What I learned from India...2011

“The world is weary of hate. We see the fatigue overcoming the western nations. We see that this song of hate has not benefited humanity. Let it be the privilege of India to turn a new leaf and set a lesson to the world.”- Mahatma Gandhi

January 31, 2011 Writing prompt: What is service?

For me, service is about others. It takes the focus off of me and puts others first. I’m reminded of the little song I used sing as a child: “J-O-Y. J-O-Y. This is what it means: Jesus first, and Yourself last, and Others in between.” There is an indescribable freedom that comes when I get my eyes off of myself and focus on others instead, when I stop thinking about myself first and put others’ needs first!

So when I am at Mother House, I put aside my germ phobia, my discomfort or uneasiness about being around handicapped people and I look into their eyes. I connect soul-to-soul and I reach out in love. Hugging, touching, smiling, talking, singing, playing, coloring, and dancing are just forms for communicating love, for celebrating the beauty of each person I meet. Paolo Freire (2000) warns that multicultural service-learners may inadvertently engage in acts of cultural invasion and domination under the guise of a helping friend. So how do we avoid this exploitative relationship in international service-learning? I truly believe that our aim must not be to “help” other cultures or people, but to love. When we love, we find that our relationships tend to be reciprocal and transcendent. Hatred and insecurity have led to kingdoms, realms of domination. Only love can liberate, set free, and abolish oppression.

February 1, 2011- Quote: “I expect to pass through this life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now and not defer or neglect it as I shall not pass this way again.”- William Penn

Theme for today is “carpe diem” or “seize the day.” I went back to Mother Teresa Home today. We danced for two hours, laughing and celebrating each woman who joined us. I gave hand, foot, arm and leg massages with lotion to the women whose skin is very dry and cracked. They lined up by the dozens to get a massage. And then we danced!

The best part about dancing is that we celebrate each other. Joy bubbles up. The women praise each other as they step out to the music. While I “entertained the troops”, Melissa, Tommy, Matt, and Sarah went inside and had a talk with Sister Jennifer, the nun in charge. The women call her “Amma” or mother. Sister Jennifer said that the women need basic items like laundry detergent, hand soap, and coconut oil for their hair.

Many women are bedridden. Others just lie outside on the ground, covered in flies. Some have mental handicaps, others violent mental illness, still others don’t have use of their bodies. But when I look in their eyes, I see incredible, deep, accepting love. These women have become so precious to me. Rosie, Betchy, Sylvie, and the little ones are beautiful to me!

How do we teach global citizenship without it turning into acts of cultural invasion or another form of imperialistic dogma and domination? We help students discover their capacity to love, to embrace humanity in all of its beautiful forms, to celebrate the ordinary, to celebrate every individual, and to accept each person as a precious gift endowed with beauty and glory however humble or great their circumstances in life may be. We cultivate a culture of love and care. I believe this is foundational to any affective engagement or effective service-learning. Love is a subject we shy away from in western society. It is often relegated to the realm of emotion as somehow less desirable than an empirical approach to learning. Yet, feminist research (Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002) shows that learners who think critically and connect emotionally to a subject (head + heart learning) find their own voice in constructing knowledge and are more proactive about positive social transformation.

As bell hooks (2010) writes: “To me the classroom continues to be a place where paradise can be realized, a place of passion and possibility; a place where spirit matters, where all that we learn and all that we know leads into greater connection, into greater understanding of life lived in community” (p. 151.). Service-learning pedagogy must accommodate room for spirituality and for love, because spirituality is about how we live and love in the world and how we interact with self and with others.

Reading Resources

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Chisholm, Linda A. [ed.] (2004). Visions of service. New York, NY: The International

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guidebook for service-learning across the disciplines. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing,

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Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30^th Anniversary Edition. New York:

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Hooks, b. (2010). Teaching Critical Thinking. New York: Routledge.

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Sperling, R. (2007). Service-Learning as a Method of teaching Multiculturalism to White College Students. Journal of latinos and Education, 6 (4): 309-322.