Sonja Summer

Study Abroad – India

My STEP Signature Project was to travel to North Central India, to learn about the historical architecture of the northern cities of Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra. My group also volunteered Barefoot College, which is a local skills development college in the village Tilonia.

I knew that going to India would be life changing for me, the culture is so different from the United States and the lifestyle is nothing that I am used to. I had known ahead of time that the country faced a poverty and pollution issue, but all the research and reading that my class did ahead of time is nothing compared to seeing it in person. I learned firsthand about some of the critical issues that India faces. We traveled in May, which is their tourist off season due to the extreme heat. The average temperature during our time there was 110° F, not only was that difficult for us but we also saw how the locals struggled through the heat. Along with the heat, there is also a water shortage in some of the areas we visited. At some points during our visit in the urban areas, it could be difficult to breath from the poor air quality. While all of this may seem very negative, I would not give up this experience for anything. It was shocking to experience this for my two weeks, but I feel that the knowledge and life experiences I gained far out way any first world inconvenience I may have faced. I feel that I have gained so much empathy and understanding for people in struggling countries, through witnessing the poverty and resource deficiencies.

While shopping at some of the markets in Delhi, our group was commonly approached by beggars. We knew it was best to wait until we left the area to give anything, otherwise word would spread of tourist with money and more people would start to follow us. It was exceptionally difficult to say no to the children that approached us or the women carrying infants. Many of the children were unsupervised and poorly clothed, you could tell from the dirt on them that they haven’t bathed in a while. You couldn’t tell if they were abandoned or if they separate from their families to cover more ground. It was also difficult to see the women with all their children with them, knowing that there was a good chance that they were raped or resorted to prostitution at some point.

While at Barefoot College, we learned about their water collection system. They used the roofs to collect rainwater and deposited it in an underground reservoir. It was incredible to see how careful the people were to not waste any of the water, since they have been experiencing a drought for a few years. At every opportunity, they minimized their need for water and reused it where they could. It is so different from here in the Midwest United States, where we have ample amounts of water and our only motivation for not being wasteful is to keep the water bill low instead of the threat of running out.

One of the most uplifting experiences on the trip was to speak to the women learning solar engineering at Barefoot. Known as the “Solar Mamas”, these women are grandmothers in their impoverished, rural communities who travel to India from all over the world to learn how to install and maintain solar lamps to light their otherwise unelectrified villages. We had the opportunity to speak to some of these women, and it was so incredible to see the pure expression of joy that they had knowing that what they were learning would directly benefit their family and neighbors. We also asked them about how this has effected them personally, many of the women told us that their confidence has increased and upon returning home plan to help facilitate changes to hopefully improve on how the women are treated.

One of the Barefoot Classrooms

I feel that this experience has given me an understanding and more insight to what real poverty can look like. Living in a first world country and eventually getting a career with my college education, I will never have to experience the kinds of struggles that I witnessed while in India. This trip gave me a much better appreciation for the comforts that I do have, and opened my mind to a small snip of what life could be like without it. I think that this trip has made me a more compassionate and understanding person, hopefully, those soft skills will prove themselves beneficial in future personal and professional interactions.

Here is a link to my groups project on Women’s Rights for Barefoot College:

https://u.osu.edu/indiawomensrights/