Notes From the Field: Week 1

Reflections from Maryanna Doan - India

We have been in India a week now. It is a land of contrasts. Orange and purple blossoms and jagged mountain peaks, sit next to land covered with refuse. Woman here look like exotic butterflies in many colors of bright clothing walking on streets full of traffic. The sounds are a cacophony of horns honking, loud music, and construction. The air is a mix of thick smog and a heavy humidity, with perfumes and spices that are aromatic and typical of this region.

The time here has been hectic, heart-wrenching, and yet heartwarming and hope-filled. This week, in a room the size of a closet, we heard a mother tell us that she made the decision after working with IFLI practitioners for a few months and understanding the importance of early learning and spending quality time with her child that she should quit her job(the average income in this particular slum was bout 40.00 US dollars a month) and stay home to be with her child while he was young. Her husband supported this decision. Grandmothers showed us small educational toys, blocks and story books they had purchased with their very precious money so that they could engage their grandchildren in educational games. Two fathers stayed home from work to greet us so they could tell us how grateful they were for the program and how they want us to think about continuing it through age five. Everywhere we went, in the most challenging slums in the city and countryside we were met with well scrubbed children, grateful parents dressed in their best, flowers, prayers, and ceremonies for our health and prosperity. A group of parents waited for two hours with their children in a tiny hot room used for parent sessions while we drove through heavy traffic, just to have the opportunity to thank us and tell us how the IFLI project has changed their lives. Parents, too shy to sing in public, sang cultural songs and lullabies that they are re -introducing into their children's lives. For two generations these songs were silently hiding in the hearts of their mothers and grandmothers.

It is hard to describe all the emotions that have been whirling and twirling inside of the IFLI team as we have gone through this last week with many challenges with email , phone connections, lost luggage, and trying to find a bank to exchange money. We have had little rest as we were scooped up by our team the second our feet hit the ground. The dizzying traffic, long days of home visits and conversations, to finally reach our destinations- the deep and meaningful conversations and interactions with families who are changing due to caring practitioners trained in the IFLI model reaching out and reaching in to the lives of the most vulnerable children.

As I watched the parents in that little room, in sweltering heat, in their beautiful saris, what I saw was HOPE. Their eyes were full of it, their children were expressing it in the way they were dressed, their eagerness to interact with strangers, and the way they were held in their mothers and grandmothers arms. The parents talked with appreciation and gratitude about the practitioners and their learning experience. They did not look like the families that I had seen on the streets, no, these families were lit up from the inside. They talked about all that they were learning, and their renewed desire to be involved in helping their child to learn and grow. They were confidently speaking to a group of strangers from halfway around the world, not just a few words, but rich conversations of how they had changed, grown, and become aware of their child's brain development and their role as their child's first teacher. How privileged we are to be here, touched and forever changed by these remarkable families, and even more remarkable practitioners. If Literacy is about changing lives forever, then IFLI is certainly doing its part-WOW what a gift to be here, what a gift to be a part of this important work.

I opened my email today for the first time in a week and my friends out at Laguna Pueblo were already asking for pictures from our India experience- two indigenous peoples across miles of ocean and miles of differences- united through Proliteracy, united in working with families and making a difference. That is the end to the first week that I will treasure forever.