COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: Paige Hetherington
7th – 14th December
Deu bori sanz dium (yes, I know that one means “good evening” but I’m running out of greetings). Welcome to another installment of Adventures in Goaland. Your volunteers have survived another week (despite rapid temperature changes and a bout of ‘Delhi Belly’).
Random Musings
Haggling
The Anjuna markets taught me a few things about haggling.
1. Walk away when you don’t like a price – they’d rather compromise than lose a sale.
2. Lie. Tell them you just bought a similar item at another stall for much less – they’ll often match prices.
It’s the only way to avoid being ripped off however at times it seems silly arguing with them over a couple of hundred rupees (equivalent to a few Australian dollars). It’s important to be assertive but also to remember that what we spend is their livelihood.
Feelings of Waste
Although I’ve studied education for three years I by no means consider myself an expert. However, what troubles me here is that teachers seem to rule with fear and it is acceptable to hit their students. This in turn makes the students feel that it is okay to hit each other. While I think it’s important for students to learn the curriculum - English, mathematics, science etc. I also want to teach my students empathy, respect for others and how to create a loving and productive environment.
The greatest challenge for us has been learning to accept that we can’t change the world, particularly in such a short space of time. We’ve also learnt that while there are things that we believe need to be improved, others here may not agree. What we consider to be better in one cultural context may not be considered better in another. But either way, we’re certainly doing our best!
To Remember
As we are reaching the end of our placements, there are some things I want to remember forever. In the day care centre I want to remember Nikat for always giving me food and remembering to say “thank you”. I want to remember Feros’s cheeky smile after he washes his hands and Sarasvati excitedly showing me her new necklace. I want to remember Adline drawing a church during her free time, Sevel and Mahesh’s shy smiles and all the children excitedly greeting me each morning and saying “goodbye” as I leave. I want to remember their happiness and excitement regardless of their circumstances.
With the adolescent girls, I want to remember Reshma casually giving me her ring and insisting I keep it. I want to remember Laxshmi wanting to sit next to me and Bibi actually wanting to do her English work. I want to remember Aisha’s quiet determination to finish her homework and I want to remember them laughing and giggling and just being, despite the fact that at first glance, I thought they lived in poverty.
When in India
“When in India” seems to be our version of “YOLO”. It is something we repeat to ourselves when we try new experiences and foods and most of the time, it does manage to motivate us.
Ignorance
Over the weekend we started talking about the lives of the people we are working with and how ignorant we were before coming here. One conversation that sticks out for me in particular was about the fact that none of us believe we could live here – our perspectives and experiences of the world are just so different.
We think these people wanting to live the way they do is due to a lack of education and resources but perhaps they think we are ignorant for choosing to a lifestyle that values individual success more than community. We were saying that we are able to cope here because we know we are going home to our creature comforts. We assume that our lives are better and that given the choice, the people here would choose our lives over theirs - I wonder if this is actually the case or if they would surprise us by choosing to stay here for reasons we’re yet to truly recognise and appreciate.
Group
Our time here has been amazing, in particular because we’ve had such an amazing group. Without each other I don’t think any of us would have coped as well and it seems strange to think that we all only met a month ago. It saddens me to think that in a week I’ll be home, living a familiar life rather than waking up with everyone and trudging along to breakfast, wondering what each day will bring. On a more positive note, I now have free accommodation in other states (come to Adelaide guys, it’s not as bad as I make out!).
Time
Time moves very strangely here. The fact that it has already been three weeks makes me think that time is moving very fast, but day by day, it seems to be so slow. The fact that we only have one week left is both frightening and exciting - frightening because I wonder what contribution I have actually made and exciting because I’m also looking forward to going home.
Day 13 – Saturday
Cow count:0
There is an ancient Indian proverb that is used commonly where we stayed, it goes, “What happens in Anjuna, stays in Anjuna”. And let’s just say some of your volunteers had a little too much fun the night before.
So we wandered to a German Bakery we’d been recommended and it was well worth the visit. It seems like this mystical, hippie café with greenery everywhere and lights and cloths strung about. It is a very relaxing place to visit and has wonderful food (Jen was very excited for the gluten free options).
Eventually we prepared for the reason we had come to Anjuna: the night markets. We piled into two taxis. My first impression of the markets was similar to most of my first impressions of India: it was loud, busy and terrified me. But once I was able to get my bearings and immerse myself in the atmosphere, I loved it. It was amazing and I wanted to buy everything – there were millions of stalls and I didn’t even see half of it! I would love to go back with some extra pocket money and a little more time.
Day 14 – Sunday
Cow count: 15 (I was once again, sleeping rather than counting)
So began another day after a terrible night’s sleep – it was freezing! Our toilet had stopped flushing again so I used the others until we checked out and caught a cab back to camp (via the German bakery).
In comparison, camp now looks like heaven. The mattresses are still made out of foam, but that’s better than a board and the showers are still cold but at least they look clean.
I’m not sure if it’s because we’ve reached the halfway point or because we had five continuous days of placement coming up but I felt really homesick at this point. I was sleep deprived and lonely and I just had to keep on reminding myself to take it one day at a time.
Day 15 – Monday
Cow count: 25
My play-doh turned out really badly so I let the children draw whatever they wanted instead and I loved observing the way the children think. Two children started drawing really intricate pictures, another drew a church and another drew an apple and a sun.
I’m also warming to the teacher more, she does seem to love being with her students as she happily greeted one who hadn’t been attending for awhile. Plus another teacher came around and I got to eat cake, so that may have something to do with my more positive attitude.
Day 16 – Tuesday
Cow count: 23
It is getting really cold at night, to the point where I am wearing pants and a jumper and have asked for an extra blanket. That was not what I expected when I came over here, even though it’s their winter.
We’ve had to make some adjustments with our morning projects as we are getting picked up later so we have to think of more things to do. I’ve struggled with this because I would usually play games, sing songs or read a book to children but they can’t understand me so it makes it incredibly difficult. It also means I have very little discipline in the classroom because behaviour management doesn’t work when they don’t understand you.
Our workshop at the camp today was a dance workshop. It was interesting since we had no power and were stuck in the stuffy rec room. It was fun before we got too hot although I have no idea what the song is called (and later in the week I will have difficulty remembering the moves).
We also went to Colva for a ‘Christmas Dinner’ and a celebration to say goodbye to a volunteer who was finishing up. The food was delicious as usual!
Day 17 – Wednesday
Cow count: 13
I now have a Project Executor who comes to my projects, which at first I thought was a good thing but she maintains order in a way I don’t necessarily agree with and I’m not sure what to do. My afternoon placement however was quite enjoyable as only four students turned up so I learnt a card game called ‘Donkey’. It was nice to spend time with the students where I am not instructing them.
Day 18 – Thursday
Cow count: 18
We had a Henna workshop back at camp. It was quite fun to practice, although I was completely rubbish at it. Hanna, Maddie and Jess all seemed to get the hang of it quite easily and made some lovely designs on their napkins.
Today I realised how little time we have left (three more afternoon projects and five more morning projects) and I’m worried that we haven’t contributed enough in our time here.
Day 19 – Friday
Cow count: 14
The morning project this week has been pretty hectic as almost all the students are attending. For my first two weeks, the numbers varied between 15 and 20 students but now it’s consistently around 27 students. It’s hard to work with the younger ones because they tear up the paper you give them and it’s impossible to monitor them the whole time. Next week Sara and I want to trial them with activities and see if we can get the children outside after they have their snack.
Friday night was Western night at the camp so we all seemed to go back for second helpings of chips and pizza. It was one of the staff’s birthday so we all got cake! It was interesting as after we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ the birthday boy proceeded to feed his male friends and co-workers the cake. We’re still not sure if it’s a cultural thing or something unique to them but we were a little shocked before we started thinking it was adorable.
Day 20 – Saturday
Cow count: 73 (when you are on a bus for two hours, it is very easy to count cows)
Jen and I had a very productive morning planned before we went to Palolem but we decided to sleep in instead. We took a bumpy bus ride to Palolem, which was an experience in itself. I eventually stood on the bus so an older woman who was struggling could sit down.
Palolem is beautiful! We eventually emerged on a beautiful beach with a view of a tropical island and it was stunning. We had a lovely lunch with an ocean view, did some more shopping (I really need to stop) and went for a swim because we were sweating so much. Originally, I would have said the best thing I’d seen at Palolem was a woman wearing a sari, who was knee-deep in water with her young child but then I saw a cow casually take a dump in the middle of the street and that just takes the cake for me.
We caught up with our English friends for a quiet dinner on the beach before Jess, Maddie and I started our hour long taxi ride back to camp. It was interesting to realise that the driver was in fact playing a Justin Bieber CD and now I have ‘Baby’ stuck in my head.
(It should be noted that while we were driving back, Jen, Sarah and Hanna were trying out a ‘Silent Disco’ – a disco where everyone wears headphones due to a noise ban – and Renee was with her host sister’s parents-in-law)
Overall cow count: 181
I realise that I talk about my own projects a lot so thought I’d give some highlights from some of the others:
- Hanna and Jess spend their afternoons painting at an orphanage and currently have painted a beautiful slide, swing set and a round-a-bout.
- Jen and Sarah work in a school in the slums in the morning and their students are very excited for a play they have coordinated and will be performing next week.
- Maddie works with Drop Out Girls in the afternoon and has helped to paint their classroom.
- Renee gets up early every morning to go to the Cancer Hospital and has already sorted through their medication cupboard and is attempting to label everything.
- Jen’s afternoon project involves working with women in the slums and the previous week, they had an excursion to the beach, which some of the women had never seen.
Everyone’s working really hard and although it may seem like we’ve made little contribution, I think the others have done a wonderful job.
Next week on Adventures in Goaland: Your blogger catches the common cold and prepares for the long trek home.
Paige Hetherington signing out.
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