What we're dealing with here is...

On September 18, I left Denmark to try my talents out there in the real world. The object of my passion is a socially marginalised group in the very south of Rajasthan, India. The Kanjars. My latest blogpost is the more philosophical impression my first meeting with these people left me with. Here's a bit more practicalities.

The trip and work is facilitated by the Danish NGO Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke - in international settings known as the Danish Association for International Cooperation. Every year they send hundreds of young Danes to all kinds of countries in the world - as volunteers, mainly working as teachers in basic English and Math.

The Kanjar Project I'm a part of is their latest invention. The Kanjars, as you might have understood from the previous blogpost, are extremely isolated and marginalised and their social existence is restricted to 16 villages where no 'respectable citizen' ever set their feet. I'm having a hard time describing these villages. Jarel, where I work, has about 40 houses all inhabited by 5-9 persons in about 8-10 square meters. They usually have one bed, a huge barrel for grain and a few pots and pans + a small fireplace made out of cow dung (saw one in the making today, very fascinating). Most of the children here have enlarged abdomens and nightblindness due to lack of vitamins and in general proper nourishment.

The Kanjars make a living through random farm work and liquor production. They drink much of the liquor themselves, mostly to drown out the sounds of desperate childrens' cries or the voices in their heads, worrying about their sons and husbands who have disappeared to jail. We've heard of boys as young as 10 being dragged off by the police - who we've seen in action twice by now, it's not a pretty sight. They swarm the village with threatening behaviour and large sticks with which they most definitely beat the women who argue with them - just not while we are there. However, they still take innocent men as their suspects for any crime committed in the area.