Email: Katherine Bryant

Dear Friends,

I have only begun to process my year in Kerala. But perhaps, that relates to one lesson that I have learned—that the quality of raw food is superior to that of processed ones, and that the caliber of handmade, homespun, self-financed goods cannot be replaced by manufactured ones. Likewise, my initial raw thoughts and emotions will be more compelling than the thoughts I take years to process. In fact, I even wonder if we lose some of the heartfelt vigor and ingenuous curiosity when we mull over something for so long. So here they are, my experiences—honest and unrefined.

Before this year, I really had no concept of just how influential our lives and decisions in America affect countries like India. It is not only corporate America and the policy makers that create impacts, but also each of us as consumers and global citizens. In college I tried to stay informed on global issues, but here, I felt I have lived amongst the issues. It is my neighbors that don’t have enough to eat, who are landless, and who are denied their basic rights. It is tough to realize that your own nation, claiming to be “developed,” has practices and policies that dictate the “development” of other countries.

I have learned that generalizations are useless and quite often, completely off the mark. Just as each state in India varies in culture, food, dress, environment and language, each person is different from the next. I have been shocked by the generalizations that have been made about me and my home, and this has made me aware of the generalizations that I make about others.

In Kerala, I have found a new concept of hospitality. I have been welcomed “in” again and again—hosted by friends, families, and complete strangers. I have been made to be like a family member at marriages. I have been served countless cups of tea and been showed off to everyone’s neighbors. More than food and functions, I have consistently found grace in others—when I fumble with my very few Malayalam words, when I have my churidar top tucked into my pants, when my hairstyle is wrong, when I am clueless about what is going on, or when I have too much pride to ask for directions. I have found friends who will take me as I am, genuinely interested in my life. I hope that I can take this with me and learn to be a gracious host and an ever-grateful guest.

Yet, while I want to be a grateful guest, I also realize the need to feel like an integrated part of a community. At times, it has been a challenge to find the balance of being a part of a culture and observing all that that entails without losing my identity or compromising what I hold to be true. But in seeking this balance, I have encountered many revelations about my world, my faith, and myself and been given the opportunity to more solidly form my own identity and the truths that I claim.

Most importantly, my year has been shaped and hugely impacted by a deeper understanding of Jesus’ radical ministry. My worldview has been shifted by finding the Jesus who engages in social justice. I found that I have detached Jesus from social justice, compartmentalizing the two into different passions of mine. But now I see that Jesus represents justice, equality, and a kingdom that is unlike any political empire that has ever existed. As we have delved into the marginalized people that Jesus restores, I am discovering the variety of the marginalized in my own community here. These people are not only the poor, the sick, the different, but also the neglected, the women, and the children. It was these very people that Jesus made the center of His ministry, while using signs to point to larger social issues.

Katherine Bryant

I post more of my day-to-day reflections at my blog spot.