Twelve years ago Sue Munro (brave soul that she is) took a group of 14 high school students on a 3-week trip to a tiny, isolated village in the northernmost part of India, up tight to the Himalayas. Today she shared that experience with us.
But first we had to have breakfast. After all, learning on an empty stomach is known to be ill advised. And, once again, the DWLC crew came through delivering a great meal with a wide variety of goodies to satisfy anyone's appetite. So kudos to the kitchen and clean-up crews. Well done everyone!
And now back to the main event.
To say the village was off the beaten path does a disservice to beaten paths. The villagers eke out a subsistence living farming poor soil on the heavily terraced sides of a mountain. Daily life consists primarily of completing the many tasks needed to put food on the table for themselves and to feed their livestock. If they are fortunate enough to have a cow, or some goats, they'll have some milk and cheese, but also more mouths to feed. There is no running water and few homes have electricity. Those that do are lucky to get an hour or so of power every few days. Homes are multi-generational and cramped, often shared with any livestock that can generate some much-needed heat during the cold winter months. Interestingly it is the women who bear the burden of all this back-breaking work while the men spend their days just hanging out with other men. Many of the villagers had never ventured beyond the walls of the valley into which they were born.
It's been thus for many, many generations.
Now imagine 14 teenagers from well-to-do Toronto families being dropped into this environment, billeted with local families where no one speaks English, and Big Macs are definitely not on the menu. The culture shock was as enormous as the learning opportunity for these young people.
That experience is what Sue shared in a fascinating talk that could have gone on for hours. Her photos accompanied by her cultural and social commentary gave those in attendance a vivid glimpse into life in a small community in a part of the world that none of us will likely ever see, or can even contemplate.
Thank you Sue for an entertaining and insightful presentation.
