India - Day 5
January 11, 2019 | 11:59 PM
Alexia Helmer, Communications & Web Content Coordinator
We began our day by celebrating Jessica’s birthday in real Indian fashion. So, some of us stayed up to surprise her with cake, silly string and trick candles at the stroke of midnight.
In the morning, we headed to a police station in Ahmedabad. Our discussion at the station led us to understand the policemen’s roles in India compared to those in the U.S., and how, in India, the judge decides the verdict in each trial instead of a jury. The police also do what they can to give back to their community. Each station in Ahmedabad adopts two children in the area and covers all of their living expenses, and every October they sign up to give blood at their local Red Cross. The students were surprised to find out that in Ahmedabad, a city of around 6 million people, there has only been one murder in the last year, and the most common crimes are car accidents and street fights.
From there we went to Gmers Medical College where they gave us a tour of their dissection hall, mortuary and anatomy museum. We had the opportunity to see real body parts as well as touch and examine the bodies used for dissection.
Our last stop of the day was a ceremony held by Helping Hands, a nonprofit that works to help anyone in need, including funding of cancer treatments, giving protein powders to children and students affected by cancer, providing poor families with a goat and providing medicines to those who can’t afford them. The ceremony we attended was specifically to serve the widows in the community, and the students helped hand out care packages to them.
The day ended with a Garba to finish off Jessica’s birthday celebration. We had the opportunity to get dressed up in traditional Indian attire and learn traditional Indian dances. The students then taught everyone American dances like the Cupid Shuffle, the Cha Cha Slide and the Nae Nae. We ate and danced all evening, and we got the chance to bond even more with our new friends as we shared different aspects of our cultures with each other.