Project dosti: Bringing Students and Service Together

Partner Organizations

Though Dosti has changed location frequently over the years and alternated the institutions that it has worked with, two groups have become very important in Dosti’s vision for the future. Jagriti Vihara and Asha are both organizations that are dedicated to improving the status of education for children within India and Dosti has worked closely with them for the past three years.

Jagriti Vihara

The goal of Jagriti Vihara is to provide education, spread environmental awareness, and teach social farming skills to the poor in Bihar. Mr. Sachyanand Upadhyay, a seventy-year-old man who is known to everyone affectionately as “daduji” (grandfather), created the organization. Mr. Upadhyay has spent the last 35 years constructing the organization out of his ideal to create a group that would motivate villagers to take a greater interest in their personal and community’s future. Dosti was involved with the educating of youth and has spent two summers working with Jagriti Vihara.

The group has opened five schools, employing 21 teachers and educating over 850 students. The emphasis is on education in a non-formal way; “the pupils are encouraged to express their creativity through different media such as singing, drawing, painting, origami, forming and dramatic performances.”¹⁹ Dosti volunteers helped the students with their English, worked on basic science experiments, created arts and crafts, and played games with them.

The teachers and coordinators at Jagriti Vihara were extremely pleased with the students from Dosti and their interactions in educating the children “The Dosti volunteers prepared the lessons fully well before going to the classrooms. They appeared relaxed and cheerful while introducing the subjects with simple questions.”²⁰ In turn, the children learned a lot from the experience and readily welcomed the chance to practice English. “The pupils responded promptly to the well-prepared questions asked to them. The medium of instruction in our school is Hindi, but the pupils are taught English as an additional language and therefore they are always eager to listen to someone who speaks English as her or his mother tongue.”²¹ The volunteers’ Hindi also improved as a result of working with the children so mutual learning was achieved, both within and outside the classroom.

The trip to Jagriti Vihara had such an impact on the volunteers that they have committed themselves to helping build a science lab for the children and to provide the center with a book mobile (see details in Projects section).

Asha

The funding for the science lab and the book mobile came from Asha, an organization that began in 1991 in Berkeley and has grown to have chapters across the nation. Each chapter supports different education-related projects in India and promotes cultural awareness within the United States. Stanford has its own Asha chapter and this is the group that the Dosti organizers principally work with. In 2001 Asha gave Dosti $2200 to build the science lab and this year has allocated $5,625 to start the mobile library. Without the financial support that Asha provides Dosti would not have the funding to pursue external projects. The group is incredibly grateful for the interest the leaders of Asha have taken in Dosti and for the support they have offered.

Volunteers

It takes a lot of time and dedication for students to commit themselves to Dosti. In the past Dosti has been able to accept all volunteers that wanted to go on the trip but owing to enhanced campus presence and restructuring, this year there were 35 applicants. Due to the large increase the executive board decided to split the summer trip into two four-week long sessions as opposed to having one six-week long session, which would allow more students to go on the trip. This allowed them to accept 16 students (of which 5 have dropped out thus far) instead of the 7 or 8 that have gone in the past. When asked about qualities that Dosti looked for when selecting volunteers, Garg mentioned, “The number one thing we look for is the motivation to go to India. Why does this applicant want to spend part of their summer in India where it is hot, uncomfortable, and dirty? Their passion for service must come through.”²² Beyond this, the organizers look for a good group dynamic – they strive for diversity and therefore want people who have both gone to India before or have never been, both leaders and followers, and look for differences in public service experience.

Speaking with past volunteers has found them to be devoted to helping others and passionate about learning about India’s underprivileged. Volunteers were asked about their expectations before going, their reflections on the project, and the impact the trip has made on their lives. Interviews were conducted with Sameer Bhatia (volunteer 1993 – 1996), Guru Senthupathy (volunteer 1997), Neil Kothari (volunteer 1998), and Amit Garg (volunteer 2000). Excerpts from the different discussions are included below.

1. 
   Why did you decide to volunteer in India? Why did you want to volunteer abroad as opposed to volunteering domestically? Why volunteer at all?
   

“To me, in the beginning, Dosti was less about volunteering or performing social work and more about India. I had done almost no social work prior, the token trips to the soup kitchen or hospital in high school notwithstanding. However, I had not been to India in six or seven years and I had a longing to go back and this was the most viable and productive way for me to go back.” Senthupathy²³

“I felt that India, along with all other third-world countries, suffers from widespread and abject poverty when compared to the U.S. It is not that the U.S. does not have problems with poverty, but they are not as severe as those in India. India seemed a country more in need, and, consequently, a country that needed more help.” Kothari²⁴

2. 
   How has the Dosti experience changed your perspective on your future? Would you like to be involved in a program like that again?
   

“In addition to the tremendous experience of creating an organization from scratch, what I gained most from DOSTI was direct exposure to development projects in India. These left an indelible mark on me and shifted my career away from medicine (where I was headed) and into development through the private/business/political sector.” Bhatia²⁵

“As an individual coming from a comfortable background and growing up in Hong Kong, a very capitalistic, financially driven city, Dosti had an enormous impact on me. I would very much like to be involved with a program like Dosti.” Kothari

3. 
   What aspects of your experience surprised you? What did you expect and what did you find?
   

“I was surprised at how amazing the children we worked with were as well as the social workers. The kids we worked with were street children who had been addicted to drugs, and been abused by their families, by police, by others that lived on the street—literally by everyone. However, they were still very warm, always smiling and thankful to us. I was touched by their kindness and their strength.” Kothari

“Having done Project Dosti, I have the utmost respect and admiration for people who have dedicated their lives to serving the downtrodden. These people have sacrificed a better standard-of-living for themselves to improve the lives of others. Working with them for just a summer gave me an incredible appreciation for their work.” Senthupathy

4. 
   Did you feel 6 weeks was long enough to make an impact on you? On those you were helping?
   

“I don’t believe I actually helped the people I interacted with. In fact, in some ways I imposed on their lifestyles and may have adversely affected them. Coming and spending time with children and then suddenly leaving without an explanation they could possibly understand may have hurt them.” Kothari

“Its always fun for the kids – having these older students from the U.S. come and visit them for a few weeks and live like they do. But then we leave and I question that. The impact the kids have on us is far greater than the one we have on them. We just hope to bring a smile into their faces, most of the time they change our complete outlook on the world.” Garg²⁶

On the whole, Dosti left a permanent mark on everyone who participated. Students joined for different reasons, from wanting an excuse to travel abroad, looking for a way to go to India, to needing something to do for the summer, or fulfill their passion for volunteering. The experiences they had and expected varied, all of them faced frustration at different points, yet also felt the elation of feeling they were truly helping someone. All of past volunteers interviewed were incredibly grateful they had taken the chance to go on a Dosti trip. Though the trip was a short one, it left them all with the desire to return to India and to pursue some form of community service, whether in the US or abroad.