Better Together

Even though I will be telling my BB family all about Lady Doak on Monday, I am so excited about the program and the campus that I want to share with the blogging world as well! So for all the BBers I hope this doesn't spoil anything for Monday!


Lady Doak College is the Christian women's university in Madurai where I will be spending my volunteer term. From what Elyse talked about in class I knew a little bit about the school. I knew it was a school for women only, I knew that I would be staying on campus with the students and I knew that all of the young women are required to take part in service learning projects throughout their community. This sounded great to me and I, until recently, didn't dig too much deeper. In preparation for my presentation I had started to gather more information, but it wasn’t until earlier this week when I was actually putting together what i had found that I realized what a powerful and inspirational place that Lady Doak is. The school itself and all its activities are centered on the empowerment of women through holistic education and promoting women as leaders in society. Not only are every single one of these girls educated in women’s studies (no matter what faculty they are in), but these same students also run service projects with women in the community, offering skills classes and other support programs that promote independence and self sufficiency. They also run outreach programs that promote further education for girls in primary schools. Every project that the school takes on is aimed at bettering the lives and position of women in their society.

And now I want to pose to you a question about what it is to be disadvantaged. A lot of people would say that others are disadvantaged when they don’t have all of the things that western culture would tell us we need. Someone is disadvantaged when they don’t have to right clothes or the latest technology. The village that I will be going to is filled with people that would be called “disadvantaged”. And held to the above standards, even Lady Doak would seem disadvantaged, with its 2 AV capable rooms and its 4 computer rooms. But look what they are teaching in their school; it’s in their curriculum to teach about equality, and to push each one of their students to get out there do something good for the sole purpose of helping someone else grow or be empowered. So their facilities may not be as new or high tech as ours, but look at the values that they are instilling in their students. Then think about the competitive nature of Western schools; programs like this aside, the drive is often to be the best, to make the most money, to get the best job, all the while leaving others in your dust. Is that the kind of morals that we really want our leaders to have? So aren’t we the disadvantaged ones, aren’t we the ones missing the point? Now I’m not saying our way is all bad, we need a push to do well, but does doing well have to only be about that one person? Each university will have isolated groups that push for empowerment or equality, and work to better the community outside of the university, but think how powerful that would be if it was school mandated; if every single student worked to help others in their community –it would completely change the value system of our society. Rather than being the best on our own, we could be better together, as a whole.