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Jane Dwyer walks out
of her office to meet us and she is wearing a salwar
kameez! She tells us about how it was stitched for her
in India when she was there earlier this year.
This is the start of an animated conversation as we
learn more about her visit and see the things she
brought back from India to share with her young students
in the USA.
Mrs. Dwyer returned
from a trip to India recently – she visited Delhi,
Hardwar and several places in Rajasthan. But it is the
way that she undertook this trip is what makes her a MVP
in our hearts. She thoughtfully experienced India in
the short time she was there – literature, palaces and
forts, the poverty, crowds and street life, reading the
daily newspaper – even Lakshman’s You Said It and
tracking Indian companies that might be good investment
prospects. She had some really good experiences like
meeting local families, reading a book about the Taj
Mahal and then staying at Neemrana Fort Palace where
Shahjahan actually stayed! And having a potentially
frightening experience when a taxi driver tried to take
her somewhere other than her hotel when she arrived in
Delhi for the first time.
This was Mrs.
Dwyer’s third trip to Asia. The earlier ones were to
Japan and China and she told us that each country was
more unique and different than the last. India was
completely different visually, in its climate and in the
more subtle differences in the pace of things and how
things were done.
Teach India
Project: Mrs. Dwyer, now that you have experienced the
differences between here and India firsthand, what
advice can you give parents about preparing children to
visit India?
Mrs. Dwyer tells
parents to talk to their children about their traditions
and family stories. When parents describe their life
and their own childhood experiences in detail they
encourage their children to be observant. The children
will see things done differently, ask questions and
begin to understand the reasons for the differences.
They will begin to navigate cultures and be able to cope
with all the new people they will meet on their visits
and the new scenes they will see.
Sage advice for all
of us.
On her next trip to
India – and she would be happy to visit again - Mrs.
Dwyer would like to be able to visit schools and
families and see how people live in their daily lives.
This is what really interests her students also. They
want to know “what it looks like over there”, what the
money looks like, what people wear and how their lives
are different from ours. Mrs. Dwyer reads stories from
India to them and tells them stories from her own
journeys.
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