I have been volunteering at a school in Ladakh. The school has a strong sustainability and self-reliance focus that has re-awakened my interest in this sustainability. The volunteer experience has been amazing. I love the students: they are fun, responsible, eager to learn new things, and well aware of their environment. They also enjoy mocking my accent.
I am teaching typing and Movie Maker in "computer class". Movie Maker has been such a hit that students who aren't currently taking computer class are coming in during breaks to try the program. I am excited to see them playing with the menus, using their creative juices, and being interested in how to make the program do what they want.
Aside from computer class, I help with food preservation for winter, cooking, conversation class, and study hall (trigonometry and English). An example quote from conversation class, to give you an idea of daily life at the school is from the topic "technology pros/cons", speaking of western vs composting toilets: "We use soil in our toilets. Soil is not as valuable as water." I must admit the Ladakhi composting toilet I blogged of previously in a joking manner, I have truly come to admire. Ladakh is a region that is being very quickly developed, so the contrast of modern and traditional is very clear, allowing an easier understanding of the merits of each.
I have also been helping with a car project in which we have stripped a Jeep down to its chassis, and now are using the chassis with all the attached car internals to demonstrate how a car works. That project is headed by a fellow ME volunteer who specializes in automotive engineering, and my ME pals back in CA will find it ironic, I am sure, that I flew to India to learn how a car works.
Next stop is Kathmandu, but honestly it's hard to leave this place. There is something magical about it. I only go b/c, with 2 hikes planned in Nepal, one of which is 27 days long, I really need to get trekking before mid-December rolls in. Everest region, you better be impressive...
You go girl! Wish we could be there with you, but I'm still teaching here!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great experience you are having. I love that you are interacting in a real way with the communities you are visiting.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the picture of the red things?
ReplyDeleteBEST...POST...YET. All have been great, but the mix of intercultural analysis (soil vs. water...so true and never thought about that) and humor (flying to India to learn how a car works) made this one publishable beyond a simple bloggers site like this.
ReplyDeleteoh, and btw, you humbled me with your reference to a 21-day hike. I had been all proud of my JMT completion...but that was in CA (my culture, my language), in the Sierra Nevada (8-14K feet), not Nepalese Himalaya...Good luck!
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