The Power of the Spoken Word

I know that in the overall scheme of things in this world that I sit in a pretty good spot. I am an American citizen who is young, male, white, well educated and so on and so forth. Up until this point, however, I have never added “english speaker” to that list.

My role here in India is first and foremost to help the kids with their english skills. It’s pretty great really. I am to talk, talk and talk some more. I will also probably return to the states and talk very slowly using simple words and phrasing for the first few months as I readjust to speaking with people who actually know the language...

In India, english is very widely spoken in the major urban areas and the upper echelons of society, but is not so common among the rural peoples and those in the lower economic stratums. Therefore, here in India, education and english are closely tied together and most of the premiere job sectors require a high proficiency of english skills for employment. The cycle feeds itself.

It is exciting to realize that for these 11 boys here at the Home they will break the cycle and acquire good english skills both through their school as well as exposure to so many foreigners like myself during their stay here. This is something to rejoice about. It is extremely depressing, however, to walk through the streets and neighborhoods and realize just how many people will never have such opportunities. They will spend their entire lives cutoff from participation and inclusion in much of what makes India tick.

I know that there are so many factors that enable systems to function and that english is but a small part of the issues here in India (and elsewhere), but how does one come to tackle such inequality? How does one be a person endowed with substantial privilege and wield that privilege for leveling purposes? How does one (1) make a difference?