Majoring in religion at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, Sarah chose to spend her summer volunteering at a school for the deaf with Leave UR Mark. “The funny thing is, I never really planned to go to India: I was hoping to do research in Massachusetts, but nothing was panning out there. As I searched on the web for similar internships, this one came up, and except for some travels in Spain, this is the first time I actually spent time outside the US. Still, I would like to travel a lot in my life, and since I’d recently taken some classes on Hinduism and Indian culture, this internship seemed like the right choice.” As she nears the end of her ride to her school, Sarah smiles: “I really love the auto-rickshaw rides throughout the city. You see everything, and it is really awesome for me to see all this stuff I’ve been reading in the textbooks for the past two years.”
Sarah explains the deaf school she works at is one of the best in Bangalore. “The kids who come here are really lucky: some of the studies show that that only five percent of the deaf in India are educated. Education isn’t necessarily considered a birthright, and there is a lot to be done in terms of the development of the educational system. The kids I work with are definitely some of the lucky ones.”
Walking into the building, Sarah is greeted warmly by her co-workers, then enthusiastically by the kids she works with. “I mostly work with the class with the second-youngest kids, who are currently learning how to write. I’ll help the teacher, or make posters or flashcards.Sometimes, I’ll take a kid aside and help them spell certain words. The impact you have in that position is tremendous: it really gives a kick to find those kids spelling correctly a word that you’ve taught them two days ago.”
“Sometimes, I’ll cover other classes, or play volleyball with the older kids, who train each day.” With some effort, she uses the sign language she’s picked up at the school to ask one of the students how she’s doing. “The school’s team is very competitive, and it does really well on a national level. In a way, the older kids have really got an invisible impairment: most of the time you simply don’t realize they’re deaf at all.” Then, she laughs: “When I first joined them for practice, most of the guy scowled a bit. I played a lot of volleyball in college, though, and they soon figured out I was actually pretty good. Now I play with them regularly.”
Still, Sarah’s job is a challenging one, and throughout the day, she teams up with several teachers in the impressively big school. “The teachers here are amazingly nice. I was really nervous, coming here, but my fears were completely unfounded. My co-workers are always asking whether I like certain things, and they really help to get me involved. One of them even invited me to his wedding.”
Still, Sarah thinks she’ll have seen enough of India at the end of her project with Leave UR Mark: “I’d really like to see how they work with deaf children in other countries, compared to the way the Indians do it: it’d be interesting to have a broad, cross-cultural understanding. I think that after this experience, this line of work might turn into a career for me, but for now, it has just been a great experience.”
To apply for this project, email info@leaveurmark.com
