India Immersion
March 30, 2015
Life-changing, unforgettable and moving. Three of the most common deions of St. Aidan’s inaugural Immersion project from those involved.
In February this year, 9 Sixth Form students along with 4 members of staff travelled to New Delhi, India for a 2 week long immersion project. The project has been planned for over 2 years, originally intending to go to Sierra Leone in West Africa; however the situation in the country with the Ebola virus made it an impossibility to travel there. It was decided instead we would travel to another Edmund Rice network school in the Indian capital so that we could still have the immersion experience.
The goal of an immersion experience is to surround oneself in the immediate environment of the poor and marginalised, to understand better the challenges faced by people less fortunate than ourselves and through that understand how we can best help those people find a route out of poverty whilst also gain perspective of how fortunate we are within our own lives. The work which we saw, and assisted in, by various organisations provided this experience in abundance.
Leaving St Aidan’s on Tuesday February 10th, we flew from Newcastle to New Delhi, via Dubai, landing in India at 9 am local time on the Wednesday. Immediately upon leaving the airport we were acquainted with the assault on the senses which is the Indian capital. Our first of many perilous journeys upon Delhi’s amazing, if a little terrifying, road network was our coach journey to our hostel in the centre of the city. It served as a good introduction to the city; immediately showing us the great disparity in wealth that existed in India.
Throughout the next two weeks, we worked in many different environments – teaching in a school which educated poor children in the area, working with the children in Mother Teresa’s orphanage for sick and disabled children, attending a demonstration for the promotion and protection of the rights of women, working with the Christian Brothers on the ‘Nine-is-mine’ campaign for the allocation of government spending for children in the country and working with a society for the deaf and hearing impaired – to name but a few. These experiences allowed us to surround ourselves not only in the lives of the poor and disadvantaged of India but also of those who choose to devote their lives to the service of the poor – just as Jesus taught us to. The Christian Brothers, Missionaries of Mother Teresa and others who devote their lives to the poor, serve to teach us what a difference we can make in the lives of others just through service.
Here in our own lives we can still make a huge difference to the lives of the poor, whether that is closer to home or as far afield as India. As a school we can enable our own students to make a difference in the lives of the poor in India by continually helping with the fundraising efforts for future Immersion projects, or at home with advocacy projects here in our own communities.
The project also gave the participants the chance to explore the amazing city and rich culture of Delhi, visiting famed sights such as the beautiful Taj Malal in Agra, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the India Gate. As well as the fascinating ISKON temple, of the Hindu faith, and the impressive Lotus Temple belonging to the Baha’i faith.
Overall the project was a truly unforgettable and powerful experience for all those lucky enough to be involved, and will have hopefully laid the foundations for many successful future expeditions from St Aidan’s for years to come.
