First Visit to Mewat (Dec. 31)
by Hanley Sayavong
Seeing Indian culture firsthand opened our eyes to the beauty of diversity.
Our collaborator during our time in India is the Sehgal Foundation. The Sehgal Foundation’s mission is “to strengthen community-led development initiative to achieve positive social, economic, and environmental change across rural India.” To fulfill this mission, the Sehgal Foundation seeks to help communities like Mewat, a rural district south of Delhi. This is how our team of nine engineering students came to be involved in the Mewat community. Our first step was to visit and become acquainted with Mewat.
As an engineering student, I was initially attracted to the technical aspects of the village, particularly the rainwater harvesting system. I was also most impressed by the innovative design of the freshwater pocket implemented at some of Mewat’s schools. The creation of a freshwater pocket is very comprehensible. Rainwater is collected during the Monsoon season via gutters.
The country of India has learned to cope with long dry spells by collecting and storing water during the monsoon season.
Next, the water runs through a primary pebble filter to remove debris. The water is then stored in an underground pocket. Later, the water runs through sand biofilters to rid it of remaining debris and pathogens. Finally, the water is pumped out to be served to the grateful children at the school. The freshwater pocket is a great example of the real-world application of engineering! It was an amazing learning tool for my classmates and me. I may be grateful for such a great engineering example, but the school kids at Mewat are grateful for something much different and more basic—clean water! This got me to thinking about how I felt about my educational experience; was I being selfish? This opened
Excited to visit Mewat!
my eyes to a totally different aspect of Mewat—the emotional aspect.
Mewat is a rural district south of Delhi.
Visiting Mewat was like taking a step back in time. The experience was very jarring. I think it was so jarring because of perspective. I consider my lifestyle to be comfortable. When comparing my lifestyle to that of Mewat, though, the contrast is vast. Although Mewat has basic necessities such as water, food, and shelter, I could not imagine living without luxuries, such as my laptop, Facebook, and Netflix. This brings my mind to wonder: Why has such an aged community resisted progress? Then, I recognize that all cultures are resistive. That’s why the world has so many diverse cultures, instead of one homogenous culture. Now, I try to look at things through the eyes of a Mewat local. From their perspective, their lifestyle is just as comfortable and satisfying to them as I think mine is to me. I came to the realization that in our world, there is culture that is right or wrong, just different. Moreover, the idea of happiness, comfort, satisfaction, etc. are all subjective to the individual and relative to the surrounding conditions.
All in all, today was a very fulfilling day. It was a day in which I learned about engineering and culture. It was a day in which I gained invaluable skills, such as creating a source of freshwater and being tolerant of other cultures.