VTS 2019: reflection from participant chị Duong Dang

[VCIL Travel School 2019]

Thailand & India

An experience of Bhoomi College – Reflections of a VCIL participant

After a long trip from Thailand to Bengaluru, Bhoomi College welcomed us like magic, with earthen buildings, shades of trees, and home-cooked, from-garden-to-table food with organic ingredients.

As a person working on climate change and sustainability, it’s my “instinct” that whenever I come to a new place, I would immediately notice all the “green” or “grey” features. In my very first time at Bhoomi College, I was able to immerse happily in an environment where every little thing was done with consideration for the Earth, not only the construction materials or the landscape, but also the design of water and energy system: the water flow was small but strong with pressure, which ensures the cleanliness with minimal water use; natural light and ventilation was maximized, reducing the need for electricity. Furthermore, soap nut powder and coconut fiber were used to wash dishes, and handmade soaps and toothbrush powder were provided to us for personal care.

“Be the change you want to see in the world”, Mahatma Gandhi once said. The place seemed to truly embody this spirit, which, to me, is very precious in this chaotic era of ecological crisis with many “greenwashing” schemes of “green growth” or “eco-friendly consumerism”.

Bhoomi College was the first destination in India of VCIL Travel School – a program coordinated by a group of young Vietnamese people with the intention to expose its participants, who come from diverse backgrounds, to multiple alternative economic, living and education models in Thailand and India, under the theme of “Paradigm Shift toward New Story”. Following the approach of experiential, context-based learning, it invites the participants to rethink the current system, to reconnect with nature, with others and with themselves, and to re-imagine the living world in a more holistic and sustainable manner. With such intentions in mind, in the four days that we stayed at Bhoomi College, we not only learned about its history and education philosophy, but also spent a lot of time on various activities and discussion relating to the current economic system and different “ways out”. We were very lucky to be facilitated by Ms. Farah Khan and Ms. Rema Kumar – the two passionate educators who are the directors of Bhoomi College.

On the first day, we were so touched to learn about the vision that Ms. Seetha Ananthasivan – founder of K.N.A foundation, Prakriya School and Bhoomi College – had when she set up the place, which was to create the education environment where the learners are not molded into monotonous, autonomous tools for the capitalism system in “factory schools”, but instead are able to discover and be their creative self with awareness about the nature’s rules and the interdependence of all human beings. “Nature is diverse, so are people.” With that belief, the size of classes in Prakriya School is quite small – around 10 – 15 students per class – in order for teachers to take care of each individual. That alone is not enough, though, since children would hardly open up to teachers if there is a sense of fear of authority, which is common in conventional school as a tool to make students “behave”. Therefore, the teachers need to form relationships with their students, to be their family, their friends and co-learn with them. And in order to open themselves to the students, the teachers must first be aware about themselves – who they are, how they want to live their life, their values, passions, and even their wounds. In addition, they also need to live what they teach. For such reasons, the fellow program on holistic education in Bhoomi College starts with reconnecting to oneself and to nature before moving on to pedagogical philosophy and methodology.

The “wholistic” approach of Bhoomi College was illustrated more clearly when we joined a tour around the campus, guided by Ms. Pushpa – the “garden expert”. All around the campus were more than 100 types of plants, all of which have practical application, e.g. for medicinal or cleaning purposes. Initially, we were quite confused by the many new names and had to note down continuously, so we asked why there were no name plates for each type of plant so that it would be easier for students to learn its characteristics and usages. Surprisingly, the facilitators replied that it was totally on purpose: Nowadays, we are so obsessed with memorizing words while lacking real, personal experience. If there were name plates with detailed description for the students to read, they might think that they have already known the plants and gave up discovering and experimenting by themselves. The wonder did not stop there: we were fascinated further by the local wisdom of India with a dozen ways of utilizing cow dung and urine: These cows provided Bhoomi College with the material for fertilizer, pesticide, biogas, plaster, etc. Not only did they serve as “learning tools”, all the plants and animals also made up the environment of daily community living for the fellows here. Since many of our members were officially working in the education field and so used to the common approach with meticulously developed curriculum and text book, the experience was truly eye-opening for us.

For the next three days, we moved to another topic which was much more abstract and challenging for us: Decoding the current economic system. To most Vietnamese people, economic growth is believed (and taught, and promoted by the national media) to be the silver bullet which can solve all problems from poverty to environmental pollution. Looking at a country which had to struggle through two wars against the imperial forces of the French and the US, followed by 10 years of unsuccessful socialism, centralized economic model, it feels just natural how we buy in the promise of growth and physical satisfaction so easily. When your whole life is surrounded by stories of “successful people” determined by the amount of money they possess, and how many great innovations are made possible and reachable for all by economy of scale and globalization, you assume that making money and more money is the only way to live, and by that you can actually contribute to the country and benefit your people. In Bhoomi College, we were invited to rethink those very assumptions about “growth” and “development”, to see whether they are true and can actually lead us to a better future.

It turned out that by worshipping economic growth, we have been turning nature into a commodity and people into machines – all are the inputs for the capitalist economy itself. We measure growth only by monetary terms through the calculation of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), yet it is very narrow, since it only counts financial revenue but not the expense, the loss of nature and social values occurred throughout the life cycle of a product or service. We were then introduced to the GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator), which reflects the development picture more correctly by counting the environmental impact and social costs of economic activities in a country. Some of us found this indicator, however, also had its flaws when converting many priceless values into money. We also watched the movie The Economics of Happiness that makes many arguments against globalization and promoting the localization movement. Again, some still felt that the movie was quite biased and they shared their opinions straightforwardly. Yet this was the thing I appreciated about the facilitators: they took in all different points of view and responded to them in a very non-violent, non-binary way without trying to influence people to think in only one way.

When we had all agreed that old assumptions about the economy and the way it had been operating would lead to environmental and social degradation, the question was “What’s next?”. We were then introduced to the concepts of Small is Beautiful and Buddhist Economy by E. F. Schumacher, and Gandhian perspective of the economy. They were quite close to each other, promoting a sustainable and humane economy which focuses on nature and people rather than growth itself. Some key features were: small scale, localization and local wisdom, non-violence, self-rule and minimizing consumption. Again, these were exactly the opposite of what we were taught at economic schools (my major was in finance and banking, at a university specializing in foreign trade). The first questions they would raise for any business proposal are: 1. How do you scale up?; and 2. What is your competitive strategy? Concerns regarding “sustainability”, if any, mostly have to do with the lifespan of the business itself, not in terms of the environment or human well-being. Now we learnt that there are many ways of sustaining ourselves without having to expand our business more and more each year, or to compete with others.

Yet while there are a few alternative models already, we cannot have a small and beautiful economy if we are full of greed and ego. A certain kind of people with certain beliefs make up a certain kind of community and economic system. For so long, we have been educated to be rational, selfish and competitive, and to believe in only one story of capitalism and globalization – in other words, “monocultures of the mind”. Furthermore, we were made to believe that Western products and technologies are always better, that the only way to go is to follow their models. It is time to “decolonize” and “unlearn” ourselves to be more holistic, generous and cooperative, to be aware of our own strengths and weaknesses so that we can do what is appropriate, not what is advertised to be good, and to be proud of our local wisdom. Then the next step is to embody what we have learnt and what we believe in our everyday actions, just like Gandhi: “My life is my message”. In fact, one member of our group did take a vow to change herself after our experience at Bhoomi College: she would become a vegetarian, go to work by bicycle, and be more mindful in her consumption.

We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to Bhoomi College, Ms. Farah, Ms. Rema, and all the staff and fellows for having generously welcomed and taken care of us – the first international group that they have ever received. Their kindness and dedication will stay with us, and we will try to embody that spirit within us.

This post is written by Duong Dang, a participant of VCIL Travel School 2019