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WHEN THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB BECAME A GOAT.
By Olga Vasilopoulos, Bridging Worlds
Volunteer, India
July - September 2003
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As I ponder my time spent with the Bangalore-based Guild
of Women Achievers (GOWA) as a 'Bridging Worlds' volunteer,
I'm reminded of how difficult it can be to find the right
words to describe a unique experience. Many words come
to mind - simple words - but they don't do it justice.
The following then is merely an attempt to share with
you what has at different times been one of the most challenging,
confusing, exhilarating, draining, frustrating (especially!)
and positive seven weeks of my life. Not to mention wet
and muddy - but it is monsoon season here after all!
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I arrived in India on the 19th of July
but it wasn't my first time here; I spent six weeks here last
year as a tourist. Hence I was already aware of the significant
cultural differences between India and my homeland, Australia.
I had already experienced the ostensibly mandatory 'culture
shock.' Been there, done that. Or so I thought.
My first impression was just how differently people here related
to one another to what I was familiar with. I felt like I was
on another planet. A strange feeling indeed. Communication too
quickly emerged as an issue, but I soon discovered that communication
breakdown was not my experience alone- the local people tell
me it's an issue for them too. That did not surprise me. I found
a lot of people not saying what they meant and not meaning what
they said. The same question asked a second time would often
elicit a different reply. Confusion reigned supreme for me in
those early days.
The phenomenon known as 'Indlish' (an Indianised version of
English) didn't help. In India, the sacrificial lamb has become
the sacrificial goat. I've even begun to believe the quip about
the British leaving India because they could no longer bear
what the Indians had done to the English language! No offence
intended of course to my Indian friends, one of whom in fact
told me this!
Cultural and communication disorientation are the only words
I can use to describe how I felt in those first couple of weeks.
This was not helped at all by my coming down with my worst case
yet of food poisoning which knocked me out for over a week.
More than once I wondered what on earth I was doing here. It
all seemed just too hard.
Before too long however the pieces fell into place; it's been
the most wonderful experience, and I know it's changed me, and
perhaps my life, but as yet I don't know how. The sacrificial
lamb can be a goat - a bird, a snake or whatever. It can be
anything we want it to be, or allow ourselves to let it be.
Cultural differences, although at times pronounced, are just
that: differences. Fundamentally, we are all the same; a motherhood
statement, I know, but so true nevertheless.
In the seven weeks I have been at GOWA I have met happy people
and sad people, nice people and others who are not so nice,
rich people and poor people, people with ambition and aimless
souls. Positive people, negative people, greedy people and kind
people. People, funny enough, just like those I know back home.
It's a matter of looking for the similarities between people
rather than focusing on the differences. The problem with this
world is that too many people do just that.
The time I have spent with GOWA has been a very rewarding and
enriching one for me, personally and professionally, and now
it's coming to an end. I walk away knowing I have made a contribution
to a worthy organization that's doing great work to empower
women, and impacted positively on the people I have on various
levels interacted with. That fills me with immense joy but sadness
too, for soon I will have to say goodbye. |
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