It is 4:30 am in India and I have woken up several times tonight. I now make an oath to eliminate naps, or at least try to. Our days are fulfilling but also filled. Rest is an important thing. Either way, now that I am up, let's try yesterday's blog again.
Before coming to India, Global Volunteers sent us a packet explaining the mission of the organization, which is to serve. I also call it a lesson in acceptance. What this means is that when we go into a community, we are there to partner with the community and serve them in the way(s) they need, working side by side. What this does not mean is instilling the American way unless it is something the community requests and is able to sustain.
An example is the system by which we took bricks to the roof yesterday and the day before. By the way, I used the local way this time (i.e., tie a turban to my head and then put the bricks on top) - much better. I had more brain space to think yesterday since I was more comfortable, calculating approximately 4800 bricks that needed to be taken to the roof, three at a time! I also thought about establishing an assembly line, pulley system, or using a big truck. Option 2 might work as long as it is simplistic, but options 1 and 3 would not. Why? Because the community would not be able to make this a part of the daily system. As a result, it would actually hurt them more than it would help. Our job is to work with them - but in their way. If we have sustainable suggestions, we may be able to incorporate them, but more effectively so when asked to.
My small win of they day came when we returned to SEAM for our daily session with the orphans just before dinner. Katie and I worked with the boys on computers. Since we have three computers now, three boys are able to come into the room at a time. I worked one on one with John, who I categorized yesterday as someone seemingly not interested in learning as he just wanted to play games. I learned otherwise today.
My teammates suggested that John might be bored so I should try advanced tricks on the computer. Since Word and PowerPoint are similar and I don't anticipate him doing any presentations soon (and he knows Word), I decided to try Excel. I worked with him on creating charts and graphs and simple computing. Since his native tongue is Tamil, we had a few funny interactions. For instance, I would ask him to type "Name" as the column title. John asked, "John?" I said, "No, not your name. The word name." By the end, he was just about able to create his own graph. As it was time to go, he said, "Sister, tomorrow, mathematics!" I almost cried. He wanted to learn more!
Another small win of the day was the interaction we had with the locals at the construction site. Today, we worked together and interacted more. For instance, they showed pictures of their family and had us sit with them in a circle while we all broke bricks with hammers. Of course, my immediate thought was, "Where is the chisel?" (Not the local way!)
In the afternoon, we started teaching nuns conversational English. They brought us 7 Up and some sweet thing. The Mother sat with us chatting about the day. Also, the nuns shared with us why their hair is so beautiful - they wash is once, sometimes twice per week and then put coconut oil in it! (Ah! That's why they have gorgeous hair and no frizz in this humidity!)
I like to end each blog with a few cultural tidbits. Today, we learned that men in Southern India wear a moustache and those in the North do not. Also, the Indian food we eat in the States tends to be that of the Northern variety. Southern Indian food is different - for example, no naan (except in hotels). "No naan?!" we all exclaimed. Then we remembered that if there were naan, we would go home quite heavy as we would eat so much of it. The good news is that we are eating bread that is similar. And there is always chai!
I will talk about the history of the dowry tomorrow.
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