Fieldwork brings reality, perspective to study of world

  Courtesy of Lisa Hwang A village boy looks out from the
fallen wall of his home in Bodh-Gaya, India. This is often the
reality for many who live in poverty-stricken villages.

By Sarah Borchelt, Lisa Hwang,
Bahar Kumar and Tracey Tuyen

Little Sonu is scolded in front of his Standard II class for
coming to school in “dirty” clothes. He is sent home by
the principal to clean up and harshly reminded to never show up in
this manner again. Sonu will take off his clothes and give them to
his mother to wash regardless of whether or not she has soap and
water. Yes, the easiest solution is to send him home to deal with
his soiled clothes. As they say, “ignorance is bliss.”
Pass the buck, please.

For many onlookers, the desire to hold Little Sonu’s hand
and follow his swift feet to his village in pursuit of
understanding where the “dirty” clothes came from and
why they exist is almost ridiculous. Why? Filthy clothes are
commonplace in a poor village community in India, right? It is
“common” when we find out that there is no water pump,
no access to serf (detergent), and no clothes but the uniform on
Sonu’s back.

In following Sonu, a complex web of “poverty” is
disguised as a belittled common day occurrence. Pass the buck? We
don’t think so.

We, four UCLA International Development Studies graduates, had
the rare and amazing opportunity to gain field experience in rural
India through the International Development Studies department. We
were sent to Bodh-Gaya, a strong pilgrimage site for Buddhists all
over the world, to “teach English” for an NGO-run
(non-governmental organization) school.

Over the past four months of teaching English, we were exposed
to the administrative politics of this NGO, caste issues, gender
politics, village politics, and the effects of unequal land
distribution. It became the greatest challenge. Mere exposure to
the local community and the workings of this NGO compelled us to be
braided into the grassroots development of the Bodh-Gaya area.

Bodh-Gaya used to be a small pilgrimage area surrounded by
agricultural communities. But, due to the growing number of Western
Buddhists, there has been an influx of foreign resources into this
area in the name of “world peace”. Within the past ten
years, foreign money has given rise to a load of 20 charitable
societies, trusts and foundations. Each of these fall under the
large umbrella of NGOs along with the hotels, restaurants and
monasteries in Bodh-Gaya.

Although these organizations and businesses may have been
erected by “good intentions,” the effects on the local
communities have included child beggary during peak pilgrim season,
land displacement (a move from fertile to marginal lands) and
dependency on foreign aid. This gives a fair amount of truth to the
cliche stating that the “road to hell is paved with good
intentions.”

Without proper understanding, communication, knowledge and
training, “development” work can silently destroy
village communities such as Sonu’s.

In our four-month fieldwork, we have gained a reputation in
Bodh-Gaya. Whether it be with the local “subzi wallah”
in the bazaar or the bearers of power in the community, we caused
havoc by consistently questioning decisions made by “higher
authorities.” We have also listened to different
people’s life stories and the various issues facing village
members, voicing the concerns of those who are afraid to do so.

In a small way and in a short amount of time, we were able to
work with people, shaking the existing system that does not seem to
be working for the greater surrounding village population. It is
amazing to see how our exposure to a broad range of disciplines
including anthropology, politics, history, languages, economics,
has given us a holistic picture of how development in third world
countries such as India works.

It’s crazy, but at the same time natural, that it was just
this interdisciplinary aspect of our studies that allowed us to
transcend our world of tinsel-town glamour to work within the
complex reality of life in rural India. It was working in the
context of human volatility that made clear to us that an
interdisciplinary approach is the foundation to truly understanding
the reality of development work.

We were stuck in the books: case studies, theoretical models,
and economic equations. But now, in the field, all of that took a
back seat to real human concerns like whether the harvest will come
next year, whether the roads will be closed due to an
out-of-control politician (a.k.a Laloo Yadav), or if a
mother’s third child will survive to see her first
birthday.

When working with the people in the community, we found
ourselves coming up against many walls of power. Yet, in sharing
four months with the people in the community, “social
justice” was no longer a banner to stand behind, but a vision
that has become real to our hearts and minds.

And you know, when you root for the underdog, whether it be in
village communities in India or on a university campus,
you’ll constantly be up against those walls of power. It is
comfortable for those who are behind and keep up those walls, but
we believe and know that “struggle is a long process and the
path is only made by those who walk it.” Don’t pass the
buck!