Monday, February 6, 2012.
“Do not take the path right in front of you, instead, find your own way
and leave a trail behind.” -anonymous
We woke again this morning to the sizzling of food and scent of peppers
and spice wafting up from the kitchen. The dog pack next door gave us a
thankful reprieve for the day. We enjoyed a breakfast of couscous and boiled
eggs and strapped up for another day of work. I was teamed again with the
construction crew of Haunani, Gwen, Dustin, and Chris. It was much more humid
and sunny today and made our work quite warm and taxing as the sweat beaded and
droped from our bodies to the sound of AC/DC being rocked from Chris's ipod.
Working on the library at the Children's Home consists of hauling and sifting
sand. We attempt to get instruction from the one of the local labor force at
work today, Kutty, and were unsuccessful in our communication attempts.
Finally, Stephen showed up and clarified all. We sifted, sweat, hydrated and
chatted the hours away on the roof until well into the afternoon. As most of us
ran out of water, we decided it was time to head back to the guest house for
lunch.
For lunch today we enjoyed a treat of braised squid and eggplant with
orange rice and cooling yogurt sauce. We ate and talked about our mornings with
the rest of the group then headed off to the showers to rinse the sweat and
sand and grime from our bodies before running back out into the dust, heat and
humidity for the afternoon work. After a nice afternoon break, my crew headed
over to SEAMS to play with and work with the children. It is always a joy to
enter the complex and be greeted with smiles and hugs and the constant greeting
of “Brother!, Sister”. We swing the children through the air in circles,
compete at chopping wood for dinner fire with a blunt and rusty axe, and play
games ranging from BINGO to jumprope to tag and always eventually cricket.
After saying our hello's and playing for a bit , we break off into one on one
and small group work where we do word searches, matching games, reading and
more...basically anything educational that will hold a child's attention after
their long day at school and before their awaited supper. I worked with four
teen boys attempting to hold a conversation in English and eventually breaking
into song and fits of laughter. As the light dwindled and the cooking fires
start to crackle alongside the Children's Home, we pack up and wander back to
the guest house for an Indian-style dinner.
Dinner was engaging due to the lack of plates and silverware. Use of
banana leaves and hands replaced our western utensils as we dug into a
veritable smorgasbord of Indian cuisine – 100% pure vegetarian but totally
delicious. Dinner was capped off with an orange treat of sweet couscous and
cashew rolled into a sticky and oily ball. Marcia and I played a couple of
songs on the newly-strung and borrowed guitar as the rest of our crew sang back
up. Marcia was and endless jukebox of 60's classics ranging from Puff the Magic
Dragon to You Are My Sunshine. Honestly, I just tried to keep up with our
resident rockstar.
After all this fun, a few of us journeyed up to the hotel on the main
road and relaxed at the restaurant recharging our batteries for our last week
of work and exploration in the wonderful world of India. Each day proves to be
quite long, trying and interesting. As the cool of night overtook the humid and
scorching winter sunshine of the day, we rickshawed back home – four of us in
front and two in back of the tiny yellow ride – and wearily made our way to our
beds to await the next day and adventure.
Ryan
Thursday, February 2, 2012
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said to them, people
will forget what you did to them, but people will never forget how you made
them feel.” Mother Theresa.
I need to start out with a flash back to yesterday with the reason
becoming clear as I talk about today. As
we were walking to SEAMS I was approached by a man holding out his hand and
assuming he wanted to shake I reached out to him. He immediately grabbed my hand, squeezed it
very hard, refusing to let go and screamed “I am Jesus, I am Jesus, I am
Jesus”. I wrenched my hand away and he followed
us a short way screaming the same.
Dustin commented that was a first for him, so perhaps there is a hidden
message for me.
Day 4 started out with the usual routine as some of us caught up on our
correspondence while others planned for the day. Breakfast included noodles (ramen), eggs and
papaya. Haunani shared a poignant journal
entry and we headed off to our respective worksites. On our way to the worksite we ran into two
men with a smartly adorned cow – blanket, painted horns, ribbons etc. – and I
assumed immediately they were holy men similar to the sadhus. They held their hands out seeking alms, but
we passed by without acknowledging their plaints. That was my first mistake of the day as I
learned later from Stephen that these men, Boo Madus, travel the area and give
blessings which convey good luck on those they bless. When we got to the worksite we were
confronted with difficult directions, which we did not fully understand and
were unable to get a grasp on our duties for the day nor the rationale for it
all. Haunani and Dustin sifted wet sand
– a difficult task – while Chris and I moved the sifted sand on the roof to the
inside of the library. As we were doing
our chores the workers were mixing cement and applying it to the outside of the
library. The finished product, which we
witnessed in the evening, was quite amazing considering the rudimentary
equipment being used. These men are very
skilled laborers and it is fun to watch them in action.
Although I cannot speak for everyone, it sounded from the conversations
during the afternoon that things at the schools are improving. Marcia said they played some word bingo,
which was a big hit.
On our return to SEAMS we were greeted with hugs and handshakes. The children were busy cleaning up apparently
hoping to position their team for a better finish in the points race this
week. Prior to working with the kids,
the SEAMS crew met with the foreman/mason and Stephen and we received a full
explanation of the plan for the next two days.
It makes much more sense in English than it did in Tamil with the
accompanying unrecognizable hand signals of this morning. The evening with the kids was interesting,
as they have an unbelievable amount of energy and an insatiable need for
attention. I find it very difficult to
work with one while the others stand watching wanting a few minutes of my
time.
Everyone but Marcia and I headed out on a shopping trip after
SEAMS. As we left SEAMS Marcia spotted a
man sitting in the middle of the parking lot at one of the ATMs and asked if
that was “Jesus”. It was and as soon as
he saw us he jumped up and started yelling “I am Jesus, I am Jesus”, but this
time I steered clear of his grasp and continued on my way.
It may only be coincidence, but for the rest of the trip I plan to
hedge my bets and will not pass on an opportunity to please the gods.
Greg
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Haiku:
Grains
of sand to Build…
A Library for children…
To Lead a nation.
I’m so pleased to be assigned to construction to finish building a
library for the children at the SEAMS (Southeast Asian
Mission School
“Grains of sand toBuild”…
Sand is used in the cement mortar, T – H – R – E – E tons of sand for
this library. Chris & Dustin proudly
explain as Greg and I look at the library for the first time, that it also took
T-H-R-E-E thousand bricks, many of which
they carried up to the 2nd
level library, 4 to 5 at a time, in a bucket, on their head. We take turns shifting sand (to sift out
debris and larger grains) and hauling sand up… like the bricks, 1 bucket at a
time, on our head, up 21 steps. Yes, I
counted every step each time! Oddly, it
was easier than counting the number of buckets.
Twenty one steps is a finite number.
No matter how many buckets I count, it wouldn’t be enough. Yet, each bucket counts, no matter how big
or small, because they just keep adding up!
“A
Library for children…”
You can build a library without
counting buckets.
This got me to thinking. A Global Volunteer is like a grain of
sand. As a team, we make one
bucket. And the teams, or “buckets”,
just keep adding up. Even though we
don’t see the progress over time, Stephen does.
He sees the difference in the children’s lives and in their
performance. He says just our mere
presence makes a difference. So I keep hauling sand on my head, counting my finite 21 steps comforted in knowing, each bucket makes a difference. Frequent water breaks help in this heat, but we’re lucky it’s winter in
I’m equally fascinated and intrigued as I observe the construction practices of the local workers. My first inclination is typical American, “why are they…why don’t they…we could…but wouldn’t it be easier/faster/simpler/better, etc. It doesn’t take me long to chill and go with the flow. After all, the project is just a vehicle for our servant-leader role.
Dustin and Chris did a great job of building a new screen sifter for
the sand. We prop it at an angle so we
can release a small shovel of sand at the top.
The finer sand filters through quickly, while the heavier debris and
bigger sand grains falls to the bottom.
After a few shovels, we run our gloves over the debris to get out
additional fine sand before dumping the rest in another pile. Within a couple of hours, the head mason
comes over, picks up a handful of sand and throws it at the screen. At first, this method is puzzling or more to
the point appears back breaking and painfully slow, at least to this 60+ year
old body. I have to admit though, his
method didn’t require the second step of running our gloves over the screen
because we didn’t get it all the first time.
He also tried to show us that dry sand is easier to sift than wet. We got that one! But, I wondered, how we must have looked to
him if he thought it necessary to show us “dry, easier than wet” concept? Hmmmm.
So I started thinking again,
different cultures, different ways, same end.
No one way better than another, just different. And it makes sense that it should be
different because the resources are different.
If you had unlimited power tools or raw materials, you’d need less
labor. On the other hand, if your raw
materials and power tools were limited, you’d need more labor, ingenuity and
tried and true methods that work. While
standards may be different, in the end, a library will be built for the
children.
I marveled at how they erected the scaffolding to build an overhang
from the second floor. They hand made a
ladder on the spot from old logs and planks, dug holes in the ground with a
crow bar (I think) to support the vertical
3” diameter support logs, then lashed horizontal supports logs together
to complete the scaffold skeleton, before placing old flat planks of wood as a
working platform. The platform holds
maybe 325 pounds, i.e., 2 workers, hand tools and wet cement. Many of their hand tools were fashioned out
of rebar. Ingenious? Perhaps. Necessary? Absolutely!
Necessity is the mother of invention!
I know a thing or two about concrete from my past life as an
engineer. There’s a whole science to
making concrete based on the desired characteristics and use. So needless to say, I couldn’t take my eyes
of the process that unfolded in front of me.
Bear with me, please, as I describe it.
The worker might have been 100 pounds.
Centered upon his head was a 100 pound bag of cement that he hauled up
the same 21 steps that I repeatedly counted.
No sign of strain, grunting or sweating, unlike me. He had previously hauled up a bag of
aggregate (stone) and then a bucket of water.
He then proceeded to mix the cement, sand and aggregate with a short
shovel. When he was satisfied with the
mix, he made a well in the middle and poured a bucket of water in. Right there, on the roof top! No wheel barrow or other vessel to contain
any of it. Like making pasta dough, he
gradually incorporated the water into the mixture until he was satisfied with
its consistency. I was
flabbergasted. Yet here again, in the
end, it worked. A library is being built
for the children.
I have one last example to share of different practices. Hanging a blackboard is a simple matter, if
you have the right tools. We could not
understand why the worker chose to use a drill bit that was larger in diameter
than the nail. It made no sense. So we decided to drill the hole in a downward
angle so at least the loose nail would stay upright rather than pull away from
the wall. We didn’t know that their
standard practice is to hammer a scrape piece of wood into the larger hole into
which you hammer the nail.
Ahhhaaah! A simple solution, that
completely escaped us!
Cultural differences, yield different practices. We may not always understand the why/how/or
what, but with an open mind, we respect and learn from these differences.
“To Lead a Nation”
It’s a privilege to be working on the construction of the library,
albeit I’m a late comer. It’s not just a
library for the children. I hopefully
think of it as building a library that will foster future citizens to lead a
nation. And that makes me tear up, given
my Hawaiian heritage. I tear up because
it means they will think on their own, have the pride, conviction and
determination to lead their nation, their culture and their ancient traditions
into the future, of their making.
I close with a personal footnote.
My dear friend and business colleague had her first published book
launch today, “Film Is Not Dead.” The
book launch got delayed so she could not be home celebrating with friends and
family. Kristen wouldn’t miss coming to India
We closed our evening meal with
Indian cup cakes (no dairy or butter) and Funfetti Frosting that we brought
with us because it’s her favorite! A fun
way to end the evening with your new friends in
Haunani
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Monday January 30, 2012
Quote of the day: "You had
me at 'Hello' " - Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry Maguire.
It was impossible not to fall in
love with each of the faces that greeted us at Assisi Illam on our first day
working there. While most of the children were shy at first, by the end of our
time there they were using me as a jungle gym, showing off their building block
creations and holding out books to show me each and every page. The exception
was two brothers who were new to the program - one of whom was crying pretty
much non-stop for the first hour or so and asking for his mother. We tried
using blocks to distract him. No luck. Then books. That did not work. In the
end, it was getting out a digital camera taking a picture of the two brothers
and showing them their picture that finally brought smiles to their faces. I
guess we are all just "hams" deep down! Since these kids are only 2-4
years old, engaging them in their own language would be a challenge much less
speaking to them in English. I think going forward Gwen, Kendra, Olivia and I
agree that playing some games like "Simon Says", "Red Light,
Green Light" and singing songs will help integrate us into the group.
Stephen says that while this may not seem like hard core teaching he has seen
the difference our involvement makes to these children's performance in school
down the line.
In the evening we went to SEAMS. I am in awe of these kids who go to school from 9 - 4:30, come home, do chores, clean up and then welcome into their home for MORE learning...all with smiles, good manners and genuine eagerness. While we may be helping them with their letters, numbers, colors and words I know they are all teaching US much, much more....
Lora
In the evening we went to SEAMS. I am in awe of these kids who go to school from 9 - 4:30, come home, do chores, clean up and then welcome into their home for MORE learning...all with smiles, good manners and genuine eagerness. While we may be helping them with their letters, numbers, colors and words I know they are all teaching US much, much more....
Lora
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Quote of the day:
“Talents are best nurtured in solitude.
Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.” - Johann
Wolfgang Von Goethe
Twelve of our team of 13 arrived by late Saturday night. Ryan, our 13th volunteer
encountered some passport/visa issues and could not make it here by
Sunday. We hope he gets here soon.
We began Sunday with a breakfast prepared by Ronnie. The dishes she presented reminded me of her
cooking from my first visit here in 2004.
A lot has changed since then – Stephen married Sheeba and they now have
a wonderful, entertaining son named Roshan.
The guest house is also new, providing accommodation for many more
volunteers and a large common room for meetings and meals. It also has a washing machine and wifi which
are perqs not experienced during my last visit.
We did the usual orientation program following breakfast. It went surprising quickly considering that
at least half of the team is first-timers.
This contrasts greatly with the last team I served on which had 13
volunteers and just one first-timer. The
make-up of this team is different also with a majority of the volunteers being
in their twenties and thirties. As
Haunani noted it is encouraging to see young people taking time to do this life
enhancing work so early on. It can only
make them better world citizens.
Stephen described the three sites we will be servicing and the projects
involved. Assignments were made which
appeared to fit the desires of the individual volunteers. There is a rush to finish the work on the
library room at the Seams Home that Dustin and Chris have been working on. They will be ably assisted by Haunani and
Greg with a push to finish the plastering of the walls by the end of our two
week term.
The rest of us were assigned various teaching duties at Assisi Illam
and Grace Nursery and Primary School and will concentrate on teaching
English. My experience has shown that
when dealing with children of these ages in India ,
China , Peru , and Ecuador
We will be spending our early evenings at Seam Home or Assisi Illam
helping the older students with conversational English. It promises to be an eventful two weeks.
At 5:00 we surprised Stephen with an impromptu birthday celebration
that included a cake provided by Dustin.
We then walked to Seams Home for our first meeting with the resident
children. It was quite a welcoming with
individual introductions from each of the 36 students, a rousing song from the
kids with drum accompaniment, and a brief dance performance. We were then escorted around the buildings by
the students who were visually proud of the home they occupy. It looks like our daily visits to Seams will
be memorable for us and the children. We had dinner at a local restaurant that specialized in tandoori foods and various curry dishes. Stephen did not disappoint with the choice of dishes and he proved once again that a volunteer will never go hungry when serving with Global Volunteers.
Keith
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