Let me tell you about the incredible experience I had this winter. I got the chance to join the CORD service visit to Odisha, India which was truly amazing. Not only did I learn a lot from the activities that were new to me, but I also made some great memories and friends.
CORD stands for Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development. The staff that worked at the center, showed us how they operate in many places throughout India and the different programs they run. I found it interesting that CORD’s mission is to teach people how to be self-sufficient with programs driven by themselves. It's like the cliche, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." We got to see this in action when we visited local farmers and women's groups.
One day, we got to interact with kids from the local villages called Balwadi kids. We showed them the posters we made. The posters we made illustrated our lives in the United States. They also described personal health and hygiene, and career and educational opportunities for the Balwadi Kids. I had fun presenting these posters and interacting with the kids. I believe our posters made a big impact because they made the Balwadi kids more aware of how to stay healthy as well as opportunities to pursue. We also played games such as musical chairs and pass the globe. It was interesting to learn that these kids are similar to us even though they live far away and have different lifestyles. They are just as curious and playful as we are.
On another day, we set off to visit local farmers and women's groups. We visited farmers who have been assisted by CORD. We learned some of their farming techniques and got to see their land. One farmer surprised me because he said that he had the chance to become a lawyer but he wanted to farm. His daughter lives in the United States and all his brothers are lawyers or doctors. He chose to keep farming because he loves it and he wants to be the person who helps feed the world. Later we visited a women's group called Mahila Mandal. These are a group of women who come together in a village to discuss and solve problems in the community. They also created a local microfinancing program within themselves where every person has to put 20 rupees in every meeting. Any person can loan out this money to use in a way that will benefit the community. We learned how these women want growth for the community rather than solely for themselves. Contrast to here, where everyone focuses on their own growth and success. I observed how everyone in the village is concerned about each other versus, here how we just focus on our own well-being.
In the next few days, we constructed a bathroom for a family with two elderly people. We got to build the walls and foundation of the bathroom. Through building these bathrooms, we learned the importance of manual labor and hard work. We also observed that the ‘contractors’ there wore no protective gear and did more work than us while we wore waterproof boots, gloves, etc.
Another day, we went sightseeing to a waterfall park. We had to hike a little bit to go see the waterfall but it was worth it. There was also a man-made lake at the park where we rented pedal-powered boats. Pedaling the boats was a workout but we had a good time cruising around the lake. It was a really nice place to go sightseeing. It felt similar to the spots we have here in the United States.
Over the New Year's weekend, the girls' group came from their center to ours. They stayed the rest of the trip at our center which made it a lot more fun. We all played badminton for 3 hours while listening to music on a speaker. We learned about what type of music each of us likes. We also learned that Subadarshi uncle is really good at badminton. I had a lot of fun making friends and spending time with everyone.
We had a New Year's party with kids from nearby villages. We played games like hopscotch, and musical chairs, and had a talent show. The party was really fun and we got to see some talents the kids there have. Some of them sang and some danced. We learned that these kids taught themselves these skills by watching YouTube videos. It was nice to see that these kids are motivated to learn new skills by themselves.
Later that week, we did some more activities like building a soakage pit, building another bathroom, visiting the waterfall, and presenting our learnings. We learned how a soakage pit takes wastewater and filters it to recharge the groundwater for plants. For the bathroom, we got to learn how to place bricks in an orderly fashion to make strong walls.
We went to go visit the same waterfall which was pretty fun. We rented the boats and cruised around the lake a few times. On the last day, we presented our learning/experience to the CORD staff to show them what learnings we are taking away from this trip.
Our chaperones took really good care of us and made sure we had a really good trip. They were also really fun and participated in all the activities and games with us. The staff at the CORD center were also really nice and made sure we had everything we needed during the trip.
Overall, I am happy that I was able to participate in CORD over winter break. Not only did I learn a lot, I also got to make some amazing memories and friends for life.
