Spring Street Students in Asia
Here's why they're there ...
Fourteen students from Friday Harbor's Spring Street School are on a seven-week journey to Asia to learn, first-hand, about Asian life and culture. The students have been studying the religion, culture and history of the region for the past six months to a year. This has prepared them 
for an intense process of learning through experience. The Sounder is giving them this space to share their experiences with you.
While their travels will take them through Thailand, Malaysia, and India, visiting cities like Bangkok, Calcutta, Varanasi and Agra, the students will also have extended stays in remote villages in Thailand as well as in Dharamsala, India. As part of their experience in these villages, they get involved in community service through projects in the schools and public health programs that have immediate impact in the community.
Additionally the students are conducting assessments of the villagers' assets and goals. The assessments will be used to identify ways to help the villagers in their work to improve their quality of life. Areas of student investigation will include water quality, power and communications. A team of experts in some of these disciplines is accompanying the students to support their pioneering research. The assessment project is a collaborative effort of Spring Street School, the Institute for Village Studies, The 1420 Foundation and Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Letters from Dharamsala
The sun is just beginning to rise as the sky becomes increasingly lighter over the foothills to the East. Dharmsala is still everything that I remember it to be. The same smiling faces and the same magical feelings that I experienced last year still follow me wherever I go. The stresses that accumulated throughout the last two weeks of travel in India have completely disappeared just by breathing the fresh cold mountain air and being again in this unique and familiar place.
Arriving around the time of Losar (Tibetan New Year) we have become engulfed in the festive energy of this exciting time. All of the store owners close their shops and take to the streets armed with firecrackers, laughs and smiles to welcome the coming year. Indeed, we are fortunate beyond belief to be here during this happy time and able to share in their merryment and festivities.
It lightens my heart to witness the electrifying glow that illuminates almost every smiling face. Even through their hardship and struggle they find reasons to be happy and joyeous. We have much to learn from this soft spoken, compassionate culture. As Americans, most of us are in want of nothing. The Tibetans, in contrast, have nothing, not even a country, to call their own and yesterday, for the first time, I witnessed the emotional power associated with this reality.
A small, frail Tibetan woman approached our group while our friend, a monk named Saldan Kunga, was conducting a tour of the beautiful Temple walk around the Namgyal monastary and the Dali Lama's home. She asked Saldan to translate so that she could tell her story to us in the hopes that we might share it with others. With tears streaming from her eyes and clinging to Saldan's robes, she began to tell us of her plight. She had just come from Tibet to visit her children who live up at the Tibetan Children's Village school. She had witnessed her house getting plowed down and her friends and family brutally beaten by Chinese soldiers. Pleading, she begged us to support the Tibetan cause, and to help in whatever way we could to end the hardship and suffering that has enveloped her culture. By the time she had finished speaking, tears of sympathy and compassion flowed from my eyes.
Once again, Dharamsala has opened my eyes to the realities of life. "Free Tibet" is not just a bumber sticker. It is a plea spoken from the lips of an entire endangered culture and a plea that I pray someday gets answered.
--Derin Ross
Horns blaring, cows mooing, beggars lamenting, nonstop action: this craziness is all part of a normal day in the plains of Northern India. Surrounded by death, decay, disease, and poverty, it is easy to gain a pessimistic outlook. One begins to question why some
have the essentials, and others need them.
Each traveler deals with these internal challenges differently. Some choose to ignore it, staying in nice hotels and never exploring the true, scarred face of India. Others acknowledge the pain and suffering, but never take action. Fewer still take advantage of their "privileged" status to bring about change.
While certain causes may seem more glamorous, one must remember that all those who are needy should be helped. Yes, Tibet needs to be freed from Chinese occupation. Yes, we must stop religious persecution worldwide. But how does one explain that to the leper on the streets of Calcutta? How does one explain that to the mother who tries desperately to feed her malnourished child? It is impossible. It must be remembered that for every person that does receive aid, there are many who do not. The point of this experience is not to become discouraged, but to realize the extent of what is needed; and to realize the extent to which we can have an impact.
If nothing else, remember to appreciate everything that you have. Health, food, clothing, and shelter are often taken for granted in the American quest for material wealth. Be thankful for these things, and try to help whenever possible.
--James Kellogg
