School events

The past couple of weeks have been really busy busy, so much so, mum was wondering whether I was being kept locked in a cupboard cause she'd phone so frequently and at such random times, but I still wouldn't be in. Sport's Day was fabulous. We got a bus from the community to a racetrack were the events were to be held against other centres in the area. We arrived very early, but they were playing music in the stands so we decided to dance. It was fantastic, some of the children who barely talk in lessons really loosened up seeing all us didis and bhais being stupid and we had such a laugh. The spirit was fantastic and I think it was only this that led us to getting 32 medals, in about as many events!!! We were all getting so excited and into it, and even if a child fell over and was bound to loose we cheered through to the end and made sure they weren't upset by it. Some of the children also opened up a lot as we sat waiting for events and really started speaking more English as it wasn't a 'lesson'. The children are so generous, after finishing the races they were given a packet of biscuits, and I was offered so many, quite insistently from the children. Back onto the bus the children were all chatting and excited; the day was a very successful one. The marathon was buzzing - there was so much excitment and cheer it was great. There were groups of volunteers, teachers and office workers from Akanksha who were running as well as a few children. Unfortunately I didn't manage to run with any of them or even meet up but after I finished I managed to go back round and join the crowd cheering everyone on. After the race a lot of the roads were still closed, and I couldn't find any buses or taxis along the way I'd been advised so ended up walking another 2k to get to my cousin's! I'd caught so much of the buzz from the crowd though I could have run all the way back home but I didn't have a phone and didn't want my aunt worrying! The day after the marathon I had complaints from the children because those who went to watch and cheer hadn't seen me! But they told me all stories of what they had seen. On Friday we took them on a school trip to the planetarium as they have been studying the solar system and are doing a small presentation on planets. The bus journey their was fab, cause along the way there were so many places of interest or significance to the children that it was just full of stories. Fabulous seeing how some of the children's confidence in English has really improved through all the chatting I'm doing with them. We went past ma's flat and they were so excited to see were I live. Different children independently invited the whole bus load to visit my flat on the way back, but fortunately for ma they had to get back to the community by certain times. At the planetarium there was a talk on the planets. Each child had learnt about a planet for our upcoming presentations, so as the talk went on some of them were whispering more information about that particular one to me. Really the children have improved remarkably in the past week, unfortunately we know that with all the disruption and chaos in their lives, this good streak may well not last, and it could well hit hard.

Mumbai Marathon

I am running for Akanksha in the Mumbai Marathon (http://mumbaimarathon.indiatimes.com/index1.html?reload) on Sunday- I am running a shorter distance, cause I haven't been able to train and I'm pretty sure I'm running 7k but am unsure of my details at the moment. As previously mentionned, Akanksha is a NGO focused on bringing light to street children by giving them the education and skills to empower them and allow them to get a better job and hence move into a better standard of living. Find out more at http://www.akanksha.org/ but really read about the children and the situation in my own blog. In our school we are teaching the children in the corridor of a school, after lessons are finished, through some of the year it is shaded, but other times you are either in direct sunlight, or you have the monsoon rains around you. We do have books and pencils and access to teaching resources, but there is obviously a tight budget on photocopies and new materials. The children try hard and with just 2 1/2 hours speaking english a day (for some of them) they really have to, and have achieved amazingly well. And if you want to sponser me please directly contact mum or contact either of us through email, if you don't have our email address message me on here and I'll get back to you a.s.a.p.

Mirzapur and Varanasi

Well as soon as James left, mum, Aled and Bron arrived. We spent a short weekend in Alibag, cut short by the need to pack and be off on a long journey to Mirzapur (dad's cousin - Chinki's place). The place was a palace with peacocks and pheasants roaming in the grounds. Chinki had a fantastic fruit and vegetable garden, with almost every type I could think of, and a dairy so the majority of the food was as fresh as it gets, save eating it covered in soil and worms! Christmas eve, day and Boxing day were spent in a wildlife sanctury. On arrival we split into groups and went off in 2 open-top jeeps on a trail through the forest before sunset. Aled, Bron, mum and Vinoo uncle had two tigers approaching the road, only to be scared off by excited surrounding jeeps. The animals have now become quite used to the jeeps and come very close so we managed to see a beautiful range including: kingfisher, wild hog, peacocks, monkeys, vultures and many types of deer. For Christmas day the hotel which we were staying in organised a barbeque and traditional Indian folk dancing, which was fantastic and so exciting we couldn't help getting drawn in to join! Mirzapur is just a short distance from the Ancient city, Varanasi, one of the first cities in India (if not the world). Being located on the Ganges, it is a very holy place, filled with brilliant temples. The stone masons are strongly associated with the area, so the temples were covered in carved statues of gods and goddesses as well as animals associated with them, dancers and many other ornamentations. The main tourist area was filled with narrow little streets with stalls all over the place and almost anything available to buy. We headed down to the river along with all the other tourists and all the people heading to sprinkle ashes, or hoping for the curing of their illnesses, or simply hopping for blessings. People travel from miles away just to visit the river. We went on a small boat down the river and where told about all the ghats which have been built along the river bank. There was one dedicated to the washer men, and hence we saw several people washing clothes there, but I'm sure this number is greatly reduced since the convenience of washing machines. We didn't go all the way down to the burning ghats, as we could see a cremation was going on at the time. Bodies are carried all the way through Varanasi to get to these ghats whilst calls to Rama are made. When the boat turned around we each had a chance to row along the ganges, although none of us handled the strain of both oars! Chinki's husband is in the carpet industry and so we visited his factory and saw all the fascinating stages involved in carpet making, right from the plotting out of the design and the obtaining of fuel, to the buffing of the final products and the processing of waste products.