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My Round Square International Service Project - Ladakh, India
September 7th, 2010
By Brook Mailey |
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"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
On July 7th, 2010 I embarked on a journey of a life time. My flight from Vancouver would take me to a far away country I had never been to, and somewhat feared, India. Here I would spend a month helping others, and in doing so help myself. Truly, this experience would be a test of the Dalai Lama's statement I have quoted above. I hoped I was up to it!
I had just completed Grade 10 at Collingwood School and, I was now on this trip to complete service work. Our destination lay in the remote Indian Himalayas where I would be helping at an elementary school. I would be at high altitude living in a tent for two weeks of my journey. From high school to high altitude I knew the going would get tough!
My school is a member of the humanitarian organization, International Round Square. Its aim is to facilitate service projects in impoverished parts of the world. After two months of soul searching prior to our trip's departure I knew I was mentally ready to make this journey. The question was would I physically be up to it? Would the medications I had taken on departure protect my physical well-being from intestinal troubles and high altitude sickness? These thoughts roamed through my head on the lengthy air journey, via London England, which took two days including time changes.
As I stepped off the plane in Delhi I was hit by the humidity and temperature that Delhi is well known for. It was 6:30 in the morning but the temperature had already reached 30°c and the city was shrouded in mist, or was it smog? The very next morning I was at the airport again, travelling to Leh, the capital of Ladakh. Ladakh is a region of the state Jammu and Kashmir. It is often called "Little Tibet", and it is at high elevation with Leh being located at 11,460 ft. It was at this point that my two friends from Collingwood and I were introduced to the other students from around the world that we would be spending the next month with. There were eighteen students from Germany, Canada, England, Scotland, Switzerland, the United States, and ten Indian nationals. As you can see we were a very diverse group, but as time went by we grew close and we were sad to say goodbye at the end of the project.
After acclimatizing in Leh, we drove the highest road in the world (its summit is 18,380 ft – higher than Everest base camp) to Sumur in the Nubra Valley. This was where we were to spend our next two weeks, in tents, building a library for the Lamdon School, which has 180 students. I soon found out that things rarely go as planned, or on schedule. We were already in for our first surprise. The library was now to be built with stones walls instead of mud bricks meaning that our group could not construct the walls, but only assist the masons. This essentially resulted in our group carrying a lot of rocks, sand, wood and water in many "chain gangs"! As there was often nothing for us to do in regards to the library we did odd jobs at the school including widening the driveway, and flattening the floors. This work stage of the trip was at times frustrating due to the lack of what, in my mind, was meaningful work. However, it was still worthwhile because at the end of the day I feel I did help to make a difference to this small community.
During the first week in Sumur we received some very exciting news; the Dalai Lama would be coming to Sumur, where he would stay at the monastery, and give teachings to the local villagers. This was very exciting for us, and brought great excitement to this largely Buddhist population. Leading up to his arrival the town was abuzz with activity and soon had colourful flags on the roadside, welcome banners, and a quickly built, small temple. On the day His Holiness arrived we took to the streets where all the locals were waiting in their traditional dress. Typical to India, he arrived five hours late, but all the same, here he was in Sumur!
In the following days we attended two of the Dalai Lama's teachings at the monastery. They were translated (though not well) into English for the fifty or so foreigners who were present. On the second day he saw us waving during tea break and waved back! He then mimed the question where our tea and bread was. When we said we weren't sure he jokingly pretended he throw his own bread to us! This was such a special and unique experience to see the Dalai Lama give his teachings in his local environment to his own people. There was such a small chance that he would arrive in the tiny village we were in, and I feel very blessed to have been able to spend some time in this remarkable man's presence.
An important highlight of my trip occurred when our service group was placed in charge of the school on two separate occasions while the teachers marked exams. Along with a girl from Scotland, and an Indian boy who spoke Hindi, I was placed in charge of twenty one grade 4's (ages 6 to 9). It is important to note that the first language of these kids is Ladakhi, but they all speak Hindi quite well, and are learning English too. The two occasions we met the children we spent about two hours together and we sure had a blast! After going around a circle saying our name and favourite animal, we spent the rest of our time playing games, and singing the odd song. Our games included (a version of) Pictionary, hangman, heads up 7-up, who has the duster, broken telephone, duck duck goose, time bomb, the hokey pokey, and BINGO. Although they seemed to enjoy all of them, their favourites were hokey pokey and time bomb. Although many of these kids live in poverty, they all constantly have big smiles on their faces. This definitely rubbed-off on me, as when I was with them, and now whenever I think about them, I'm always left with a smile on my face!
After a trek, and more time in Leh, we returned to Delhi where we hopped straight onto a bus for the five hour drive to Agra. Looking out the window I saw the colourful and crowded scenes filled with poverty that are so typical of India. Agra is the home of the Agra Fort, and of course, the famous Taj Mahal, both of which are World Heritage sites. Early the next morning we arrived at the truly magical, and almost dreamlike, Taj Mahal. This is fitting as it was built to feel like the Islamic Paradise. After taking many pictures, and learning more about the remarkable building's history, it was back on the bus to travel back to Delhi, though not before being accosted by beggars, and street vendors.
After being back in beautiful Vancouver for a few weeks I have now had time to reflect on my month long adventure in Northern India. I realize that I had such a unique experience and, I learned first hand that the Dalai Lama's statement I quoted above is true. His Holiness said, "if you want others to be happy practice compassion". I understand this most acutely when I think of the joy we brought to the Ladakhi school children playing games together. What the Dahli Lama also predicted came true…"if you want to be happy practice compassion." The personal joy I felt in that Indian classroom will be remembered for a lifetime.
This service project truly served me. My compassion for others less fortunate helped me to find personal joy in a land where there is so little, but where the people have so much. I am so glad that I went on this Round Square trip to Ladakhi, India and would strongly recommend it to anyone else given the opportunity.
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