The SAC Field Trip 2017
“Our fieldwork began on November 1st in Delhi, visiting the Institute for the Blind and the Jain Ashram. Juli had every detail scheduled, the checklist in place and things were going to plan. There were inevitable unforeseen bumps in the road – one was the laptop not working, so we improvised with Google Sheets, my MacBook, and a borrowed laptop. Thanks to our travel and tech experience we persevered!
“Dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to carry that out in your life.”
“Our last stop was in bustling and cosmopolitan Kolkata where we met the amazing staff All Bengal Women’s Union Welfare Home for Girls (ABWU). Susmita told us that many girls had had traumatic experiences, such as escaping human trafficking, or abandoned by their parents who couldn’t care for them. One brave girl, having escaped to ABWU after her father put her mother into prostitution, was about to receive a national honor for bravery. She feared her fate would be the same and wanted an education instead. ABWU opened their doors and she is safe, happy and progressing well at school.
At ABWU we checked on their special programs, some supported by SaC donations. These included the Spoken English classes run by Zohra Khatoon, and nightly dance therapy which helps girls who have been abused connect back to their bodies. We met two of the staff's counselors who provide daily emotional support, one-on-one and group conflict counseling for the girls, who often struggle with anger and aggression issues following their abuse. And we visited the Infant Room which holds up to 15 babies and little children, mostly found by police abandoned on the street.”
““The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.””
“The second leg of the trip was in West Bengal state. We flew to Kolkata where staff and children from Ramkrishna Vivekananda Mission (RKVM) met us and took us to its headquarters at Barrackpore. It was a lively place with boys everywhere playing football (soccer) and cricket.
Swami Vivekananda, the mission’s inspiration, brought yoga to America in the 1800s along with the revolutionary idea that all religions were created with an equal aim. Located on the banks of the Hoogley, part of the Ganga River delta, RKVM is a holy place.
We made many special relationships here – chatting with the boys and girls about climate change, and how to clean up the River Ganga, the city of New York. We signed autographs and shook lots of hands. One day they dubbed me ‘Babe Ruth’ after I hit the cricket ball out of the complex on the first pitch and had to climb on the roof to fetch the lost ball! They roared and cheered with applause and excitement.”
Traveling across India to New Delhi, Kolkata, Barrackpore and Banaras (Varanasi) was a dream come true, and dare I say a religious experience that challenged my views, body health, willpower, and stamina. Experiencing the holy city of Banaras before returning to NYC, I witnessed Hindu faith in practice, death floating down the river, released from the cosmic cycle.
Returning to New York City, I fell sick with a 108-degree fever, sweats, vomiting, and diarrhea. I contracted Typhoid Fever caused by salmonella bacteria from unknowingly eating contaminated food. With the support of friends, I was admitted to Belview Hospital where a Nepali nurse named Dolma Lhamo, RN saved my life and spent 2 weeks managing my fevers and nursing me back to health. I had never experienced anything like this, it was a traumatic ending to an inspiring journey, but one that I survived, showing me just how beautiful humanity can be. This experience provided an opportunity to travel, gain proficiency in photography, and meet inspiring students while sharing their remarkable stories and securing +$120K in scholarships.
If you would like to contribute to the scholarships for Indian children and families in need, please consider donating here.
