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by JACQUELINE SCOTT
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
After spending a six months at sea, traveling on boat to Asian countries, alumna Leah Leigh Charbonneau witnessed impoverished nations first-hand.
The experience created her concern and hope for awareness and influenced her to take that concern to International Appalachian last year.
Charbonneau hoped to bring awareness to India’s caste system, which ranks society according to occupation, through the Raising Hopes cause.
To continue
Charbonneau’s legacy, International Appalachian (INTAPP) will host its
second year of the Raising Hopes events as “an annual staple,”
sophomore political science major Rachel A. Dolfi said.
The system lives on, despite attempts by some Hindu reformers to outlaw it.
“We’ve
tried to propel this project forward and allow Leah’s legend to live
on,” Dolfi said. “We’ve established these contacts in India and they
continue to depend on us to give them the resources to begin their own
businesses.”
Throughout
the week, INTAPP will have informational contact tables in Plemmons
Student Union, International Coffee Hour in Whitewater Café Friday and
yoga at Mt. Mitchell Life Fitness Centre Saturday at 11 a.m.
International
Coffee Hour, held 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., will feature free henna
tattoos, Indian music and food that celebrates aspects of what INTAPP
Aid Coordinator and sophomore marketing major Bella Glauberman calls
the “vibrant, colorful Indian culture.”
INTAPP hopes to obtain donations at the multiple events to help a Dali Indian village.
Last
year’s funds provided the resources necessary to fix a village’s
collapsing roofs. The roofs were rebuilt after the 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami with weak materials that collapsed and killed, on average,
three people per month.
“[We]
raise funds to send untouchable women of the Dali village to go to
school and allow them to take out small loans for sustainability,”
Glauberman said.
The caste system inhibits women’s equality and social mobility.
“I
didn’t know how much [the caste system] affected women, especially in
India, today. It is both harsh and brutal,” Glauberman said.
Just like Glauberman was unaware of the system, there may be other students who do not know of the caste system’s inhibitions.
A slideshow at International Coffee Hour will depict images educating students about where their donations are going.
“You
have to find a way to be relatable, to make it so that people can
understand it within their own lives so they can understand the
difficulties that these people face,” Dolfi said.
“If
people don’t understand and people don’t relate, they’re really not
going to care. Our goal is to be relatable to college students and make
them understand how horrible this system truly is.”
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