Week 4: Delhi Belly

Last weekend I took a flight to New Delhi to meet up with my school friend Michael and two of his friends, Rob and Dan. It was without a doubt the craziest city I have ever visited, with people riding elephants on city streets and cows roaming around as they please. You could buy street food (samosa burgers, rotis or just lemonade) from any corner. As a foreigner, I was widely perceived as a walking wallet and was often approached by men in the street to buy anything from SD cards to toy helicopters.

We visited a large palace called the Red Fort, which was home to the Indian emperors up until the battle for independence in 1857. Whilst the markets, gardens and monuments inside were supposed to be the main attraction, we were asked to pose with Indians on around 10 occasions in the space of just a couple of hours! In the end, we decided to tell people that they’d have to pay a small fee if they wanted a photo with us.

A couple of days after returning back to Vasai, I had my first proper dose of illness, with vomiting, fever and ‘loose motions’. One of the guys took me to a clinic on a motor scooter, where I was given an injection on my right buttock and was asked to take 6 tablets with every meal for the next 24 hours. To be fair, I felt a lot better the next day!

I haven’t really been teaching much this week. Other than taking a day off to recover, a number of lessons were cancelled because a lot of the children hadn’t paid their school fees. We also had preparation for ‘Parents Day’, where children spent half the day making cards for their parents.

Praise Points:

• The people at the orphanage are really good at making sure the children are fit and healthy, with good food, sports and a nearby clinic if necessary
• I've been able to speak more with the teachers  this week, which has been really important for understanding how the school works

Prayer Points:

• Prayer for the children at the orphanage who were unable to celebrate Parents Day
• Prayer for the families of the children outside the orphanage who are struggling to pay for school fees
  
  

Week 3: Settling in at School

I’ve been at my placement for around two weeks now, so I’m more at home here than before. The boys are mostly between the age of 6 and 17. The little children love to play at the playground, whilst the older boys like a bit of dancing, wrestling and sports. In our naivety, Mark and I decided to join in on a cricket game – we were humiliated to say the least! Football’s been fun – but the boys play a version called “rowdy” football, which means that a mob of children constantly chase the ball, desperate to kick it as hard as possible. Reminds me a bit of football at the school playground!

So far, language, behaviour and learning techniques have been the main challenges whilst teaching the younger years. Since Mark and I cannot explain instructions in the local languages, the younger years find it difficult to understand. Many of the younger children also take advantage of the fact that we will not smack them if they misbehave. We’ve found that the supervision of a teacher with a long ruler in their hand has reduced the younger children’s tendency to wander around the room and pick a fight with someone. In older classes where language and behaviour has been less of an issue, we’ve found that many children go through school by copying or memorising information, without understanding basic concepts.

Whilst we’ve had a few problems, there have also been a lot of positives. We’ve spent most afternoons helping with the children’s times’ tables and have found that the boys are really eager to do sums. Some of them have even stayed beyond the two hours of tuition after school to answer maths questions! It’s also been really fun to get the children engaged through games and competitions, awarding mini trophies to those who work really well (thanks to my sister Anne-Marie, who gave me loads of awesome resources for the school).

On Sunday Mark and I were invited to a party with the church we visited the week before. Two guys were getting baptised in a swimming pool, so there was a big celebration that afternoon. Straight after the baptisms, we all jumped in the swimming pool and played some water polo, before heading to the seaside for some beach football! The guys at the church have been really kind and supportive so I’m looking forward to hanging out with them more.

Praise Points:

• We’re starting to get to know the boys at the orphanage really well now (even though I still get some of their names mixed up!)
• Teaching is going a lot better now after a bit of a shaky start!
• Going to church has really helped to reenergise us and remind us of the steadfast love that God has for us and for the children here.

Prayer Points:

• My main hope is that our relationships with the children will grow and that Mark and I will be able to give them the love and support they need whilst we’re here.
• Mark and I also hope that we’re able to make a sustainable impact at the school, but we’re not sure yet about how this can be achieved.

Week 2: Welcome to St Gonsalo Garcia Ashram

After saying goodbye to the other interns, Mark and I arrived at our placement on Wednesday 8^th July. Our aim as Development in Action interns was to bring about youth empowerment at an Indian orphanage for boys. This basically meant that we would be teaching classes and providing one-one tuition, whilst trying to be positive role-models.

The orphanage itself is situated in a Portuguese fort in Vasai, dating back hundreds of years. From the moment we arrived, Mark and I were treated like royalty. Whilst the 85 boys at the orphanage slept in a single dormitory with triple bunk beds, we were given an air conditioned room to ourselves. During meal times, the amazing cooking team make a special effort to please us and will always try to stop us from clearing up afterwards as well!

The boys instantly took a liking to us. They were constantly inviting us to play sports with them, asking us questions about England and showing us crazy dance moves they had learnt. Whilst it seemed a bit overwhelming at first, their enthusiasm was absolutely hilarious!

I think it’s fair to say that we were thrown into the deep end in our first week of teaching. After observing a lesson, Mark and I were asked to have a go in different classes. Mark taught English whilst I had a go at teaching Maths and ICT. We quickly realized that we had absolutely no hope in teaching the younger years as we couldn’t help those who struggled to understand English. Another issue was that we were not particularly keen on applying corporal punishment, which was deemed to be the best way to manage bad behaviour. In contrast, we had a lot more joy when we assisted the teachers and when we taught older year groups.

Vasai Fort

Classrooms separated by a thin wooden board

Playground, usually filled with children playing cricket

The oldest part of the school

At the end of a jam-packed week, Mark and I decided to go to a church in the local town. Mark managed to get in touch with one during the week and was offered a lift there by the church leader. It was a small church at the top of a block of flats on the main high street and was filled with local people shouting out songs of thanks to God. In between songs, a number of people took it in turns to say thanks to God for different things in their lives. There was also a time for people to go to the front and share encouraging stories about how God had helped them, which seemed to go on forever. After the service, Mark and I were invited to have lunch with a group of people at the church, including some of the leaders. I left feeling refreshed and challenged to live a life that is completely devoted to God.



Praise Points:

• I thank God for the love and care displayed here, not only at the orphanage but with a number of kind people who have helped us out during stressful times
  
• The beauty of the local Fort is absolutely incredible!
  
• The children here are amazing - they seem to be laughing, joking and dancing all the time!

Prayer Points:

• The local church leader estimated that there are 300 families in the local area who are affected by HIV/AIDS
  
• Prayer for the children - there seems to be a real need for attention that is likely to come from a lack of strong relationships

Week 1: Fail to Prepare = Prepare to… Be Flexible!

I have learnt a number of lessons from my trip to India so far:

•         Don’t bring 40kg of luggage/baggage
•         Don’t rely on the kindness of airport staff to turn a blind eye towards an excessive weight allowance
•          Don’t leave a sharp vegetable knife in rucksack
•          Don’t make the airport announce for you to board the plane because you were busy telling your family about the knife incident
•          Don’t let an Indian taxi driver drop you off in a rough location near the destination at night
•          Don’t get on the back of a motorbike with 40kg of luggage/baggage
•          Don’t let the motorcyclist drop you at the wrong location and then drive off
•          DO bump into friendly American travellers who are happy to take you to the hostel and carry your bags

That was all before I arrived!

Since then, I’ve been on an orientation week in Pune with a fun group of interns (Mark, Carlo, Christina, Becky, Isabelle and Selina) and Intern Coordinator (Megan). We travelled by train for 3 hours to reach Pune, going through some amazing forests with waterfalls in the distance.

Our orientation week involved loads of different activities. We were staying at a hostel for volunteers with Deep Griha Society, which is an incredible organization running a wide range of projects in the local area. One day we visited the office of a local charity called Equal Community Foundation, which seeks to challenge gender stereotypes by running educational programmes and employing local men to mentor teenage boys.  It was such a privilege to meet them and helped to remind me why I love development.We also visited a school for blind children, which had limited resources but was building a new school with vastly improved facilities.

During our free time we went to a few different places: the market, a temple, a church and Jazz Café, which had a live band with a particularly funky pianist. Today I am leaving to start my placement in an orphanage, which will involve teaching English, playing sports and providing tuition, so I'm really looking forward to getting started!

City Streets in Pune

Praise Points

·         I thank God for arriving safely, even though the journey was a bit crazy!

·         There are so many incredible sights in India, from the tranquil forests to the chaotic markets

·         There is a general sense of altruism across towns and cities

·         The majority of Indians are able to practice acts of worship without facing discrimination or hostility from others

·         The rate of extreme poverty is gradually declining

Prayer Points

·     I pray that communities across the region will be resilient to possible flooding during the monsoon season

·     There’s a lack of social support for the poorest in society, who are far more likely to experience malnutrition and poor sanitation

·      The spread of HIV/AIDS is a major concern in India as well as in neighbouring countries