An Entrancing Experience

My experience on this trip has really been an entrancing experience, and a spiritual journey. I say spiritual because of the sense of city and the beauty within it. Not only have I noticed the many temples and learnt about various Gods but I’ve also learnt ways that people respect each other in the Indian culture it’s as simple as taking of your shoes when entering a house to the respectful greeting namastè directly  translated to “I bow to you” , how much more meaningful is that then saying “hi!” Right?!

Normally traveling in a car to long distances is boring right , well let me tell you something , most definitely not in India! You might want to put on your seatbelt for this😁. There are literally vehicles going all directions. I don’t think coordination and road worthy is a actual thing here 😁. I was intrigued by something I’ve never come across In my life , well imagine driving with your whole family on a motorcycle with your baby tucked in right between , well yeah that is common in India as motorcycles are cheap and distances are far so why make two trips ?

The most exciting part before coming on the trip was the food I would be eating , well did I not get the bunny chows and mince rotis I was expecting. Instead I adventured on very interesting food that was traditionally made well. One of my favourites was sambhar it is  made out of a tamarind broth, lentils, and vegetables. It’s is really good eaten with idly the white type of bread and this really interesting flavourful vada which is a donut looking thing!

Some of the social things that I engaged in were the highlights of my trip because I got insight into a lot of intervention programs and  felt a mix of emotions that altered my mindset. We went to this one program that focused on teaching the students there a variety of skills such as typing skills, communication skills, presenting yourself in an interview skills etc. They do this program for two months before moving on and finding a job with the skill set that they got , we got to communicate with some of the students and ask them a variety of questions and also share who we are and why we were there . I think it’s amazing that these soft skills are being offered  to the community to help them get jobs to help their families and to earn for themselves

We also went to another organisation called Naandi Foundation which focuses on young girls that are provided with elementary education and are learning about farming in dry land areas  they also get taught skills about safe motherhood and early child development, it was really a gratifying experience because they  exchanged insight about their struggle they face with their identity and what it is like being a Muslim girl that also wants  to be recognized in positive ways , and that they can do more then what their parents represent them to be. These young girls are a  sisterhood for each other to build up the things like confidence and goals these are things  that make them who they are and that make them unique  ,like their self-esteem ,their self-worth and most importantly their education.

I have not only learnt a lot about the young girls in the community who fight for their identity ,but I have also learnt to appreciate my own identity and purpose of being a leader so that I can aspire the youth as we are the mouthpieces for the future.

Going into the village in Andhra Pradesh and seeing how the people live with the little bit of resources all the way down to cooking on the floor with a gas stove to the little bit of thread that hold up the wires and to creating a meal for children of the community without a energy source really touched me and liberated my thinking to create something innovative with my team. We came up with the idea to create a solar paneled  wind turbine that would generate electricity to 50 households in the village the blades would be made out of solar panels so that when there is not sufficient wind they could rely on the sun as a source of energy we also added an additional crank for when their would be neither sun or wind energy , and the people of the village could use the animals to turn the crank and generate enough electricity to power up the house holds .

Being my last night in Andhra Pradesh at Agastya I would say the experience and knowledge I will take with me will to be a more creative and innovative leader and to not hinder my questions about the world I will leave Agastya with a more open minded worldly perspective ready to conquer my next task and to put my best  thinking cap on for all of the experiences I will live through throughout this trip.

I have explored not only villages but my feelings and skillsets.