KathmanJew: Volunteering in Fair Trade

To him my plan was "upside down". He'd balanced multiple jobs during his engineering studies in Bangladesh, finished 2nd in his class, all to be one of the lucky few to leave his poor country for rich Canada, and send money home, from the profits of his tiny computer store.

My plan was incomprehensible to him. Why was I leaving my privileged life to go to that poor, hectic, crazy region of the world that he'd done all he could to leave.

Why volunteer in the first place?

What attracts a foreigner to Nepal, or even India for that matter? Devoid of comforts, lacking basic hygiene, offering little in terms of work or entertainment, incredibly frustrating to get anything done – yet thousands of young Westerners still flock to these difficult regions each year… And for what?

Is it to alleviate our Western guilt, because we feel sorry for the inhabitants of these 'Third World' nations, as we condescendingly group them? Or even, because it's easier and more exotic than doing something for the poor in our own societies?

I'm not too sure why I went. I just had - the urge - to go to the "Third World". Is that wrong, to have wanted to leave the coziness of my life for the excitement and wonder of a developing country?

I feel like I was brought up in a world devoid of "problems"; where food, shelter and education are so easily guaranteed that I don't even think about them. The Western way of life bores me. I know it's upside down, but I can't help it. After high school I'm supposed to start my undergraduate studies, and then spend the rest of my days at my desk. It's a crazy way of thinking but it's just the way it is. I can't help but think that questionnaires, exams and rules govern almost every aspect of my life. Am I just the embodiment of a spoiled generation? Unable to appreciate what my parents and grandparents toiled all their lives for? 

And as I listen to the computer store owner, Samir, lecture me about my Western guilt, I understand better the "why" of "why we travel and volunteer". I believe that we are in search of reason, we are in search of meaning, we are in search of soul.

Our soul is blemished. How can we have a relationship with G-d in a world devoid of principles other than "Are you a leader or a follower?" The rise of "middle class" families has come at a price we can't afford to pay: our individualism and beliefs. In our quest to promote democracy and equality, somehow, we lost our way, and made democracy a forgotten right while equality became uniformity. 

To Samir, his 'normal' life is not 'two dimensional' or 'flat', because it's governed by beliefs and morality, which give his toils and hardships a purpose and strength to go on when the times turn dark.

In our world, organized religion has succumbed to an image of corruption, immorality and intolerance. Personal beliefs are struggling to survive amid science's refutation and the many bizarre brands of spirituality that have sprouted in the last 40 years. In places like India and Nepal, religion is not a rigid, intangible concept but a way of life. There are countless deities and incarnations of G-d, and it is up to the individual to choose his own path amidst the entangled webs of physical and spiritual life. This spiritual freedom gives even the poorest and most deprived of people here a smile that not the largest of salaries, cars or houses can ever bring.

That is why I am now writing this piece, not in the West, but on a sun-filled terrace in Kathmandu.

Do we travel to Third World countries for soul searching? Are we here, not because we can help, but really so that they may help us? Is it just another selfish attempt to take back what our cultures lost and theirs are losing because of us?

I believe that a fair trade can occur. The change of pace and ideas can be exchanged for whatever we can offer. And this is why I grew interested in the concepts behind the program Tevel b'Tzedek (The Earth in Justice). This Israeli Jewish program had several goals:

-- To introduce a new generation of Israelis and Diaspora Jews to the fundamental realities of the Third World, or the developing world, or the South, whichever term one chooses to use. 

-- To create/join programs that assess the situation on the ground and do their uttermost to provide assistance to those in need, using whatever skills the current volunteers have to offer - thus teaching us that if we really want to, we can have an affect on people's lives and the worlds future.

-- To do all this as Jews deeply in touch with our own history and identity - thus showing that it is possible to become more Jewish and more universal at the same time.

After looking into the mission statement and reading some of the stories from the 1st group of volunteers (April to June 2007), I joined the program, knowing absolutely nothing about what the day to day schedule would be, and embarked on an eventful trip through India and began the program on October 16th 2007. And after 7 days, I am genuinely thrilled to be here. We are definitely not here to take pictures with smiling, deprived, and raggedly clothed kids so we can then go home and say we met the "locals" and helped them. We are here to understand, to learn, and to give what we can. Currently, we are in the midst of our orientation period, lasting roughly a month, and our days are full. We are immersed in classes on Nepali language, religion and culture, exposed to life here through countless field trips and guest speakers, and finally, pushed into introspection and questioning through talks and debates on many topics, ranging from globalization and its principal actors, to religion and how Judaism can be applied to ourselves and our impact on our surroundings. 

Although it is too soon really to understand the impact of all of this, Kathmandu is a different and beautiful planet, and I am very excited to see what the future may bring and how we will all grow not only as Jews but as travelers through this life in search of a higher meaning and purpose.

Here are a few pictures from early in the trip: