Family Life

Something that has always been incredibly amazing to me is that children, literally, are the future of our world. Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit an orphanage, Dar-Ul-Fazl Children's Home, in Manali to see what it was like and interact with the kids. 90 children live and go to school on the campus, and an additional 100 children come for school every day. I assumed I would be extremely sad and depressed while visiting an orphanage, but I am happy to say that it was actually quite nice and pleasant there. All of the children seemed relatively happy, and even told us that they considered each other family. Something incredible, at least to me, is how music can unite people from opposite sides of the world. We sang songs with the children at a big assembly which was really fun.

Girls at the Assembly  

Boys at the Assembly 

I tried to upload a video of the singing, but my blogger doesn't like videos, unfortunately. 

After visiting the orphanage, I had the opportunity to go to the Day Star School and interview a group of tenth graders. For my research project, I have decided to study the daily life of adolescents in India, specifically in Himachal Pradesh. I met with a group of six students, four boys and two girls, all ages 14 and 15. I had to remind myself that I was still in India, because they sounded similarly to American teenagers. 

You may not know this about me, but I went to a rigorous private high school in Los Angeles. The children at my school and the children at this school in India all had very similar ideas and worries. The teenagers told me that their biggest stress is school. They wake up between 530-7am and study before they head off to school - normally a less than five minute walk from their home. The school day if from 8:55am - 4:05pm. After school, they study and maybe watch television before they go to sleep. There is not much interaction with their parents - they only talk to their parents about school, never about anything more significant. I will share more about my research when I have finished my paper, but here is a little taste of what I am doing.