A lack of technology after constant access to the resource is the only way to learn this lesson. Imagine you come back to your apartment after an exhausting day on campus only to find your internet is down and you can’t complete any of your assignments. Then, compound this feeling by four days.
After four days at HOINA, I only had ten minutes on the internet. Only enough time to read and answer one e-mail. Ravati, a staff member at HOINA, has family in Chennai. I couldn’t imagine living far from my family without being able to communicate with them on a daily basis. Ravati also is trying to earn a college degree but frequent power outages common in India prevent her from regular access to the computer – a vital resource in modern education.
Having only one computer with internet on a campus housing 300 people – children, staff members and 12 visiting Penn Staters – prevents any one member of this community from regular computer access. When vital management communication needs to be made from this one computer, posting a blog entry justifiably holds lower priority.
Still, there are many times that I walk by the office after business hours and the computer is sitting alone. Evening storms bringing power outages and “offline” status prevent me and others from updating all those at home about daily moments with the HOINA children and the humid weather that gets us dripping with sweat by 9 a.m.
With that said, here are four posts from the past four days at HOINA. As of now, I am only allowed to post on Sundays – the day of rest and play at HOINA. But, I promise the thoughts will come in bulk. I encourage you to post your own thoughts in the comments and begin a dialogue about these topics. Please also comment on any additional subject, event, aspect you would like to see covered. (I also apologize for any awkward formatting! I have to post quickly so more people can use the computer!)
Ciao tutti!
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