I just want to start off by saying that working on the Dakshinayan project was one of the most incredible and fulfilling experiences of my life. Because Dakshinayan volunteers are a rather diverse group of people, I figured I may start off by telling you a little about myself so you know where I coming from. I volunteered in December of 2008 at 20 years of age. In my search for a volunteer project to work on, I was in the unfortunate predicament of wanting to participate in a project where I could help out in a meaningful way, yet as a young college student I did not have any professional skills to offer. I also wanted to work on a small project that gave me much more than a superficial experience of the area's lifestyle and culture, and finally I didn't want to spend an extraordinary amount of money to volunteer MY services.
By happenstance I found Dakshinayan, and it turned out to be just what I needed. Because all of the travel to and from the project are the volunteers responsibility (although Siddharth will give you very detailed instructions on where to go), the project fee is small and just basically covers room and board for a month. And the small scale of the project means that not only do you get a intimate feel for the community there, but also you become an integral part of the project. The volunteers are elementary school teachers, and help to provide the only formal education many of these kids will ever receive. Of course support is provided, but you can rest assure that the work of the volunteers not only important, but vital to the project.
Volunteering in Roldih was a bit challenging. Just the trek to the project required a all-night bus ride then an hour taxi ride on the uneven dirt roads of Jharkhand. Then of course there is no electricity or running water on site.But none of that really bothered me much, it was actually really exciting and made for some great stories later. It was kind of a surprise to me that the most challenging part of project life for me was the more relaxed pace of doing things there. It became very apparent to me, that I had been cultured to believe that if I wasn't doing something "productive", I was wasting time. Of course, that's not to say that back in the USA I was always working on something, but I would say that I feel that always something productive to working on. That was a major culture shock for me on the project. I first arrived on the project at about 7am after the all night venture from Kolkata, and I was itching to explore, meet new people, and most of all to meet the children. That is when I encountered my first frustration when Siddharth kindly told me to go rest. The first few days were probably the hardest as I grew increasingly annoyed with the relaxed pace of life. I felt that I had traveled all the way around the world to work on the project, not to rest. I had arrived during the annual final exams so during the morning I was simply proctoring exams, then the afternoons were without any work save a few daily chores. I became restless. Fortunately, I decided to stick it out. Soon enough I was teaching and I learned to love the relaxed atmosphere. Obviously it was a major adjustment from what I was used to, but after thinking about it, that is exactly what I had come to do. I wanted to experience a different culture and lifestyle. I hadn't really realized the full implications of what it meant when I said "I wanted to be immersed in another culture", but after about one week it hit me and I came around. I learned to love the frequent "Chai Breaks", the afternoon strolls with Suman the cook, the long philosophical discussions with Siddharth, stretching out in the sun with a good book, and even the afternoon naps. People in Jharkhand have the nasty stereotype of "being lazy", and sometimes it is a challenge to get things done on the project, if for example the local painter skips out on a day's work without any notification. But on the whole, it's just a different lifestyle. People value the time they spend with one another and value their relaxation time. The different priorities really struck a chord with me and made me questions whether I had my priorities straight. Even though I have returned to the fast-paced world in the USA, I have not forgotten the lesson I learned in Roldih. And besides, in the year that I've been back in the States, I have still yet to find a cup of chai that could even come close to comparing with what I had in Roldih.
Of course I cannot talk about project life without mentioning the children. The students of Dakshinayan are possibly the most motivated and incredible group of kids I've ever meet. Like I said previously, I arrived during final exams and the school would officially be on holiday almost my entire stay. Yet Siddharth told me that I could stay hold class everyday and teach as I pleased in order to prepare them for the official start to the year in January. To my surprise, despite the school being on holiday, I still got almost 100% attendance everyday that month. These kids really want to go to school and they love to learn. I taught math, science, English, and social studies. I taught them songs, read them books, and encourage art, and they devoured everything I could give them. The language barrier was a big challenge at first, as I did not speak Hindi or any of the local languages. However, as I soon learned children are the easiest people to communicate with when there is a language barrier. They pick things up very quickly and I could just use super-animated body language (which I reveled in doing) to convey my message. Even if teaching is not your strong suit, simply playing football and carrom, or sharing your culture (like through pictures) is a wonderful way to connect with the children. They are so open and friendly to all of the volunteers as they really look forward to meeting the foreigners. In fact, come to think of it, everyone from the kids, to coworkers on the project, to villagers and people in the marketplace are so friendly and warm to foreigners. It's incredible.
Well, I've probably rambled on long enough and kudos to anyone who has read this far. Let me just say the volunteering with Dakshinayan was an phenomenal experience for me, and if go in with the right attitude and mindset, I'm sure it could be a powerful experience for you as well. Just a bit of advice, do your research. Both on traveling to India in general and on the happenings of the project as I know just in the past year the project has gone through some big changes. So read the blog, talk to Siddharth, and if you'd like email past volunteers. Please if you have any questions about the project send me an email at mccarterribakoff_sim@berkeley.edu and I'll be happy to respond. Best of luck!
