Village School Visit

After a fun-filled night of bonding with classmates, in the morning, we headed to a village for a full day of activities.  We were scheduled from 10am until 5pm. We visited the local NGO, local government officials, local government school, a local self-help group for women, and of course had an amazing meal on banana leaves. We were given the first-class treatment the whole day and felt like celebrities. At each meeting, they always wanted to take a group picture. It was funny, every time we took a group picture, they asked for the good camera which was my iphone. I guess you had to be there, but we all had a good laugh about it.

Everyone was very open with us and willing to share their strengths and challenges of working in their perspective jobs in a village. I don’t know really where to start. For the most part, I was very impressed with their ingenuity and dedication to making their village sustainable for everyone living in the Guligenahalli village. Below are pictures of the village.

I am going to focus on the youth program and the women's program. The youth program because it directly helps shape my thinking around youth participatory action research. The women's group is because I am a woman. Simply put.

CMCA Youth Program

 CMCA youth program's mission is to transform the young into concerned, thinking, active citizens for an inclusive and sustainable India. Their vision is to empower young people living by the values of democracy, in harmony with nature, engaged in collective action for equitable development.

SKDRDP Women's Group

SKDRDP stands for Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project. SKDRDP not only provides financial aid to the women but empowers them. With the loans, people are equipped with the abilities to make something for their future and to improve their standard of living. Also it bestows upon them the responsibility of them making their own decisions and controlling their fate.

My project in India is to examine how classrooms can be transformed into students being active learners rather than passive learners in their core classes (English, Math, Science, History). I observed an 8th grade class during the school day that is run by an NGO to incorporate CMCA youth programs. There are 25 topics and each topic is a 45min. session. During our observation, the students stood up and presented on what they have learned. Student 1 told us how she learned to speak up for herself and her family. Her family was having trouble getting water in her home and on the day she spoke, the family was getting water delivered. Student 2 approached the local government about banning alcohol in his village because alcoholism is rampant. He has not hear back yet but plans on continuing to fight alcoholism in his community. Student 3's father fixes leaking taps and asked his father to fix all the leaks in his community so that water is not being wasted. His father fixed all the leaks in the village. There were so many students that spoke and I applaud them for their efforts and working so hard to improve their lives and their community.

Now, my question is...why can't we incorporate this into our regular curriculum and it be taught by teachers rather than an outside organization? Why is it that we think that life skills and real problems should not be solved together in our schools. Isn't the purpose of education to build skills in our youth to be successful afterwards whether it be for college or a job?

The women performed a dance for us too!

The women's group, SKDRDP, was inspiring. This one woman talked about how she was depressed and felt that there was no hope for her and her family. Her husband is an alcoholic and she did not know how to help him. She joined SKDRDP and her life changed. She now has money of her own and can help her family. She has told her husband he is like her oldest son and that she will take care of him and the rest of the family. That he does not need to worry. He needs to focus on becoming sober. She was very outspoken and energized by her empowerment. This was the last meeting we had and it re-energized me for the 3 hour ride home. I could listen to them for hours. It was heart warming to hear their stories and know that in every part of the world, everyone is trying to live a happy fulfilling life.