‘heart print’
On my two visits to Afghanistan in 2019, I conducted counselling
courses in Kabul and Herat. Later, I conducted a similar course in Bengaluru, for Afghan scholars sponsored by JRS to do postgraduate studies in India.
Afghan and Indian culture share a lot in common. I am struck by the
keen eagerness of the Afghan youth to learn. They are starved for practical, hands-on knowledge. Nowhere was this more evident than at the Shahid Rabbani Education University where the professors attended the workshop session on the first day only to find out whether my course would be practical. I asked them what they wanted and tailored the course according to their need.
For me, the Afghan experience remains priceless. Jennifer Star remarked that JRS is like Hotel California – you never check out! True. It is not so much JRS, the organisation, but the people it stands for: the marginalised and the forgotten of our world. At Bengaluru, I invited Afghan and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to share their life experiences with each other one-on-one. It was tremendously moving to see how they understood – sensed – one another, despite the language barrier. It was the language of the heart at work.
Stan likes to speak of leaving behind one’s ‘heart print’. The Afghans
left theirs on me!