Home Away from Home: Kanshka Buch
Immigrant stories are often told from an adult’s point of view. Few stories focus on children and their integration into the new communities they move to. When I sat down with Kanshka Buch, founder of the Jazbah Project, this idea was on my mind. Back when I was growing up in Zimbabwe, we had a few Kanshkas in my class – students whose parents were expats. We looked at these children with envy because they’d had the opportunity to move to a new country and make lots of friends. Where I come from, the most interesting friend or visitor is the newest member of the community.
I met Kanshka at Coffee Emporium in Hyde Park – a place she often goes to study. Kanshka is a beauty – strikingly so: the type of beauty that has rendered India the all-time highest producer of Miss Worlds. I couldn’t help but have a girl-crush, so later when she told me she struggled to find friends and fit in, I was shocked. If fitting in is challenging for someone as beautiful and smart as Kanshka, what hope is there for the rest of the world? We said our pleasantries and commented on our surroundings while our photographer, Emily, clicked away.
Interview by Clara Matonhodze Strode. Photography by Emily Palm.
To start off, who is Kanshka Buch?
I am a senior at Indian Hill High School, hoping to change the world one day at a time. I'm an Indian immigrant, and I'm the founder of the Jazbah Project.
What does the word “jazbah” mean?
Jazbah is an Urdu word, meaning "burning passion.” I chose this name for my nonprofit since the refugees we work with always exhibit jazbah for life.
We’ll come back to the Jazbah Project later, but first, tell me: When did you move to Cincinnati?
That's actually a little bit of a crazy story. So, I was born in India, and when I was four months old, we moved here and lived here for seven years. At the end of first grade, we moved back to India and lived in Mumbai for five years, and after that, we came back here to Cincinnati.
What do your parents do?
They both work for Procter and Gamble. My mom is a mechanical engineer, and my dad is in accounting.
Well, what do you plan to do?
Hopefully, become a cardiologist or a cardiac surgeon – one of the two.
Tell me more about the Jazbah Project. How did it begin?
So, it started when I met this woman, and she was collecting saris – which are Indian fabrics – for refugee women to make purses. She showed me some pictures of those purses, and, you know, in the back of my head, I was like, "Do they sell these? They should be selling them.” They looked outstanding.
I think to most people, if you've never met a refugee, they're a statistic.
I asked her, and she said, "No, we just make them for fun." From there I started brainstorming ways to help them sell those products and get a little bit of financial independence. I knew that immigrant women – especially when they don't speak English – don't have a lot of freedom on what they can do. So that's where it all came about. I was able to relate their experiences to my own immigrant experience. While I only understand a snippet of their struggle, it drove me to want to make a change.
Take me through that decision-making process. Why take on the added responsibility?
I started researching whether organizations like the Jazbah Project exist. And I started thinking, “Okay, there aren't any organizations in Cincinnati that solely focus on creating a connection between refugees and the local population.” In addition, volunteering never gave me the fulfillment I desired – I never felt like I was making a change. So, I gathered some of the most talented and passionate high school students I knew, and began to work towards my goal. I've always been the kind of person who likes to take action.
Tell me about the differences between being brought up in India and then coming to the U.S. for a second time and trying to fit in. What was that experience like for you?
Honestly, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. When we were in India, I went to an international school. I already had exposure to people from different cultures, but I think the hardest part for me was when we moved in the middle of the school year in 7th grade. As a result, fitting in, finding a group of people, was hard. Everyone already had their cookie-cutter groups of friends.
Overall, it built up who I am as a person, because that was one of the things that contributed to the making of the Jazbah Project. I realized that a lot of people here don't know what India is. There is this perception of India as a “third-world country” with lots of beautiful colors. I get questions like, “How do you speak English?” People don't realize how cosmopolitan India is. I always tell people that some of the best Italian food I have eaten was in India, and some of the best malls I have been to are in Mumbai.
So, I kind of realized that there's this bubble that we live in. We don't know what's happening outside, and so the Jazbah Project, in a way, is a way to get rid of that bubble.
Tell me about that transition. Amid all these weird intrusive-but-honest questions, how did you finally find your niche? Or did you ever?
If I'm honest, I don't think I ever found a niche. I have friends in different groups. I have my super focused, smart group of friends. I have my mock trial group of friends. I have my friends who like to have fun, and I kind of have this and that – it's like different islands, which I go around. And I guess I kind of like it that way because there is no stereotype I have to fit into. I get to make whatever I want for myself.
How do you find women that might become part of the project?
We mainly contact other organizations in Cincinnati. I reached out to Catholic Charities, Heartfelt Tidbits, and the Islamic Center.
So, tell me, Kanshka, what do you get out of leading the Jazbah Project?
It helps me. I can think of two things: First is knowing that I'm young, yes, but I can still make a difference. And that’s something everyone on my team realized because, as high school students, we are asked to get community service hours. So, you volunteer at a food bank, you don't really feel like you're helping people. You don't, because you're never meeting the people. You're never talking to them and learning their stories.
I've always been the kind of person who likes to take action.
The second thing is the way I think about refugee women has changed. I think to most people, if you've never met a refugee, they're a statistic. Right? We tend to think their lives are limited, they're poor, they've had difficult lives, and they are traumatized.
But when I first met the women, they were all happy. Sheryl [Rajbandhari, founder of Heartfelt Tidbits] told me, “Oh, once a month we'll go and get our nails done. We'll go out for a picnic.” I guess it brought a human face to a statistic. It changed my perception, and I hope others change, too.
When the going gets tough, what or who do you reach out to for strength?
I'd say three main things come to mind. The first is when things get rough, I always go to my mom. She's always been there for me. And I try not to do it too much because I get stressed a lot, and I know she's already very stressed, but I think when nothing else is working, I just go to my mom and tell her: I'm struggling.
And then there are two significant values or ideas I always think of: Both of my grandfathers, they have the typical “rags to riches” stories. They grew up in poverty, and my father's father ended up as the general manager of a large agricultural company. He didn't have any contacts, any legacies. He worked his way up there.
And even my mother's father: He didn't grow up very affluent. And he worked his way to a really good position in a bank. Then after that, in the bank, he realized that things weren't going well. He ended up putting a court case against that very bank. To stand up, you know? He stood up for what he believed in; he was a fighter.
The huge thing is just my family. My mother's mother – she, I think, is the strongest woman I know. She doesn't act like it, but she lost her mother – I think when she was 12 years old. She was raised by her older sister. And then throughout her life, she had health issues. She lost four or five people in her family in a single year.
So I look at all of them and I look at what I have and wonder, “How can I not be happy?” or, “How can what I have be a roadblock?” Everyone else in my family has made it.
Tell me about your relationship with your mom. You mentioned that you draw a lot of strength from her. Usually, for teenagers, that relationship can be one of struggle.
Oh, it definitely is. Still, it gets a lot harder because she's an immigrant herself. She grew up in a very conservative household in India, where she did what she was told to do. She lived to make her parents happy, right? That was kind of how she was raised.
I don't necessarily think like that. So, it's been a lot of back and forth about, you know, what's next; what are the right decisions to make? It's definitely not a picture-perfect mother-daughter relationship, but I don't think anyone’s ever is.
We have the peaks and valleys. But I think she's learned a lot from me, and I've definitely learned a lot from her. I don't think I'd be where I am without her.
How do you mostly identify yourself? As American or Indian or Indian American?
A good question. I think I identify as an Indian. I think what's already really good is I haven't been faced with any pushback. Even though we have a lot of conservative people that live in Cincinnati, everyone's been kind. And that's really important. Everyone can have whatever political thought process they have, but as long as you treat other human beings with respect, everyone can be happy.
I'm young, yes, but I can still make a difference.
But I think we're a very divided city. There is the east side or west side – even more than that, the whole bubble of the Indian community stays within the Indian community. The Hispanic community stays within the Hispanic community, and even with the refugee community, that, too, is split. I just wish that there would be more intermingling between communities, whether it's to go try that Filipino restaurant or go to the Indian events. Right?
At only 17, with a whole life ahead of you, what do you think you know for sure?
I know that everything is going to work out. I think everything happens for a good reason. And that's something I've learned throughout my life. For example, moving back to Cincinnati seemed awful to me – I was leaving all my friends behind, I was leaving my family, my grandparents, and leaving everything behind to move back here. And the first two years, I didn't like it, honestly. And now I'm thankful. I started making friends. I started falling in love with the city and what it had to offer.
Catch every chapter of “Home Away from Home” with Clara Matonhodze Strode.