Our last couple days in India had so much impact. We worked hard throughout our 6-week project so I was ready to fly back to the comfort of the United States. However, our students realized the end of our project had come upon us and they became glued to our sides.

After the Stakeholder’s meeting, some of the guy students did a dance for us and turned the stage into a dance party. Our camera-happy girls filmed us dancing which will be fantastic footage to laugh at ourselves and always remember that moment. Later that night, they showered us with gifts and threw a “little party” which, as Nessa described, is what they call a plate full of snacks, often placed into our mouths by our eager students who obsess over feeding us. Our students also gave speeches. It was heartwarming to hear how much of an impact we had to these students lives, and absolutely heartbreaking to see how upset they were by us leaving. We took so many pictures on that last day. One student told me he wanted us to have many pictures of him so we will always remember him. Many students in fact told us to not forget them. I don’t know how we could.

The day we were to leave, students had already arrived at Shanti Rani at 8 AM to say their final goodbyes. Even students who we felt like we didn’t connect with as well due to the language barrier were tear filled and longingly wanted us to stay or promise to come back again next year. In such a short time, it was amazing to see how many friends we made and how much our project meant to these students. Our classes had become apart of their daily lives, and they loved to plan excursions, dinners, and small parties for us. Now that we were leaving they seemed lost. Never have I been in a situation like this—where everyone realizes the parting has to come and genuinely doesn’t want it to happen. Thinking back to my high school graduation for instance, everyone was excited to end school and start college; regardless of the fact most of us would never see one another again. In this village, I doubt many students have had to say goodbye to a friend who they wouldn’t see again. During the last couple days, I didn’t feel a moment of sadness because every moment I was with them, I couldn’t help but feel overjoyed. Our students were the most smart and determined people I have ever met and the sisters at Shanti Rani as well as the people of Venkatraipur and New Baxipalli were so welcoming and made us feel like we were apart of their family. It wasn’t until we were driving down the road waving to our students that I realized this was the last time we would wave at them and see them in person for quite a long time. Reality set in much sooner for our students then it did for me. For me, once I don’t have something anymore is when I most appreciate it and wish that I still had it. And believe me, I appreciate our students and wish we could still be there with them.

This trip has taught me more than any classroom could. It demonstrated the inequality brilliant students face due to the lack of money, the gender inequality due to cultural norms, the impact one can have by speaking out for what’s right, and how immensely happy people can be without the materialistic possessions like a fully furnished, enormous air conditioned house, or a constant flow of electricity and water, or even a shower head. The things we need most are each other. And when it came to higher education and education for girls, it was critical that our students received support from their community so they could fulfill their dreams. We tried our best to be a support system for their education, and that’s probably one of the reasons why they didn’t want to see us go.

On a personal level, this trip has done wonders to increase my motivation, get me far out of my comfort zone, boost my self-confidence, and realize that I can do anything I put my mind to. The three of us girls who came on this trip worked as role models for the girls in our classes to be strong, educated women and speak out for themselves. Being able to raise money and come all the way to India to be a teacher and speak at community events, as well as work collaboratively as a team with my fellow volunteers really helped me to fulfill this role model position as well as realize my full capabilities and strengths. Of course the goals of our project was to teach youth and motivate parents but it also worked the other way around by teaching the volunteers about themselves, what education they’d like to pursue next, and gave us motivation to be better students and better people. Overall, I’d say our project was quite the success, and all of the volunteers have already contacted our students since we’ve been home. This project has definitely turned into a long-term relationship for us all.

In the blink of an eye, the pages of life turn, and whether you’re ready or not, some chapters will close and others will begin. Months of planning and six weeks of implementation later, the project has become a bountiful source of fond memories. It’s now been a week since we’ve left Gopalpur. Those final hours were filled with long good-byes, tears streaming down faces, and difficult questions…well, maybe just one – “Are you coming back next year?” We tried to explain that we could not offer a definitive “yes” or “no” because the multitude of factors that must be considered beforehand. I assured them that without a doubt, I would return to see them soon, which is a promise that I intend to keep!

Before leaving for India, I casually warned the volunteers that at the end of the project, it might actually be difficult to be able to observe the impact that we’ve made from our project, as is often the case in educational endeavors where results do not materialize sometimes until many years later. Though this may partially be the case here in this instance, I believe that I can speak freely for the other volunteers that we have left India with the confidence that our time and effort have made a tremendous impact on the lives of the two villages of Venkatraipur and New Baxipalli (and to a lesser extent, Markundi), particularly with the youth from these villages that were attending our classes.

One of our students, Ananda from New Baxipalli, expressed to me his deep sense of gratitude for the work that we did there, telling me how it really helped him learn how to dream big, how to identify his passions in life and to set goals to reach them, and perhaps most importantly, how not to let problems overwhelm him and stop him in his tracks. On a different occasion, we talked with Hemlatha, one of the women that spoke at the literacy camp in New Baxipalli. She said that for many years she has been encouraging one of neighbors to send her children to school rather than making them work. Thanks to the literacy camp that we had there, she said that she was finally able to convince her neighbors to send those children to school.

In addition to these and other anecdotal accounts, other measures of the success of the project included evaluations performed by DJMV, FMMSSS, our students and the Nourish Volunteers. Although we could observe considerable growth in our students from both the English and computer classes, the evaluations gave us something more tangible to verify our inclinations.

On more personal note, one of my ambitions in this project was to impart two important lessons that I’ve had to learn the hard way about finding success in life – to build your capacity to dream big, and to be able to persevere and keep moving towards your goals despite whatever obstacles or challenges are thrown your way. I presume that we’ve all heard story after story about individuals who were born into a life of poverty but somehow overcame the odds and turned into a great success. Similarly, on countless occasions I have encountered students from the US, India and various countries in Latin America who come from households with low socioeconomic backgrounds and who rejected the cards that they were dealt in life and have demanded a better life. So what is it that enables these youth to get into institutions of higher education and create lives of success? I assert that the common thread is clearly not being economically privileged, nor being given special access to resources that others aren’t receiving (though one can always find exceptions to any such generalizations). In my personal opinion, what one will consistently find in these individuals is a great capacity to dream big and to persevere through any hardship to reach their goals. Undoubtedly, the youth that we worked with in India will have countless formidable obstacles to overcome before they will be able to reach their dreams, but the path to get there is not impossible. It becomes impossible when the dream can’t be dreamt, or when goals are forfeited at the first sign of trouble. I can happily say – thanks to DJMV, FMMSSS, and Nourish International, particularly our 2012 project volunteer team – that these youth are now in a much better position to be able to dream big and push through anything to reach such dreams.

Of the three Nourish projects that I have now served on, this has been by far been the best experience I’ve had in doing volunteer work abroad. Incredible projects like these have benefits not only for the communities that they serve, but also for the people that help make them happen. Having the privilege of planning this project under the guidance of Nourish and implementing it under the leadership of DJMV has given me a wealth of experience and knowledge that I feel will be incredibly helpful for the career that I am pursuing in sustainable development. When I led my first project back in 2010, I felt so incompetent and hardly worthy of such an opportunity. Now after having led my 3rd project (this time co-leading with Lauren), I feel much more confident of my capabilities to be able to effectively plan and implement any such kind of project. It is somewhat difficult to identify all the ways in which I’ve grown, but I recognize that I owe so much of it to my time spent with Nourish (over the past 3 years) and with DJMV (over the past 9 months). I still have much to learn, as I’m sure my fellow volunteers can attest to, but such is the nature of life – always opportunities for growth! Let me end with offering a deep, heartfelt “Thank You” to everyone who not only helped make this project happen, but more importantly, helped make it a success!

- John

Now that I’m back in the states I can’t stop thinking about India. I guess my family has picked up on the fact that I’ve been a bit spacey too. My thoughts seem to always be with my students. I feel so privileged to have met such a fantastic group of young geniuses. I have never seen so many passionate and driven young people. It was a joy teaching them English every day. I learned throughout my teaching experience that it takes a lot to be an effective educator. I had to keep up my enthusiasm and wrack my brains for exciting games and engaging activities that would keep them “hungry for knowledge”. This process was seemingly endless, and kept me up pretty late for many nights. Despite all the hard work, English classes were the best part of my day. Getting to teach people who actually want to learn is a thrilling experience. Another activity that kept us up late was preparing for all of our workshops. We presented and prepared for a multitude of workshops including a teacher training camp, two community literacy camps (one in Venkatraipur and one in Baxipalli), a career development workshop, and a stakeholders meeting. These were all designed in one way or another to enhance the education situation of the coastal region in which we were working. The teacher training camp focused on providing insight and new methods of teaching to the local learning center and government school teachers. The literacy camps were focused on bringing awareness about the value of education to parents and village members. The career development workshop aimed to educate the youth about job opportunities and the education necessary to receive them. Finally, the stakeholders meeting was a summary of the whole project for the benefit of village members and other NGO’s who are interested in the impact our project has made. In addition to all of these workshops, we took all of the students on exposure visits to three different universities. About 25 of us piled into a tiny auto and van and sped off to Roland Institute, National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) and Berhampur University. Although some of the people we contacted who were supposed to answer questions were either confused or didn’t fulfill their obligations, an impromptu tour and speech from the people at Roland and two helpful economics professors at Berhampur made the trip worthwhile. Students were able to experience the University atmosphere and ask questions ranging from qualifications to goals to tuition. Throughout all of this crazy planning and doing, I learned a few valuable lessons. I learned that to be a leader and a woman it is imperative that you do not give up and that you continually assert your opinions in conversation even if they seemingly fall on deaf ears. I was so astonished to see that so many of my students who lacked economic resources as well as some knowledge about the higher education system and its opportunities were able to persevere. Their hard work and dedication inspired me and showed me that it’s all about how much you want something. I also learned that even when there is a language barrier it is so important to sit down and listen to people’s stories, as it is the true way to gain wisdom. This is an experience that I will take with me for the rest of my life.

I wrote this blog as I sat on our last flight back to Houston, then I got to drive back to Dallas with my family. The last few days have been rough. Sunday we had our last activity – the Central Stakeholders Meeting with special guests from the local government, NGOs, and familiar faces from the whole project. Afterward, our students had a dance party and invited us to join. They are quite the dancers -their routine included a lot of pelvic thrusting and laughs from the audience. We had a meeting with Bheema over our finances and end-of-project wrapping up, such as where the computers will be located after we leave and purchasing anti-virus software. Our students then had a short farewell program with thank you speeches from a few and tears all around. They gave us a small party, which in India means a plate heaped full of snacks. They also gave us presents- a cloth around our shoulders for respect and a cute crystal music box. The next morning, most of them came to Shanti Rani Bhavan to see us off. We were very sad to leave. Bheema invited us to share our experience on the project with his School of Management, so we spoke to around 30 new students about choosing and implementing the project, including lessons learned. After shopping at a market in Bhubaneswar and a last dinner with Bheema, his wife Priya, and Dandasi, we got some sleep before our flight in the morning. Our trip back was a bit tiring. We had an extra 8 hours waiting in Mumbai, and we discovered that our flight to Newark had been canceled after we got to Delhi. Fortunately, we got a new flight and we’re only a few hours behind our original plan. Even though, I loved our project, I’m still excited to get home, see family and friends, and use a showerhead. We all plan to call our students ASAP and tell them how much we miss them already. Most of our trip back has been recounting funny stories about them. I’m pumped to tell everyone about our experiences and share our 200,000 pictures and stories. As I mentioned before, I’ve gained so much from this trip: about 30 new friends, getting to work directly with villagers and at least somewhat live with them, planning, teaching, and public skills, courage, self-confidence, and amazing memories. I’m really glad I was able to go and very thankful to family and friends for helping me get there. As much as we learned from them, I think we also had a great impact on Venkatraipur and New Baxipalli, including encouragement and motivation for education, better knowledge of and connections to resources, and the help to bring our students out of their shells and increase/work on their skills. The project was a huge success, and I’m very grateful to everyone involved.
–Nessa

Hello my dears,
This is Nessa, giving my final report on the situation in Odisha. As usual, everything is pretty great here. Reanna has told you a bit about the literacy camps and career workshop that we’ve been working on for the past two weeks. Although there were some issues with planning and low attendance, I think that the activities had a positive impact on our students and the communities of Venkatraipur and New Baxipalli. After the career workshop, we asked our students for feedback, and they had good things to say. They believe that the topics presented will help them to make decisions about their studies and careers. After all the work we put into it, we were very glad to hear their opinions. I was very excited for our activities to be over since we haven’t had much (read as any) free time, but unfortunately, we still have a spot of work to do, including reports, interviews, and sadly, goodbyes. This Sunday, we will have our last official program: The Stakeholders Meeting with all of the people involved in the project. We’ve also heard some murmurs about a special program presented by our students, but they promptly started speaking in Telugu about it when they saw us around. We will get off lightly if they don’t make us dress in sarees and dance and sing for them like they’ve been demanding the whole project. Aside from that, classes have been going well. We assigned our computer students to type résumés for themselves, which will hopefully help them with college admissions and future job hunting. Also, we showed clips from Tangled and Aladdin in English class as part of listening comprehension. Hopefully, it was as much fun for them as it was for us. We’ve all been very contemplative lately as we begin to realize that we’ll be leaving in a week. On the bright side, we’ve been spending time outside of class with our students, eating at even more of their houses and playing Indian games. We’re excited for our College Visits Thursday since it’s always fun to go somewhere with our students. We’ll be seeing a few of the universities around Gopalpur, including NIST, Berhampur University, Roland Institute, and Khalikot College, to help them find more information about the schools and the feasibility of them attending. We would not have been able to complete any of our activities without our students supporting us, so I earnestly hope that they have gained skills, tools, and dreams from our work here. This project has been such a great lesson for me. I’ve been able to speak in public, teach classes, organize events, and work with community members in addition to having fun everywhere we go. Everyone we’ve met here has had a great impact on me. Our students work so hard to reach their goals, through fevers and cooking for themselves, and they’re all so smart. The women from the villages always have smiles ready for us, even when they’re waiting to get 40 kg of fish to run to the market. The sisters are always so calm and relaxed, prepared to provide us with a song/dance, herbal remedy, or conversation, even though they work on difficult social issues. And K. Dandasi works tirelessly for each of our activities, even when he was sick or has been running around nonstop for hours. They’re all awesome (read awshum), and I’m going to miss every single one of them.