When I was in 8^th grade my family decided to visit my brother in India. He, like I am now, was spending three months studying at an American program in Bodhgaya. Although I made countless memories during my time there, the most vivid experience was my trip to Varanasi. My family woke at dawn and hired a boat on the bank of the Ganges. From there we set off through the lotus-covered waters to observe Varanasi’s famous Burning Ghats. These Ghats are where Hindu families carry out public cremations of their loved ones. The smell, the smoke, the lighting, and the spirit in the air- all of these things were too much for my mind to handle. That moment stuck with me and was a major factor in my decision to study abroad in India. I could never quite grasp everything in that scene. There were so many things that were beyond foreign to me. Although, even at that age, I had been lucky enough to travel to many different places, I had never seen anything like the Burning Ghats. And because they confused me so much, because they challenged me so much, I needed to return to them eventually. I finally accomplished that goal last week.

To prepare students for their time on their Independent Study Project, SIT sends four groups of students off to “intern” at a nonprofit for 10 days. The choices were: a women’s empowerment group in Dharmasala, an education group in Udaipur, an environmental group in Delhi, and an education group in Varanasi. While each nonprofit seemed amazing, I couldn’t pass up the chance to return to Varanasi. So, after 8 years, and a 20 hour train ride, I returned to Varanasi and its Burning Ghats.

My experience there was incredible. I find myself drawn to the holy cities of India; The chaos that engulfs them, the diversity of the visitors, and the spirituality that serves as platforms to the whole ordeal all fascinate me. I am at once bombarded by my senses and at peace with my self. Each day was more exhausting than the next. However we were blessed with an ample amount of time to relax and digest. Literally digest: we found some delicious (and cheap!) Middle Eastern food and our dinners turned into a daily reprieve from the madness surrounding us. I found a great amount of time to read. It was bizarre to escape the world for a while through a novel only to look out onto the Ganges rushing past and hear the sound of cows and taxis consuming the city. We did find time to explore however. We ended up visiting the Ghats twice; the first time we followed a little boy through the skinny, shit-ridden streets of Varanasi to a building that overlooked the Burning Ghats. Even though we spent at least 30 minutes transfixed by the scene, we all were unsatisfied and we returned at dawn a couple days later via boat. Even though I found myself more connected/understanding of the families morning their loved ones, I found myself no closer to understanding what was in front of me. Varanasi was a great city accompanied by an atmosphere that is difficult to describe. I’ve posted some photos below that will hopefully capture what I saw in front of me (no photos of the public cremations.)

The Organization we visited in Varansi was founded by a Swiss woman 20 years ago and was named Kiran. It was a school (better described as a village) for kids with disabilities. The school was created for kids with physical, neurological, and learning disabilities. There were numerous programs offered by Kiran: a special education unit, an integrated education unit (which included kids without any disabilities), a vocational/skill training center, a rehabilitation unit, and a teacher-accreditation unit. We spend 5 days visiting each of the units and it was an amazing experience. I have always been interested in education and I’ve even had the opportunity to volunteer at a special education summer camp, but I’ve never experienced something as educational about this field than my time in Kiran. I have included an excerpt from the journal I kept during my time there that hopefully portrays the environment I was surround by.

“We arrived at the same time as everyone else. After meeting the Director’s personal assistant, who was confided to a wheel chair, she escorted us to the main meting hall for daily prayer and meditation. Students fill the room. Some were confided to wheel chairs- they sat at the edge of the room- others relied on crutches, which they left at the door, relying on friendship to reach their seats. Some differences we obvious some were not. Many students sat on-stage with a staff member seated in front of a harmonium. When the room reached capacity the harmonium began to hum and the crowd commenced in devotional song. After a couple of minutes, the room fell silent and we began mediation. I was immediately jealous of the students for having the chance to start their day with such mindfulness. The students seemed sincere as the room seemed unusually still considering the diversity of life it held. Following another song and what I assume was the pledge of allegiance; the woman we met earlier took the microphone for announcements. She introduced us, along with a French couple and their two younger children. The couple must have been supporters as they were greeted with a garland of flowers. The students dutifully clapped- a strangely routine procedure considering the ongoing stairs of bewilderment we seemed to be recipients of.

What stood out most at first was the sense of community that permeated the room. The group seemed more like a dysfunctional family than anything; accepting and proud of each other’s differences. Next was the sense of foreigner that I felt. I’m sure each of those students was suffocated by a feeling of foreignness throughout their lives. However, here at Kiran, WE were the foreigners; this was their home turf. Unlike the people who had subjected them to this feeling of otherness, the students at Kiran were extremely willing to accept us into their community. Our foreignness and all of our differences only added to the community. In fact, in many ways I felt more comfortable at Kiran than anywhere else that I had visited. The stairs seems more friendly and forgiving and more often then not transformed into a smile or a booming, “Namaste!”

The rest of the was exhausting; Along with the French couple, we received a tour of each program and each of their subsections. We visited the vocational training center where students were busy making jewelry and scarves, canning food, and taking classes on henna painting. We visited the wood workshop where skilled carpenters were hard at work manufacturing the same toys that they themselves had enjoyed as kids. We visited the Human Resource Training Center (HRTC) where Kiran trained the next generation of teachers and administrators for special needs children. We saw the various classrooms- each one distinctly different from the others. Two were for hearing impaired children. Their smiles and play seems even more expressive than that of most people. Their lack of hearing in no way slowed their connection with other classmates or the outside world. We visited the special education unit where students of differing ages and abilities aided each other in their common mission. We visited the integrated education unit as well where we watched one student with polio assist another student with Cerebral Palsy into her wheel chair. I couldn’t help but think that Kiran had accomplished what the American education system had always struggled to do: teach compassion and empathy to its students.”

This week was a lot to grasp. I frequently find myself thinking that these situations are too difficult to describe accurately, at least by me, which discourages me from blogging about them. I hope photos can suffice where I may fail and I look forward to telling these stories (with some more Masala) when I’m back!

Recently, as part of my Field Methods and Ethics class, I was tasked with conducting three separate interviews (one in Hindi) of Indians outside of both my program and my home-stay. This assignment was supposed to prepare me for my Independent Study Project, which I’ll be starting in about 4 weeks. For those that don’t know, a major part of any SIT program is a 4 week Independent Study Project at the end of the program. We can go anywhere (safe) in India. My proposed area of study is definitely focused on social entrepreneurship, however I’m still trying to find a more defined focus. Planning and researching for my project has been a very time consuming, but ultimately very education and rewarding part of my time here. Anyways, back to the interview: My last interview was with the host-mother of a girl on my trip. Her name was Manisha and the interview was one of the most interesting and though provoking experiences I have had in India so far. I conducted this interview in English and because Manisha spoke English very well, we had an awesome, in-depth conversation on her work in Social Entrepreneurship. She works for a British NGO named Trade Craft, which works with artisans to distribute their products, enhance their capabilities as producers, and other enabling activities.

I have provided a rough transcript of our interview below:

How would you describe your work?

Trade Craft is a UK based NGO that works with rural, artisan women to build their capacity. There are several organization in India that work with a similar business model. These include Sadria, URMUL [a NGO Milk Union which works to build the capacity of rural Milk producers. They have now expanded operations to include rural schools, artisan programs, etc. Our group visited their headquarters but unfortunately I was busy fighting Dengue.], Rangasutra, and FABIndia [which collaborates with an organization which sources its clothe from rural artisans and does some similar work in capacity-building as Trade Craft] among others. Rangsutra, which is a part of URMUL, actually gives each artisan equity in the organization so that collectively the artisans own 25% of the organization. Personally I work as a project manager. I also work in the community to spread the principles of Fair Trade. As a project manager I work with artisans to gain market access through a variety of methods.

What challenges face NGO’s working in this area?

It’s very difficult to communicate the necessary changes to artisans. For example, a big part of our business is certifying these artisans with various certifications including fair trade and organic. Take an organic certification- its very difficult the necessary steps for this certification to rural farmers or artisans. In addition its difficult to communicate the necessary changes that need to occur in the supple chain for this certification to be sustainable in a business sense.

What are the greatest challenges facing these artisans?

One of the greatest challenges that face artisans is the ability to recognize changing market trends. It is very difficult for innovation to occur at this grassroots level. People in this work aren’t used to drastic changes in market dynamics.

What is an example of this?

In India we are seeing a rise in the middle and upper class. Especially with the rise in the middle class, there is a rising market need for more expensive, nicer crafts. Whereas before it was more important for artisans to produce things that could be marketed to both the upper class and the worst off, now they need to recognize this growing trend in middle class house furnishings, etc. This all has to do with changing demographics and its often difficult for rural artisans to see these things. This is a challenge we face as an organization but we are doing work to help artisans in this area.

In addition, it is often difficult for artisans to make the coordination necessary to distribute to larger organizations. Organizations working in this field are now changing their business model to incorporate more local coordination and regional offices although this may always be a difficult aspect of this sector.

Maybe for these reasons, in addition to the simple fact that this business is profitable, more and more organizations are operating as hybrid organizations. Trade Craft for example has a for-profit arm that sources free-trade crafts and food to domestically, in India, but also internationally. They also have a non-profit arm that works with training and empowering these local artisans.

The idea of globalization has been getting a lot of grief in India recently and lots of international circles. People feel that globalization is often characterized by the exploitation of the underserved populations by massive corporations. Do you feel this model represents a more sustainable form of globalization?

Absolutely. These artisans can be incorporated into the international markets and take advantage of changing demographics and market needs. It is also sustainable because it supports the rural population. [There are lots of interesting dynamics that have played out in India’s growth. One of these is that nearly 70% of India’s population resides in the rural areas, urbanization has occurred by population growth in cities is relatively low compared to rural areas, however almost all of the economic growth has occurred in cities.]

What role do you see the international community playing in the development of this type of business model?

I think there is lots of work that needs to be done in international markets, domestic markets, and with local organizations to ensure the spread of business like this and the push for capacity building activities in these developing markets. For these businesses to become sustainable, it is important for them to incorporate economies of scale. This involves investment and coordination. There also needs to be consumer awareness and desire. For example, if we are going to support the sustainable practice of hand-made cloth [popular in rural areas- this was a central part of the India’s revolution, and one of Gandhi’s biggest movements, as it represented Indians going back to their roots.], we need to build consumer awareness about what is manufactured by machines and what is manufactured by hand. Then we need to build desire.

What skills do you teach the artisans?

We teach skills including product development, market research, supply chain development, and other similar business development skills.

Do you teach soft skills such as innovation?

Yes- this is central to our education. We need to teach ideas like entrepreneurship and innovation in order for these artisans to be successful. This goes back to the challenges we spoke about including understanding market dynamics. These are much harder to teach because people don’t necessarily understand the value of these ideas.

How important is it for social enterprises to included the underserved population throughout the supply chain (as opposed to solely consumers)?

It’s very important. If this is truly going to be a sustainable business than we need to improve the lives of these people. However, when we talk about inclusiveness we also need to include them as consumers.

How important is it for MNC’s to include the underserved population in their value chains?

Well its very important for corporations because it goes back to the notion of inclusiveness. On the corporation’s end- corporations need to meet market need. This means if there is consumer demand, like we spoke about earlier, they will take the necessary steps to build supply chains.

How do we scale this type of work? (THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION)

Through work like we have been talking about, through the development of supply chains, and through economies of scale and the work involved in that aspect.

Again this is a rough transcript but I’ve tried my best to represent the themes that we touched on. The ideas portrayed by Manisha are consistent with the books and reports I have read on the topic, but her insight on the challenges facing these artisans, including the “how” (as Bill Drayton would appeal to) of how to enable them, was fascinating. These themes are going to become a huge part of my life in the next few weeks and I’ll try to post interesting info and interactions that I have.

This is the story of my week:

Wednesday night I started feeling the effects of a fever and by the morning I felt weak, feverish, light headed and was being pounded by a nasty headache. Fortunately, there were two other students feeling sick so on Thursday we all travelled to the doctor for a quick check-in and some blood tests. Little did I know, the hours and hours of waiting that I had to endure were a sick preview of a shitty week. At the hospital I had my first fainting episode too. I was feeling nauseous so I rushed off to the bathroom, only to wake up on the floor of the men’s room, more than confused as to how I had gotten there. After a rough night, I went back to the Doctor’s with the other students. After a shorter wait, we sat down with the doctor who revealed to us that our blood tests had all tested positive for Dengue Fever.

The moment I heard Dengue, I was immediately taken back to the tiny little clinic in Liberia that diagnosed me with Typhoid Fever. In both cases there was a very distinct moment, directly following the ‘verdict’ where I could do nothing but kind of laugh and think, “are you fucking kidding me? ______ Fever? That’s still a thing?” I think in these instances, a positive person is truly defined. Shitty things happen to everyone, whether they’re a positive or negative person. But one’s attitude is definitely defined by their interpretation of those situations. Luckily for me, I have the ability to laugh at the sheer absurdity of a situation like this one. I mean, who can predict I would get Dengue Fever? That’s hilarious. Well there were less hilarious moments.

The group (read: SIT Staff) decided it was best to admit ourselves into the hospital the next day so that we could utilize an IV, take medicine, rest, and hopefully be well in time to catch up with the rest of our group, which was leaving Sunday for a week-long excursion. So Saturday morning, armed with absolutely nothing, we began our stay at the hospital. I was handed a pair of super funky fitting hospital scrubs, stabbed with my first IV, and given a room with 3 bickering brothers and their very sick father. The brothers discovered that it was very interesting reading through my medical papers with the nurse. There was nothing interesting of course- it was just blood test results- but it was still strange watching people read through my private information. The previous day, when we had met with the doctor, the 4 people in our group shared his office with three other people and we all took turns explaining our current medical conditions. I don’t think I need to explain the absurdity of that situation, just try to imagine a random guy chilling in the office with you when you’re meeting with your doctor… pretty strange…

Luckily, I was soon transferred to a room with just the two other students. One of the SIT staff is incredibly well connected and happened to know the CEO of the specific hospital so we got a good room- so it works in India. There were three pretty uncomfortable beds, a TV, and a bathroom. So began FIVE DAYS of doing nothing but eating bad food, watching bad movies, and getting bad nights of sleep. To be honest, it really sucked. I had no idea that we would be staying there so long. Expecting to only stay there Saturday, I didn’t bring with me anything I needed. (luckily my laptop was brought to me.) Having this expectation also made the morning announcement that we were no closer to leaving so much more frustrating. The first 36 hours my stay was terrible. At one point after washing my hands in the bathroom, I passed out into the corner of the wall, cutting my nose, bruising my forehead, and scaring the shit out of everyone in the room who found me unconscious, shaking on the bathroom floor. I could barely do anything without feeling like I was going to faint. Then when my symptoms started to disappear, I learned that my blood platelet levels were so low I might need a transplant.

Just like my time in Liberia, the illness seemed to jumpstart a period of total negativity, doubt, anger, questioning, and ultimately disappointment. I came to India to love it, to experience awesome new things, not to sit in a hospital room while I missed an amazing excursion. I wanted to challenge myself but this didn’t seem like the right type of challenge. I felt weak and powerless to the powers that be. I underestimated how hard it was to be sick. The physical symptoms of the disease seemed to pale in comparison to the mental mountain that was quickly appearing in my head. It wasn’t until this morning, 5 days later, when the Doctor announced that we could go home, that any sense of hope started to return. Those 5 days were so incredibly boring yet so taxing. I had no choice but to lie in bed all day. 5 IV’s a day, countless pills, two blood tests, and what seemed like an endless stream of hospital staff became my life. I cant say I did anything interesting because I didn’t really do anything. I spoke with Sam frequently, talked to my parents every night, and read every article on ESPN and the New York Times. Thus, the announcement that we were leaving was truly awesome.

I’m home now, clean, and looking forward to getting back to my everyday life. The last week has been pretty hard but I really hope it can teach me a thing or two. If anything, it has added some urgency to my trip. The doubt and disappointment it brought out in me hopefully serves as a reminder that, the more I miss home, the more important it is for me to make my experience here everything it can be. I’m so incredibly lucky that I was able to have my always-supporting parents and wonderful girlfriend next to me the whole way. Now it’s time to get some sleep and head back to the hospital tomorrow for more blood platelet tests! It’s unfortunate that this has been my first blog post in a while, but I’m looking forward to posting more about the economy, my family, and maybe even city-life. Hope everyone is doing well!

This weekend I travelled to Pushkar with 5 of my fellow students. I’m way too exhausted to communicate this in a shorter way so I guess I’ll just share what happened:

We left from the program center after class on Friday excited for the opportunity to explore on our own. We all shared rickshaws to the bus station, anxious to see if we could find the right bus. After lots of yelling (and our fair share of confusion) we found a man who could sell us bus tickets. We asked him to prove his legitimacy so he grabbed a pen and wrote out an invoice of some kind right on my hand. Everything checked out, so we forked over the cash ($2 each for a 3 ½ hour bus ride) and hopped on board. I can’t say the bus itself was too notable, other than it was hot and crowded.

The ride was fascinating. We passed upscale hotels on the side of the road- new windows brilliant in the desert sun. We passed towns of marble factories filled with signs that said “World Most Famous Marbles.” We swerved around trucks, motorbikes, camels, and pilgrims- all heading to worlds unknown. When we finally arrived in Pushkar it seemed like we could have been on another planet. Luckily, we were called back to earth by the familiar sounds of city life in India, and the recognizable smell of cow-shit and street food. We meandered through the streets of Pushkar until we spotted a sign point us to Hotel Everest- our home for the next few days. The hotel proved to be a great find. The rooms were small but had a fan and were comfortable enough to fit three people each and for $10 a night per room, I wasn’t going to complain. The highlight of the hotel was definitely the rooftop restaurant where we were immediately romanced by the spectacular views and excellent Lassi. Add the Buddhist prayer flags and the washed up hippies and we felt at some kind of home. However, we decided we were too excited to wait until morning to explore the city. We set off through the narrow streets towards the lake- the epicenter of Pushkar. At the lake we discovered the Gandhi Ghats- bathing ghats on the edge of the man-made lake that Gandhi’s ashes were spread in. What a scene! The ghats were filled with people of all ages, spread around the lake in close bunches wearing a vast range of clothes, all carrying the mystique of rural India. The lake was surrounded on all sides by stairs and seemingly every 20ft stood a temple of some kind. After part of group got yelled at for carrying their shoes instead of leaving them at the temple entrance, we retreated to a nearby temple where a procession immediately began. We stayed for 20 minutes, filled with incense and chanting, before we throw in the towel and snuck out the back. We had just enough time to poke around the market before we retired to the restaurant and eventually to bed.

We woke up early the next day to hike up one of Pushkar’s many hills to one of Pushkar’s many temples. The hike was challenging but not quite up to my Rocky Mountain standards. The walk was much more wild however than anything I could have experienced in Colorado. The road to the hill was packed with people on their daily commute, shops were opening, religious-men were heading to temples, and cows mixed every-which-way. On the climb itself we were bombarded with every mix of people. We found people praying every 20 feet, a few tourists too timid to say hello, and our fair share of families eagerly waiting to take our picture. After only a brief stay at the top, we headed for breakfast, far too hot and too sweaty for 8am. Breakfast was at the “Out of the Blue Hotel” which served traditional Indian food, as well as, to our excitement, traditional western breakfasts such as porridge, toast, and yogurt.

After recollecting our wits, we went in search of the Brahma Temple- the only one of its kind in the world. This was perhaps the highlight of the trip; It was a bizarre mix of Pilgrams, who embodied the almost incomprehensibly mysticism and antiquity of the India, families, representing globalization, and young entrepreneurs, representing the constant buzz of modernization. For such an incomprehensible experience, the exercise seemed almost routine.

This proved to be the theme of the day. As we dragged ourselves from temple to temple, we seemed almost too tired or shocked to comprehend the utter absurdity of our situation. 6 students wandering through a Hindi holy town, scorning fake priests, avoiding eye contact with other tourists, and trying our best not to offend anyone. It was exhausting and intense in every way. As we looped through the market, constantly the target of sneaky cell phone pictures, we gaped at the spectacle and It gaped back at us. Trying to skim the surface of what seemed like a bottomless town, we ran out of monuments but fell short of any understanding. Even after a nice dinner at one of the better restaurants in town, a bucket-bath, and a good night sleep, I still felt like I was on some bizarre trip. We made it back to Jaipur after another sweaty, chaotic bus ride. A quick rickshaw drive and I was home. In fact, I can’t say I’ve ever felt more at home with Dal, Chapatti, a cup of chai, and a shower with my own bucket. A call to Sam, a skype session with the parents, a few hours of homework, and I was back in my comfort zone.

This will definitely be one of the experiences I look back on and laugh. I’m not sure I have any other way of digesting it. I hoped I (along with the photos) provided some glimpse into my weekend. Its always easy to describe the blocks of a town, those things that remain, its much more difficult to describe the ambiance of a town- especially in India it seems too distant to ever capture with words. So I apologize if this reads like an exhausted account mixed with flashes of inspiration. I may be too tired to really recreate what happened but I’m afraid if I wait until tomorrow the whole town will be forgotten. Just in case I posted photos to capture what I have been unable too.