4/14/2012


I chose India to relate to my service learning experience. I chose this because I found a correlation  between the food processing as a community all together which is what we do at Bahia Vista. On page 136 you can see an image of the community making food together which reminds me of the service we do with Karen. "Whether making fuel chips, soap or soil, mixing gobar gets you back in touch with the natural world. The Shikshantar team is like family-they eat, play, work, and invent together" (pg. 136). I find the connection to Bahia also through the work we do in the Garden with Karen and the children. We are so often involved with internet and media that going out to the garden brings us back to our natural roots as well and reminds the children that there is time to relax and be with nature. As with the Shikshantar, it is also a way to bring us all together as a community and connect. Being in the garden or cooking is a relief from school for these kids and they are able to be together, enjoy each others company, and connect with one another.


I found a connection between Greece and my Parent Service Project interview through the connection of families helping each other. As the members discuss their annual Art of Learning Centering they talk about family. "We think of one another as family-as 'family of choice' rather than of origin-and for ten days, we will live, cook, work, eat, play, and dream together, learning from one another how to build the world we wish for" (pg. 165). I found the connection here when discussing with Jenny Ocon from PSP about if residents were hesitent to talk about what they wanted out of fear and she explained "Because we do help families get into these leadership roles that they are taking, it’s almost like families helping families. It is less about trusting us and families helping each other." This reminded me so much of the Greece chapter because as I continued to read I found that many of them seemed to be families helping each other out and growing that connection between one another through aide. As Jenny explained many of the residents in the Canal work with her program and end up taking those leadership roles in the community and then they begin to take action by speaking to members of the Canal themselves. Instead of outsiders coming into the community, it is other community members asking their fellow neighbors about issues and solutions. This reminded me of this section in the Greece chapter about relying on one another and being all together and working together as a large extended family.