Friday 25 July 2014

What it's like to be illiterate

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve never known what it’s like to be illiterate. At some hazy point in your childhood, you were unable to read, but you did not need to interact with the written world back then. Until recently, I also didn’t have any but the most general of ideas what illiteracy was like. Moving to a country where not only do the people speak a language that I’m not familiar with but also write in a script that is completely foreign to me gave me a taste of what illiteracy is like. During the most recent work I did on one of my projects, I faced the rounded script of Gurmukhi directly.

A fellow intern and myself are standing in front of a sign for the Forestry Department that on one side is entirely in Punjabi, and on the other, English. It’s the last sign w e’ll see with any English, and we are without our typical (amazing) translator. We have to navigate the maze of the area on our own. We quickly gravitate to anything with a sign – the larger the sign and the bigger the letters, the more likely we figure it to be important. We pass a sign that even has a special welcoming shape, and assume we are likely headed in the right direction. When you can’t read, you quickly learn other rules for getting around. Something with a sign is more likely to be important or something you can enter, as someone put it there to tell you something; the bigger the lettering or a sign is, the more likely it is to be important; and shapes both on and of signs can give you basic information about a place. However, when you can’t read and you’re not trying to find your way somewhere, you pay hardly any attention to what’s written around you. For my first two months here, I assumed most things were written in both Devanagari and Gurmukhi (the alphabets that Hindi and Punjabi are written in, respectively), because I never paid signs enough attention to notice otherwise. It was only when I started learning Devanagari that I realized nothing around here was written in Hindi. Being able to read also gives people a type of mysterious knowledge. Everyone always seems to have secret information that comes to them as if from thin air, in what appears to be some form of Indian telepathy – until you realize that they can read many of the signs around you, and that’s why they know what bus to take or when all the stores will be closed. It is information transported silently from one mind to another, but it’s via paper rather than telekinetic waves.

Having the ability to read expands a person’s world dramatically. In trying to teach an alphabet to the individuals in the camps we work with, we are attempting to provide them with the ability to interact with the world around them on a different level. To have access to the same information that others in the society around them take for granted. Exclusion from the community they live near is a major issue for the migrants we work with, and in a small way, being able to read will allow them to become more a part of that community than they are now. And of course, being able to read will also make books accessible to them – one of the most powerful educating tools. Literacy will give the communities we work with the opportunity to better not only their own place in life, but hopefully that of their family as well.

I always thought of being able to read as something that was simply enjoyable; having now experienced illiteracy, I realize how important it is. How being able to read can expand someone’s world.


- Kayleigh Walters, USA
- Organic farming and SWASH project manager, Punjab 


Tuesday 15 July 2014

My life as an EduCARE intern

My life as an EduCARE intern could be compared to what I presume being a Celebrity Unicef ambassador would be like. Travels through striking lands. People taking photographs of you while you shop for food at a local market. People asking to take “ek photo” as you travel in touristy locations. In general you find your self the gaze of many stares. I can now relate to Selena Gomez and David Beckham in a way I would have never have expected, as I’m sure they draw equally if not more attention as they serve the global community.

Most importantly the greatest aspect of being an EduCARE intern is the opportunity to work with a unique Indian population. Currently I find myself working on a Maternal Health and Education initiative in migrant camps located in rural Punjab. My job title requires that I go into the migrant camps, hang out and talk with the residents and then try to determine how the organization can help them create a better quality of life. This week I am working on developing a Health and Sanitation workshop for adults in the camps which will teach the migrants on cross contamination processes of food and water. From there on out I will work on developing Maternal Health workshops.

As an EduCARE intern you have the unique opportunity to develop and implement programs in an exciting environment. Although this poses quite a challenge, demanding personal introspection and awareness, it is also an opportunity to live something many only dream about. Being an EduCARE intern provides you with the space to be “the change you wish to see in the world”. Along with that I have already met so many amazingly qualified interns, whom you get to experience India right alongside. Just last weekend I went to Amristar with two fellow interns. So far, travelling around India nurtures a more holistic perspective on just how diverse the Country can be.

If the work and the travel isn’t enough, as an aspiring anthropologist I live in a beyond ideal environment. First I have the pleasure of sharing a home, with 4 other interns, with a local couple, Ma Ji and Uncle Ji. This has really opened up a doorway to being a member of the community that I don’t think many foreigners get to experience. Ma Ji serves as grandmother in our home away from home, always keeping an eye out for us, and being their to help us if we have any problems. Along with this our house is nestled amongst a ton of trees which are home to multiple Rhesus Macaque Monkey troupes. At time these monkeys can be outrightly obnoxious, trying to steal our food and knocking our clothes of the clothes line, but it is still an incredible experience to be cohabiting with such lively primates!

Living in another country as an intern has served me an abundance of opportunities and experience I could have never imagined. From being a celebrity to living with monkeys to all that’s in between it is truly a wonderful experience. I look forward to seeing how the next few months will unfold.

- Alexandria McCall, USA
- Maternal health and education project manager, Punjab

Saturday 12 July 2014

Challenges of living in rural India

This past month in Punjab has been especially hot (115 degrees Fahrenheit or 45 Celsius). Higher temperatures often put a strain on the finite amount of resources available in rural areas. In day to day life this means people want and should be consuming more water but because everyone wants more water, and the amount of water available actually shrinks in the summer water shortages occur. This recent month of heat has made all the interns more aware of how we perceive resources and our access to them.  To give you and idea about the daily access EduCARE interns have to resources such as water, electricity, and even cars, we challenge you to try to complete the following list below for a week:

  • Spend less than 5$ USD a day
  • Hand wash a full load of clothes and hang dry them
  • Spend a night (minimum of 5 hours) without electricity
  • Cook all your meals only on a stove top (don’t use oven or microwave)
  • When you have to use the bathroom walk outside and then go back inside to use the bathroom (suppose to be like using an outhouse)
  • Only eat fruits and vegetables that are in season
  • Don’t use your own personal vehicle, other option can include but are not limited to: hitch-hiking, public transportation, and hitching rides with friends
  • Only listen to radio channels, or watch television that is in a foreign language
  • Only shower every 3 days (washing face and feet is allowed)
  • When you want a hot shower take a cold shower, when you want a cold shower take a hot shower
  • Don’t ever wear shorts EVER (that means in your house)
  • Turn off all electronic devices when you leave a room
  • After you have used a dish immediately wash it then put it away
  • If its yellow let it mellow if its brown flush it down (when in the bathroom only flush solid waste)
  • Don’t use any water from a tap, if you want water first fill a bucket and then use only that water.
  • Don’t eat any meat, eggs, or consume any alcohol
  • Don’t leave your house after 7 pm, unless you are staying at a friends house for the night
  • Only use the internet every other day
  • Collect all plastic trash and then sort it
- Kiana Cateriano, USA 
- Health and education project manager