It is my last night in India. I should be sleeping by now
but it is difficult to fall asleep as my mind and my heart go back and
forward on the last 4 weeks. It is easy to describe experience like this by
using a large amount of adjectives like great, fantastic or unforgettable.
Words are cheap and the value I got from my social sabbatical deserves much
more than a list of words. For this reason I will make an effort to reduce the
number of adjectives.
It has been a long emotional journey. I am not a person who
likes talking about emotions or expose them to other people. I prefer keeping
them with me. For this reason I often use my sarcasm and sense of humour to
conceal them even when I shouldn`t do it. In these 4 weeks I used a lot of my
sarcasm to cope with what I was feeling, perhaps too much. Probably I am
writing these few words to let finally my emotions to get out and give them some
kind of rest…. It is never late.
It was touching meeting children in Parikrma and spend a lot
of time with them. It was hard to think that despite their smile, confidence
and joy they probably wouldn`t have a dinner in the evening because the parents
couldn`t afford it. I will never forget the moment a old men stopped me and he
shacked my hand while I was walking in a slum. He wanted to give me his welcome
and somehow thank us for being there as if my presence could somehow give him some
kind of dignity. You spend time to think how you could make the world better
and you are surprised that even a simple walk can make the difference for
someone.
I was forced to make a huge effort to cope with the sight of
people looking for food in a dump or a old woman beating a child with a stick
while walking on the street. The terrified face of the child and its tears
often re-emerge in my mind making me think how beautiful in comparison my
childhood was.
This experience has been also emotional thank to the people
I shared these 4 weeks. I could write pages on how fantastic our group was or
how great each one of them was. But as I said I am not going to use cheap words
because they deserve more than a list of adjectives. I had the fortune to meet
and work with 11 HUMAN beings each one aware of his/her own limits and willing
to give his/her own best in order to make this experience memorable for
everybody. Looking back, it was not easy: from the small friends (bugs and
mice) in the hotel to the challenges posed by the city. Despite this their
commitment and sense of adaptation made everything so easy. Once again, thank
you very much for the patience toward me, for the things you thought me and for
being much more than colleagues. From now on, India it is not just a huge
country on the map, it is also the place where I had the fortune to share 4
long emotional weeks with you. Grazie:
Patel Brijesh, Nikkinen Riikka, Levin Stanley, Piqueras Reyes, Dimitrova Vesela, Liu Dingling, Winther Helle Dochedahl , Wentz Mark Alexander Thomas, Ruiz Claudia and Lottman Sarah.
