The Importance of Dialogue

Giving up a week away from his family and missing his daughter’s second birthday, Arun Kumar Naik has agreed to be our host for our time in India. He is a vibrant man, quick to laugh, full of joy and passion for his people. He is a man of depth and focus; driven by a desire to fulfill Christ’s calling to work with “the least of these”.

Arun works with an agency called EFICOR: Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief. With a tagline of ‘Working towards a just, responsible, and compassionate society’, EFICOR only attracts those dedicated to its cause and call. As a Christian agency, EFICOR is working in a Hindu system that does not allow a lot of room for looking after “the least of these”.

EFICOR works with the mahadalits in the northern Indian state of Bihar. Mahadalits are considered the lowest caste of people and are not deemed worthy of acknowledgement in the Hindu system. EFICOR works with them to improve their access to different government programs, which improve their quality of life. One program is to ensure that children who are in school receive one meal a day. EFICOR works with the community members to support them as they lobby and struggle with governmental representatives to ensure they are receiving all the support they are entitled to.

The villages we visited were rural – hours away from the nearest city. Our group of eleven split into three or four range rovers each day to make the journey to the next village, often riding with EFICOR staff. I cherish the times when I rode in the same vehicle as Arun, learning more each time about his depth of wisdom. From him, I learned the importance of dialogue.

On one of these trips, as we bounced up and down over potholes and through areas where the road has simply fallen away, I asked Arun what he thought about some of the terms I learned in my International Development studies, referencing the term “least developed countries”. Arun asked those of us travelling with him whether computers and machines are the only indicators of development? He gestures to the people we are passing and says, “We have developed cultures and ways of life. We may not have all the machines, but we are developed”. His preference for the term “developing countries” acknowledges both that there is vibrant culture, and also that there is room for growth.

We talked about other terms and learning from his time with EFICOR and where he hopes to go in the future. He is currently working at a Disaster Risk Reduction degree, which is his area of interest. As we bounce along, having finished a very fruitful discussion, I reflect on the importance of dialogue. As a citizen of a donor country, sometimes my ears are closed to hearing the words of Arun and others like him, especially from the comfort of my living room. But when I am here, in his country, talking with him and seeking to listen to what is said, and those things which remain unsaid, it is not nearly as easy to disassociate.

Arun, thank you for dialoguing with us, with me. I hope I listened well. 

By Ellen Paulley

Ellen works as the Resources Assistant at the Foodgrains Bank.  She was a participant on the 2010 Food Study Tour to India and Bangladesh.  Ellen is pursuing a degree in International Development at the University of Winnipeg.