So Many Indias
One of the most enjoyable and informative aspects of my fellowship year has been visiting schools in different regions of India. I work in urban, government schools run under a public-private partnership model and I have had the opportunity to visit government and private schools in both urban and rural areas, in the north and [...]
Introducing Broadleaf Health and Education Alliance
It has been a long time since I have posted to this blog. Writing has been on my to-do list but keeps getting buried amongst other tasks. The past few months of the fellowship have been very busy and challenging but also hugely rewarding and fullfilling. My fellowship project has focused on rolling out CHHIP [...]
India Survival Kit: Good Relationships and Game of Thrones
For me, relationships have truly been the centerpiece of my experience and time here in India. I have had the opportunity to meet unbelievably amazing people and form bonds that I never expected. The friendships that I have developed within the group of Fellows, as well as here in Udaipur, have impacted me in a [...]
A Holiday in Kashmir
While India has given me a plethora of interesting travel experiences in these brief 8 months, nothing has quite compared to the intensity of my trip to Jammu and Srinagar, during the month of March. When my friend Nicole invited me to accompany her and her visiting friend, Lily, to Kashmir, I readily agreed. I [...]
Completing a Project
One of my main office-based projects at Calcutta Kids was launching a new website for the organization, which just launched last week. It’s a project I’ve been working on since late September, so the team at Calcutta Kids and I are thrilled that it is done! One might think that launching a website in India [...]
It’s a Start
After seven months in India, I think I have become pretty accustomed to the wide range of conversations I have on a daily basis with friends, colleagues, and strangers. I smile as I explain to people where I am from and what I am doing here, I smile as I’m told I am starting to [...]
Exploring APV: Rethinking Education and Poverty
One evening a few weeks back, I found myself sitting upon a rustic, old swing made of cracked wood and tattered rope on the side of a mountain while overlooking a series of rolling azure-colored hills dyed from the darkness of night that began to cover the landscape. Layers of blue ridges with varying shades [...]
It Is Always Spring
After the long, harsh winter here in Dharamsala, I’ve been ever more delighted by the signs of spring over the past month or so. First the tender green leaves began yawning and stretching out, then the birds started singing earlier in the mornings, then rumbling thunder and soothing rain at night brought forth lush greenery, [...]
The Great Divide
During a recent trip to Amritsar, I had the opportunity to witness one of the most electrifying ceremonies in geopolitics – The Wagah Border Crossing ceremony between Indian and Pakistani border guards. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of watching Indian and Pakistani soldiers (or as I suspect, failed gymnasts recruited by the army) [...]
Exposure visit to SAATH, Ahmedabad
As part of AIF’s Clinton Fellowship Program, we are allowed to conduct one exposure visit, traveling to another fellow’s placement and trying to learn from them about other experiences with working in an Indian NGO or organization outside of our own, since it is very easy to feel very alone with observations about the organization [...]
Drenched in Sweet, Sweet Sweat
People weren’t exaggerating when they said the Kolkata heat is unbearable. It’s absolutely, disgustingly unbearable. And apparently this is just the start of it. More than the high temperatures of 105(F), the humidity is what really kills here. I’ve been spoiled having grown up on the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro then living in the deserts [...]
Dasra and the Middlers
Social businesses are all the rage these days. Broadly defined, these enterprises seek to make a profit while simultaneously generating a positive impact on society. Many of them grew organically out of revenue-generating non-profit organizations, while others are simply for-profit businesses that have a positive societal side effect. Defining “social impact” is, of course, contentious. [...]
The Changing Face of India
The Pathanias, my new neighbors since February, are two of the most simplistic and homely people I’ve ever met. Gargiji, once a Hindi school teacher, always exudes a loving presence about her and Mr. Pathania, a former chemistry teacher, carries with him a confident, yet gentle, demeanor. They’re now retired and have dedicated their time [...]
A Few Months of India
Life has been incredibly busy over the last few months and I just wanted to give the blogosphere a little sample of some goings-on here in Udaipur through photos! After a rough start, Udaipur has truly started to feel like home to me. I have been blessed with amazing friends and engaging and challenging work, [...]
Floodgates Open at the Shrinathji Temple
As an auntie jabbed her elbow deeper and deeper into the small of my back in an effort to propel me further into the mass of humanity waiting to enter the temple and the infant wedged into his mother’s arms next to me wailed his thousandth cry of protest, I wondered why I had let [...]
About the AIF Fellowship
AIF's William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service in India provides a select group of young Americans and Indians the opportunity to work with non-governmental organizations for 10 months, in order to accelerate impact for marginalized and underprivileged communities in India.
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Latest blog posts from the Fellows
So Many Indias
One of the most enjoyable and informative aspects of my fellowship year has been visiting schools in different regions of India. I work in urban, government schools run under a public-private partnership model and I have had the opportunity to visit government and private schools in both urban and rural areas, in the north and [...]
Introducing Broadleaf Health and Education Alliance
It has been a long time since I have posted to this blog. Writing has been on my to-do list but keeps getting buried amongst other tasks. The past few months of the fellowship have been very busy and challenging but also hugely rewarding and fullfilling. My fellowship project has focused on rolling out CHHIP [...]
India Survival Kit: Good Relationships and Game of Thrones
For me, relationships have truly been the centerpiece of my experience and time here in India. I have had the opportunity to meet unbelievably amazing people and form bonds that I never expected. The friendships that I have developed within the group of Fellows, as well as here in Udaipur, have impacted me in a [...]
A Holiday in Kashmir
While India has given me a plethora of interesting travel experiences in these brief 8 months, nothing has quite compared to the intensity of my trip to Jammu and Srinagar, during the month of March. When my friend Nicole invited me to accompany her and her visiting friend, Lily, to Kashmir, I readily agreed. I [...]
Completing a Project
One of my main office-based projects at Calcutta Kids was launching a new website for the organization, which just launched last week. It’s a project I’ve been working on since late September, so the team at Calcutta Kids and I are thrilled that it is done! One might think that launching a website in India [...]
It’s a Start
After seven months in India, I think I have become pretty accustomed to the wide range of conversations I have on a daily basis with friends, colleagues, and strangers. I smile as I explain to people where I am from and what I am doing here, I smile as I’m told I am starting to [...]
Exploring APV: Rethinking Education and Poverty
One evening a few weeks back, I found myself sitting upon a rustic, old swing made of cracked wood and tattered rope on the side of a mountain while overlooking a series of rolling azure-colored hills dyed from the darkness of night that began to cover the landscape. Layers of blue ridges with varying shades [...]
It Is Always Spring
After the long, harsh winter here in Dharamsala, I’ve been ever more delighted by the signs of spring over the past month or so. First the tender green leaves began yawning and stretching out, then the birds started singing earlier in the mornings, then rumbling thunder and soothing rain at night brought forth lush greenery, [...]
The Great Divide
During a recent trip to Amritsar, I had the opportunity to witness one of the most electrifying ceremonies in geopolitics – The Wagah Border Crossing ceremony between Indian and Pakistani border guards. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of watching Indian and Pakistani soldiers (or as I suspect, failed gymnasts recruited by the army) [...]