So Much to Learn

Over the past several days I have realized that there is a lot of stuff that I don't know. I don't know why we can't educate ALL the children in the same way we educate the children of the wealthy, and the ones who live in the right area of town. I don't understand why there isn't enough FOOD for the families I see living in the streets and sending the adorable toddlers up to Americans begging for money. I don't get how there can be so much wealth in the world and there are people dying every day. I don't know what to do about it.

I have also learned a lot. Yesterday we visited a school that works very hard to educate the whole child, and has an activity center that includes martial arts, mime, dance, music, and art to make sure the students appreciate their own culture. I learned that everywhere in the world there are people who understand the value of a well-rounded education. This morning we visited a school in a rural village where many of the students had never seen anyone from outside India before. I learned that one can communicate a lot of things without more than 20 words in any language in common. We sang "We Shall Overcome" with about 100 students today ... in a spontaneous gathering led by one of the students (who claimed not to know any English, by the way). It was fantastic!

Other things have been fun and interesting, but maybe only to me. I saw a Temple where there are daily sacrifices of a goat (and the smell of blood mixed with the heat and sweat was overwhelming). I myself have been so overheated and sweaty that I ruined a necklace because I didn't know the sweat could take the color out of the beads. My picture was in a local paper about our group's visit here (yes, mom, I have a copy for you). I visited a very sad Zoo where there were only a few animals and several of them were overheated and hungry (maybe it had something to do with the fact that we paid only 25 cents to get in). I have been harassed by shopowners who desperately want the Americans to visit their places of business, and it is clear how difficult times are around here. It surrounds you, envelopes you, suffocates you sometimes. Or maybe that's the pollution from the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of cars. Or maybe just the heat.