Posting by Kathleen Stueve

It is disheartening to come to a place and discover that their intentions differ from your own. I understand that many people, especially in India are unaware of what art therapy is, but what’s even harder to deal with is when people don’t understand the basic human rights of individuals. The behavior of the staff that Chris and I witnessed today at our internship site was shocking and hard for me to sit with, let alone describe. I feel the experience was profoundly captured in Chris’s words tonight. With his permission, I will repeat them now: “You ask me if it is possible to integrate into the general population—I tell you yes with all my heart, yet you stare back with blank hazed eyes. The real question is, can you integrate love into your touch? You strike and tie up the child as though he were some barbaric animal, yet on your streets I see God’s true animals run free. You dodge and weave in order not to reflect pain. We try to show by example, yet you laugh in our direction. You mock our methods. You ask what is our ‘plan’? I ask, 'What is your plan to strengthen the faded hearts before your glazed-over eyes?'”