Dalit Overnight

Every sixth human being in the world today is an Indian, and every sixth Indian is an untouchable, a Dalit. Today there are 165 million Dalits (equal to more than half the population of the United States) and they continue to suffer under India’s 3,500-year-old caste system, which remains a stigma on humanity. However, Dalits are awakening. We are struggling against caste discrimination, illiteracy, and poverty; our weapons are education, self-empowerment, and democracy.
~An excerpt from Untouchables by Narenda Jadhav

One of the highlights of my India trip was an overnight in a Dalit village. First we visited the Delta School of nursing, founded specifically to give Dalit women the chance to continue their education build self-esteem. The students did a great traditional dance performance for us, and then we got time show them our silly American dances like the electric slide. We also got to play their favorite game of throw ball, similar to volleyball, and that was great! The founder of the school gave us an overview of Dalit history, and the struggles that many still face today. Later in the evening we went to the actual village where we would be sleeping. Several members from the community came out to greet us, and lead us around their village with pride. It was a little weird having people just come out of their thatch-roof houses and stare at us, but then again, I guess I was staring back just the same. I brought along a Polaroid camera so the kids could keep photos of themselves. They thought that it was magic, and got really excited, but it got a little chaotic because everyone wanted their own, and I didn’t have that much film. After a wonderful cultural performance by the villagers, we ended up sleeping on the cement floor of a school. It was a great night to really get to know our group from the ship, and share how we felt about the day. Overall, my time in the village was everything I had hoped for! I liked getting out of the city and meeting these people. It gave me a different perspective on India, and I learned a great deal about the caste system. It is difficult for me to understand how discrimination can be written into the ideals of a religion. In Hinduism, your caste is determined by your karma, or your deeds in past lives. If you are born as a Dalit, then you have bad karma, which means you did bad things in a past life. There is nothing you can do to change that, so you just accept it when others tell you are subhuman, and must be subservient to the members of higher castes. I’m still having a hard time making sense of the Apartheid in South Africa where the hatred and separation was based on skin color. So I really can’t wrap my brain around this kind of discrimination based on an abstract concept like karma.
Being back on the ship, I am surprised at how much I am missing India. I really loved my time there, and I just feel like there was not even enough time to scratch the surface of understanding this country’s complex history and cultural organization. I hope to go back one day to this wonderful, and unique place.