Imagine being in the middle of a bustling city. On your left, people are scurrying from one shop to another and riding taxis and rickshaws. On your right, a man in a turban is charming a snake out of a tall basket. You are in Delhi, India as one of the volunteers participating in Project Dharamsala.
Project Dharamsala is one of four international service learning programs that provides students the opportunity to spend about a month in Dharamsala, India, near the Tibetan border. Those participating in the expedition spend their first day in Delhi and then spend the next three weeks in McLeod Ganj, a town above Dharamsala. The last five days are spent in Delhi and Agra, India, during which students sightsee and explore the cities.
During an informational meeting held April 15, Glenn Fee, director of the Community Action Program, Roscoe Hill, professor of philosophy and Melissa Schaap, international service learning coordinator, discussed the purpose of Project Dharamsala.
The purpose of Project Dharamsala is for students to earn five academic credits while working 20 hours each week, either tutoring Tibetan exiles in English or assisting organizations with grant writing and press releases. In addition to volunteering, students learn about the history of Tibet, the life of the Dalai Llama, Asian religions and the ongoing Indian-Pakistani conflict.
For the people who participated in Project Dharamsala last year, the trip was more than just learning about Tibetan history or helping people learn English. It was an eye-opening experience.
“I learned more in those four weeks in India than I ever did sitting in a classroom at DU,” Junior Jacob Jacoby said.
Graduate student Michael McKenzie said, “It is nothing like you’ve ever experienced before.”
Both Fee and Hill emphasized the importance of these trips because they give students the chance to learn and immerse themselves in other cultures. Especially cultures such as that in Tibet, where people have been imprisoned for their political beliefs. However, there have been times when a country has had such political intensity, that volunteer expeditions to it have to be cancelled, such as Project Nepal, which was supposed to be held last year.
According to Fee, because of the civil unrest in Nepal, the Office of Internalization had to cancel the trip. This was what also motivated program coordinators to establish Project Dharamsala as an alternative to Project Nepal. Nonetheless, Fee said the trip for Nepal will happen this year as planned since the country is currently in a ceasefire.
Other volunteer trips included in international service learning are Project Bosnia and Project Mexico. Fee said service learning is expanding the programs in international service learning to include countries such as Italy, Taiwan and Nicaragua.
In order to participate in these volunteer trips, students must fill out an application and turn it in by May 1. They must also pay a non-refundable $75 application fee as well as pay $400 for the program fee, $3,390 for tuition and $1,400 for airfare. Total cost for the trip is $5,245. However, students can apply for various service grants and scholarships to curb expenses. After all the applications have been turned in, the coordinators will conduct interviews and then choose 12 students to go on the trip.
Orientation for the trip will be held on Sept. 27 and the actual program will be Nov. 21 – Dec. 22.
For more information, log on to the Web site, www.du.edu/intl/isl.
