I have already completed half of my internship. Time really flies.
As I mentioned in my last blog post, there have been times that I’ve been riddled with loneliness and can’t wait to return to my family, my friends, and my familiar life. Since then, I’ve made a lot of progress in terms of investing myself in this experience. At my accommodation, there are not many people my age and people tend to only stay for a few days at a time. However, I made an unlikely friend, Stanley. He’s a father of two young children from Goa who often travels to Bangalore because of his job. He says he knows the best seafood place nearby that we can make a visit to. I am proud of myself for making such an unlikely friend, and thankful for the kindness that keeps being shown to me in the most unlikely places.
It was only a couple days ago that I realized my time in India is already halfway done. After making a concerted effort to be as engaged as possible here, both by going out and exploring on my own and with new friends, I can’t believe how much progress I’ve already made from the first few days of being in Bangalore. I have never been so comfortable on my own and I am so relieved to see (part of) the positive and empowering side of the transformation of traveling abroad alone.
Working with my NGO, CRY, has been a very interesting experience. For the first week, I was researching all about the Indian caste system, education system, and public health system. This was all background information for me so that when I went out in the field, I would be a bit more knowledgeable about the conditions that allow problems of child rights violations to exist.
The office in Bangalore has mostly women working in it, which is a welcome change from all the masculine presence I’ve seen in most public places. The employees are happy here – we are encouraged to take breaks whenever necessary, I am offered chai (Indian tea) at least 3 times a day, which tastes amazing. One day, I even sat with my supervisor just talking and eating different types of mangos from the nearby market.
My main project has been doing field work in Chennai. There is a small village called Vyasarpadi where an NGO that partners with CRY has made huge strides regarding child rights and greatly improved the community as a whole. The leader of the NGO was a railway worker, never went to college, and one day decided that a change needed to be made. My job was to go to this community and capture this story of hope through interviews with the leader and children affected by this NGO. On Monday, I will return to Bangalore to put together a presentation describing their “then versus now” story in order to inspire hope and change in other communities in India. I am so excited to be able to do such meaningful work here and I am determined to live up to their expectations. Wish me luck!
Written on 7/11/18