Well my first semester of school in India is starting to come to an end. My last class will be tomorrow morning, afterwhich we will be given a week to study before our final exams begin on October 12th. It's hard to believe things are already coming to a close!
My last day of field work was this past Tuesday. In the nine weeks I've been going to Akshara, I've really learned a lot. I know I haven't written a lot about my work there, but it really has been educational dealing with gender rights issues in a country that has such extreme views on men and women. Next semester, I will have the opportunity to work there even more, and this time, it will be on a more regular basis.
The first semester of field work, we only go to our agencies twice a week. With nine weeks of work involved, that's really just 18 days of interaction, spread out over more than 2 months. In that format, it is diffiuclt to feel any real congruency in the work we do. But in second semester, we have what is called a "block placement" in which we go to our agencies 5 days a week for 5 weeks. It will be much easier to plan projects and have goals for that time, since there won't be huge gaps in between the times we come into the office.
In fact, on my last day, we had a meeting to discuss what I will be doing during my block placement. Several ideas came up.The first possibility is my involvement in "Streenet", which is an online course that Akshara offers to college students that educates them on gender issues in society. I've done a little bit with this course already, by helping plan out some discussion questions that could be posted on the course's discussion forum, and coming up with games and other activities that the students could do during the online chat sessions they are required to attend. However, next semester, I might be able to do more, and even work on designing a curriculum for a future course that targets a different group other than college students. Sadly, I won't be working with Akshara when the course is actually offered, but the woman that heads up Streenet has promised to keep me up to date on how things go, so I will know how the fruits of my labor turn out!
Also, I did not get much opportunity to leave Akshara's office this term. In an effort to help me interact more with the community, we have discussed the possibility of me teaching a few conversational English courses to some of the girls involved in Akshara's vocational training programs. I am supposed to do some research over this break on some different Adult Education Programs and design a curriculum that will help these girls get a better grasp on English, while teaching them concepts that empower and motivate them to use their newfound skills. I am really looking forward to this project. I have taught English in the past, and really enjoyed that. Plus, having a group of girls that I would go to every week should really help me establish more links in the community here.
I apologize for not having any really fun and exciting stories to tell you all today. With exams coming up, I've spent most days sitting in front of a stack of reference books desperately trying to cram as much knowledge of Indian history and sociology as I can into my little, American head! I feel like I have so much catching up to do just to get me at par with the rest of my Indian classmates! It's a little overwhelming, but I am proud of the progress I have made in understanding the intricacies of this culture. I may not get the kind of grades I am accustomed to earning on my exams in the U.S., but, even if I barely pass, the sense of accomplishment I will get from just taking the tests will be enough for me. (though an "A" would be nice!)
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