The past weekend the volunteer group had off, so we flew to New Delhi and Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It was incredible! My jaw literally dropped when I saw it and I was super jealous that a woman got this built for her by her husband to showed he loved her. SO CUTE. I also got to ride an elephant!! Driving on the bus was interesting and really sad. I saw a dead body of a man who was probably stoned because he had big stones all over his body and I saw the paramedics taking him out from under the stones and he was SO thin and old, and was wearing just a little loin cloth. Some other things I saw were a little boy get beaten, a man pushed his wife to the ground only to get into the car before her, and this little boy who was begging me to buy something from him I couldn’t even look at him it was so sad my heart literally broke and a police man saw that he wouldn’t leave me alone and the police man was holding a big wooden stick and after I got on the bus I saw that he started beating the kid with the stick. I’ve never felt so horrible in my entire life. Later on another little boy came up to me and was begging me to buy stuff from him (but its against the rules to give the beggers money or buy from them) and there was a cop behind us that I didn’t see and he started screaming at the little boy who was probably 4 and hitting the stick on the ground and about to run after him so I put my arm around the little boy and made him walk with me so that he wouldn’t get beaten. It’s so terrible I don’t understand how anyone could hit an innocent little kid. It’s disgusting. One mother here that cleans the school and the volunteer hostel, she lives in the village and her two little kids never do their homework and this lady Selena asked her why they never do their homework and she said because she is to busy beating her kids and they sit in the corner and cry all night. It’s so devastating. When I heard that I wanted to go up to her and punch her in the face buuuut I restrained.
Today I got the privilege of tutoring the kids and teaching them English. It was a blast! I had to teach two classes of around 20 kids and it is so hard because to them you’re play time not serious time and school time. So it is super tough to get them to calm down and to listen and learn. Haha I so feel for teachers now. They have a way tough job. On the bus ride yesterday I was talking to our tour guide and he was saying he dreams of going to Chicago just to feel cold air because he has never felt cold air in his life. He was saying its almost impossible to get a Visa to the USA because of 9/11 and because he is Muslim. The tour guide also said how jealous he is of our freedoms. After coming here I have never been so grateful for America in my entire life. We really do live in the best country in the world. People here can’t look the opposite sex in the eye, men and woman cant hold hands, or you will be sent to jail for 15 days. They cant dance together, they cant talk to each other really, their not allowed to marry from a different cast system or let alone they cant marry anyone they chose. Woman here are sold to men like cattle. They have no say in anything. It’s horrible to walk around and see woman and children with black eyes and scratched up faces and arms because you know exactly what happened. When you look into their eyes you see sadness and almost an anxiety and helplessness. These woman and children don’t understand that they are worth something. Here a cow has more worth then a woman or child. It’s just crazy to me and I hate it so much. The woman have to hide their hair, bodies and some have to cover their face. I love India and the people but this is just one thing I hate. I can’t understand this part of their culture. Everybody has worth. Like my dad always tells me you can learn a lesson from the President of the United States or a bum on the street and they both have equal value. It’s really hard to see these things especially growing up in a bubble like most of us do. But its important to see how other people live weather its good, bad, or sad. We need to not ignore the bad things because it’s uncomfortable for us. We need to step outside of our comfort zone and turn our shyness into compassion and the rest is history. Nothing easy is worth anything. I can tell you that much.
No comments:
Post a Comment