Keep smiling...

Its difficult to get involved.
Its a challenge .
Its easy to stay on the surface to move around in our comfort zone.
But how rewarding is that challenge?
For me, it changed a lot,it enabled me to see things differently and
to put things together in a way that I can make a more holistic
picture about whats actually happening in this one world.

Digging into a culture, removing the blanket of superficiality reveals all sorts of things hidden away.
Why do we live in the constant stage of denial? Deny the reality.
Its as simple as that, its real so we should be real, we should move along witht that reality and live it.

To be challenged means to learn. Learning means living and living means to move along in our constant flowing river of life.
To be challenged means to understand ourselves better. It means to reach out towards our personal limits, but it means as well to reach out to our aptitudes and our skills.
I think that today, with the eyesight of the future we are heading to, we all need to be challenged. To enlarge our horizons, to make our ways of thinking and our ways of being more flexibe, to move out of our comfort zone......to in the end make something happen, to move.
Enough of being like a steady pond, stable and secure.....live the flow and flow along with the immense possibilities that lie along our paths of life.
We only have one, so I might as well live it to the full extend.

If you look at the world as a whole, and if you take into account the amount of resources that lie to our feet it would make a lot of sense to distribute them so that everyone would get a fair share.
Why we are not doing it....?
Out of greed?
I think it was Gandhi who claimed that the world had enough resources to fulfill our needs, but not our greed.
Its true.
I mean if everyone in the world would live as abundant as we in the west, we would need 6 planets, to sustain everyones lifestyle.
Sustainability?
Well then all discours about the feeding of the world would seem absurd.
The question how the world could face that growing challenge of supplying enough food for the growing population. Thats redundant.
We can't start there. Because we only have one planet, so we should look after it, and think ove our ways of living.
Climate change, global warming....all these major global phenomenas, are just the symptoms. The cause lies elsewhere.
To really make a change we have to change our mindsets.
Greed is just not part of a sustainable lifestyle. It's the past. The future is simple and happy.


I would love to understand.
But I guess through getting involved in work that tries to build bridges and to fill gaps, means as well to understand.
To be challenged means as well not to be a tourist. It means to be there, in every moment, trying to build bridges between cultures, and people. To communicate, to connect...to look for exchange, not in search of giving and taking.
In a way its like the rule of cause and effect. We have to be the change that we want to see, and we can always, only harvest the fruit of our actions.
I am so grateful to have had that chance of getting involved.

Exchanging ideas is just so resourseful.
Yes, I was def challenged during the time I spend in southern India working for the Earth Trust.
It was such an intense learning period. There is no real replacement for really experiencing involvement.
Through experience,there are suddenly so many doors that are opening for you and what once seemed obscure and frightening, gets then fitted, like a puzzle piece gets fitted into a broader picture of something that makes sense to you.

Obviously I learned heaps about indian culture, society....politics.
And what you get to know isn't necessarily nice, but its necessary to understand, and its necessary to take actions. Before taking actions there is a need to know why and how...
To deal with that stuff that comes out of dealing with people and situations in the society on a level where you are not a tourist any more, not just a foreigner....once you stepped into something to remove that thick blanket that covers all atrocities, then you can see things a bit clearer, leaves you standing there with your mouth open, in disbelief.
There is so much to do.

I come from the point where I say that we are all born equal, equal power, equal rights, equal intelligence....
The reality is quite the opposite of that. India is def the most unequal country I have ever been .
Dysbalance of power everywhere.
Even, as a foreign woman in India, I have more power that most Indian people. There is only a very small part of the society, which is mostly male and belongs to the upper class, that has the power to change things. The trouble is that most of the time, these are the last who will try to do that as they are in the win situation. That there is the majority of the population who is stuck in the loose situation doesn't matter to them...
Not that its much different in the west, but in India its just way more extreme and way more in your face. And authorities have just a very different position, that they can basicly use without any limit.

Most people will remain stuck in their lifes, and they accept and adjust.
Adjustment is a big word in India,
and especially in villages where there really is no other choice. It seems to me like a cage, and to find the door to that cage would require a lot of courage and a lot of progressive thought which most of them have no access to.
Most Indians have never learned to take a decision. They simply do not know how.
And thats as well why they freak out seeing a young woman traveling on her own. Their mind just automaticly tells them that there is something wrong. As its a picture that doesn't make sense to them at all.
Indian women have the smallest cages of all.
Thats why there is no chance in explaining your life, your story....
It would disturb them to much, and it would make you feel so uncomfortable.
To make them understand that no you are not living with your family and that no you are not married, that
you traveled around the world....
No, all is left, most of the time, is playing their game with their rules.
"How do you like my India" ?
" I love it, I think its great."

And yes, this is only a half truth. Of course I love India, I really do, but as much as I love it, it drives me crazy.
.....but that truth I will keep for myself and smile instead.
Smiling is the best way of communication.
If in doubt, smile.
This smile mostly gets reflected with another one in return and an acknowledging Head-nod.
I love this head-nod.
Its like a value of the moment.
I am here, you are here, it is now, and I am grateful for this moment we can share together.
Thank you.
Yes, I think we should def learn from that, to move away from putting everything into the yes and no boxes.

These last 8 weeks I got involved in some very exciting projects, about sustainable development in rural areas, about empowerment of the poor, underprivileged and about equality and
tribes and their rituals and about education.
The last 3 weeks I worked in a local primary school teaching
english, music and environmental awareness...
So imagine me in a remote village in the hills of southern India, with around 20- 50 kids, in the age between 9 and 15, swirling around me....
Yes its pretty wild.
Wild is prbably the best attribute to describe that situation.
Its a different world, and by saying that I really mean it. It was tough for me in many ways. First of all to teach these kids...
How to teach them and where to start.
There is a whole world between us.

I loved it. I loved the kids, and I loved the teaching.
Its such a special opporttunity to really be in the position of having an influence on their long paths of life. And just to give them small impusles, something to think about that their everyday environment wouldn't provide, can leave a big impact on their lifes and on their community.
Because thats where the aim lies. Creating healthier communities, that are sustainable, with healthy and happy people living in it.
To get a message across is not that easy though, obviously.
The cultural differences were apparent and the conservativism that comes with the enclosure....
wow, for a young woman with a critical mindset....it was hard.

To live in that remote village, among this old tribal community was an unique experience that taught me a lot.
The whole interaction with the villagers, and with the kids in general, such an exposure to a really different world, taught me heaps.
In a way, they taught me more than I ever could have.
I learned what hospitality means.
What it really means.
I have never been as openly welcomed to a community before.

That village was so remote that some of the elder inhabitants have never even seen any foreigner so that was something new to them something that is not always very welcome if it means that new influences come in that might question the old traditional ways of doing things....
But in any case, there were some very special moments to share.
A laugh and a smile then can connect worlds.

I stayed in the village for a few days in a row, and also experienced a village festival, where I ended up dancing in the streets with all the people from the village , learning how to dance their traditional tribal dances.
It was awesome!
And I have never eaten as much in 24 hours than during my stay in the village, as refusing food is an offense.
30 coffees and teas a day was my avarage daily dose.

I absolutely loved it, and the work with Earth Trust inspired me in so many different ways, and connected me to so many different interesting issues, that I have no choice but to come back very soon.
I will.
The village I was teaching at is now trying to convert into a fully organic, self sufficient village...
I can't wait to go back and see the change....