I have
been sitting in front of my key board for some time now, trying to get my
thoughts together in a way that will put a nice bow on my experience over these
past couple of weeks. So far, all I am coming up with are knots. Bear with me
as I try to untangle a few of them:
Knot
One: Two weeks ago, culture shock drop-kicked me in the face. Almost overnight,
I lost my any appetite for South Asian food and found myself more and more
frustrated by the little stressors of being in a new place. Sheer exhaustion- combined
with an awesome but demanding internship, and a host of new friends and
families I am beginning to get to know-has forced me to recognize that I feel
overwhelmed. I am ready to feel comfortable, safe, and at-home. But I don’t yet
and that’s ok.
Knot
Two: This morning I woke up sweating. This is after removing all but one sheet
on my bed, opening the window, and turning on the fan. Short of getting an air
conditioner, there is not much to do other than laugh it off at this point and
joke with others about how “Alice is going to perish come May”. Earlier, I
walked to church squinting behind dark sunglasses and shading myself with a
large scarf wrapped around my head as protection from the sun. For a fleeting
moment, I imagined myself as a young Audrey Hepburn but the dream died as soon
as my scarf got caught in the rickshaw seat while I was getting out of the car.
Knot
Three: Interning with IJM is proving to be valuable in a myriad of ways. There
are very few staff members in the office where I work, which means that I am
being given lots of substantial responsibilities and opportunities to
contribute. There is so much to learn. Recently, though, there has been an increase in the number of articles
being published on bonded labour in South Asia (click here, and here, AND here!). That public attention to an
important issue has given myself and the rest of the office something to
celebrate over these past few days.
Knot
Four: I keep meeting interesting people. Like a three year old girl named
Swastika. Her parents explained that the swastika symbol is an auspicious sign
for the Hindu god called Lord Ganesh, revered as the Remover of Obstacles. His
elephant head makes him easy to recognize. Swastika’s parents seemed a bit
concerned about any future travel plans she may make to Germany. I also met a
holder of a Guinness World Record. He earned his title for having the largest
mass of bees on his body at one time. So I bought some of his honey.
This is
Lord Ganesh in household idol form:
Knot
Five: In the past couple months, my ears have slowly become attuned to the
larger, public conversations swirling all around this city: things like gender
issues, labour issues, joint family systems, generation gaps, public education,
and imperialism are thought about and discussed. As a Sociology student in
college, a lot of these topics are familiar, but being in a different part of
the world is throwing them into a completely new light for me.
Amidst
the knots of my life, there is so much space for Hope. Hope is in the bonded
labour articles I mentioned above, and the implications they have on the awareness
of bonded labour as a national issue. It is in the promise of getting an air
conditioner installed this month. It is in the fact that Indian food has not
made me sick for weeks. It is in the beautiful blossoms of the red silk cotton
trees all over the city.
There
is so much room for prayer here. If you pray, pray for people in power to
respond well to bonded labour in South Asia. Pray that I see culture shock as a
series of chances to learn; to learn about another culture, to learn about
God’s creativity, to learn about myself. And please, pray for strength as my
body adjusts to the heat (it’s really quite pathetic)!
More to
come!
Sincerely,
Alice
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