened up. They work really hard in conditions that can be challenging. Most had been there for several years and were committed to the school and the children. Depending on their level of English, I was able to and enjoyed speaking with them. They also had lots of questions for me, sometimes through a translator, but I think even though they were educated and lived outside the slum, life in NY is about as foreign to them as Delhi was to me before I saw it. Unlike the girls, they know not everything they see on TV is not true, but there are definitely images they have about wealth, big cars and skyscrapers that they assume are true for the entire US. The differences aside, we had much in common too and I really appreciate the time they took to share with me and hope I was able to add to their classes and knowledge about the US.