Archana Patel

Looking Outside Herself

Experiences on three continents have left Archana Patel with insight into some of the problems people face in the developing world—and with a desire to do something about them.

In the spring of 2005, Archana Patel decided to go for a walk.  It was not an ordinary walk, however.  She started out in the western Indian city of Ahmedbad and ended, tired but gratified, some 26 days and 241 miles later in the seaside town of Dandi, following a route taken three-quarters of a century earlier by Mahatma Gandhi and 78 followers on their historic Salt March, a non-violent protest against a British tax and against British rule of India.  Taking a break from work she was doing in India as a Fulbright scholar, Archana joined the commemorative International Walk for Peace, Justice, and Freedom, she says, for a very simple reason: “I wanted to look outside myself.”

Looking outside herself is something that Archana, a 2003 Gettysburg graduate, did in earnest during her undergraduate years.   A political science major who minored in Spanish, she did volunteer work with El Centro, an outreach program for Hispanic youth in the Gettysburg area.  That sparked an interest in Latin American culture and led to a study abroad trip to Mexico.  She later traveled as part of a political science class to Nicaragua, where she examined microfinance efforts—the awarding of modest loans to women to start small businesses.  The Nicaragua trip provided the foundation for her Fulbright work in India.

“I wanted to see whether the economic empowerment Indian women received from microfinance loans translated into the political arena,” says Archana, who was born in India and lived there until she was seven.  Her Fulbright project involved conducting surveys with poor women in the Indian state of Gujarat, recording responses, and analyzing results.  “That’s where Gettysburg helped me the most,” she says.  “It taught me how not to just regurgitate information, but to analyze.”

As it turned out, the loans could not overcome formidable obstacles to political power.  “These were lower-caste women,” she says.  “These were women who were formerly called untouchables.  They were illiterate.  They were historically repressed.  When they held elected office, they let their husbands do all the work.”

Archana is now in law school at the University of Pittsburgh, where she plans to focus on international law.  From there she expects to continue her work on behalf of the less fortunate, and she hopes her example inspires others to do the same.  “Being in India I felt so privileged—I wanted to give back,” she says.  “There’s a lot in the world we’re not aware of because we get caught up in our own lives.  But there are larger things going on around you.  Be aware.  Somebody out there needs your help.  There’s something you can do.”

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