The Village Forum -- Recharged!

(Village Forum attendees and filmmakers)

I finally have something exciting to talk about! Today, nine members of my documentary team gathered to host a Village Forum for 17 villagers from neighboring villagers. Many were current and past Pradhans (village mayor/leader) and three women also came!

("Pros and Cons of Village vs. City Life" moderated by Happy Guy)

The students ran the show! They organized and ran the food services, equipment and filming, moderating/hosting, location, and transportation. Sanjeev sent out letters to his contacts to come, and we paid for two jeeps and Woodstock provided the location at Hanifl. This forum was designed to get the villagers hyped up and talking about issues regarding their present and future. We split them into four groups and each group debated a certain topic: "Changes Over Time", "Pros and Cons of Village vs. City Life", "Need vs. Want", and "Women's Issues". The underlying theme for everything was the main topic of our documentary, "Exodus", villagers leaving the village.

(The moderators)

Mr. Cooke, our high school principal came, and the students were very excited to talk him about our project. Amy who teaches history, came and enjoyed hearing about the contemporary issues, since she speaks hindi and actually understood what was going on. Darab helped us as usual, and it couldn't have happened without him! I ran from room to room making sure everything was functioning, and still have no idea about the specific discussions (need translation!). But I know it was heated!!

("Changes" moderated by Sanjeev)

("Want vs. Need" moderated by My Neighbor)

("Women's Issues" moderated by Crazy Mad Woman)

The students ROCKED!!! I hope they remember this after they move to other countries, just like the villagers are moving away. Sanjeev said that the villagers were recharged, and many had never taken a moment to reflect on their status quo as individuals and as a community. The forum was a lot of hard work, but I think most of us agreed that the more you put into something, the more you get out of it!

(group discussion and presentation at end)

And...for those of you who are wondering if I still have a life outside of teaching and the documentary, not really. But here are some pics from Rishikesh!

(It's a funky reggae party)

(former and present band geeks)

(The Ganges River)

(The walking bridge with people walking on it)