The following post features student writing.

Ram Ram! 

This local greeting is just one of the countless things we have learned during our first day in Kotri.  Our day started off with an introduction to the projects we will be working on during our time in the village.

The main project is building a chabutra, a raised platform around a tree which will serve as a communal space for the village children to hang out and local animals to feed. We started this ambitious project by observing a local woman demonstrate how to dig the area for the foundation.  We were surprised by how much we enjoyed the manual labor.

Our group also worked with the local school. It is safe to say that the majority of us thoroughly loved working with the local students. We got to experience the classroom environment with kids ranging in age from five to sixteen. We adored the students’ enthusiasm and how eager they were to work with us.  

The market shopping was a trip both literally and figuratively. After a short bumpy ride to a neighboring village we arrived to a store with just about every color of fabric imaginable. Tara-ji, the local embroidery artisan who will be helping us with our independent projects, joined us on our fabric hunt. After our future scarves and salwar suits were picked out, a magician magically appeared to entertain us.  

Back at the house, plastic chairs popped up around our chai table courtesy of our fairy-god-ji, Fatah Singh, and that birthed chai time. This was a bonding time for us as well as a time for our tech fast to take full effect. We reflected on how special this moment was for all us because our time together was spent entirely in the moment, uninterrupted by technology.  

Tomorrow we look forward to more time with the students, more manual labor, and of course, chai time.

Namaste,

Cecilia & Arianna