Here’s a wonderful note we received from Joy Mischley, MSW ’07, who is working in India.
“Greetings from New Delhi!
I wanted to share a little bit of my life in India. You have all been wonderful resources, supports and contacts in my transition back to the subcontinent and I thought you may enjoy a quick peek into how things have been developing. I arrived in India at the end of May and have completed my first two months ‘on the ground’ with my new job at SevaYatra. I’m very happy to be back and am especially enjoying reconnecting with the Singhs, the family that I became close to while working with the New Delhi YMCA social work projects in 2006. And, I am looking forward to all the learning, growth, and work that will hopefully happen in the coming months.
A number of my friends have been joking that, at least here in Delhi, the best way to function is to ‘submit to Mother India.’ It is really the extreme heat that has been an obstacle. As all of you know, I’m energetic and adventurous — it is frustrating to feel the physical effects of the heat, pollution, and traffic, because it limits my ability to get out, explore, and network. However, I’ve taken a major step to improve my situation and have purchased a scooter. Although it doesn’t necessarily address the heat, the traffic is much more fun when one is engaged in it actively! The scooter is a 1998 Honda Kinetic that I bought from an American girl who was moving back to the U.S. I am proud to say that I’ve become adept at driving it in the most difficult of conditions. I’m excited for this freedom and the ability to more easily attend events and explore in a more spontaneous way.
I just completed a major project for work — delivering an intensive two-day academic seminar in the beautiful city of Udaipur. My company was hired by the Global Engagement Summer Institute (GESI) at Northwestern University to facilitate a mid-point conference for twenty undergraduate students who are doing field work with Indian NGOs for the summer. We partnered with the Udaipur School of Social Work and included twenty-five of their second year MSW students in the program as well. In addition, I recently attended the American India Foundation’s Endpoint Retreat for the Clinton Fellowship. I facilitated reflection and also spoke on the alumni panel. It was great to be involved with AIF and to meet this last batch of fellows.
These recent work experiences have reminded me how much I love facilitating ‘process.’ I’m currently reading up on coaching theory/methods. I’m looking forward to bringing this into my current work and hopefully focusing on it more exclusively in the future!”