Project Symposium

Today was the ITSA 2013 Project Symposium!

Over the course of the workshops, students have been encouraged to think about which social issues they are interested in. Then, they have to think about a project that they can implement in their community to help fix this issue. These project proposal is what the ITSA workshops are all about.
However, this year, there is an exciting twist!

ITSA has been awarded grant money to give to students to help implement their projects. So, students can apply to have their projects funded, and if they are, their projects WILL be implemented! Everyone is really excited about this new aspect of ITSA, because we do want to make change, in whatever communities that we can.

For the Project Symposium, we mixed kids from different workshops, so that they could hear what other kids have planned.

I have to say, I was very impressed by the presentations that were given! All of the students were very well spoken. Even those who were normally very quiet stepped up to the task, and gave coherent presentations. The topics that I got to see were on the topics of healthcare, gender equality, child labor, and education.

I am sad that I was only able to sit in on one class of project presentations, I wish I had been able to see all of them!

Rajkot

For a few days, the ITSA team is going to Rajkot! We had an intensive two day workshop series at the The Galaxy Education System (TGES). After a very eventful, yet comfortable, sleeper bus ride, we finally made it to Rajkot. We had prepared everything for the days to come. But first it was Isabel’s 21^st birthday! So we had to have a midnight celebration with cake, naturally.

The next day, we were ready to go. We got to the school, and began the workshops with activites and discussions that are now ITSA classics, pointing out power and wealth inequality, as well as the costs of development. It was great to see the same activities that we had been doing for weeks worked just as well with kids from different cities, and ones who hadn’t necessarily chosen to be there. All of the kids were very involved in the discussions we had.

The next day, we took a field trip! It took us a bit to get there, but once we reached it, it was so worth it. Vishvanidam is a place where children from slum communities can go to get help with going to school. It is a warm supportive environment for the children to be in. It also acts as an orphanage to children who don’t have anyone to look after them. I was with the girls, who talked to the girls at the Vishwanigam. Personally, when I was in ninth grade, I would have been really awkward and shy, being thrown into a situation where I had to talk to kids my age that I didn’t know. But the TGES girls had no qualms about anything. They began with singing songs, and dancing with the girls from Vishvanidam. It was a great way to break the ice with them. After that, they got to asking more important questions, like which subjects they thought they needed help in. By the end of the trip, the TGES girls were planning to go back in a couple of weeks for Friendship Day, with Chinese food, music, and speakers. It was great to meet students that are so self-motivated.

It was great to feel like ITSA is spreading outside of the city of Ahmedabad, even if only to a city a few hours drive away. 

Mural Painting!

Here are some pictures from Sunday, when all the ITSApreneurs painted their murals! We had one mural dedicated to gender equality, the environment, human rights, and economic inequality. They all turned out beautifully!

Saturday Event--Development in Gujarat

ITSA hosted its second Speak Off this Saturday. We didn’t have a guest lecturer this week, and we still had a great discussion. There were no shortages of opinions. 

            There was a good point brought up about balance in development. There has to be a balance between the old and the new, the urban and rural, the social and economic development. If there is too much of one without the other, the development is not going to be sustainable. In the context of Gujarat, and Ahmedabad specifically, the consensus was that there is too much economic development, and not enough social development. We hadn’t really talked about social development before, even though it is especially relevant to an NGO like ITSA. The balance is needed in development if it aims to be sustainable.           

            At one point, a comparison between India’s development and America’s development arose. America is a young country, and in less than 400 years has become a completely developed country. I think that there is an interesting comparison to be made, in terms of how we developed so quickly, but it was also much easier to develop America because it was a completely new country. India has a culture that is thousands of years old, and traditions surrounding that. I think it is much more difficult to Westernize a country that so clearly has it’s own unique history. India has to figure out how to balance their beautiful ancient culture with a newer, more modern culture.

            Now that the economy is globalized, India wants a piece of it. But while trying to catch up with more developed countries, there is a disconnect between the resources that India gives away, and those which it keeps. The downfall of a globalized economy is that countries, especially the US, are no longer able to sustain itself solely on American products, everything is imported. India has resources that are exported to other countries that depend on them, while India is also trying to sustain a huge population.

            Personally, I have never talked that much about development, I have never taken a class on it or anything like that. Growing up in New York City, real development doesn’t really happen, only gentrification. But India is literally building up around us, with huge buildings suddenly appearing. On our road, there are multiple construction sites where we have watched buildings rise floor by floor. Development has to be more than just buildings. It has to involve the whole community, and include those from all social strata.