Day 4: Second day teaching Volunteering at Surya Bharti: An Enlightening Experience

Day 4: Second day teaching

Today, we visited Surya Bharti for the second time. We were very excited to once again see the students’ bright faces, sometimes shy smiles, and enthusiasm for learning, and to teach them English in a more hands-on manner than the first day.

We  believe that across cultures, there is at least one common passion: food. On that note, we brought printouts of American menus to share with the younger students and teach them common food / restaurant-related phrases, like “What would you like to eat?” and “My personal favorite is …”

The activity was a hit, especially as we went around asking each student what he / she wanted to order. It was fascinating to see differences in tastes across cultures, as the Surya students frequently ordered items such as buckwheat pancakes and multigrain bread, while in the U.S., youth would typically order maple-drenched French toast or sweet pancakes stacked high. The students comprehended the lesson well and were giggling throughout, appearing to enjoy using their imagination while learning English. Toward the end of one class, all the students began ordering dessert items such as chocolate cake and cookies! It was endearing, and also struck me as perhaps driven by the rarity of such treats in their everyday lives.

 

For the older students, we taught Martin Luther King’s famed “I Have a Dream” speech. We again wanted to instill something beyond just a rote English lesson; we wanted to incite students to reflect on the ideas of equality, freedom, and justice that King touts so eloquently. We taught them the history behind the speech and read the first portion line by line, explaining the metaphors and deeper meanings behind some of the sentences. While doing so we saw the students’ faces become serious with concentration and, I hope, contemplation.

One of my greatest wishes for these students who filled me with continuous inspiration, is that they will live in “an oasis of freedom and justice” (King) in which they can strive for and achieve their many dreams. Surya Bharti School is setting them on the path to do so.

Day 3: Women’s healthcare project Volunteering at Surya Bharti: An Enlightening Experience

Day 3: Women’s healthcare project

On the third day, we were given the opportunity to experience something altogether different. We visited a village near one of the Surya Bharti alumnus’s homes, where gathered around the porch of a building were a crowd of women, young children, and babies. This was our first glimpse of the women’s healthcare project that Yuki-san leads in a few different rural villages. Maternal education lacks in these villages and mothers are often unaware of whether their babies are growing healthily.

This project seeks to both educate and provide resources for these mothers; it involves measuring babies’ weight and length over a series of months and keeping a close eye on whether they are losing weight. A loss of weight from one month to the next signals a deeper issue in the baby’s health, as it often results from a lack of proper nutrition, dysentery, or other causes.

Getting to take part in this critical process was both touching and eye-opening. It was clear the village community found it valuable; many locals even joined to help. Two older women from the village lifted each baby onto the scale –for the newly born, holding them carefully while the women themselves stepped onto the scale – and called out their weight, which was diligently recorded by the head nurse (a staff member at Surya Bharti). The babies were tranquil during this step of the process, either completely asleep or watching with interest. The women then hoisted the babies onto a wooden platform used to measure their length, holding the babies’ legs straight to get an accurate measurement. The babies didn’t like this less-than-comfortable step and often began to cry, but as a reward for all their hard work and undoubtedly very confusing moments, candy awaited them. Their cries subsided quickly.

A most poignant memory from this experience was seeing the young village children watch with curiosity the process taking place, a once-a-month spectacle that gave them something to look forward to. Many of them used to be in the place of today’s babies – crying after being placed on the wooden platform – but are now healthy and smiling young children. Dusty and bare-footed, but healthy and smiling.

Days 2 & 3: Student home visits Volunteering at Surya Bharti: An Enlightening Experience

Days 2 & 3: Student home visits

Aside from teaching, our first two days in Bodh Gaya were spent visiting student and alumni homes. These visits are gems of memories that will certainly stay with us the rest of our lives.

The van chugged along the narrow dirt road as we made our way to Karan’s village, the first of the five we visited. As the bustle and concrete of the city fell away to the countryside, with its open fields of rice, grain, and grazing cows, the change in air quality was palpable. The village air was dewy and fresh. We inhaled deeply.

Karan greeted us when we arrived and led us down the dirt road toward his home. As we made our way, gingerly skirting the fresh piles of cow dung, we could feel the gaze of the curious villagers on us. We must have looked completely foreign, taking in the scenes of goats, chickens, stray pups, women in sarees, and overall, the lifestyle of subsistence farming surrounding us. Casually, Karan explained to us that one of the homes had been invaded by locusts.

One thing was clear, especially as Karan proudly explained to us how his extended and nuclear family all live near one another in a cluster of homes: family and community are indispensable elements of the villagers’ lives. This is in striking contrast to the U.S., where we often forego proximity to family in pursuit of personal and individualized goals. Though neither way of life is necessarily the be-all end-all, seeing these tight family units inspired me to be more intentional in my life choices that will impact proximity to loved ones.

We entered Karan’s home. Four generations of his family were present, from his grandmother to his niece. Karan led us to his study room, which doubles as his family’s prayer room. In the corner stood a yellow lamp. We learned over the course of the house visits that this yellow lamp is government-issued and solar-powered. It helps many of the students study, as electricity in their homes is unreliable at best, and non-existent at worst. I couldn’t help but think about a Skype lesson I had with Karan and Ravi (both my students over the past six months) on the topic of “dream homes.” They had described their dream homes as having windows, curtains, and lush gardens. Polished floors, beautiful bathrooms, and bright lighting. I could now better understand the mesmerized ring to their voices when they described these dreams, elements that are so far from their reality.

It would be a shame not to also mention the delicious and vibrant foods we had the privilege of eating at each of the student’s homes. There was the sweet and milky masala chai, which we drank so often that we began to crave it at the end of each meal. There were the soan papdi and the rasmalai. The toasted rice. The fresh papaya. The list goes on.

Suffice it to say that, by the end of these visits, both our hearts and our stomachs were full.