As mentioned at the end of the last post, our group abandoned city life and headed to rural India to spend five days at Tamarind Tree in Dahanu. Our hosts, Michelle Chawla and Hemant Babu, left Mumbai several years ago and moved to Dahanu to lead a different lifestyle. When their first daughter was born, they wanted her to receive an alternative education from the one offered in the local village. In 2010, Michelle founded Tamarind Tree and opened the school to children in the surrounding villages. Currently, classes are taught for grades one through four and over 150 students are enrolled. The school consists of four free-standing classrooms, a covered pavilion, and an office and computer lab. For more information about the school, its mission, and its faculty, visit the site! http://main.tamarindtree.org
In addition to the school, Michelle and Hemant also run a chickoo farm on the property as well as growing various other crops used for school lunches and their family. Each morning, we rose at seven and put in our hour of work on the farm. The first morning, with pick-axes, spades, and shovels in hand, we slowly but “successfully” dug three troughs for planting. The next day, we lined each trough with palm leaves that we collected, placed large palm branches and dirt on top, and finally planted yams and ginger. Unfortunately, we got our first real taste of monsoon, prohibiting us from farming for a few days. For our first three days at Tamarind Tree, it rained hard for about five minutes out of every hour and then ceased. But by day four, the skies opened up and it poured for over 48 hours straight. We quickly learned that real shoes were useless and stuck to flip-flops and rubber shoes, if we didn’t abandon real shoes altogether.
While we weren’t farming, we engaged in many discussions with Michelle and Hemant about a wide variety of issues. Tamarind Tree frequently hosts students groups and programs similar to ours, so they had a tentative schedule that we ran through on the first day and then tailored to our interests, fields of study, and previous knowledge. Over the course of five days, we had about six sessions ranging from traditional tribal culture to government and politics and from modern technology to education. Each discussion usually began with some background information provided by Michelle and Hemant as well as current issues facing the people and state of India. We then had a chance to ask questions, offer perspectives, and consider solutions to all of the complicated topics we covered. The setup of this exchange was not only extremely informative and interesting, but it also reflected the structure of the course we took back at Penn State in the spring. We were all comfortable with the type of forum, voicing our opinions, and responding to the thoughts of each member of the group. Even though all of us weren’t particularly knowledgeable about all the topics of conversation, each of us were able to participate in the majority of conversations and undoubtedly learned a lot simply from listening to the rest.
In addition to farming and engaging in discussions, we also were able to experience village life on several occasions and interact with the children at the school. Several afternoons, we visited the classrooms to either observe or participate. Most of the children were intrigued by the odd looking people but eager to welcome us and engage with us as only kids can do with perfect strangers. Unfortunately, we were too strange for the youngest class as we seemed to alarm some of the littlest ones. Overall though, the kids seemed to enjoy our visits and we certainly loved helping them practice their English and spending time with them.
Another afternoon, we got down and dirty and ventured into the village. Michelle led us on our adventure along the road to town, pausing at various locations to point out interesting things or visit people’s homes along the way. We were greeted at the school in the village and briefly visited a classroom there. Continuing on, we stopped at a small shop and trekked along down narrow paths, through muddy lanes, and over soggy rice paddy fields. Our final destination was the home of Anil, a Tamarind Tree staff member, who graciously welcomed us and showed us around his property. Previously, we had discussed village life in one of our sessions with Michelle and Hemant yet this experience was so much more enlightening. A completely different lifestyle than any of us were familiar with, we were intrigued to observe how a family in rural India lives, works, and enjoys each other. Anil’s home was built in the style of many homes in the area, with a wood frame set low to the ground to keep out strong rains. Cow dung floors looked just like cement and were smooth and angled to keep out rains. Rooms were spacious and donned with photos of family and the children. All of us were extremely grateful to have been able to spend an afternoon venturing through Dahanu with such kind and hospitable people.
Throughout our time at Tamarind Tree, our group undoubtedly gained a whole new perspective about India, its people, and the culture of Dahanu and the Warli people. We began to understand the mission of Tamarind Tree, the goals of the program, and the values Michelle, Hemant, and the entire staff are trying to instill in their students. The stay was filled with unique experiences and chances to engage with the local people. Most certainly our most incredible opportunity presented itself on our final day at Tamarind Tree during our discussion about the curriculum and courses offered at the school. We were given the chance to use the school’s online programs to develop a course for second graders. Despite not a single education major among us, we jumped at the chance to partake in such an incredible partnership and whole-heartedly dove into the process with Michelle and Hemant. We thoroughly planned out the requirements for the course as well as the resources that the school has access to. We plan to work together to further establish the lessons and activities when we return to Penn State while maintaining our relationship with Tamarind Tree and building a lasting relationship.
Our visit to Tamarind Tree was far better than any of us could have imagined. We had the chance to not only observe a way of life, but participate in it for ourselves. We tried our hands at farming, visited homes, and became a part of the Tamarind Tree family by collaborating with the school to create a course. Discussion sessions enlightened us, village visits awed us, interactions with the children inspired us. Despite the pouring rain, the countless mosquito bites, and some too-close-for-comfort interactions with various critters, most of us consider Tamarind Tree our favorite destination on our journey thus far.