Life at SECMOL campus, Ladakh spring 2009

March 18, 2009

SECMOL Campus Life
SECMOL Campus is a busy place. Classes take place 6 days a week, and in addition to 4 or 5 classes a day, everyone on campus participates in work hour every morning, student responsibilities in the afternoon (maintaining the solar panels, milking the cows, gardening, forestry, sweeping the main hall, grocery shopping etc.), and evening meeting and dinner. It's a full day for both students and staff.
The
Vermont Intercultural Semesters program is a combination of a number of things: treks in the Himalayas, homestays with Ladakhi families, and a full academic high school semester of work, which I often forget to talk about though it fills the majority of my time this semester. I teach Environmental Science, James teaches English, Kunzes teaches Ladakhi language; James and I co-teach a course called” Ladakh: Then and Now” (History, mainly), and also co-run our fifth class, “Exhibition”, which is an independent study for each of the students with the goal of creating a presentation at the end of the semester. In the evenings we run English Conversation Class for an hour, a chance for the Ladakhi students to practice their English.

In Environmental Science we've completed a unit on Ecology and Landscape, focusing on Ladakh's ecosystem, agriculture, and our ecological footprint calculations in the U.S. and here in Ladakh. While trekking last week we did a combination unit for “Ladakh Then and Now” and English, focusing on Appropriate Technology, and exploring Ladakhi innovations, from ancient water wheels that grind barley flour to solar panels adorning the straw bale-covered roofs of so many Ladakhi homes. Right now we're in the middle of a unit of Climate Change, reading excerpts from Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman in class, and The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability by James Gustave Speth. These reading are in addition to various other short readings, and we are hoping to do another field trip to the artificial glacier since last semester's was so much fun.
For Ladakh Then and Now, James and I have pulled in many guest speakers, including: Buddhist monks teaching about Buddhism and Tibetan script; politicians speaking on the Union Territory effort, the state of Jammu &Kashmir, and the the Kashmir conflict; Becky speaking on the political system; SECMOL students explaining the education system; a scientist from the Defense Department speaking about High Altitude research; and Thinles, a female trekking guide, talking about Ladakh's history, marriage, and tourism and development. Field trips have taken us to Buddhist monasteries, ancient ruins, monastery festivals, the Tibetan Children's Village School, and more are in the works. We're in the middle of reading Tibet, Tibet by Patrick French right now, as the 50th anniversary of Chinese occupation of Tibet approaches.

Independent projects are shaping up. Some really good ideas and interesting directions this semester, with students looking to do internships in metalworking, cooking, veterinary medicine, traditional medicine, climate change, music, mental health, education, traditional clothing design, tourism, architecture, photography, and more.

Morning work hour is spent working on a large greenhouse for growing new vegetables. in. We've picked a site and ordered materials, and this week we’ve focused on leveling the ground. Once we start building the walls things should get a bit more interesting.

English Conversation Class has been mostly led by our intern from UVM, Holly Borday, though James and I still teach it from time to time. Last night it was my turn; the topic was "Accidents, Injuries and Hospital Trips," which made for some pretty funny and gruesome stories. Devan and Jess acted out a few of the trickier vocabulary words, like "tripped," "concussion" and "fainted."

Busy as the days are, all of campus breaks at 11 and 4 for "teatime," possibly my favorite time of day. Enormous thermoses of milk tea or sweet tea make the rounds as we sit around the kitchen, or just outside the kitchen in the late four o'clock sun. Butter/salt tea is still an acquired taste for most of us. A break from 5 to 6 finds most of the students playing cricket or soccer, though James has been lobbying to build a basketball court.

Dinner is served in the dining hall. We all sit on the carpets facing each other across the tablecloths that are unfurled in two long rows. Constant chatter is broken intermittently by student announcements, a daily news recap, a song in Ladakhi, and one student or staff member giving a dinner talk. Post dinner there is an evening activity, usually dancing to Ladakhi drumming for traditional dance, or to a mix of American and Ladakhi pop songs. On quieter nights there is a good movie, everyone draped in sleeping bags or Tibetan blankets bunching around the one TV, a nice close to a busy day.

Things are fantastic! Happy campers all around…
Amy Higgins