India Trip 2009

Final thought about a journey to India

2009-09-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

Sept. 28, 2009

Nearly 30 days ago I left on a journey to India. During those 30 days I have had many experiences ranging from finding a video arcade while lost in Delhi (first pic), to getting a flat tire on narrow winding Indian roads (second pic), to hiking in the Himalayan mountains (third pic).

The difficult thing with traveling is you can never fully convey the sights, smells, emotions, and the experience. You can talk until you are blue in your face and still those listening will not completely understand. It is the blessing and curse of traveling. You experience great sights, sounds, smells, and emotions that you want to share, but unfortunately you cannot fully convey those things. No video, picture, sound bit, or story can complete the picture. Therefore I have to integrate the experiences from this trip into my practice and self all while knowing that I can only truly share this experience with the 18 other people that went on TSSW's 2009 India Expedition.

I have not fully processed this experience, but I can say that the religious adherence in India has effected my view of religion in Social Work practice. I know that I will do some reading on how religion effects mental health and I am sure to integrate that into my practice more. There are other ways this experience will effect my practice, but I also know there are ways this experience will change me on a personal level. Those changes are yet to be revealed, but I am sure as the jet-lag wears off...those changes will reveal themselves.

Children and Mandy Conger in arcade found in Delhi while walking aimlessly through Delhi streets.

Laura (a guide from LHA) fainting because of a flat tire on our drive to Dharamsala.

(Front) Keri, Carroll, Fran, and Rebecca hiking up to Triund. The hike took one day, and we slept on Triund at about 9,500 feet for two days.

Two monks bathing in the river below Bagsu falls.

Michael Smith hanging prayer flags for our group.

Throwing flour at the end of the prayer flag hanging ceremony.

My learning partner and me.

--- Will Moeller

Tashi Dalek

2009-09-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

Sept. 16, 2009

Tashi Dalek. This is the traditional greeting in Tibetan and roughly speaking, translates as "may the inner light from my heart reach out and meet your inner light."

The first several days in Delhi are best characterized as recovering from the long flight, adjusting to the 10 1/2 hour time change and, most significantly, addressing the disorientation related to the cacophony of sensory overload that defines Delhi; its sounds, sights, smells and the waves of humanity on the streets everywhere. After a day of rest, our first full day in Delhi was spent at Mother Thersa's Institute for the Dying and Destitute. Our preparation for this and our debriefing afterward included discussions of many of the realities facing contemporary India.

There are more than one billion people in India and the vast majority of these people live on less than $2 a day. There are more children born on and living their lives on the streets of Delhi than there are people in New Orleans. Everyday, thousands of people die in Delhi because they cannot get simple medical care. Tuberculosis is rampant and preventable and untold thousands die each day from this as well. Dental care in Dharamsala, where we are now, is virtually non-existent or unaffordable. Yesterday, my good friend Tsering Lhamo, a Tibetan nurse who tends to the elderly living throughout the mountains around this village, exclaimed that she is seeing many, many elderly Tibetans going blind from cataracts because they simply cannot afford the small amount of money for simple cataract surgery.

So, being at Mother Theresa's on our first full day and seeing the impact that one person can make with a vision and the passion and drive to shepherd her vision to reality was inspirational.

Beggars in India are everywhere, on every street and they are tenacious. This too, like the reality of the vast needs readily visible everywhere, was an opportunity to address the possibilities of social work and public health interventions in a world filled with such vast social and economic injustices. Doing so in this setting always seems to have an extraordinary impact and allows for a very deep integration of affective and cognitive learning.

For the last several years I've offered this experience I've required a rigorous journaling assignment in which the students are required to move far beyond the description of their experiences and reflect on the meaning and value of their individual experience and its relationship to their development as a professional social worker. Their reflection is intended to encourage critical thought, promote conscious integration of these experiences and offer a space to try out new ideas and perspectives without the need for them to be fully formed or understood at this moment.

I've found that the act of journaling engages the more analytical side of the brain and allows for the integration between the intuitive and cognitive. It's fun to hear almost on a daily basis from the students "I need to go back to my room and catch up on my journaling."

After the first few days in Delhi, the second leg began with the long train ride to the north, to Dharamsala, our base for the next two weeks. There, each student was paired with their mutual learning partner with whom they had begun an e-mail exchange several weeks prior to our departure, which has enabled an opportunity for quick immersion into the realities of this refugee community. Mornings are spent together in conversation, our students learning of their partner's journey from Tibet across the Himalayan Mountains escaping the persecution in Tibet and learning of their present living conditions. Meetings with select individuals and organizations in the afternoons offers the chance to see even more of the valuable work being done to meet the needs of this community and engage with its compelling realities.

For example, one of our first afternoons was spent with Ama Ahte, an 80-year-old Tibetan woman who spent 27 years in a Chinese prison. She was imprisoned with 300 women and was the only one to survive the horrific torture, starvation, and cruelties. She said she was able to survive, in part, due to her faith and desire to tell her story to the Dalai Lama. She left Tibet in 1993 and did tell her story to the Dalai Lama and later fashioned it into a book "The Voice that Remembers." This book is one of many on the pre-trip reading list and one that, although not one of the required ones, I had strongly encouraged the students to read. I was happy to see that not only did every student read it, they brought their copy half way around the globe for Ama Ahte to sign!

This is a physically, emotionally and intellectually demanding trip, and we always have our share of difficulties in each of these domains. A few students have gotten the inevitable "Delhi Belly" and sore throats, though none too severe. There have been a few bumps along the way in the manner which anxieties manifest. Though again, these too offer teachable moments.

Today is the second of the Dalai Lama's teachings and the students were ready to hike up the mountain to his Temple by 6:30 a.m. to sit with the hundreds of Tibetan monks and nuns in their safforn robes. This is a rare opportunity to sit with and experience the energy of a man whose very existence defines the ultimate in ethical behavior. After the third day of the teaching tomorrow, we've arranged for a debriefing with one of our guides, an expert on Buddhist philosophy. I'm looking forward to this and hearing the thoughts and feelings its generated among our group.

Overall, this is an adventurous group and one whose signature seems to be care and concern for each other and a real eagerness to derive as much as possible from this opportunity.

I'll stop now since I have a feeling the electricity is about to go off!

Be well,
Ron Marks

I wish I knew now what I knew then....

2009-09-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

Sept. 10, 2009

We have been in India about a week and if it's possible I feel like I know less than when I got here. I've read a lot of travel books that India will flip the world as you know it upside down and leave you scrambling for something to hold onto. Add about 18 million people, beeping horns, crazy humidity, and an interesting array of smells, and you've got my first few days in Delhi.

The calmness that people exude is contradicted by the insane pace of the streets and constant noise. The noise is echoed by the constant presence of people asking for money or food, and so begins the constant struggle of what is the right thing to do. Our guides tell us of the many schemes and organized bosses that force people to beg and then take the money. All of a sudden we are powerful more than we know and looked upon as influential. Wrapping my head around this is something that will last long after I'm back in the US. The unbelievable poverty (and we haven't seen the worst) shakes you to your core. Just from that, I doubt I will ever be the same again. Sensory and emotional overload would be putting it mildly. Factor in the sleep deprivation and jet lag, and you can imagine what a fun bunch we were to be around!

Unfortunately, I also spent two days in Delhi holed up in our hotel praying to the gods to please release my stomach in exchange for my first born child. Eventually someone listened and my stomach was released, but my welcome to India definitely flipped me inside out in more ways than one.

Julie Balasalle

First days, thoughts in India

2009-09-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

Sept. 9, 2009

After....days (I have lost count and the time zone change is really thrown me off) it is difficult to describe the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of India. The best I can do is give you a brief run down of where we are right now.

Yesterday morning we arrived in Dharamsala (north eastern edge of India) after an overnight train ride and three hours in a Jeep through the mountains. The trip up north was more of an experience than most people expected, but was fine for me. The next couple of days we will be hearing from the Dali Lama, climbing to nearly 10,000 feet, and learning more about eastern culture. I am continually intrigued by the differences in mental health between western and eastern cultures. The point I am focused on right now, is that many easterners have strong religious beliefs which may alleviate much anxiety and depression. I'm going to have to stay a bit longer to fully explore this idea. Lucky for me I have two more weeks.

To paint you a picture of what is going on at this precise moment. I am in a fairly clean internet shop with six computers on about 12 feet of table. To my right two monks working on some manuscript in Tibetan. To my left, a fellow TSSW student (Mandy Conger). All the computer stations are full with Indians or Tibetans (except for Mandy and me). As I look out the window of this 12 by 22 foot room, I stare out a lattice window without a screen that is letting the fresh air roll in through the sounds of motor bikes running by and honking their horns (just to say Hi to pedestrians). As I gaze beyond the trees, crowded houses, and fabric banners, I quickly find a steep mountain side with the peak covered in clouds and sunlight cascading gently across parts of the slope.

At this point I need to go. I'm off to get a Tibetan snack and some ginger honey tea (hopefully to clear up my cold). Everything is great. I have packed more than enough, so far, now it's time to start contemplating what to do, what to learn, and what to bring back with me.

Will Moeller

Welcoming arrival

2009-09-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

Sept. 3, 2009

At 39,000 feet we flew over Greenland, Europe, Russia, Afghanistan and Tibet before flying into India last night. Through a dozen different time zones, it was a humbling feeling to literally see how much land and ocean are between home and here.

Last night, we arrived in Delhi and to a very interesting Indian welcome! It was raining very hard so that our bus had to stop 10 minutes from our hotel. The streets were filled with water while auto rickshaws tried to maneuver around. We walked through the water onto our hotel's street, passing people, cows, elephants and camels.

I can tell that welcome was perfect for us - a jarring reminder than India is an unpredictable place that holds a surprise for you around every turn. I wonder what it has in store for us?

Julie Balasalle

Did I pack enough?

2009-09-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Sept. 1, 2009

It's almost time. Just under 21 hours until I board a plane and begin a journey to India for almost one month. Truth be told I am not nervous, excited, or scared. I feel ready, prepared, and set to go. I keep going through my packing in my head...passport, check...journal (required), check...camera, check...underwear, check and double check. I just hope I haven't forgotten anything, since I packed almost two weeks ago.

I'm really eager to get on the journey. I know that tomorrow when I am riding to the airport, I'll get overwhelmed with excitement, anxiety, and fear. I'm sure that as I ride down the road watching the lines go by while talking with Mandy, Angie, and Nate (thanks for the ride) I'll be talking about and reflecting on my previous trip to India in 2006. I'm sure that this trip will be vastly different than my five-day whirlwind tour while on Semester at Sea. I'm eager to meet my pen pal, Damchoe, who has facebook. I'm eager to observe children who have made the fateful journey from Tibet to Dharamsala. I'm eager to see how my classmates react to India knowing that I probably reacted just like one of them.

It's going to be an amazing month full of eye opening and life changing sights, smells, tastes, and experiences. It'll be different this time because I will not be as awe struck by the crowded roads with auto rickshaws, bikes, buses, and large trucks on one road in Delhi and Agra. It'll be different this time because I will not be struck by the cows, animals, and unsanitary conditions on the road. It'll be different this time because I do not know what I will be doing outside of going to Dharamsala, the children's village, and the welcome center. It'll be different this time because I'll be there for a month. It'll be different this time because it's a new adventure.

I'm ready for this adventure and I am excited to return to a section of the world that I truly enjoy simply because it is SO very different than anything American. It will be foreign, but strangely familiar. It'll be different, but I'm ready and eager to begin this adventure in just under 21 hours. I just hope I have packed enough.

Will Moeller

Pre-flight thoughts

2009-09-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Sept. 1, 2009

So, it's really happening.

We are really getting on a plane tomorrow and flying halfway around the world to a country whose culture and complex history is completely different than the one we know. And I definitely do not feel ready! As much as I knew this was coming, I find myself wanting to focus on the small questions instead of the larger ones I know are beneath the surface. Small questions like, do I really need to bring both of my Red Sox hats? What is the best position to sleep on a plane when you have the middle seat without ending up on that random guy's shoulder? How many Dave Matthews Band playlists can I make that will last throughout the 15-hour flight? How many boxes of Immodium and Tums are really too many to bring to India?

These are the small questions that are skimming the surface, but I know the deeper ones are really what's stirring inside me. How can I witness another culture fully and without judgment? How do I respect values that I don't agree with, while also challenging myself to question my own? How am I going to respond to heartbreaking yet beautiful resilience? What can I do to prepare myself to be so vulnerable in such a different setting? What can I do to even make a little impact while I'm there?

I can imagine we are all going to question our own lives and priorities. I can imagine that we probably won't come back the same as when we left. And even though I don't feel ready at all for the 20 plus hour journey, it's really going to happen tomorrow. We are going to get on a plane and fly halfway around the world, whether we are ready or not.

Julie Balasalle

Dean offers final message before students depart for a trip of a lifetime

2009-08-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Tashi Dalek,

The next time we’re together, in less than four weeks, will be at the New Orleans airport preparing to board a plane for a 24 hour flight to India. For all of us, our journey has begun, with our preparations over the summer as only a small part of this preparation. As I think about “what’s to come,” it is not possible to escape the human drama that is India and for every sense to near saturation. At every turn one’s senses are drenched with exotic fragrances, brilliant and confusing sights, a cacophony of sound and the intimacy of the crowded streets. Some time ago, I was asked to share some thoughts about what was coming and said “From the moment we step off the plane in the Delhi airport, fatigued after 24 hours of air travel, we (will) discover in India a story too complex to comprehend from pictures and too human to gather from the pages of books.”

With this thought in mind and as you continue your preparation over the next few weeks, remember that, as an immersion, you will receive from this journey in proportion to what you put into it, no more, no less. I maintain that as a journey, it will require our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual engagement. For each of these, you may want to begin thinking how you will be engaged with these aspects of yourself; what this journey will require from you, and what you are able to give in relation to each of these parts of the whole. If you haven’t gotten a journal yet, now is a good time to do so and begin journaling. Your thoughts, ideas, and feelings as you ready yourself, are an important part of your voyage. The preparation for the journey, the “getting there,” is as much a part of it as the “being there.” We’ll talk more about this throughout our time in India.

One last thought…in order to make sense of our world we each have a paradigm that enables us to translate the world around us into a framework that makes sense and gives it coherence. It is the lens we use to view the world. I quoted Marcel Proust to you in one of our first meetings. He said “the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” To be truly on a journey means that we are going somewhere we have not been before. If we know everything about where we’re going, what we will see and do and what we will feel and think about it, then it is not really a journey, we aren’t going someplace new. Being on a journey means we need to be open to “getting lost” along the way from point A to point B. Otherwise, it’s not really a journey. So, I submit to you that along the way, we need to be open to change the lens from time to time based on new experiences.

I look forward to sharing this journey will all of you.

Ron Marks
Dean, Tulane School of Social Work