A group of students in grades 2-6 at Cosmopolis School are learning about India as they prepare to create a mural for downtown Aberdeen. The theme of the piece will be “The Colours of India.”

“The colors of India are so vibrant,” said Judi Lohr, a volunteer mentor leading the youths through this artistic endeavor as an after-school program.

Work in Art Alley behind the D&R Theater on South I Street begins in June, where students from the school completed a mural of a video game-style dragon this past summer.

Maddy Shortt, who as a volunteer taught children in India, spoke to the students in Cosmopolis on Thursday about the world’s largest democracy and one of its oldest societies, a place where more than 1.2 billion people live. Her presentation highlighted architecture, textiles, transportation and street scenes — including some murals there.

One of the children looked at a video screen display of brightly decorated building interior and said “the colors look like candy.”

The students saw pictures of stained glass and glass lights that look like Christmas lights. Neither are used for religious purposes, just for everyday adornment. They also looked at intricate henna tattoos, over-the-top bridal wear and copious amounts of gold jewelry.

Photos of murals in India included one that was three-stories high and another not painted on a wall but fashioned using duct tape.

The children were asked to name pieces of local outdoor art around the community. One mentioned the dog mural in the same alley where their mural will go. Others mentioned the immigrants mural on the side of the Union Gospel Mission, the totem pole at the south end of the Chehalis Bridge, and “the man on the pole by Walmart.”

“The logger,” Lohr replied. It’s in Morrison Riverside Park.

And when Lohr asked the youths if they want to see more art around the community, many of them said yes.

“It’s creative,” one child said.

Another one replied that “it makes the town not boring.”

After everyone looked at photographs of buildings in India made from sandstone and limestone, Lohr mentioned another familiar piece of outdoor art in Aberdeen at Simpson Avenue and North Division Street.

“Breaker” uses sandstone blocks and colorful lights to depict a crashing wave. The blocks had been part of the facade of the old J.M. Weatherwax High School before the building burned down.

Potential life lessons abound

The Cosmopolis students will be exchanging letters, pictures and artwork with the students at Amar Jyoti School in Rishikesh, northern India. Shortt said students at both schools will benefit from the exchanges, but added helping these local children learn about the rest of the world will be an added benefit they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.

“I just want to broaden their minds,” she said about the children in Cosmopolis. “They’ll learn that if they want something bad enough, they can make it happen.”

Americans suffer, Shortt explained, from a lack of awareness about what goes on around them as well as across the globe. Shortt and Lohr are not only exposing these local youths to Indian art and culture; they also want to help them to realize how fortunate they are.

“There are public schools in India but many of the children don’t have access,” said Shortt, who has been a volunteer teacher at three schools in India and also taught English in South Korea. “The classrooms here have bright lights, big windows and colored crayons.”

Some local school surplus items will be sent to the Amar Jyoti School where Shortt teaches, including cameras and projectors, Lohr said.

“A Skype class has 15 students crowded around a lap-top computer screen,” she said. “These items will be greatly appreciated.”

The school educates students from mostly poor backgrounds and has about 75 students. Many of children at Amar Jyoti work to help their families on farms or by selling items to tourists. A lot of them have to walk a couple of miles to school and back home each day.

People at the school also provide these children with warm meals, Shortt explained.

Shortt grew up in Kirkland and graduated from Central Washington University with a degree in Cultural Anthropology and Print Journalism. She lived in Ellensburg and worked for awhile at local newspaper there, the Daily Record, and at a pizza restaurant now out of business but frequented by CWU students.

Lohr and Shortt are connected through Lohr’s grandson, Jesse Vonier. Shortt met Vonier in Ellensburg at the pizza place a few years ago. They became best friends, roommates (at one point), and have traveled together, she said.

The pair should be in Africa now. They were scheduled to leave the U.S. a couple of days ago, and their next stop in a couple of weeks will be northern India. Vonier has been saving up money for months working on an oyster boat, Lohr said.

Shortt and Vonier once rode a train together in India for about 24 hours. A crowd of people together for that long — with little to do — ultimately get to know each other.

“People would come up to us and give us sweets. Little kids would take our pictures,” Shortt said of the experience. “They talk to you. They get to trust you.”

That’s why she plans to stay in India and teach children for as long as possible. She’s even seriously considering seeking dual citizenship.

“They are the most hospitable people,” Shortt said. “Warm, friendly, open to ex-pats.”

Maddy Shortt responds to a student at Cosmopolis School on Thursday who asked a question during her presentation about India. A volunteer teacher there who is set to return soon, she hopes these Cosi students also obtain some valuable lessons about life. (Terri Harber|The Daily World)