Ekta- Unnittyyyy

     One of the first assignments that was given to us was to pick a Hindi name. Thanks to the hotel receptionist and the internet, I decided for my name to be Ekta, which means Unity. It also has a deeper meaning where one has a part of God within and we are all interconnected because we all have pieces of God within. The general idea of Unity was common theme throughout this journey, in a variety of ways.

         My reflection first started when I was given a new identity that I had never really claimed before: American. Ever since I can remember I have always identified myself or had been identified by others,as a Latina or Mexican-American. I am proud of my Mexican culture since that is something that really defines me back home and it was interesting coming to India and being labeled American. I wasn't sure how I felt being associated with it. I know i was a proud USC student but I never had to think about my American identity and not being identified as a Mexican-American.

        When we went to Jawhar,we visited a village with a Native group preserving their culture. however, they are considered so low that they are not even considered in the cast system and  are excluded from society. Then we went to their village, they received us with their culture, drinks, music and dances. The president of the tourism planning committee  told us how he felt that the success of the program was seeing and meeting people from different backgrounds. That even though he had interacted with us for a small period of time that he could see we were all  and how we were ultimately the same. Here is where it hit me like a rickshaw.  I was trying to think about my identity when it shouldn’t even matter. We were all one at the end of the day, even if we didn’t speak the same language. He demonstrated the inner power of Unity.

        After that, I saw this connection with the empowered women in Pune and Vasi. These women grew up in a different part of the world and had. From creating work unions to having mircofinancing for women, they were little by little impacting their communities. They may have different customs but they were empowered and wanted to empower their communities as well I as ultimately want to empower mine. These women had such strength in such a society that oppressed women, and I wasn’t expecting to experience this. I always felt like an empowered woman, yet after hearing these women talk, I felt stronger and adopted their perseverance  into my daily life from this point on. I felt that we, as women, are all interconnected in a sisterhood and that was women we should all come together, support each other, and have strong Unity.

Sometimes as a society we are so preoccupied with labeling and trying to  classify and identity people fro driver licensee to filling out what ethnicity you are on an application. However, we don’t think how we are all interconnected. There isn't one identity. We all have the same one, the human race and we all belong to the same planet. How even though we are on the other side of the world, we are somehow connected and I feel that every single person I have talked to in this journey, or even shared a moment with a smile, has contributed and we have created a bond. I felt reassured that my profession as a Social Worker is the correct path and the my mission of unifying my community and empowering it.