Patna: Two students from Latin America spent six months with a green group in India.
Andea Ulloa Castrejon: Originally from Mexico and presently a student of Engineering in Development and Environment at the University of Zamorano, Honduras.
Tania Chicaiza Palango: Orginally from Ecuador presently a student of Engineering in Development and Environment at the University of Zamorano, Honduras.
The duo came to India after 11 students from the same university successfully completed their internships at Tarumitra (friend of tree) from 2010. Tarumitra, a green group started for students in 1988, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Zamorano University under which the Latin Americans would regularly send their students. Each of the Interns would put in approximately 6-8 hours of work daily.
Robert Athickal interviewed the duo for Matters India as they were winding up their six-month stay in India. Excerpts:
What brought you to India?
Tania: “Both of us felt that it was worth coming to India, the biggest democracy in the world. “I had heard of Tarumitra students from my seniors and wanted to find out for myself as how students could become a force on the protection of environment. I also wanted to study as how a fast developing country like India is coping with Development and Environment. The NGO sector has been the biggest in India among the third world countries.
Andrea: “India is a peaceful country! Mexico and India got along well all these years of our struggles. We just wanted to live among the people!” Tania said,
What did you do in India?
Andrea: I got involved in all sorts of activities of Tarumitra and its associated groups. We worked in the organic farm in Mokama Nazareth hospital (some 60 km east of Patna, Bihar capital). We admired the works of the Jesuits among the Tharu and Musahar groups in Champaran district and joined the students of Attapadi and in Kanoor in Kerala.
Mokama hospital was unique. Nearly 70-year-old hospital is re-orienting into a holistic health center without anybody to look up to for guidance. Sr. Latika and her right hand Ms. Margaret Molomoo left us speechless.
Our trip with Fr. Siji SJ to Champaran showed us the commitment of the Jesuits for the uplift of the downtrodden. Facing stiff opposition from the moneyed land lords, Fr Siji and his community are making headway.
Our trip to the tribal region of Attapady in Kerala stood out since Tarumitra and Kerala Jesuits have been building up a Biodiversity center (Eco, Reserve Attapady — ERA) for the past few years. We lived among the tribal students to celebrate an Ecofest on January 22, 2015 when a thousand students from the Tamil and Malayalam speaking communities gathered in the Kalakendram under the leadership of Jesuit Fathers James Morais and P.S. Antony.
The place is next to the Silent valley National park where the local wild elephants would frequent the Tarumitra center during the summer. The Jesuits have built a water tank and fill it with water for the elephants. We were amazed the way a tribal chieftain (Mooppan) would go up to the wild elephants and request them to leave the place, “po raja po” and to our surprise, they would just turn and go!
We also visited the Illam near Kanoor where Jesuit Fr Rajesh Punchathalackal is working with school students to promote ecological sensitivity. He is an amazing man and his creative ways influence a whole generation. We visited several schools and talked to the students as how groups of people are mushrooming all over the globe to take up the case of the planet.
We also visited a unique Gramophone museum run by a music-phile, Sunny Mathew in Plassanal, Palai. Imagine a man invests all his earnings into a museum where he has over 200 gramophone players and over 200,000 gramophones and makes them available for those interested.
Tarumitra was our home base. The place also provided us inspiration. Jesuit Fathers Joe Parekattil, Sevanand Meloo and Robert Athickal have been engaged in one of the largest and best efforts to mobilize society toward a greater eco-sensitivity. Never seen or lived inside an amiable charming forest for several months. We could not believe that the whole place built by 12-14 year old students.
Our chief work consisted in talking to the hundreds of students who visited Tarumitra every day. Our English was made in India and this created problems in communication. But the well-planned ingenious PowerPoints of Tarumitra communicated itself. Often we had just to read aloud what was on the screen. This helped us learn English faster.
The Organic Farm at Tarumitra is undertaken with no help from hired laborers. All of us, especially the visiting students from schools did all the work. We helped out with the harvesting, threshing, winnowing, storing the chana “chick peas” this time.
Tarumitra makes lots of efforts to communicate what it does through media. This is an important area which social centers forget all over the world. It is the media that makes human problems into issues and Tarumitra seeks their assistance seamlessly.
Since we helped out in the kitchen, we also learned the Indian cuisine and appreciated the efforts of the pioneering work of preparing eco-friendly and safe food for the participants.
In the middle of it we prepared our South American dishes which added some frowns and lots of exclamations from the students.
What have you learned?
We are in awe of the Indian religions. Not only people, especially Hindus and Christians live their religious life but appreciate and participate in other’s faith as well. The religious tolerance was amazing. We cannot speak this way of South America since we are predominantly Christian, if not Catholic.
Having heard of the Religious diversity, we got a chance to live it in India. There is wisdom among the people, so much of wisdom. We watched films like O My God, PK, and Jodha Akbar and they left us more and more appreciative of the ancient wisdom and tolerance in the country.
India is struggling to keep alive this rich religious pluralism. I must congratulate the people of India for the same.
What were some cherished moments and unpleasant incidents?
The seamless hospitality of the people was amazing. Visiting the villages in North Bihar was memorable. Working with the Tarumitra team of teachers and students left us with a desire to come back.
The loud religious music and rampant waste and garbage were some of the unpleasant aspects. No effort is being made to contain the garbage.
Education in India
While education has been the biggest investment in a state like Bihar, I am not sure how efficient or creative it has been. The families send their wards to all parts of the country without making an effort to run the good universities in the state. “Brain drain is the highest from India, I think” said Andrea.
Most students we came across did not know about Internship. The period of Internship gives the student a chance to experience practical life and helps them test their class room insights. I was happy to see that St. Xavier’s College, Patna, has introduced hands on training as part of their policy.
Instead of the corporate-driven courses in universities we all must make an effort to promote art and culture for our common living in our societies.
Will you maintain ties with India and how?
We have made friends with lots of people esp. students. The social media is a big help to keep our ties. We have been connected with many on the Facebook and WhatsApp. We are grateful to Fr. T Nishant of St Xavier’s, who invited us to his college and gave a chance to talk and mix with the students.
We would encourage our juniors to make their internship with Tarumitra.
Finally:
The rich experience of six months helped us to feel how small our planet is. We form a small village of people. Tarumitra helped us to interact with people of India as our genetic cousins, separated 65 thousand years back when we all migrated from South Africa in search of greener pastures. The Big History module of Tarumitra’s eco-spirituality campaigns helped us get re-connected with our Indian cousins. We are filled with hope, solid hope, based on scientific insights of Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme.