I have been in India (Hubli, Karnataka to be precise) for just short of a week now and my mental hard drive has been filled to the capacity with thoughts, questions, experiences, exhilaration. So, now seems like a proper time to begin some serious chronicling for the sake of my present self, my future self, and for those readers who perhaps can find their own lives invigorated by learning of my experiences in India, in the field of international development, and in constant self-evaluation.
But first, some basics.
Who am I?
I am a student. An undergraduate at UC Berkeley. I study English and Molecular Cell Biology. But really what I study is myself, and what it is I think is beautiful or cruel about the way in which I perceive my reality. In some ways I am a present hedonist, in that I always want to make the most of the now; I always want some sort of stimulus. Though, what I mean by stimulus is probably not what you’re thinking. Stimulus through the thrill of just relinquishing control to the chaos and randomness of the universe, stimulus through the call of a bird that breaks and reorganizes my mental processes, stimulus through the challenge of perfecting the art of haggling. But I am also a futurist, as I am never quite satisfied with the present. Something can always be better, much better. This can make for a rather melancholic perspective, no? Thankfully I am working in development then. There is no room for world weariness when you are constantly struggling in the field.
What will I write about?
I will write about things that actually happened. Things that I saw, felt, tasted, heard, smelled. Things that elicited a reaction out of me. Anecdotes, vignettes, random crazy cultural adventures. I will try to limit posts of the existential and self-probing nature; I realize they can be quite frustrating to read as we will always wonder, “what exactly happened??” Know, though, that I am something of a synaesthetic and descriptions can often veer into the abstract nature.
What is my project?
For a long time I wondered to myself, what am I doing going to India? What exactly is my project?
I will answer the latter first. The group that I work with is named HMS (Haath Mein Sehat), which translates to Health in Hands in Hindi. HMS presents to itself the problem of water and sanitation deficiencies for slum residents of urban slums in India. Most people in cities do not have access to treated water for several days out of the week, as a result, when there is water flow they store as much as they can in large jar-like containers called mutkas. This water is used for washing dishes, clothes, hands and for drinking. The paths of microbial contamination are numerous, but most likely is a result of dipping hands into the jar to retrieve water. Though, contamination could also originate from faulty infrastructure, that is leaky pipes and the like. Regardless, each year millions are subject to a livelihood without assured access to constant safe water, leading to millions (mostly children) suffering from potentially fatal enteric diseases and the like. This inequality is a tragedy and crime of humanity.
So there’s this problem. What can we do about it? Technological interventions. Hygiene education program. Evaluations/conducting needs assessments. Whatever needs to be done.
Specifically, I work on the health education program. Our model is designed as such: College students from Berkeley design a series of lesson plans to be taught to primary school level children living in urban slums aimed at promoting handwashing, Indian college students are recruited and trained to teach lessons, primary school students go through the program. It sounds simple, but there are a ridiculous number of variables and a ridiculous amount of room for change. Subtle as it is, the beauty of the program actually lies in the cross cultural exchange. That is creating interactions between Berkeley students and Indian college students, and more importantly, interactions between Indian college students and slum communities . Without a program as such, many of these college students could potentially go through life completely detached from the very real reality that is poverty.
I will leave the project description at that for now. I will post my specific goals and plan of action later after I finish clarifying my vision and proposed methods of progress.
Finally, you might be questioning, what am I, of all people, doing here? What are my qualifications? It’s true, I’m no development major, I’ve never even taken a class in the field, I am not an engineer or a scholar of education. It would be a blatant lie to say I do not feel these insecurities every single day. But ultimately, perhaps the accurate perspective is what does any of this matter? If I can get something done, what does it matter what my professional/educational background is? I am who I yam (extra love to those who can guess the origin of that quote!). Let trial be the test of my qualifications.
I cannot praise a cloistered and fugitive virtue, unexercised and unbreathed. For we bring not but impurity into the world: purification is by trial, and trial is by what is contrary.
Areopagitica, john milton
