Blog 2: July 14^th

India is an interesting country. Delhi is extremely polluted and scorching hot. Some days the temperature can reach 110F! There’s pollution everywhere and the sky is grey. One thing that really impressed me about India is how they are still a developing nation but working so hard to turn things around. This summer they planted 22 million trees in Delhi. Stores do not offer plastic bags, only cotton ones. All take away is in recycled bags. India is still the most polluted place in the world, with Faridabad the place I’m staying, being the second most polluted place. One of the biggest issues holding India down from really progressing is the fact only 10% of their population pays taxes. Unfortunately, the majority of the population faces extreme poverty, living on less than 100rs a day. India is still lacking in many things. They don’t have any form of birth control leaving many people to not have sex until they’re 25. Unmarried women cannot receive a pregnancy test even if the doctor knows they could be pregnant. Hepatitis B is a huge issue in India due to lack of accessible healthcare and little to no symptoms from Hep B. In rural areas men tend to use the bathroom on the side of the road, yet women are forbidden from doing this.

          Dharmshala, India

Women are generally respected just as much as men. Contrary to what I read online before coming they are allowed to be out at night freely. Rural women tent to wear saris and traditional Indian clothes while modern women wear western clothes. On subways women are given a separate area near the front of the area that men are not allowed to enter. They can sit anywhere else in the train, but the first cab is theirs to choose if they want.

                     Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Blog 1: June 8^th

I’ve been in India for four weeks and am amazed by the people. Currently I’m volunteering in the slum clinics and orphanages. The medical slums provide free medical advice, first aid, and over the counter medications to those who cannot afford it otherwise. I personally work to measure blood pressure and blood sugar for those who come in. Many of the individuals who come in either have cuts from poor walking conditions or riding motorcycles, have Delhi Belly, or dehydration. A huge issue in India is much of their food is only carbs. There is very little vegetables or fruit in the India diet which has caused further health issues in the long run. Many individuals experience kidney stones and heart issues because of their diet. In the orphanages we get to play games with the children. I love the orphanages because I get to make up new games to play with them every day. I know when I get home, I want to try to mail more board games for them. The children are so sweet and incredibly tough. They tend to hit each other a lot and play football (soccer) very rough.

Alongside working in the medical camps, I get to attend surgeries. One case that really broke my heart was 23-year-old women who was hit by a motorcycle and broke every bone in her left hand. When we arrived, she was screaming for her mom who was nowhere around. The doctors had to amputate her hand because the bones were basically gone. This tends to be a common issue in India because of the amount of people in cars/ bikes and the poor roadway systems. I wish there was more I could do.

The Medical Slums

My final three weeks of my volunteer trip were spent on Nusa Penida, a smaller Indonesian island off of mainland Bali. Nusa Penida is less developed with far fewer tourists than Bali. My volunteer work on Nusa Penida consisted of turtle conservation and environmental activism. Sea turtles are an endangered species. Sea turtles, along with marine life in general has been greatly affected by global climate change. With the rising temperatures and increase of plastic in the ocean, the ecosystems of these marine animals has been altered significantly. Furthermore, locals in Bali used to eat turtles so the sea turtle population around the island is much smaller compared to the rest of the world.

To combat these growing issues, Green Lion Bali, the organization I was working with, opened a turtle sanctuary where turtles can have a safe place to grow to be big enough to have a high chance of surviving in the ocean upon release. Now that the sanctuary has been long established on the island, local fishermen will bring turtle eggs to Green Lion where they will safely hatch on site. Each day I, along with the other volunteers, would clean the tanks, feed the turtles, and clean the turtles to ensure that continued their growth in a happy and healthy way. We would record their movements and take measurements to track their progress as well.

When I was not working with the turtles, I cleaned the beaches, made signs encouraging environmentally conscious behaviors, and worked to improve the waste management system on the island. On my final day on the island, I got lucky enough to be a part of a turtle release. A Balinese ceremony was performed to bless the turtle and wish it a safe journey in the water. This was by far the highlight of my trip as it was so exciting to see the work I did each day come to fruition.

Selamat siang (good day)! This summer I spent seven weeks in Bali, Indonesia volunteering. For the first month I volunteered in a small village twenty minutes outside of Ubud teaching kindergarten and third grade.

My mornings were spent with the kindergartners exposing them to basic english. We played games, colored, and danced. There were thirty-five children to a classroom with three Indonesian teachers. Although the class structure reminded me somewhat of my own schooling as a child with morning meeting, workbooks, and craft projects, the way the classroom was conducted was very different. The children were given a lot of freedom and would come in and out of the classroom as they pleased. Bali is predominantly Hindu so a group prayer, led by a boy in the classroom, happened before snack time each day.

In the afternoon, I taught english to a class of fifteen third graders. This was different from my experience with kindergarten because there was no teacher in the classroom with my partner and I. Every day we would spend a couple hours planning activities and games for the kids to creatively expose them to english. We covered topics like transportation, the five senses, adjectives, nouns, verbs, and weather. Although I knew that the kids were improving their english, I struggled coming to volunteer each day knowing that I was only giving them the language skills to eventually be a better help to the privileged tourists, not financially independent.

Below you will find a picture of me and a few other volunteers with my third grade class. If you look closely, you can see the lei that they made me as a goodbye gift.

Blog 2: May 23, 2019

And just like that, my volunteering journey in Morocco has come to an end. For the English lessons, this last week we simply did a general review of all the content we saw and completed several exercises just to make sure everything was learned well. It was very satisfying to see that the students had actually learned a lot, even if I was only there for three weeks. I was so glad I did not give up and back down from teaching English and that I took it as a personal challenge instead, because it was definitely a very rewarding experience. Saying goodbye to the students was very hard, especially as they told me that I was one of the best volunteers they’ve ever had and that they were going to miss me.

Some of my students at the last day of teaching

Another emotional experience was saying goodbye to my host family. The hospitality with which they opened their home to me, and how they treated me was beyond incredible. Throughout my three weeks there I really bonded with them, specially my host brothers. This part of my time in Morocco was one of the most important ones, as it allowed me to experience the culture first-handedly and constantly. This was one of the main purposes of this trip, so I was very glad that the degree of immersion was a high one. Even though I was in Jordan for a few months before coming to Morocco, so I was familiar with Arab culture and Muslim customs, Jordan and Morocco are very different in many ways. Besides, getting to spend Ramadan in a Muslim country and while staying with a Muslim family was an unforgettable experience. Something I was particularly fond of was having iftar every night with the whole family. It was a beautiful time of bonding, sharing stories, and more. Probably what I will miss the most (besides the lemon and almond cookies enjoyed with mint tea while looking at the ocean, no explanation needed as to why that will be missed).

View from the rooftop of            my hostel in Tangier

I am so grateful for the SHIP Grant, as it allowed me to have this experience that is not only unforgettable in general terms, but also directly related to my academic and professional interests. I will miss Morocco like crazy, but I am excited to go to Jerusalem on the 28th and begin my summer internship. I shall return soon enough, though!

One of the doorways in the area of the Hassan Tower in Rabat. Although astonishingly beautiful, the place isn’t swarmed by flocks of tourists (Rabat isn’t a very touristy city, which I appreciated a lot), so I went to this area very often after classes in order to plan out my lesson for the next day.

Blog 1: May 15, 2019

I cannot believe I arrived to Morocco around a week and a half ago. My time here has been full of surprises and unforgettable moments, specially arriving to Rabat and having the city surpass every single expectation I had about it on the first day. As a volunteer under IVHQ, I am teaching English to adults, both men and women, at the NGO Le Féminin Pluriel. This organization has the overall goal of elevating women’s position in society. It was nice to see that, although focusing on women, it opened its educational opportunities to everyone regardless of gender.

 With some hostel friends at the                               Ouzoud Falls, the highest waterfalls in North Africa

I’m not a native English speaker, and I haven’t taught English before, so I felt a little bit uncomfortable at first when I was informed about my placement. My volunteer coordinator offered to place me somewhere else if I felt I could not follow through, but I decided to take this as a personal challenge and remained there. After a few days, I felt absolutely comfortable. All the students share a great determination and desire to learn English, which motivated me even more to work with them. They often complimented my teaching style, and soon what I thought was going to be an uncomfortable experience turned out to be something I woke up excited to be doing. I have encountered some challenges on the way but thinking about how motivated all of them are to be learning English is the only thing I need to push forward and put out my best for them.

Teaching at                 Le Féminin Pluriel

On the cultural side of things, I’ve been intensely immersed in the customs of Ramadan. I have been fasting during daylight hours almost every day, except when I break the fast to try some street food because I want to make sure I don’t miss out on Moroccan gastronomy before leaving. My homestay family is amazing and welcoming, I get along very well with my four host brothers and also with my parents. Having iftar (the meal to break the fast at sunset) with them every day has been such an amazing bonding and cultural experience for me.

Cannot wait to see what the rest of my time here will bring!