Evaluation of Cross Cultural Solutions Program Dharamsala, India May 3 - June 14, 2008

 by Pam Walls      

            The main purpose of this formal evaluation is for the CCS staff in New York, as well as in Delhi and Dharamsala, to be made clearly aware of the positive and negative aspects of the CCS program in Dharamsala. The volunteers who took part in the program over the six weeks that I was in Dharamsala (May 3rd to June 14th, 2008) expressed many grievances about their experience, as did I. This essay will allow me to clearly summarize what really goes on at the CCS program in Dharamsala, India. I will discuss the Pre-Departure and Preparation process, my placement at Anganwadi Sidhpur, Accommodation, CCS Dharamsala Staff, Cultural Activities and 'Perspectives Programming' and the cost of the program. I will then finish will several recommendations that I propose should be implemented into the CCS Dharamsala program.

       I hope this paper is taken seriously and is carefully read by staff members at all levels within CCS. I do not want to offend anybody, but certain things need to be brought to light in order for CCS to maintain its integrity as one of the world’s leading NGOs.

Pre-Departure and Preparation Process

      First, I will start with the Pre-Departure and Preparation for our placements. Sarah Pole was very attentive and informative during the pre-departure process. However, her advice/information was sometimes inappropriate or incorrect, ie telling me it would be okay to wear t-shirts and long pants to my placement which turned out to be incorrect. Needless to say I was left with a heavy suitcase full of shirts that I could not wear except for weekends. All in all, the predeparture process was well done and Sarah was always there to answer my questions.

       However, and this is a big however, almost every single volunteer expressed the great frustrations with not being fully prepared for their placements. While I understand that placements cannot be scheduled too far in advance, having only one week to prepare for your placement is just not enough time. Not only that, but during that one week there is hardly any real forewarning or explanation as to what will be expected of you at your placement. Furthermore, the ‘orientation’ in Delhi (there was no orientation in Dharamsala besides Anil giving a quick introduction to the program) did not provide us with proper tools or skills for our placements. I will discuss recommendations for a more informative and appropriate 'orientation' later on in the paper. I will now provide an example to help illustrate how incredibly blindsided most volunteers were with their placements:

                One volunteer named Jodi Johnson was told she would work with a local Youth Group and would discuss various issues that were important to them. Besides that cryptic and vague explanation she was not given much more information. So, she arrived at the Centre for her first day where she was placed in a small room with about 8-10 teenagers and young adults who sat on the floor and stared at her blankly waiting for her to do something. She was not told what was expected of her and she was not given any materials (and while I know there is a ‘resource room’, Jodi did not know exactly what she was getting into, so how would she know what materials she would need?) She eventually discovered that she was expected to teach English to this group of young people. Jodi has never taught before and was completely blindsided by this position. 

                However, she is a very resilient and intelligent person, so she rose to the challenge and worked very hard every night to prepare an hour and a half lesson every day for 6 weeks. This was not explained to her in advance and the workload that was expected from her was simply too much. Furthermore, there were several books in the ‘resource room’ that could have been of much use to her, yet they were never made known to her. After much digging through the shelves, she found the materials she needed all on her own without any help or guidance from the CCS staff. These materials (ie books specifically for teaching English to non-English speakers) should have been made known to Jodi on her first day and I am still confused as to why they were not readily available from the beginning. In sum, Jodi worked incredibly hard and eventually found the placement incredibly rewarding thanks to her wonderful class, but she received no pat on the back or recognition from any CCS staff member. Her dedication and hard work were never recognized and this was an incredible shame.

My Placement: Anganwadi Sidhpur

        I would like to stress how much I enjoyed my placement at the Sidhpur daycare. The women who work there are wonderful, although there was a frustrating language barrier between us. I tried my personal best to learn as much Hindi before coming to India, as well as setting up my own lessons with Monica (this was not offered to us, I made the initiative to have these lessons). However, it would help everyone (the children, volunteers and workers) if the women were offered English lessons as well. I will discuss that idea further in the Recommendations section.

        I was very fortunate to have known the wonderful children at Sidhpur. They gave me so much joy and made me grow as a person. I remembered what it was like to be a child and I will carry the wonderful moments that I had with them forever.

Accommodation

       The accommodation at Dharamsala was very nice and very comfortable. However, some of the volunteers expressed that it was almost too nice and almost felt that our 'luxurious' housing put us on some sort of pedestal above other community members. I will discuss this further in the Recommendations section.

CCS Dharamsala Staff

         Now I want to be very honest and clear in this section because I believe it is the most crucial point: the integrity of the Dharamsala staff. I left my CCS program 2 weeks early almost primarily because of clashes with the Dharamsala staff, and in particular the Program Director Anil. It is quite a long story about what happened between he and I, so I will try to clearly summarize it here:

          I was made aware of a child in Deb Jarrett's daycare who had severe burns on his arms and that the Anganwadi worker said that they were not an accident, but that they were a form of punishment. So, during Deb's feedback interview with Anil, she told him about the young boy and he brushed her off. When I spoke with Anil afterward, I asked about the boy and he claimed that Deb never brought up the subject (which was not true), so I asked him to look into the situation. He promised me that he would go to the daycare to see what was going on within the next few days, but he made sure to tell me that 'these things' are not the community's business and that it is the sole concern of the parents.

         So, over the next week whenever I would ask Anil if he went to the daycare he would say that he hadn't because he didn't have enough time. A few days later, he said that he went, but that the young boy was not there and that he had not been there for several days. It seemed as though he felt the subject was closed, but I continued to press the issue as I felt nothing had been resolved or even really looked into.

         I set up another meeting with Anil and told him very clearly that something needed to be done. A child is clearly being abused in one of your Partner Programs (and the fact that he was being abused was confirmed by a doctor several weeks later) and yet Anil was not interested or affected in the slightest. As far as I am concerned, it should have been a top priority for CCS because this was a clear opportunity for the organization to invoke 'positive social change'. However, Anil had the attitude that this was none of our business and in fact told me to stop asking 'why' and to 'not fight the system'. This was a hard blow to me because I signed up with CCS on the basis that the organization was a pioneer for social change and one that would challenge a static system that condones or ignores violence and violations against basic human rights.

          So, after many frustrating and fruitless conversations with Anil, primarily concerning the young child with burns on his arms, I felt helpless and trapped and knew that my time with CCS was done. I felt like I was not in fact a catalyst for social change, but that I was seen simply as a 'development tourist' who "should come to have fun and not really try to change anything" (as Anil said to me in one of our meetings). Anil sees the CCS program in Dharamsala almost as a 'summer camp' for adults. He enjoys playing games with the volunteers, but never engages in real discussions with them. He has the opportunity to evoke real dialogue and discussion with many Westerners, yet seems uninterested most of the time. This was probably the most frustrating and disappointing aspect of the program.

           The general mentality of the CCS staff in Dharamsala is that they are running a business. Lalit, Anil's assistant, is not an educator, an activist, a development worker. His sole purpose of being there is to schedule people and keep the business running smoothly. He is a very uninspiring person and is extremely condescending to the volunteers and to the female CCS staff members. In fact, both he and Anil (as well as most of the male staff members) interact with the female volunteers in a very flirtatious way. They are not 'father figures' in the slightest. However, the female staff workers are treated as if they are the least important members of the team. One time, Lalit was teasing a female volunteer who got so fed up with him that she threw water on him. Instead of him cleaning it up, or asking the volunteer to clean it up, he made Monica come and wipe down the table and the benches while he continued to finish his lunch. This mentality of intimidation and condescension towards females is always present and quite unsettling.

            Needless to say, there was not very much 'meaningful cultural exchange' between the staff and volunteers. Most volunteers had to try very hard to have any sort of real discussion with any staff member (ie setting up their own meetings with Anil or trying to catch a staff member when they were not busy), yet the staff members hardly ever asked us about our own culture, or families, or opinions on various things. With this being said I would like to note that there were several very helpful and kind staff members, such as Vicki, Monica, Anju, Mukesh, Lalu and Pummi. They are wonderful people whom I respect very much. Monica and Anju helped me with my Hindi, Vicki was always there for anybody who needed him and Mukesh, Lalu and Pummi are very hard workers who deserve more recognition.

Cultural Activities and ‘Perspectives Programming’

         While the idea of 'Perspectives Programming' is wonderful in theory and on paper, it simply did not transcend into real learning experiences. While some activities were very interesting and highly rewarding (ie Jaya's discussion about various issues in India and the talk with a Buddhist Lama), the majority of activities were more like field trips in the sense that the staff members were our chaperons and were not engaged at all. For example, we went to see the Kangra Fort and were simply given a hand out to explain what we were looking at, but it was completely nonsensical and was written in such broken English that I had no idea of the history of the fort. We were basically dropped off there so that we could take pictures and the staff could check it off their list. Another example is Anil's 'lecture' on the education system in India which was not a lecture at all, but more of a casual description. He did not bring any notes or seem prepared in any way and did not create an environment where the volunteers felt comfortable enough to engage in a discussion (he is very intimidating and most volunteers were generally afraid to ask questions or challenge what he says).

           Another complaint made by several volunteers was that there were not enough activities because after the first 3 weeks they simply repeat themselves. Since I was signed up for 8 weeks, I felt extremely cheated because I was under the impression that there would be many various activities to choose from throughout my entire stay. Therefore, I did not repeat the activities that I had already done, so for the last part of my stay I simply did not have any 'Perspectives Programming' activities.

           Another complaint was that other activities throughout the community were not made known to us. For example, on one of the last days that I was in Dharamsala I discovered that the Tibetan Library offered free classes on Buddhist philosophy every morning. This, and other interesting activities were never made known to us and this was very unfortunate. In fact, some volunteers, myself included, felt that Anil and Lalit's animosity toward the Tibetan community (because they feel that the Tibetans get all the money, the best houses, motorcycles, etc.) was the main reason we were not made aware of such activities. In fact, the first day we were in Dharamsala, Anil made sure to express the supposed animosity between Indians and Tibetans. However, I never witnessed this contempt within the community, but it was apparent from Anil and Lalit. In fact, on one of
our excursions Lalit went so far as to say that "no one wants them here. We want them to go back to Tibet."

Cost of the Program

           This was perhaps one of the greatest concerns of the volunteers, as well as myself. I strongly believe that participants of the Dharamsala program are greatly over-charged. Many people supported me financially in this endeavour and I don't think it was necessary to have to fund over $4300 to participate in this program. Besides food, accommodation, transport and staff salaries there are no other expenses to be covered. If there are consistently 15-20 volunteers and they each pay at least $2000 then the CCS Dharamsala program make an incredible amount of money. I understand that some money goes to 'administration' costs, but even so with the exchange rate into Rupees, there just is no way that it should cost as much as it does. If someone can give me a detailed run down of where exactly those thousands of dollars go, it would be much appreciated. I tried to ask Anil where exactly all the money goes and he said that the NY office takes a huge chunk of it. He said that he writes up a 'budget' and is given however much money he needs from the NY office. I will explore this further in the Recommendations section.

Recommendations

Orientation: Full Day Workshops

            There is a definite need for a more thorough and placement-specific orientation upon arrival in Dharamsala. The orientation in Delhi is interesting and well-done, but it is an introduction to India as a whole and does not delve into what is expected of us at our specific placements nor does it offer skills or training for those placements. There should be full-day workshops in Dharamsala specifically aimed and garnered for the various placements (ie the workshop for daycare workers would be different from those placed in a school). This is extremely critical for the Anganwadi workers because from the moment a child is born until about the age of 6 is the most crucial time for the development of a human being. This is the time that social, emotional and physical developments occur and these need to be properly nurtured. Even the most well-intentioned person can have very serious negative effects on the development of a child simply because they were not properly trained.

English Lessons for Workers at Placements and Hindi Lessons for Volunteers

              It would benefit everyone if extra daily Hindi lessons were offered to all volunteers as well as somehow allowing the women of the anganwadis to learn English. Perhaps the volunteers could teach conversational English to the women once a week (or more) which would help the volunteers with their Hindi (for translation) as well as help the women to learn our language (meaningful cultural exchange). While it is true that a few Hindi lessons are offered the first week there should be daily or weekly continuous Hindi lessons so that the language barrier comes down even more.

More Feedback Sessions

          Plain and simple, there were not nearly enough feedback sessions and the ones that were offered were fruitless and frustrating. There should be weekly group feedback sessions as well as individual meetings for those not comfortable speaking in a group. This was one of the biggest issues as many of us would congregate almost on a daily basis to discuss issues that concerned us. However, such discussions are pointless if the ones in charge are not made known of such grievances. Before I left, I attempted to have a feedback circle with all the volunteers who were leaving as a kind of 'wrap up' and Anil agreed. However, when it came time for the meeting he had already left the office and was nowhere to be found.

           These do not always need to be formal group sessions because there are so many opportunities for the staff to engage with us and to listen to our concerns in an informal manner. With that said, such casual dialogue was a rare occurrence as staff members were either too busy or absent or would not take the concerns seriously.

Accommodation

             I believe that we should have been 'roughing' it a little more and not had re-stocked cookies, full-length mirrors and so on in our housing. Such things are unnecessary and made our house seem more like a hotel, with daily housekeepers constantly picking up after us. I do not think that volunteers really need such 'pampering' and that if such luxuries were minimized then the cost of the program would undoubtedly drop therefore allowing more people to participate in the program.

Independent CCS Supervisor

           I strongly believe that in order for this NGO to maintain its integrity there needs to be some sort of independent supervision mechanism put in place to oversee each program's proposed 'budget' and where exactly that budget is allocated. In this way, the cost of programs would inevitably drop because right now it is simply too expensive. In this way, there could be a clear and concise run down of where funds go creating a more transparent flow of money. In addition, the amount of money that is allocated for the NY and Toronto offices should be clearly explained and drawn out for every volunteer to see. In short, CCS needs more transparency and clarification as to where exactly our money goes. In addition, this CCS Supervisor could assess the integrity and effectiveness of the various programs around the world. Dharamsala runs without any type of oversee besides weekly phone calls to the Delhi office (although not everything that goes on is discussed, ie the situation with the boy with burns on his arms). And because of this there is no sense of accountability for the Dharamsala staff and they are left to run the program however they see fit which sometimes does not coincide with the foundational principles of CCS (ie as a catalyst for positive social change).

           While I acknowledge that there is a run-down of allocation of funds on the CCS website, it is very general and supposedly applies to every program around the world. I want to know specifically how much money is allocated where and for what without general terms such as "administrative and other" and "travel medical insurance and hotline".

Reassessment of CCS Dharamsala Staff

            I am going to be very honest and frank in this section. I simply do not believe that Anil is the best choice for Program Director of CCS in Dharamsala. When I asked him what his motivations were for becoming PD he said that he was "burnt out at his other job." His previous employment was as an electronics engineer. He has no working or volunteer experience in community development, international relations, etc. Nor does he have any educational background in the area of 'development'. The position that he maintains with CCS is one that many people strive for and have put great effort in order to gain the qualifications and credentials so as to be given such a position. Anil simply does not have the background, the motivation or the passion to be Program Director. I would like to know the reasons for choosing him as PD, besides the fact that he is Bela Singh's brother.
 
        The Dharamsala CCS Staff have an unbalanced female:male ratio where men are the majority. The women workers, Monica and Anju, are viewed as the least important members of the staff and are not given many responsibilities. The men have the 'higher' positions and dominate any and every discussion. I believe that more women should be involved with the Dharamsala program and should be given more authority.

Minimum Length of Program

        I strongly believe, as many other volunteers do, that the minimum length of time that volunteers must commit to the program should be extended. Personally, I think it should be extended to 6 months rather than 3 weeks. A period of 3 weeks is simply not enough time to even begin to understand the culture within which you find yourself. Volunteers expressed the feeling that it felt like they were ripped out of their lives, thrown into a completely different world and then once they began to understand what they were experiencing they were ripped right back out and plopped back into their homes. One driver I had in Delhi said that "It takes a lifetime to even begin to understand India" and I agree. While we cannot ask volunteers to commit to a lifetime, we should definitely extend the 3 week minimum. Such an extension would benefit the volunteers and community greatly because it would allow volunteers to really become part of that community and some real change might be possible. Any 'positive social change' is simply impossible to occur in such a short period of time because relationships built on trust are just barely beginning to bloom.

Side note: it should be noted that almost every single volunteer became violently ill at the Dharamsala CCS program. Most had to be taken to the hospital and all had to buy medicine to help their sickness. Such an occurrence should not take place, considering we all got our proper vaccinations and we were supposedly getting safe, clean meals every day from the CCS cooking staff. Almost all of us got sick when we were very rarely eating meals outside of the CCS office. Such a thing should be investigated because of the fact that we are paying so much money for clean, safe food and all evidence suggests that we were not given properly handled food. This, however, is just my opinion, but the fact that every volunteer got violently sick should be looked into.

Conclusion

            All in all, I am very grateful for my experience with CCS. I learned so much, about myself and about how an NGO really works in every day life as opposed to how they are described in textbooks. I made many lifelong friends among the other volunteers and will carry many precious memories that I experienced with them, as well as with staff members and everyone at Anganwadi Sidhpur. I still truly believe in the values and foundational philosophy upon which CCS was built and hope that from this report the program in Dharamsala, India can return to those principles.