So I've noticed I am really bad at updating this blog. Haha, last Friday I got an awesome opportunity to go to the KVK by Dokur. KVK is an organization that helps youth and women in agriculture by providing them with training and free water, soil, and plant tests all free of cost. It's a really awesome program, and is funded by the government. The KVK that I visited was only two years old, and most of the staff was fairly new. They were still waiting on funding from the government to come in, so they hadn't started many programs yet. However, I did get to talk to the director of this KVK and the scientists that work there. Surprisingly, their scientist team was made up of only women and they were all fairly young too. It was super awesome to see that.
The original plan was to go to KVK and learn more about the organization and then go to Dokur and conduct the rest of my surveys. While we were at KVK, we learned of a polytechnic college that was nearby, and we decided to visit here instead. We entered the school and all of the kids were sitting in this conference room kind of setting and there was this big table at the front of the room that was meant for us. I felt like a celebrity. All of the kids were in their school uniforms. This specific college is only for agricultural degrees and 90% of the students there came from farming families. I came to find out that almost all of these kids are 16...and in college. So needless to say, I was blown away. We spent about an hour talking to the kids as a big group and when we were done they were an hour late for lunch...and I felt horrible.
After their lunch, I went to the girls dorms and started having focus group discussions with them. It was crazy how intelligent they were. I always feel horrible making people here speak English because it's their second language and I know absolutely NO Hindi. I know more Telugu than Hindi. The worst part is, people have tried so hard to teach me, and for some reason I can't remember any of it. I will never complain about Spanish ever again. Anyways, after the focus group discussion, I gave them some of my surveys. Afterwards, we took some pictures outside and I came back in to get my stuff, and one of the girls asked me for my autograph. I stood there for a minute, probably with my mouth hanging open, in complete shock. I was so flattered, so I wrote her a cute note and gave her my phone number and e-mail and told her if she ever needed anything, or just wanted to talk, she could contact me whenever. After that, she asked me if I knew who Kristin Stewart was and I said, "Yes! How do you know who she is?" She told me that she watches Twilight all the time because it's one of the only movies they have at the college. I've noticed that every time I go on field visits, there's always at least one moment that I have that changes my outlook on everything. Talking to her was definitely that moment. I wish I could remember her name, I can't believe I forgot, but I hope she e-mails me or something.
After that we went to the boys dorms and I interviewed and had focus group discussions with them in their dining hall. These boys were a little more shy and I didn't want to pester them with questions. At one point, I asked if everyone here was around 16 or 17 and she yes, except for one of the boys sitting in front of me, he was 18. As it turns out, after he finished 10th standard (their equivalent of high school) he started doing labor work and due to illness, couldn't work so he decided to come back to school. It's crazy the amount of obstacles people can overcome and still be so positive. His English was really really good too, we could have conversations without translators.
Overall it was an awesome day, and I've never felt more blessed.
I received awesome news this week that another Borlaug Ruan Intern, Sam Harris, is coming to Hyderabad this week! On Saturday we're going out to Hyderabad to do sight seeing so I've been thinking of things we can do so he can see Hyderabad. I think we'll go see some markets and a few other things.
This past week I have been working on my final report. It's almost like 24 pages now! I actually don't mind writing so it's going by really fast. I only have 12 days left for the rest of my internship so this is the plan for the rest of my time here: Monday-Wednesday I will be working on my report and hopefully finalizing it. On Thursday and Friday I will work on my presentation. On Monday I will give my seminar to a lot of people in the building and they will give me lots of corrections. On Tuesday and Wednesday I'll make these corrections to my paper. And at about 4:15 AM on Thursday, my plane leaves Hyderabad. It's crazy how fast everything is going by.
The original plan was to go to KVK and learn more about the organization and then go to Dokur and conduct the rest of my surveys. While we were at KVK, we learned of a polytechnic college that was nearby, and we decided to visit here instead. We entered the school and all of the kids were sitting in this conference room kind of setting and there was this big table at the front of the room that was meant for us. I felt like a celebrity. All of the kids were in their school uniforms. This specific college is only for agricultural degrees and 90% of the students there came from farming families. I came to find out that almost all of these kids are 16...and in college. So needless to say, I was blown away. We spent about an hour talking to the kids as a big group and when we were done they were an hour late for lunch...and I felt horrible.
The principal of the school, my supervisor, the vice principal, Namrita (ICRISAT employee), and myself
After their lunch, I went to the girls dorms and started having focus group discussions with them. It was crazy how intelligent they were. I always feel horrible making people here speak English because it's their second language and I know absolutely NO Hindi. I know more Telugu than Hindi. The worst part is, people have tried so hard to teach me, and for some reason I can't remember any of it. I will never complain about Spanish ever again. Anyways, after the focus group discussion, I gave them some of my surveys. Afterwards, we took some pictures outside and I came back in to get my stuff, and one of the girls asked me for my autograph. I stood there for a minute, probably with my mouth hanging open, in complete shock. I was so flattered, so I wrote her a cute note and gave her my phone number and e-mail and told her if she ever needed anything, or just wanted to talk, she could contact me whenever. After that, she asked me if I knew who Kristin Stewart was and I said, "Yes! How do you know who she is?" She told me that she watches Twilight all the time because it's one of the only movies they have at the college. I've noticed that every time I go on field visits, there's always at least one moment that I have that changes my outlook on everything. Talking to her was definitely that moment. I wish I could remember her name, I can't believe I forgot, but I hope she e-mails me or something.
My adorable respondents
After that we went to the boys dorms and I interviewed and had focus group discussions with them in their dining hall. These boys were a little more shy and I didn't want to pester them with questions. At one point, I asked if everyone here was around 16 or 17 and she yes, except for one of the boys sitting in front of me, he was 18. As it turns out, after he finished 10th standard (their equivalent of high school) he started doing labor work and due to illness, couldn't work so he decided to come back to school. It's crazy the amount of obstacles people can overcome and still be so positive. His English was really really good too, we could have conversations without translators.
Overall it was an awesome day, and I've never felt more blessed.
I received awesome news this week that another Borlaug Ruan Intern, Sam Harris, is coming to Hyderabad this week! On Saturday we're going out to Hyderabad to do sight seeing so I've been thinking of things we can do so he can see Hyderabad. I think we'll go see some markets and a few other things.
This past week I have been working on my final report. It's almost like 24 pages now! I actually don't mind writing so it's going by really fast. I only have 12 days left for the rest of my internship so this is the plan for the rest of my time here: Monday-Wednesday I will be working on my report and hopefully finalizing it. On Thursday and Friday I will work on my presentation. On Monday I will give my seminar to a lot of people in the building and they will give me lots of corrections. On Tuesday and Wednesday I'll make these corrections to my paper. And at about 4:15 AM on Thursday, my plane leaves Hyderabad. It's crazy how fast everything is going by.
No comments:
Post a Comment