Asian Rural Institute: Culture, Community, and Conversation

Hello from Japan! David, Hawera, and I have almost completed our first week at the Asian Rural Institute. During our conversation last night, we discussed our initial impressions of ARI and how the culture compares to St. Olaf.

The community of ARI is divided into participants (rural leaders from around the world), volunteers, working visitors, and staff. One of our initial impressions was that there are no divisions between these different positions in the ARI community. We all eat together, work in the fields, and complete daily chores such as cleaning, preparing food, and dish washing. In this regard, there is no prevalent hierarchy and the community is very strong.

We also discussed the complications and sometimes frustrations that come with trying to communicate with people who speak english as a second language. It is necessary to speak slowly and to enunciate our words. Sometimes simplifying our english makes us feel like we're talking down to the other participants. And while we want to talk with all the participants, we don't want to make them feel bad about their english if they are not able to understand us. Something we will continue to ponder is how best to communicate with people in an enjoyable yet understandable manner.

One thing we realized during our discussion is how the farm work is a great equalizer. While the three of us are more proficient in english, the participants are certainly more proficient in the fields. Within the past week, all three of us have been humbled by the farmwork from our lack of experience and knowledge. But as we are patient with communicating in english, the participants and staff are patient with us in the fields. This is another core aspect of ARI life that we realized; everyone has something to share and something to learn from others.

One concern that we still have is how we, as volunteers, fit into the ARI community. We are only here for two short months compared to the participants (who stay nine months) and permanent staff members. While we are getting a lot out of our experience, is there anything we can contribute in this short time? We will come back to this question in further discussions.

In our discussion about how ARI compares to St. Olaf, we brought up more differences than similarities. One cultural difference we recognize is the intense sense of community. Even in a very social college like St. Olaf, it is culturally accepted if a person wants to be more of a loner. But at ARI, you can't be sitting by yourself for more than a minute before someone comes over to you and asks if you're alright and invites you to join the conversation. Even though there are two self-proclaimed introverts in our group we all seem to appreciate the way people pay attention to the whole community.

Our experience this summer is very different from conventional internships. We can't just clock out and "go home" at the end of the day. But in many ways, this has been an advantage because it's given us greater opportunities to fit into the community. Over the next few weeks we will continue to explore our place in the ARI community. And hopefully by finding this place we will continue to gain knowledge from other members of the community as well as contribute our own.