So Far It's Only Been Bad

cyhiraeth

I've been in Chennai for about a week and a half now and really just need to vent. I know it's only been a short time and I need to give culture shock a chance to run it's course, but honestly I feel quite useless.

I think the language barrier is the biggest problem. It is difficult for me to understand the accented English, and all of the educational programs this org does are (understandably) conducted in Tamil. While I occasionally have someone to translate the main points on HIV or human trafficing, I already know them, and I miss out on how things are being said or how people respond. I feel qualified to be conducting these programs myself, but I'd need a translator, and what's the point when it can just be done in Tamil in the first place?

The org also runs a home for girls for are survivors of trafficing or can't go home for whatever reason, but I feel like I have nothing to offer them. I am not a psychologist, and even if I spoke Tamil, I can't hep them work through their issues. As someone else in this thread commented, I could teach English, but there are already people more qualified doing that.

Though at this point I'd do almost anything just to do something, I'm here on an internship for school and feel like if I'm not doing work that gains me experience in my field, it's bit of a waste.

The org has not assigned me any work to do. They expect me to tell them what I want to do, but I don't know what I could do in the first place. At the most I tag along for programs in Tamil and once in awhile type something up. I don't understand what people's needs are here and why they are not being met, so I can't begin to conceptualize how I might help.

At this point the only thing keeping me here is that I am not a rich person and had to dip into my school loans in order to do this.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

luckyshibu

itwould help if you could tell what field exactly your internship is related to? whatwas the purpose for getting an internship here. then only one can help.

cyhiraeth

My fields are Women's Studies and Anthropology. Broad enough that it could encompas almost anything. Ideally I would have liked to be in the field doing ethnographic interviews with people on women's issues, or at least learning about the specifics of them. That could encompas a whole list of things: HIV/AIDS, sex work, human trafficing, women's work, gender ideas, views on sex, sex education, poverty, general sexism or discrimination, etc.

I was under the impression I would be educating people about STIs, HIV/AIDS and condoms, and likely doing outreach work with sex workers; or assisting with a project that prevents trafficing, or rescues trafficing survivors.

capt_mahajan

I don't know this organisation, but this is a common failing.

My advice would be to pick something you would like to do and which benefits the people the organisation targets (which is different from something that benefits the organisation) at the same time.

Language difficulties are a problem, but not insurmountable. If, for example, you interface with a group of people, you might have one speaking at least broken English and Tamil; better than taking alone a formal interpreter, which is also an option- a seconded person from the organisation?

I have found that if you do uninteresting stuff with NGOs you get fed up. If you do useless stuff, you feel useless. Hence my suggestion.

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Outside the machine

cyhiraeth

That is a good suggestion, but I'm finding I don't understand the needs of the people they target: Women's self help groups, slum dwellers, school children, transgendered people.

Honestly, I'd love to teach a comprehensive sex ed class, but it's India and people are very conservative. I'm afraid to bring it up because to top it all off the org I'm working for turned out to be Christian!

As for interpretation, people from the org are available to translate if I come up with something, but if I'm just doing a program they could do themselves, why bother with the added hoops?

luckyshibu

well i went through your blog, was hoping would get more insight. I now do understand what you basically plan to do and what are your intentions. The language will always be a barrier. what you could do for a start is try to explain them them things you would like to do. (I am sure they would understand your english ) where all you want to be involved. And tell them specifically that you want to do it practically yourself. Most of the interns do not come here to do it practically rather they study how are things done and thats what their main intention is to Study by observing. Most of the organisations assume any intern wants to do same thing until otherwise told. So Start would be to list out the options and tell them specifically that you wanna do it pracically yourself.

2) Tell them you would require a translator with you (its not that it can be done in tamil so whats the point, it is that you may have diffrent approach towards an issue rather than person telling in tamil) and another tip the people you talk to would listen to you more intently because listening to others is routine for them, but to listening to a forienger and not able to understand what that person says may make them giggle for some time but in the end you'll have their attention jsut because of curiosity..

If they feel you are really doing something new innovative they would involve you more automatically in their works and ask for your ideas.

That would be just be a start. these are only tips. Hope it helps.

capt_mahajan

That would be a good question to ask them, then

If I can guess..

Their first need will be economic survival.
Education for children
Drinking Water and electricity and sanitation.
Health and Nutrition problems
and so on.


Sex-ed? Will your organisation be happy if you recommend birth control?

luckyshibu

i would suggest something like

1) personailty development (thats one thing they requre the most)

2) Confidence building through team building events ( i know i speak like corporate person :P can't help it)

A confident person can always sustain by himself. with personality development they feel they are getting some kindof uplift in their way of living. (its only psychological but helps)

Nick-H

There's a lot more varieties of Christianity here than Roman Catholicism, so unless your people are RC, there may not be an anti-birth-control ethic.

(I just asked Mrs N, who is an RC, about this, and she told me that, yes, the church plugs the official line, but the people use birth control anyway).

What I wonder, is what were/are this org's expectations of you?

obione980

I would suggest, as kindly as possible, that your 'fix' lies months in the past - when you should have thoroughly researched just what you could offer any sponsoring organisation.

Now! Try to identify a skill (endemic to western society) you have - that they need.

is hardly likely to be it. It's almost certainly culturally repugnant. you - alone - are not going to reform India.

English conversation (with an authentic native English speaker) might be just what will be of value.

Good Luck!

karuna

Favourite fact time: 75% of self-identified Roman Catholics surveyed in the US some time in the 80s did not agree with the church's teaching on contraception or abortion. (From my "Sociology of Religion" class!)

From my limited conversations with Indians on the subject, it's not Christianity that makes Indians worry about sex ed, it's the usual "it will make them give up school and start bonking all day!" fallacy that gets trotted out in the UK and US too. But I do have in the back of my mind a memory that a state (Maharashtra?) recently banned sex ed classes as being culturally inappropriate- is that right? So maybe obione's advice is sound here.

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gorigirl

My goodness, you should certainly start with being honest with the people you're working with. It's okay for you to have had expectations and it's okay that those expectations aren't being met. They will never be met, though, unless you talk to your supervisor. I'm sure you're not the first volunteer to be in this position with this org, especially if they've worked with Americans in the past.

Also, if you don't want to make assumptions about what the needs are of the populations that your org works with, then also don't make assumptions about what the people in your org think about issues like HIV or sex education. Perhaps this is a need they have that they haven't yet sorted out and your knowledge and willingness to teach sex ed 101 classes would be welcome. Even if it's not, there's no harm in telling them that this is something you're interested in and have the ability to do (co-facilitated with a Tamil speaker, of course).

The culture shock will wear off if you don't stress out about it so much. A friend of mine told me to think of the adjustment as though you were a newborn baby. It's only been a week and a half. Newborns can't even see when they're a week and a half old, much less speak or understand what's spoken to them. Give yourself some time to let things sink in. The communication issues will decrease as you get used to hearing people speak. And I'm sure there are ways to learn basic Tamil (classes, private tutors, etc), which will no doubt be of great use to you. Ask the people you work with for help. I'm sure they'll be glad to give it.

mirjamd

The things you describe are very very common amongst Western people who work with an NGO. I had the same problems. So you HAVE to create your own work, otherwise nothing will come out of your internship. And you're right, teaching courses yourself is quite difficult.
An idea might be to do your own research, which is also interesting for your anthropology study. You have seen some of the work they do now, and frankly, you can hardly contribute to the fieldwork. I had the same problem and became very frustrated. That got better once I started pulling away from the actual fieldwork and started to do my own research.
It takes some time to design your study, but you could ask them to suggest a topic, which they would be interested to know. If they are starting to work in a new field, you could do a needs assessment, or assess the work they have already done. The last one will be more difficult, because you come from the organisation itself, so you might not get honest answers. Find a good interpreter who can accompany you, who you pay if necessary.
It doesn't have to be a huge study, but it can also be a small question you are interested in.

Another idea is to develop material for a course. In that way you don't have to teach it yourself and you will leave something behind when you go. After you have gathered material, you could discuss with the staff whether it is the right material to teach.
If you don't know what they need, ask the staff whether they are now teaching anything or if there is any subject that they would like to teach in the future.

There is a lot of information available on the internet, an example of a course on women's rights, HIV and a bit of sex education is Stepping Stones (I think from Action Aid). You could take ideas from there.

I hope this helps and you will find something interesting to do!

Haylo

A good translator will not have your knowledge, I'm guessing there are more people who can speak English, than there are people with your skills.

This is not meant to sound unkind, but maybe you could be focussing on learning about these things, before you think about being able to effectively teach...

Nick-H

There's your research!

Much of India has given up huge families long, long ago, by the way. Have you noticed "We Two: Ours One" on the back of so many trucks? Regardless of religion, there is a lot of realisation about, and a lot of plain simple wish not to be physically and financially ground down by never-ending birth and child rearing.

You'll find that a lot of contraception is in the form of the "family planning operation", and that it is almost exclusively the women that have it. You won't need to be told how the operations and recovery times differ between men and women --- it is something that the people you are working with probably do need to be told, but even more so, they need to have the myths about "manhood" exploded. The women, even more than the men, need to be told that their husbands will be no less men afterwards, no less able to work.

It's an idea.