Perspective

Hi, I’m Shreya, a first generation American that has parents from India. On July 14th, Project LINC went to India with a mission that changed my perspective on people, and through this experience I was able to gain a deeper appreciation for my life through visiting and helping others. I remember, a week after school ended in June, Pallavi, Purvi, Shweta , Shivani and I sat around a pool and talked about what to do during the summer. We all were already going to India, since we wanted to visit family and friends, but only planned on visiting Mysore and Bangalore, big happening cities. Fast forward a few weeks of fundraising and planning, and we were in India, armed with solar lights to pass out to students. This village wasn’t completely strange to us, thankfully. My aunt and dad spent their summers here, and my cousins and I had been there a few times. Our grandmother’s sister-in-law still owns property there and goes there sometimes. I’m really thankful to have visited this place in the past, but this time I really got to connect with all the students and I had a very different experience. My one concern going into the day was that we would be treated as little knowing foreigners, and they would dismiss our intentions as not needed. These students had to accept us into their community. And I didn’t know if they would. The following is a reflection I wrote on the car ride home; “I really don’t know what to write. Today was amazing. It was beyond anything I could hope for. I am honestly so inspired by these kids. When we went there, I was so nervous, I didn’t think they would like us, or even have any necessity for the light. When I learned that we didn’t make a huge mistake signing up for this, I was so ready to take this project into control and just speak. I wish I talked to the kids more, I was so nervous that I didn’t even try to make conversation. But in total, the whole experience was just like making new friends that are a little different than us. To them, I say thank you, for being welcoming to strangers they had never seen before.” After this experience I learned some valuable lessons about myself. First, that I wasn’t as capable at speaking the language as I thought I was. In this village and the rest of the state of Karnataka, the official language is Kannada. As a child, I grew up with my parents speaking it around me and I learned the language. But my parents knew English as well as Kannada, and until I had to make a presentation and converse without using any English, I didn’t realize how much I sucked. Thankfully, the teachers explained that we learned Kannada from our families, and that it wasn’t really that good. We worked out the language barrier pretty easily though, because all the adults with us were fluent in the language. The second thing I learned is to have perspective in life. I’m a sophomore in high school now and I know it’s easy to get caught up in the grades and looking good for colleges because it’s something that I wish I could stop doing, but I can’t completely. But, after talking to a lot of students in a completely different school system, with a curriculum only the same in math and sciences, I realized that my life isn’t as drastic as I thought. I have my struggles, but they have theirs, and theirs are much more real. These students were asking questions about our lives in America, and how different it was from their village. I realized that I had the opportunity to come see their homes, schools, and lives, while for the time being they could only see America through our explanations. I tried my best to convey everything I could, but I truly didn’t expect these questions because I never took the time to think through their perspective . A lot of these students have the ultimate goal of going to another country to expand their opportunities, and I became aware that I already had these opportunities and that I needed to be really utilising them. The phrase “first world problem,” got thrown around a lot in my life, but I didn’t have an appreciation for what that meant and how easy these problems were to solve compared to problems these students solve everyday.

For a truly life changing experience, I thank One Million Lights, who allowed us to represent their mission and help our ideas come to life. I also thank the donors, whom without none of this would have been possible. Thank you to my family, who helped us coordinate schools and currency exchange. I want to thank Project LINC, the team that put in hours to allow me to have this opportunity. I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else. Lastly, a thank you to all the students, staff, and villagers that came out and welcomed us as part of your community. Project LINC thanks you.

PS: You should go read the other blog posts written by Pallavi, Purvi, Shivani, and Shweta.

#shreya