Social change, etc.

This is a metaphor.

You might (maybe) be wondering to yourself, “What are you doing in India?” I wonder the same thing sometimes. I've postponed this blog post while I've been figuring it out.  I'm not sure that I have it down yet, but people ask me this question.  And I am subject to your inquiries.

Here’s an attempt to answer you -

The Technical: I’m an IDEX fellow.  IDEX is an initiative of Gray Matters Capital that works to grow social enterprise and leadership to create positive, enduring social change.  IDEX works mostly in the education sector in India. 

There are fellows placed in schools, nonprofits, and for-profit social enterprises in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Mumbai.  We are placed with these organizations as a commodity (the skills and experiences we bring that motivated organizations to accept a fellow) and as a recipient (the skills-building and new, hands-on experience that motivated us to accept the fellowship). 

This is what I do.

I am placed with an organization called Policy Innovations.  Policy Innovations conducts program evaluation for schools and organizations working in the education sphere across India.  (In other words, they use all that stuff we learned in Poister’s Applied Statistics and Research Methods class that we thought we’d never use.)

My bosses + a boss' mom

The Practical: (Welcome to my resume.) On a daily basis, I complete tasks such as report writing, client correspondence, website development, marketing/partnership building, and strategic planning.  I sometimes work at home.  I sometimes work at the office.  I have meetings in person, over Skype, over the phone.  I talk. I think.  I write.  I might (I hope) get the chance to travel for assessments. We’re framing it under the term business development.

The Experience: These are the moments, the people, the places, the newness, the challenges, the things learned. This is why I’m really here.  This is the stuff I write about on this blog.  This is how I will grow.  This is why it’s all worth it.  This is what will lead me to whatever the next step of my life is whenever this stint is over.  This is life.

When I started this journey, there were several things – a facebook status, a text message from a dear friend, a book, an article – that reiterated a message that I try (try, try, try) to embrace: Wherever you are, BE all there.  Exist, delve, immerse, embrace wherever it is you happen to be.  And let it be what it is, too.

This is what I am trying to do in India.  I like to imagine that what I am doing matters.  It matters to me, but I hope it matters to at least one or two other people as well.

It sometimes feels like I'm doing this:

Yes, I did take this picture from my office.  Yes, that guy is painting a building by hand while being held from a rope by one and a half men.  (Notice the one guy looking into space.)  Yes, I really do feel like that sometimes.