Battling Indian inefficiency, festivals, and wonderful kids
It has already been a week since we’ve arrived here at CT Schools in Jalandhar and gotten the second Youth Solidarity and English Language (YSEL) program underway. It has been a heel of a week organizational-wise for we landed late last Friday night and were greeted by a staff totally unprepared for us. Not only were they unprepared to host 55 people, they had never taken on such an endeavor, so we’ve been training them, which has been rather exhausting. In many ways it’s like reinventing the wheel everyday. Yesterday it took me an hour to hook up a DVD player, every day the shut off their Internet so we need one person to turn it back on and reboot the system, everyday. It took a week to get the kitchen staff to put out hot water and milk for our morning coffee every morning. Just when one thing gets working, another thing stops working. This has been my week. It has tired me out a bit, but I’m not out of the fight yet. I need to be strong to keep my staff going so we give our Afghans a great month.
Despite all these logistical and organizational problems, we’ve been having a great time. I feel the kids coming together and starting to gel into a cohesive group. There are challenges for them as they learn to figure out how to think differently and do things outside their comfort zone, or question some of their beliefs, or simply learnt o think and act for themselves of their own free will, without someone telling them what to do. My teachers are dedicated to giving them a solid academic program and we are beginning to see the fruits of our labors. I’m looking forward to the second week when it all comes together fantastically, inshallah.
It’s festival season here in India, which is a great time to be here. It just adds to the experience for the kids and for us. Last Thursday was Deshera, a festival that celebrates the triumph of good over evil. On that day, a long time ago, the evil ten-headed king Raven kidnapped Lord Rama’s wife Sita and carried her off to Sri Lanka where he ruled. He and his two brothers were evil people and ruled their land with an iron and bloody fist. Six years passed before Lord Rama, with the help of Homayun, the Monkey God, flew off to Sri Lanka to get his wife back. Raven and his brothers were giants and Rama and Homayun fought long and hard with them until finally they burned their kingdom and them along with it. Lord Rama and Sita spent 14 days traveling back to their kingdom and were greeted with candles and blazing lights. Diwali, which is in two weeks will honor this occasion and is the Christmas of India. Can’t wait for that! Last Thursday we went to a Deshera festival where they burned giant effigies of Raven and his evil brothers. It reminded me a bit of Burning Man but these things went up in flames and firecrackers much quicker. There was a huge crowd around a big open field where they held the event at sundown. We sat in our bus and watched it. They reenacted the battle scene with fireworks and dramatization. We couldn’t see it but we could hear a man laughing evilly as Raven the ten-headed king. Then all of a sudden one of his brothers went up in flames and crackles and booms from all the firecrackers they had stuffed inside him. Then the other brother went up in flames and lastly Raven got torched. It was really cool to watch and before we knew it, it was all over. Then we sped off to the mall for some shopping and on to Punjabi Village for dinner.
Punjabi Village is a themed restaurant/cultural center to give people a sense of Punjab culture. The kids really enjoyed it a lot, especially riding the camel and the horse. Poor camel, I think they broke his hump, so many of the kids rode him. The magic of Punjabi Village and some of the other places I’ve been to hundreds of times has worn off for me, but I’m always happy to see my kids enjoying themselves to their hearts content. These experiences make them more open minded, happier and better people. I’m glad I can give them that experience. Today we are off to Science City. This will be my fourth time visiting here but I’m always happy to give my Afghans this unique science experience.
Despite all these logistical and organizational problems, we’ve been having a great time. I feel the kids coming together and starting to gel into a cohesive group. There are challenges for them as they learn to figure out how to think differently and do things outside their comfort zone, or question some of their beliefs, or simply learnt o think and act for themselves of their own free will, without someone telling them what to do. My teachers are dedicated to giving them a solid academic program and we are beginning to see the fruits of our labors. I’m looking forward to the second week when it all comes together fantastically, inshallah.
It’s festival season here in India, which is a great time to be here. It just adds to the experience for the kids and for us. Last Thursday was Deshera, a festival that celebrates the triumph of good over evil. On that day, a long time ago, the evil ten-headed king Raven kidnapped Lord Rama’s wife Sita and carried her off to Sri Lanka where he ruled. He and his two brothers were evil people and ruled their land with an iron and bloody fist. Six years passed before Lord Rama, with the help of Homayun, the Monkey God, flew off to Sri Lanka to get his wife back. Raven and his brothers were giants and Rama and Homayun fought long and hard with them until finally they burned their kingdom and them along with it. Lord Rama and Sita spent 14 days traveling back to their kingdom and were greeted with candles and blazing lights. Diwali, which is in two weeks will honor this occasion and is the Christmas of India. Can’t wait for that! Last Thursday we went to a Deshera festival where they burned giant effigies of Raven and his evil brothers. It reminded me a bit of Burning Man but these things went up in flames and firecrackers much quicker. There was a huge crowd around a big open field where they held the event at sundown. We sat in our bus and watched it. They reenacted the battle scene with fireworks and dramatization. We couldn’t see it but we could hear a man laughing evilly as Raven the ten-headed king. Then all of a sudden one of his brothers went up in flames and crackles and booms from all the firecrackers they had stuffed inside him. Then the other brother went up in flames and lastly Raven got torched. It was really cool to watch and before we knew it, it was all over. Then we sped off to the mall for some shopping and on to Punjabi Village for dinner.
Punjabi Village is a themed restaurant/cultural center to give people a sense of Punjab culture. The kids really enjoyed it a lot, especially riding the camel and the horse. Poor camel, I think they broke his hump, so many of the kids rode him. The magic of Punjabi Village and some of the other places I’ve been to hundreds of times has worn off for me, but I’m always happy to see my kids enjoying themselves to their hearts content. These experiences make them more open minded, happier and better people. I’m glad I can give them that experience. Today we are off to Science City. This will be my fourth time visiting here but I’m always happy to give my Afghans this unique science experience.
posted by Tom T at 6:49 PM
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