Initial Intentions and Thoughts

Initial Intentions and Thoughts

In the Beginning…

In the introduction to his transformation motorcycle journey, a 23 year old no-name medical student named Ernesto “Che” Guevara wrote:

“This is not a story of heroic feats, or merely the narrative of a cynic; at least I do not mean it to be….in nine months of a man’s life he can think a lot of things, from the loftiest meditations on philosophy to the most desperate longing for a bowl of soup—in total accord with the state of his stomach. And if, at the same time, he’s somewhat of an adventurer, he might live through episodes of interest to other people and his haphazard record might read something like these notes”.

Every story has a beginning, this is mine. And usually every story has a hero, not this one. What I am doing has nothing to do with “being a good person”, or “trying to be on the moral high ground”. I am doing what I’m doing because it is who I am; I’m not trying to be something or someone, and if I tried to be those things, the end result would be someone totally removed and alien. I am about to embark on a nine month journey into a country I know barely anything about, who’s language I cannot speak, and who’s land I have no historical, familial, and emotional connection to. What connects me to these people is a belief that in this world we’re are all responsible for each other; we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves.

My Placement and What I’ll be Doing

This is not my first journey outside the comforts and safety of the developed world, but one which, for the first time, that will bring me into intimate contact with systemic socio-economic poverty (among so many other things!). Yet more important than being a passive observer of some safari populated by the poor, I have been given the opportunity to volunteer with a local grassroots NGO that is working with one of these communities to assist them break the chains of oppression and injustice through American Jewish World Service. My volunteer placement is with an India organization (who’s name I cannot use due to security concerns and confidentiality, therefore will be always use the pseudonym MYNGO) located near Pune.

I am developing a non-formal educational curriculum for a community of shepherds in the central Deccan plateau region of India. Due to a government policies, market forces, and environmental changes this community has begun shift away from their traditional way of life to one which is trying to adapt to “modern” times. One way in which they are trying to adapt is by sending their children to government schools with the hope of their children succeeding and going to college—a path usually followed by mainly a sedentary population. My task is to understand what the community wants to learn and balance that with what they need to learn, and always communicate with them, so that they have say in their own education.

Why India, and why not America?

While I was volunteering in Ukraine, I got into a discussion with a fellow member on the “selfless” nature of international humanitarian service. I felt at the time that humanitarian service is an act from the heart, and when an act comes from the heart it is always selfless. My group member contended my idea, and asserted that if that was the case then why didn’t I choose to volunteer in America? She had a valid point. I agreed that my intention of volunteering in Ukraine was not purely to benefit the struggling communities that I would help, but also recognized a selfish desire within as well. I wanted to go to Ukraine because I wanted to do service-work, but also because I wanted to travel to another country, especially the homeland of my great-grandparents.

I admit I have the “travel bug”, and want to see as much of the world before I have to take on responsibilities that will make it more difficult to travel as freely as I am able to now. But I will say this, I find it very difficult to travel for only pleasure and tourism. I feel that tourism allows someone to get an appetizer of a society; I want the full five course meal. I want to experience the good, bad, ugly, and the unspoken. I do what I can to maximize my interaction with the local population, which seems to manifest itself in the form of me living in a new country for an extended period of time.

Why India? As of now I have no emotional attachment to India, I would have volunteered in Kenya, Argentina, Ghana, with the same mentality. I would have gone to whatever country AJWS was offering the WPF in this year. Many people I have spoken to about their reasons for going to India, had a lot to do with the air of spirituality that flows throughout the country or financial opportunities. I have never been to India, so I cannot speak about the strong presence of spirituality, but that is certainly not a reason why I am going, nor am I looking for wealth.

I am in India for a few reasons:

1. I want to work and live in a southern developing country, something I have not done yet.
2. I love culture and love experiencing the rainbow of diversity this human race has to offer.
3. I wanted to gain real experience in grassroots international development, the non-Washington consensus kind.

I, after only reading a book about Indian culture, can say that I find it fascinating, rich, and confusing, but that would not be enough to motivate me to volunteer in India. Unlike some who travel to India, I am not looking for spiritual enlightenment, nor wealth. I am going to experience, learn, and, when asked, provide my organization and the populations it service with whatever skills I have to offer. I am sure 6 months from now, my opinions about India will be quite different, but as for now this is how I feel.

What does this experience have to do with your future?

This what I want to do, and if you know me, then you don’t need any other words but those. For the rest of you I’ll give you a little Torah here to give you a better idea. The Mishnah (Pirkei Avot, 2:16) reminds us, “Lo alecha ha-mamlacha ligmor velo ata benchoreen leheebatel meemena”. In English that means, “You are not required to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it”. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz teaches that because each soul is unique in its creation so is the task it has been charged with. Yet while we have different objectives, each completed task moves us closer to completing the same divine goal, Tikkun Olam (the Harmonization of a human with themselves, humanity with each other, humanity and the world, and humanity and the divine). I am trying to understand what my task is and how I will fulfill it. As for what this has to do with the future, I’ll let God handle that.

What legitimacy do you have to tell these communities what they will need?

I have apply to AJWS with the desire to volunteer abroad to gain new experiential, educational, and occupational knowledge, which in the field of international development, aside from perhaps statistics and theory, you cannot learn in a book or class room. They have selected me, through a competitive selection process in which 65 amazingly talented people were competing for one of the ten spots, because they felt I had something unique to contribute to the program and to my partner organization. I do not say this with any arrogance, for I cannot express how grateful and humbled I am that I have been chosen. Furthermore MYNGO selected me and have given me a specific project to work on, which means they believe I have something to offer them and the communities which they serve. All I have said is that I want to help and that I have a number of skills, the rest has been decided by AJWS and MYNGO.

Fears?

How can you not have some fears when going of a journey such as this one? Certainly there are a myriad of struggles and sufferings that await me, and certainly some that I know nothing about. Some I will have control over, while some I will have no choice but to except them. Japanese Encephalitis, Dengue Fever, and parasites will always be at the doorstep of my body, waiting for an entrance to use me for their own purposes, while being bombarded by human suffering of imaginable kinds, extreme poverty, and perhaps the sight of a decaying corpse seeks to poison my mind. Why am I willing to do this? The foolish Che put it beautifully, “Until what point our actions were ‘heroic’…I’m not sure, but we’ve began to suspect, I think with good reason, that the definitive adjective was approximating something more like ‘stupid’”.

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