This is an excerpt from my Indicorps Year in Review document from August 2006. I wanted to share this as an example of what Sonal's leadership in creating Indicorps has facilitated. She has consistently encouraged us to learn through experience, ask questions and strive to gain a deeper understanding of issues so that we come to our own conclusions. She has been a mentor and great example for me and other young women in our Indian American community.
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When you find yourself in challenging, limit-pushing, reflection inspiring, and action-warranting situations, the only thing that can happen as a result is evolution. I began my work in the village as a very goal-oriented, plan-focused, initiator of change, and as I absorbed the experiences of each day, I became a more adaptable, introspective, conscious participant in something much bigger than myself and my project. In attempting to create some small change, I became changed myself and as a result am better equipped to understand the perspectives of local communities and more competent to effect holistic change. The Indicorps fellowship allowed me to begin to recognize my own inadequacies in fully understanding India's history, society and development issues, but also greatly empowered me in seeing the value of the seemingly small, meaningful ways in which each of us can act within ourselves and within our communities to propagate some much needed positive change in the world.

I have learned so many personal, spiritual and professional lessons through this Indicorps fellowship. I came to see the importance of the community's investment in the success of any development project if it is meant to be sustained. Without the investment of the community, impact and success will be limited. The vast system of Anganwadi Centers which have been established by the government all over the country have been largely ineffective as the communities played no role in its development. I saw Anganwadi Centers in several states throughout the course of the year and all appeared to be underutilized.

Another key lesson I have come to learn is that there are no black and white answers. Most problems and issues are shades of gray and each of us is colored by our own experiences and ways of processing these. So, in order to learn and embrace differences amongst us, it's important that we expose ourselves to different perspectives and understand another's way of seeing the world.

Some of my most valuable lessons this year were spiritual in nature. I realized that the abandonment of fear and the ability to embrace uncertainty in life is extremely freeing and empowers us to really do the things we care about. I also attempted to work each day and give my best without being bound to the result. I realized that a healthy detachment from the result would keep me in a much healthier state of mind to continue working. Feeling the scorching summer heat, carrying water in matkas to my building, waking up to the peacocks crowing, allowed me to experience a beautiful connectivity with the earth. I came to see how actions of one person can reverberate around the world and experience how the policies of a single nation can shape the global landscape. I came to this project with an interest in maternal and child health and left understanding the links between politics, trade, governance and agriculture to these issues of health. This year in India has compelled me to critically examine my own traditions, motivations and actions and challenged me to live a life of principled action.
I am ever grateful for the opportunity to have had this experience and learned such transformative lessons at this early point in my life.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Sonal Shah for about six years. In the six years I have come to respect her for her ethics, passion, and enthusiasm for service work; she has mentored me and really embodied Gandhi’s quote of “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” She challenges me on a daily basis not only to view the world from multiple perspectives but also to move from thought to action. She is an elder sister and treats my daughter as her own and my husband as her brother.

I had come to know her and her family, including her parents and siblings, when I was chosen as an Indicorps fellow in the first year of the program. I had actually not known anything about her before I met her through this program. As soon as I began having conversations with her, both over the phone and in person, she struck me as someone who pushed me to look past generalizations and stereotypes. She pushed me to remove my “Western Lens” when I thought about India and really think about how Indians see India. To remove my Western lens, she encouraged me to have whatever conversations with whomever to ensure that my perspective is fully informed; I believe she does this in her own life.

Since my year in India, I have continued my friendship with Sonal and am sincerely proud of my relationship of my relationship with her.

As an Indicorps Fellow I worked with Sonal, as well as her siblings Roopal and Anand. I found each to be highly dedicated to service to the community, both in India and the US, and each has inspired me at different times in my work, which has involved empowering some of the most oppressed communities in India, as well as building an inclusive political culture in India.

During my Fellowship year, my colleagues and I worked to empower some of the poorest communities in the world, regardless of religion or caste. I personally spent a year in my native city, Kanpur, UP, teaching young men from slums how to start businesses, financial management skills, teamwork and community building through sports, and also worked with the local leaders to bring vocational training and sanitation infrastructure to the communities. My colleagues' projects were in the fields of communal harmony, empowering women, mentoring children, sanitation and so on. The communities we worked in included Hindus, Muslims, Dalits, remote Tribals and so on. The cadre of Indicorps Fellows has included members of various faiths, including Muslims, Hindus, Christians, non-believers, and so on.

My experience in Indicorps was a stepping-stone for my subsequent work in a grass roots movement for a spreading democracy and improving governance in India -- Lok Satta. We at Lok Satta strive to provide dignity, opportunity and justice to ALL Indians.

My Indicorps colleagues have gone on to serve society (both in India and in the US), to study at premier institutes for graduate/professional education, and to be outstanding professionals in various fields.

I think it is critical that people know what Indicorps and its Fellows do, and who we are. I can personally attest to Sonal's (as well as Roopal's and Anand's) dedication to service to the community, irrespective of caste/creed, etc. My colleagues and I would not have been inspired by anything less.

Sincerely,

Ankur Shukla
Indicorps Fellow 2004-05

We Are All One

"Hum Sab Ek Hai," Jayeshbhai, the founder of the NGO Manav Sadhna, would chant with the school children of the Gandhi Ashram School. The words literally mean, "We are all one." The profundity of these words I did not understand until I spent a year of my life in India.

I wanted to go to India to work on grassroots level development projects. I was drawn to Indicorps' philosophy of simple living and cultural immersion in order to effect change on the ground in India. I believed that any sort of development work required humility and openness; the Indicorps fellowship seemed perfect.

I couldn't believe I was actually going to Ahmedabad, Gujarat for a year to create community development activities with Manav Sadhna for the city's largest slum, "Ramapir no Tekro." When I finally got there, I was afraid and overwhelmed. All sorts of questions ran through my head. How will I get anything done this year? Will anyone trust me? Will I fail? What if I do fail? What if I let everyone down? With endless support from the Indicorps family, I put these questions aside and let go of my fears. I began talking to people and learning about my community. I grew confident and started implementing some activities.

One particular story always stands out for me.

In order to create awareness about female health and other issues adolescents face, I attempted to start a weekly session for young girls in the community to meet. The hope was they would feel safe and inspired by each other to share their stories, fears, and dreams. Initially, I struggled with this class, as only a handful of girls attended. I remember one Sunday specifically when I was ready with my lesson plan; the topic was change and growth and only one girl, Nikita, came. I felt utterly defeated. How can I impact any sort of change if only ONE girl shows up to my class? I wondered. Nikita's father is an alcoholic and her mother is not formally educated. She lives in a dangerous, insanitary slum. She fights to go to school and works hard to do well. After the sun goes down, she is forbidden to leave her home because of the nature of her community. Though it seems like Nikita's future is dismal, she dreams BIG. She hopes to be a doctor one day and serve communities like the one in which she lives. Adolescents like Nikita are no different from adolescents anywhere; they need nourishing, support, and guidance to feel confident enough to reach for their goals.

As the session went on, Nikita showed me that she was not measurable. She was one individual, one life, and if she was empowered, she would empower others. That Sunday, when she was leaving, she clearly said to me, "You have to keep the sessions every week, even if it's just me." And so I did, because one life matters and building a relationship with her IS development. Eventually attendance went up and the girls became great friends. The two hours on Sunday were an opportunity for me to empower others, and to grow and feel empowered.

As my year progressed, I developed beautiful relationships with my community. Laughing, eating, celebrating, mourning, and just living with them taught me the simple fact that every human on this planet is the same, equal to, like, no different from, any other human on this planet. No one is superior, no one is inferior. We are all one. If we all were to believe this, then we would be in a wonderful place. If we could all do whatever we do-teach, practice medicine, trade stocks-with this simple value in mind, we would be serving humanity. I learned to believe this in India.

The opportunity to serve India and learn from her is unique and invaluable. Every chance I get to talk about my story and talk to young Indians about applying to the Indicorps fellowship, I take. I do this not because anyone asks me to or because I feel an obligation. I do this because my fellowship year was more profound than I can articulate, and the growth and internal change I experienced as a result of impacting external change, I want everyone to understand and experience. I do this because now I am part of family that believes in change and engaging with India for the rest of our lives, and I want that family to grow. I do this because I love my country, and I want everyone to know why.

Rashida Merchant
Indicorps Fellow 2007-2008

Engage with India

As a fellow, I left my family, friends and life back home to make a commitment, a commitment to take action by serving the Melghat tribal community in Lawada alongside my partner NGO Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra. This dedication and commitment to action through service, is at the core of what Indicorps promotes and does in India. Regardless of how seemingly insurmountable the odds were from the get go or how successful I might be, it was important that I take action. In doing so, I saw the deep complexities of rural India and as an american, how truly ignorant I was about the ground realities. Initially though, with no background in development, no local language skills, having never lived in India and host of other barriers, I was unsure of how much I could help my community...why should they listen to me, what can I possibly do, what sort of impact could I make...

But now looking back, thanks to the immense support & guidance of Indicorps, its amazing to see whats been done; was it the first set of advanced artisan trainings that I helped to introduce...or maybe it was the 1 hour I spent with Antulal, a local tribal artisan, every night on the top of the hostel looking at the stars & discussing our every so different lives...maybe it was the new exam system I created to improve handicraft design quality...or was it teaching a young ambitious Chanda basic mathematics so she can cost bamboo products accurately...possibly it was mentoring Motilal, the former bar owner turned lead bamboo artisan, through his amazing life transformation...or maybe seeing Vijay for the first time pridefully selling his products to customers telling them the highly skilled 30+ plus step manufacturing process...or was it...

Big or small, these are all experiences from my time in India, each with actual impact on the ground. And every one of the fellows can share a similar list of amazing things from their time in India. The collective impact of such action is great, but the fact that each of us will continue to do so in our lives will be even greater. And this was all possible because Sonal, Roopal & Anand took action, took similar steps years earlier to create Indicorps. They take those steps everyday as they choose to engage with India, in spite of all the challenges, risks & obstacles it throws at them. It is that path & message that will bring about positive social change in society and one that I will always keep with me as I forge ahead.

Rohan Jasani
January 2007 Fellow

I was a 2006 - 2007 fellow working on education reform in rural Gujarat, India. Without the hard work and thoughtful leadership of Anand, Roopal and Sonal Shah, this experience would have been impossible. Perhaps I would have still come to India, but I know I would not have engaged with my work, my identity, and my community so deeply without their guidance and support.

“I used to be like you,” he says, eyes scanning his classroom to make sure his students were on task. “I used to be optimistic. I used to have faith that things could change. And then I came here…” he trails off. The conversation ends as I struggle to find the antidote to his words and fail.
This conversation was one of the hardest I had in Kutch, Gujarat while I was working on education reform. I had seen for myself the challenges teachers face—inconsistent attendance due to inconsistent livelihoods, local politics creating barriers, and students unprepared for the school environment. But, I had always seen this teacher as inspiring, one of the few teachers who had managed to rise above these difficulties to educate his students successfully and holistically. To hear his weary was a disturbing reminder that there was no one or nothing in the system to continue propelling these teachers forward.

Enter me, probably the most unlikely candidate to inspire someone else. Practical to the core, I have a habit of distilling any visionary thoughts into a list of to-dos. Compounded by a four month course of changing projects and NGO disorganization, I had serious doubts about my ability to do anything worthwhile—to be the proverbial “change”. I still had a few strengths on my side; despite my own disillusionment, I trusted other people, I loved children, and I had faith in the power of education. These beliefs fed the slow and steady fire that burned in the bottom of my stomach, but I did not think my inspiration was infectious enough to motivate others to share my passion.

Many people in my NGO had told me that my project was not big enough or exciting enough to make a difference. And on bad days, I too did not see how my project—creating an interactive learning center in the community—would do anything for the vastness and seriousness of the problems I saw. On day one of the learning center, I walked to the school to turn the key for the first time, with some fifty story books in my arms as my only resource and eleven children following me excitedly. As I shrugged off my own self-consciousness as everyone stared in a mix of bemusement and puzzlement, I felt the fire surge a little. Maybe this will work, I thought, maybe my to-do list, when all the boxes are checked, will crystallize into something bigger than I am capable of imagining.

And so the first day started. Only one other adult came that day, the local teacher with whom I had conversed a few weeks before. He came in as the children sat on the floor, excitedly reading stories, the books strewn across the floor like confetti. He smiled, shook his head, and left. Two days later, and he came again, watching the students as they learned how to make three-dimensional buildings in Google Sketchup. Three days later, he returned, watching the students as they worked in independent groups on four different activities. “Have you heard about this book that helps teach self-learning?” he asked. “I tried to find it when I first came here but could not. It might help you.” And then, the next day, he came back after school and spent twenty minutes with the students, helping them as they constructed a homemade jigsaw puzzle map of India. As he got up to leave, another teacher came in and disparagingly asked, “What, do you actually have fun here?” He smiled widely and sincerely and said, “My students are learning because they want to. What more can a teacher ask?” And then I realized that my fire, small though it might be, was still strong enough to re-ignite his flame—and what more can I ask?

Sonal Singhal
August 2006-2007 Fellow

Letter to Self

Note: Towards the end of my fellowship year, all '05/'06 fellows wrote letters to themselves that would be mailed to them 6 months later. I received my letter after my return back to the states in 2007, and have kept it in my wallet since as a reminder of all I had learned whilst an Indicorps fellow.

July 29, 2006

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road. But you know - you always knew what road you would to take. The one less traveled, of course, but more than that, the one where you can see the fruits of your labor shining bright over the horizon. It seems to be a road that is almost too perfect, too bright, too tempting for someone like you. Except that it doesn't have the American notion of security. No pension plans, 401k, retirement savings around the corner on that path. Just hope for a future where the community is your security and 'carpe diem' is your mantra.

But whatever you decide, whichever path you end up taking, make sure you keep that fire inside of you lit. Keep refueling it. Never let it die. I trust that you won't because all you have to do simple: just remember that when you were in India, you did just that. You could let the rest of the world fall away while you made decisions with confidence because things just felt that right. Don't ever forget how right, how comfortable and how at peace you felt during your time in India. Because it was only then that you came the closest to knowing yourself.

And remember that being uncomfortable is a good thing. A blessing in disguise. Challenge only comes from difficulty. And growth only from challenge. I know something you fear is returning to the states and becoming stagnant. Being in an environment that is not so conducive to your growth because you aren't being physically or mentally challenged daily. But before you give in, remind yourself that you still have a list of 101 dreams you penned in the 7th grade you have yet to accomplish. No. 1. Train for a marathon. (I know you're not a runner, but trust me on this.) No. 2. Try to understand the people closest to you, even if you disagree with them. That'll bring you ten steps closer to being able to connect on a much deeper level. No. 3. Meditate more. No. 4. Breathe. Deeply. No. 5. Start a book club. Theres so much I can add to this list.

But now the next step is to begin listening to your heart. You've lost practice over the last four to eight years in the states, but you're getting back on the right track. You're not quite there yet, but I see it coming. Continue down that path of self-discovery, because if it's the right path, you'll find that it never ends. You'll just be farther along it by the next time you read this. And if you're not, don't panic. And don't try to backtrack either. Just get back to the basics and start listening again.

Christina reminded you yesterday that the biggest service you can do for the world is to not ask what it needs, but rather do what makes you come alive "... because what the world needs most are people who have come alive."

"This little light of mine. I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine ..."

Your biggest fan,
(the other) Asha
Indicorps Fellow 2005-2006