From the Field: An Essay from a Volunteer
As we walk down her village's dirt road, I gaze through doorways and windows, catching moments that slow down time—a man hunched over a handloom weaving shawls, a woman crouched over a fire making roti (Indian tortilla), kids playing in the dirt with sticks and tires. We reach Rajjiben's home, a simple, one-room concrete hut with floor mats for furniture and children for entertainment.
We sit in a circle on the floor.
Milk is boiling.
Kids are laughing.
Chai and contentment are being passed around and shared. And I'm suddenly and completely aware that I will never be the same. I don't know exactly why this realization arose, but it probably has to do with what I've gained through exposure to worlds so different from my home: A new awareness of how little we really need in life. And what it actually means to need.
Rajjiben's hand, affectionately on my knee, pulls me back in from this reflection. She is asking me to stay for dinner and spend the night in their village. This warm generosity takes my mind for a wander again. If the situation was reversed, would I have been as willing to share my possessions, my time, my world?
I didn't know what I would do then, when I wrote this journal entry, but I know what I would do now—now that I've spent almost a year immersed in the hospitable culture of Kutch, India, thanks to the AJWS World Partners Fellowship. This transformative opportunity to volunteer for an NGO called KHAMIR has taught me about so many things. Take, for example, my new knowledge of the significance of Indian crafts. KHAMIR helps build sustainable livelihoods for the region's 30,000 artisan families like that of Rajjiben, my friend and host in the village. She is a widowed weaver working with KHAMIR, and like forty percent of the population in Kutch, she is dependent on crafts as a livelihood—a livelihood that is getting more and more difficult to sustain.
Working on this challenge with KHAMIR has allowed me to do what I knew I wanted to do when I graduated college: apply my education and capabilities in a way that felt worthwhile. While I could have done this closer to home, the exposure and experiences in India have challenged me and changed me in ways that I can only be better for. Adapting and assimilating to Indian culture has been like going through an identity detox and coming out with a better version of myself and a better understanding of the world around me.
As the experience comes to an end, I look around and realize that I've become a part of the KHAMIR team; that I've found a second home in in Bhuj, a Kutchi town of warm people and cool nights. And, the graciousness of the people being contagious, all I want to do is share. I know that I'll take that back to America with me, along with many other things that don't fit into a suitcase.
So, packing up the harsh realities of global problems that have become more "real" to me, I find comfort in knowing that everyone has skills and knowledge that can be applied in ways that make our world a better, more equitable place. Anything can be used for good. Just look for the opportunity.
—Jamie Lippman, World Partners Fellow 2008-9
