Youth Voices: Lots and lots of questions.

WEEK 3! This week has made me question a lot about myself. When interviewing farmers and spending time with locals this week, I focused less on how I present myself and my "foreigner" identity, and much more on diving into their stories. Their values, experiences, and teachings have made me rethink everything that had seemed set before. My definition of success and political and religious beliefs.

Starting this wave was a discussion about abortion. Hope and I wandered into the school and ended up sitting in a circle with a few girls and a guy to listen in on their Bible Study/Health class discussion. The question was, "Why is abortion wrong?" and the textbook given was the Bible. Each student answered the same phase: "because the Lord says abortion is a sin". I knew that this was a sensitive topic especially because I'm Hindu and believe mostly in science. When the group was done answering, I began giving scenarios to the kids, questioning whether abortion would be the proper solution to any of those situations. I wanted to see if abortion was wrong according to the kids' morals or just the Lord that they deeply follow. It took a while to get away from the phrasing, "because the Lord", but the conversation turned into respectful debate. Some girls described how if a girl was too young to care for a child, she should have the ability to prioritize herself, while the young boy shared how children were gifts from God and how God has a plan of life for everyone which doesn't include a need to sin. I really enjoyed this discussion. Soon enough, the kids were the ones asking the somewhat controversial questions about teenage pregnancies, stigmas, and cultural differences between the West and Kenya. This made me think about my opinion of God's influence on life. I have always believed in free will and that some supernatural being is watching over us, but not influencing our actions and shaping our beliefs. At the same time, I'm Hindu and believe in karma and dharma. That day at lunch, I sat there confused. What do I believe? It seemed that a lot of my beliefs were just juxtaposing themselves. That's where I had sort of a political crisis also, while on the phone with my parents. I decided that I would learn more about Hinduism. I've never read the Bhagavad Gita or any part of the Mahabharata so I decided I would start that to learn more about my philosophies. That conversation especially, I learned the importance of shutting up and listening before sharing my own thoughts. I learned more that I thought I would. That's also pushed me to dive more into politics that I never thought I would explore. It's been interesting so far and I want to keep up this curiosity that the kids have shared with me...[CONTINUE READING]