From Intention to Action - Page 7


As for Inu, our first scholarship girl, she's now in her second year of college. She's the first child in her village to reach that level of education. She began our program declaring she wanted to become a nurse, because that's all she thought a woman could be. By the next year, she'd changed her mind and said she wanted to be a teacher, the only other profession she thought was suitable for a woman. This last year during my visit, she grabbed my arm and pulled me aside, away from the crowd. I was struck by how assertive she'd become; when I'd first met her, she'd barely speak to me in halting English. Now she was a poised and confident young woman.

"Dr. Jeffrey," she said in a whispered voice, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening.

"Tapaain laai kasto cha, Inu?" How are you doing, I asked her, pleased I'd remember to address her in the adult form now that she was no longer a child.

"You remember I told you I wanted to be a teacher?"

"Yes, of course. You said you wanted to help other girls like yourself."

"Well, I changed my mind."

Inu looked at me with a serious expression, obviously uneasy about what she was going to tell me. Finally, she took a deep breath and blurted out, "I want to be a professor!"

"A professor?"

"Yes, Dr. Jeffrey, I want to be a professor like you, but I want to teach English, so more girls will have a chance for the future."

There's no way to do this kind of work without being transformed by the people you're presumably helping. Just as Cyrus had had his moment he would remember forever, this moment was one of mine.

Jeffrey Kottler, Ph.D., is professor of counseling at California State University, Fullerton, and president of the Madhav Ghimire Foundation. He's the author of more than 75 books, including On Being a Therapist; Making Changes Last; Divine Madness; and The Client Who Changed Me. For further information: www.ghimirefoundation.org or email: jkottler@fullerton.edu. Letters to the Editor about this article my be e-mailed to letters@psychnetworker.org.

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