Jan 18 Back to Work

RESEARCH/PREP

I looked up the websites of each NGO I will be interviewing people from to gain a basic understanding of each. I’m writing out questions in order to find out what they claim to do, what they actually do, how successful they are, how they work/ type of projects, and most importantly who their partners, networks, and donors are. Dr. DeMars reminded me before coming that NGOs have a mission statement or vision, but they have partners many times that they must listen to in order to stay in business. When the interests of partners interfere with their mission, often NGOs will choose to please their partners because in this lies their existence. For instance, I talked to a volunteer who has been here longer than me who works at a particular NGO. She says that she thinks that what CCS does (in bringing volunteers and plugging them in to work) is great but at times what the NGO will really need is not something that volunteers of CCS can provide because of restrictions that CCS imposes. When different organizations partner together it is inevitable that complex relationships will emerge.

MY PLACEMENT

Today, monday, meant back to work. Today we had Vicki (one of the staff members) come with us to talk to our teacher. We cannot communicate with her but Jackie and I both really want to help out as much as possible. We got Vicki to ask what our role is supposed to be. Most of the other volunteers can plan whatever they want to do with their kids, but we haven't been able to figure out what she expects from us. We didn't know if we should just come in and supplement what shes doing (even though honestly she doesn't really do anything or teach anything) or whether we can plan activities. What we found out is that she has a cirriculum that she follows and to fit in with it we can bring activities related to counting and vegetables but only for the first hour. After that we must go with her lesson plan. Honestly she really just leaves them alone to do what they want so I am not sure what activities it is that she does in the afternoon, but Vicki helped us to plan approaved activities for the rest of the week. I am excited for a new week and some clarity. I feel good about the lesson plans. Basically the Mobile Creches location I work out is the headquarters in Delhi so there are supervisors and staff that can look on, so they are stricter than most locations about following the cirriculum.

Today was fun with the kids. They are so precious. Very funny children. Honestly even much of the time when they do things wrong they are quite funny. Last week we had a lot of extra kids because some of the schools were closed down so it was extra hectic, but today there was less chaos. The kids were much better today. It was fun interacting with them. And today several of the kids ran up to me and started pointing at their clothes screaming the names of the colors. I tried to teach colors last week and I wasn't sure if they were getting it, but I guess they did! After last week I have a new attitude. I'm just going to have fun with them. You see Indians have different ways of treating children. Since it is a pretty big day care center I guess they ahve to be harsh, but they are much tougher on the kids than we are. They hit them when they are bad and don't allow for much playing. I've decided that whether or not they like it, I am going to play with them and have fun. The kids really seem to like me even though they don't listen to me very much. They all want to sit beside me and are always screaming "Didi! Didi!" but I am not stern like the other teachers so they see as a playmate more than a disciplinarian. I'm going to go with it.



RELIGION

Today CCS took us after work to see a Mosque, a Hindu temple and a Sikh temple. It was very interesting because spirituality is a huge part of India. It reveals both the commonality and differences of the vast country. India is a country which is not united by a common language, ethnicity or religion. It is so diverse that every one is a minority. Despite the vast differences, India remains a unified country. India is a secular democracy, but as Shashi Tharoor writes, "Western dictionaries define secularism as the absense of religion, but Indian secularism means a profusion of religions, none of which is priviledged by the state and all of which are open to participation by everybody. Secularism in India does not mean irreligiousness...Rather, it means, in the Indian tradition, multi-religiousness." In The Elephant, The Tiger, and The Cell Phone (a book I've just started which seems good) he writes about how complex and simple religion is. Hinduism is a religion without apostacy because it recognizes all ways of worship as valid and it is a religion with no fundamentals or set beliefs. Even within this religion there are variants. Still, people of different faiths exist and thrive side by side. Many Sikhs go to Hindu temples to worship and Hindus go to christian churches etc. because they believe that there are many ways to worship.

The mosque we went to was small and we didnt get to see much of it, but they told us about Islam. The Bangla Sahib Gurudwara Hindu temple was really neat-looking. Like Iskcon Temple, how it was set up was fascinating. The inside was not too big but it looked huge from the street. Both temples had towers with nothing in them and large intricate porches I guess you could call them, which looks fancy but really hasno practical purpose. Hinduism is just so strange to me. Not only are there infinite numbers of gods, but in the temples there are these kind of scary idols which look like large porcelin dolls. There are window-type things and through them are rooms with one or more gods which look like scary dolls. They are dressed very ornately with lots of colors. People come in and bow to them and worship them. In the temple there are several shrines all over. Outside on the porch thing there was a monkey god which looked half human-half monkey and a another god with an elephant head. The holy books are full of mythical stories that sound like stories of the Greek gods. It seems silly to me, but I guess christian theology would seem really silly to Hindus.

I found the Sikh temple very interesting. Sikhism is more similar to Islam in that it has strict rules, but men and women are seen as equals. Sikhs have ten gods, but they do not worship idols as the Hindus. The do kind of worship their holy book though. Sikhs must wear turbans at all times (the men) because the hair must remain uncut and be covered. I really like the turbans. I think men look really wise with them on. They also wear a special bracelet, carry a dagger, and leave the beard unshaved. Vicki has a clip which pins his beard up so it doesn’t hang down, but many don’t do this. The sikh temple was neat on the outside but much less ornate than the Hindu temples. We had to wash our feet and hands before entering it barefoot! That was the one thing about this experience that I hated: walking around in Delhi without shoes. I discovered that I am a total germ-o-phobe. I felt so dirty walking where tons of others have walked without shoes. As soon as I got back I soaked my feet in hot water and soap. Other than that though I enjoyed the trip.