To Mr. Peter Karpf:
Currently I am eating a yellow watermelon candy... that's a first! I'm glad you're enjoying my blog, I don't want to forget a minute of my exciting volunteer work here, I am also keeping a hand written diary. It's always fun when a group of students gather around me and try to read my writing and then giggle over the fact that I am left handed. I'm sure you know what the left hand is used for in a country without toilet paper that eats with their right. But for some reason they believe that scholars are left handed and in encounters with older groups they remark on Obama being left handed too. Ahhhh the optimism that a people who feel oppressed by their identity as much as their black skin exude. I used to work for a bridal designer (Janell Berte) and then after that a 6-month job with the Utah Shakespearean Festival. During that time I worked on my savings and I lived with my parents for the first job and the second offered free kibbutz type housing with no utilities fees. I studied fashion design so that's where those jobs came from, but I did it with an international flair in Italy and Hong Kong traveling as much as my bank account allowed probably helping me to end up in India today. That and my mothers (Gail's sister) mild obsession with the country and her relations to the non-profit i'm volunteering with as another board member. Their legal expertise to boot.
I'm obsessed with art, detail and color and am always on the lookout for inspiration. In a country like India the surplus is endless. From a school girls uniform to the Tamil script on a red and white government bus, i've been seen sketching or reading in my spare time. Also reading is a quaint hobby of mine. I just ordered four books about Dalit Movements and Women's Issues in India. Really excited for their arrival!
I am a student of India as I have been renamed Kalayersi (in pure tamil meaning fashion/art queen/princess, of course multiple meaning for each word) by one of the more inspiring students in the Lead Forward program. I am here to be an ambassador between the US Board of Directors and the India Board of Directors making facilitation between the two groups easier from everything like reporting, translation, communication improvement, incorporating ideas and suggesting new ones, to working with our students and graduates while at the same time studying their successes and failures. I am trying to gain an understanding about Indian culture, economy, society, religion, art, village life, education, politics and history. Through this vast goal I am building a fascinating network of NGO's, leaders, students, headmasters, priests, writers, teachers and everything in between. I am working on a scholarship proposal and promoting ideas about the future of education in India to various trusts and financial beneficiaries in the US, I am enjoying my career transformation from a fashion designer to a social worker and hope to create some sustainability and success for Lead Forward from my growing knowledge and exposure. I've always been inspired to help those less fortunate or teach someone something new and that is where I am getting the most satisfaction from. That and a respect for humanity that is pulsing in the state of Tamil Nadu. The media portrays the negative and controversial to all those who are engrossed in its fascinating storytelling manner, but in my personal encounters I see the pure good still trickling out into society and it refreshes my psyche and helps me reach my full potential in my volunteering quest. I will be posting the previous thought process on my blog. Thanks for your interest I just want more exposure to the Dalit condition in India.
Mango wishes cause mangoes are delicious,
Jessye
No comments:
Post a Comment