The Impact of Arts

By on October 21, 2020   /   Center of Development, Children's Club, Education, Global Neighborhood, Health & Wellness, Life in India, Reflections, The Grand Masala   /   Leave a comment

Education isn’t just about reading, writing, and learning arithmetic. It’s about developing yourself into a full person – with deepened appreciation, more perspective, and a stronger understanding of the world around you. Profugo’s Fine Arts Skills Training (Profast) in Wayanad, India does just that… and probably more. The Profast program provides middle-school aged students with a chance to practice traditional dance, learn to sing, or play percussion instruments. It’s a fun and interactive experience that

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Becoming a Beam of Light

By on October 19, 2020   /   Center of Development, Children's Club, Education, Empowering Women, English Language School, Global Neighborhood, Life in India, Reflections, The Grand Masala   /   Leave a comment

Statistics show that Indian girls in regards to self-esteem, education, and independence, due to gender roles and sexism, are in a worse place than their male peers. For example, Indian adolescent girls’ self-esteem (Rao et al). The literacy rate for females in India is 65% while the male literacy rate is 82% (Rajput). According to Girls Not Brides, a collection of 1400 organizations committed to ending child marriage, “47% of girls [get married] before 18”

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Education During a Pandemic

By on September 16, 2020   /   Center of Development, Children's Club, Education, English Language School, Global Neighborhood, Health & Wellness, Life in India, Reflections, The Grand Masala   /   Leave a comment

The rapid spread of COVID-19 throughout the world has forced politicians, policy-makers, administrators, and educators to make impulsive decisions about the state of education. Worldwide, many schools have shut down campuses and in-person learning in traditional classroom settings, transforming education into primarily virtual settings. Remote learning demands the usage of advanced technology, requiring all students and educators to have computers, stable Wi-Fi, access to applications such as Zoom, as well as electricity and a functional

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Joys and Growth: Reflections from the First Five Months in the Field

By on February 19, 2020   /   Center of Development, Children's Club, Education, Empowering Women, Global Neighborhood, Health & Wellness, Life in India, Malayalam, Reflections, The Grand Masala   /   Leave a comment

On a Saturday afternoon in January, I found myself on the balcony of the Prasanthi Cottage, my current home.  I took in my surroundings – the lush hills, the distant moos of cows, the airy dance of floating clouds.  I sat, alone, with a wide smile on my face. This scene may seem like a cliched description of someone who claims to be “at peace,” or maybe that of someone who is a bit eccentric. 

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Beatrice’s Adventures in India

By on October 1, 2019   /   Center of Development, Children's Club, Education, Empowering Women, English Language School, Global Neighborhood, Health & Wellness, Life in India, Reflections, The Grand Masala   /   Leave a comment

I will never stop marveling at the remarkable capacity of airplanes to transport one all the way across the world in a matter of hours. I completed the 10,000 mile journey to India over the course of three separate flights – starting in New York and traveling first to Frankfurt, then to Singapore, and finally to Bangalore. It is odd to travel so far through the dimensions of both space and time. The highways here

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