After preparing for a couple days before all the students arrived, the South Asian students presented on their cultures for the international students. You can read more here, and see a few student interviews here, beginning with Olga!
Monica
Mohammad
Rohini
Kultwisiso
Shilpi
It was so great to be part of today’s session which was focusing on the LGBTQIA community. I have always wanted to know better about this community and I always wanted to understand the perspective of the people in this community and that was my expectation prior the site visit and I must say I learnt a lot. I have always realized that in the location that I come from, people who belong in the LGBTQIA community are always discriminated against and suffer from the stereotypes in the community like being told that being gay means they’re possessed with demons even though they don’t have a choice really. Going to the session today brought light to me and taught me something new and thanks to the representative from WhyShy and of course 360 plus.
I have learnt from her presentation that being part of the LGBTQ community existed in the ancient times too particularly in India and on religious beliefs everyone was equal. She further explained that there was a festival named Koovagam where Krishna was to marry Aravan prior the battle of Mabharata of which this was a woman marrying another woman. In my toolkit I have added law as part of the resources I could use because I learnt that WhyShy use the bill of rights to advocate the discrimination against the LGBTQ community and using media for sharing the awareness so I’ve happily added those in my toolkit. What really stood out for me was the lesson that we should not address gay people or anyone who belongs to the LGBT community as “them” and be inclusive and address the entire community as “us” and not discriminate people against their sexuality.
Today was an amazing day. We had a session on mental health and I learned a lot like the difference between mental health and mental health illness. The person taking the session was very friendly and supportive. She bonded with all the group members very nicely. I found the sessions very interactive as well personal. I felt very much relief by sharing my inner thoughts with the group. We also did an activity in which we were asked to write any positive thought. So it was an interesting activity. It was totally a great day today.
Last night was actually the best night for me ever since we separated into three groups. I don’t know if it’s actually because we were just Introduced to the concept of safe space during yesterday’s session on inclusivity and maybe just maybe that allowed me to not only warm up to everyone but to finally understand everyone and be aware of where they are emotionally.
Day 3 of learning with Sauhard in Ahmedabad (amdavad) was great, As great as it was I got to imagine this and I want you to imagine it with me. Now imagine this, imagine a world where all people are treated equally. A world where all members of the LGBTQAI+ community are accepted, a world where there is no such thing as a caste system or social status, imagine a world where there is no stigmas or myths around mental health, a world where mental health is taken seriously, a world where youth has a say in what happens in their lives. Imagine a world where as in the words of John Lennons song Imagine “Imagine all the people living life in peace”, finally imagine a world where we all realize that as in the words of Marvin Gaye’s song let’s get it on ” We are all sensitive with so much to give”.
Well you may say “Phila what a great world that would be but now what are the barriers to us achieving such a world” Well truth be told told we have only one barrier, UNAWERENESS, people are simply unaware of the matters that other people and communities face around them, this could be being unaware of the discrimination that comes with being part of the LGBTQAI + community, being unaware of the caste system and its prevalence in India, being unaware of the stigmatization that people suffering from mental illnesses endure,being unaware of the exclusion of youth in politics.
We are all at some point unaware of something and now here’s the thing for us to be aware of that particular thing we actually had to be made aware. Just like me I was unaware of the prevalence of the caste system in India, I was unaware of the stigmatization of mental illnesses in India, I was unaware of the myths surrounding mental health, I was unaware of the youth being excluded in their own life decisions and I was made aware through sessions conducted by amazing and brilliant professionals from Sauhard over the past three days. I’ve learned over the past three days that it is important as a citizen of my country, community and the world at large that once I have been made aware just as I’ve been made aware over the past three of social issues affecting the community around me and once I have full knowledge and a full 360° view of those social issues, It is important that I share and raise awareness about those issues to my community at a grassroots level and If we all do so not only would I be practicing the concept of active citizenship and youth citizenship but I’ll be helping others do so as well and ultimately we will all striving together be able to achieve a world where everyone is aware and when everyone is aware the world will be able to work as one to conquer those social issues.
Societal myths on mental illnesses and people who suffer from mental health issues