Each spring, Penn State Harrisburg's international study tours take students on voyages around the globe. These tours provide students an opportunity to learn firsthand about different countries, going beyond the classroom to immerse students in a new culture.
For Sarita Lidle, a junior psychology major, the spring 2014 India study tour offered her more – a once-in-a-lifetime chance to discover her roots.
Sarita was just 10 months old when her birth mother left her in a basket outside the Delhi Council for Child Welfare. In 1994, just shy of her 2nd birthday, she was adopted from a New Delhi orphanage by Chris and Deb Lidle, of Middletown, Pennsylvania. Sarita had not returned to India since that time, though it had long been her family's dream for her to visit India one day.
When Sarita received an email advertising the India study tour last year at Penn State Harrisburg, she was ecstatic. In her application essay, she wrote about wanting to go to India because she was adopted from there. She said that the trip would be "a lifetime opportunity to immerse myself in my native culture and learn about the customs, traditions, food and language," and that it would provide her the opportunity to "truly respect where I came from, what I have now and the life I could have had, if not given the chance to be adopted."
That memorable essay stood out to Marie Louise Abram, Penn State Harrisburg director of international programs. While other factors, including a stellar grade-point average, made Sarita an ideal candidate for the tour, her story was another great reason to accept her application.
Sarita was in class working on a project with her childhood friend and fellow Penn State Harrisburg student Broghan Schlicher when she received the acceptance email. "I immediately began hyperventilating," she said. Then, after calming down, she exclaimed, "I'm going to India!"
Broghan's excitement matched Sarita's. She too had been accepted for the study tour. "It was priceless, we were hysterically in tears," Sarita said.
Once accepted, Sarita and her parents worked with Abram to plan the orphanage visit. "Delhi is such a huge, bustling metropolis, so we definitely had to have a plan," Abram said. "I was determined to make this visit happen for Sarita."
Leading up to the visit, Sarita said she was excited at the prospect of discovering where she was from. "Everyone has a history," she said, "but I don't have one. Mine starts here (in India)."
Her parents had always talked to her about where she came from. Her mother used to visit her in elementary school to talk about India and have Sarita share her personal story. Now, thanks to the study tour, she was returning "home."
Returning home
Once in India, Sarita began feeling her way around, putting things into perspective as she immersed herself in her homeland's culture for the first time.
When she arrived at the orphanage, the first thing she saw was the "palna," or basket, where mothers can place their babies outside the gate 24 hours a day, no questions asked. Although some mothers explain their situations, orphanage directors said that 90 percent of the children are simply left in the basket.
Sarita and her party, which included Schlicher; Abram; and another Penn State Harrisburg student, Kristen Weaver; arrived at the orphanage 10 minutes after closing and were initially refused admittance. Sarita thought that she had come all this way for nothing, until Abram stepped in and informed the orphanage coordinator that Sarita was one of their children, that she had been adopted and now was living a happy, successful life in the United States.
After explaining a few times, they were finally admitted. As they toured the orphanage, Sarita was able to finally see the place where she had spent the first years of her life. It was sobering and profound, she said.
The orphanage boasts a 100 percent adoption rate. In fact, the group met some children waiting to go off to their new homes and lives. Sarita said that as much as it was sad to see the children, it was hopeful too, because of the adoption rates. "You know that they are going to get a better chance," she added.
During the tour, when they visited the room where the 2-year-old children are located, Sarita began to cry. It was the room she would have been in before she was adopted. The orphanage coordinator comforted her, saying, "You are where you are because of us; don't cry."
She said that she was grateful that she had friends there to share this monumental personal moment with her. "I think it was surreal that it happened now, that it happens ever," Sarita said. "I don't know if I would ever have wanted to go by myself."
The orphanage visit ended with a gift exchange. Sarita's family donated $100 in rupees to the orphanage and some of the other students on the trip also donated money, and the orphanage presented her with a calendar with photos of the orphanage children and pictures they had drawn as well as a book about those who have been adopted and what they are doing now.
Sarita was also invited to return to the orphanage for an extended visit. She was welcomed to stay there to work with and help care for the children. "I would definitely go back," she said. "I wanted to stay."
Sarita said that she now feels like she is "a part" of India. "It will always be a part of me," she said. "You can't change who you are or where you are from, but now I do feel more connected. One day I can say to my children, 'Hey kids, I was there.'"
Sarita added that she could have been adopted elsewhere, not adopted or never put into the basket, so she thanks whoever put her there for the opportunity that got her to where she is today. "I wouldn't have the life I have now, the parents, the family," she said. "Not that I didn't respect what I had there and appreciate what I have now, but you see where you are from and what life could have been. I think it is just a broader appreciation of where you are."
For Sarita, the visit to India was an opportunity that she had waited for, seemingly, her entire life. In sixth grade, she penned a letter about a dream vacation to India in which she outlined everything that she wanted to do – visit the orphanage, see the Taj Mahal, see a Siberian tiger (from a distance), sample food, visit the markets, buy souvenirs, take pictures and look at saris.
The study tour gave her this opportunity — except for the tiger sighting — and much more.
See photos from Sarita's childhood and study tour here.