17. The Indus Valley

You find a village on the map and go out there

You find the family of an ordinary peasant family and find a way of explaining to them that you would like to stay 3 days in the village, participating in the daily lives of the family and getting an insight into their lives.

It might be best if you are both a boy and a girl, because in that way you can get close to both the women and the men in the village.

You spend three days in the village and follow all the activities taking place there. You go with the women to the field and see how they work there and which crops they grow, you follow them where they fetch their water and you help them by washing the clothes.

You talk with the women of the main concerns: how they provide enough food for the family, what they do if a child gets sick etc.

You follow the children at school and see how their lessons take place, you talk with the teacher and ask him what he does to secure that all children go to school and that nobody drops out.

You follow the daily life of the men and participate in their conversations and their work. They do not work as much as women, so there will be plenty of time to talk. You talk with them about their crops, what they do if it does not rain, what they think about the future and their prospects of bettering their situation.

You visit the local health clinic and make an interview with the people working there: what are the mian diseases in the area, and what possiblities do the people have of getting the needed health care. Do they have any problems with AIDS, and what do they do to prevent it?

The evening and the night you spend together with the family, sharing their meals, telling them about your country, singing songs and enjoying yourselves.

You bring small presents from your country which they can keep as a memory - and take a picture tosend to them. That is the only kind of gift you will be able to give them to show your gratitude.

On the fourth day you leave your family and visit one of the landlords in the area. You spend the day together vith him and his family and get an insight into their daily lives. You ask him his opinion of how to improve the situation of the poor - and how he himself looks upon the future.

On the fifth day of the investigation, you go the the nearest town where you can find the offices who take care of the administration of the area. You visit the agriculture department and ask them what they do in order to improve the situation of the peasants, and you visit other departments and ask what they do to improve the situation of the poor people within their areas. You get statistics from the same departments, showing the general state of development in the area, statistics which you can use in order to support the information you have gathered from your own investigation in the village.

All along the way, you take slides which you can use in your slide series. Of the people, the village, the houses, the fields, the school, the health clinic, the landlord’s mansion and his machinery, the clerk at the office etc.

Back home at DNS you make a warm, informative and thought provoking slide series expressing all the impressions and the information you have gathered from your investigation.