Dr. Jennifer Harrison
Faculty Specialist, Coordinator of Field Education, Professor
WMU School of Social Work
Faculty Director: Community Health and Permaculture in Guatemala
Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to visit Parikrma school on Bangalore. A 360 degree end to end philosophy not only educates children from K-college but also provides healthcare and family care for kids’ entire families. The founder even has a global Ted Talk, available here.
Then we were off to Janakiramnagar community, a slum community where I think most of the residents are living under the extreme poverty level set by WHO of $1/day. But amongst that poverty was also a women’s collective working together to make bags of all sorts out of cement bags and tetra packs. Wonderful to see the self sufficiency that was created by these women working together and literally making beauty out of trash. Nate got a chance to ham it up with kids.
In the afternoon we went to ITC Gardenia, a LEED platinum hotel. The hotel is carbon, water, and solid waste positive (creates more of these resources than it uses) and offers what they describe as “responsible luxury.” Everything from a wind-cooled lobby, hiring of differently abled staff and sensors in all rooms to adjust cooling and lighting based upon the numbers of people in the room. Beautiful site.
Today we are off to the Kengeri campus for the next three days.