Our team
doesn’t have a nickname, but I think that “supportive” is one of the
characteristics that our team has had from the beginning. And, of course, our
team leader Stephen and his wife Sheba exemplify this quality.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. I think
this saying applies with a twist to our schedule. We follow the same
assignment, but we know that we have to expect the unexpected and to improvise.
It can be challenging but is really quite rewarding.
One event that is regular is breakfast with our team meeting
and the reading of the journal. It is always interesting to learn the names of
the delicious food. This morning the
question was: Is it tofu? Is it chicken? No, it’s eggs. Not a disappointment
but a clarification. Maybe an embarrassing one for the unnamed person who
thought it was chicken. The Ramen noodles, probably so identified by those who
ate a lot of them in college, turned out to be Veg Maggie noodles, a much more
enticing name.
We are going to the textile, gold, and silver market this
evening. (More about this later) Stephen explained about quality and prices.
There is no question about India that he can’t answer with humor and patience.
It is good that he will be with us this evening, maybe even to give us a thumbs
up or a thumbs down on a purchase.
The morning at Assisi was lively and noisy although Dorothy
said that she didn’t think the decibel level was as high as yesterday. Stephen
and Sheba, as well as Sangeetha, joined us in the active games. Stephen was
able to help us, or rather we helped him, in getting the children into a large
seated circle. Then the children played duck, duck, goose. They didn’t
understand the concept of tagging one
another but ran around the circle excitedly. The other children clapped. The
songs that LaChenna, Dorothy, and Sonja selected the evening before are
popular, and there are lots of actions. The craft project of drawing hand
outlines was successful with a few of the children who have good hand
coordination. Other children tried and then went on to free coloring. The chalk
board activity of making the letters went well and will be tried again soon.
Flash cards and stories with lots of physical and verbal illustrations work
well with small groups. There is some pummeling among the children, but there
are also examples of friendships and helping hands. We are there to help the
children go to the toilet, wash their hands, later to have snacks and finally
lunch. Then they take a nap, and we can also do so after lunch.
At Grace
School under the direction of Margaret and Vivian there are innovative
developments every day. In Vivian’s class one could say facetiously that the
inmates took over the asylum. What really happened is that Vivian let students
be teachers one at a time under her guidance. The other students were attentive
to their classmates. It is an excellent exercise for confidence building. In
Margaret’s class the students saw BINGO written on the board. The children knew
the song, but didn’t sing it. The word
was an introduction to tomorrow’s activity. Margaret laughed heartily
this evening when we teased her about having gambling in the class. Vivian’s
remark about Bingo in Catholic churches was muffled to me. And did Margaret
laugh just a little too heartily? Seriously, it is a good exercise in letter
and number recognition and concentration.
The next
culinary event was very special – a traditional meal served on banana leaves
and eaten with fingers of the right hand. Stephen said that we could utensils,
but no one opted to do so. We are also a team that honors openness flexibility.
I am going to try to list the foods but will ask Stephen for the exact names:
rice with sambar (a medium thick sauce of South India with drumsticks, the kind
that grow on trees), a small whole fish from the sea, green beans, cooked shredded
coconut and carrots, a crisp bread (appallam or papad), and for dessert a sweet
little ball, ghee laddu, based on wheat
and sugary sweet
and a little syrupy on the outside, and a banana, one of the 80 varieties in
India. (Over a dozen are available in
Chennai.) Stephen and Sheba gave us information about the food, its origin, and
its preparation. Stephen also filled us in on politics, police, and culture in
a northeastern state. After the meal we folded the banana leaves toward us to
indicate that we liked the food and that we wanted to be invited again. Folding the leaves away shows that we didn’t
like the food and didn’t want to be invited again. An exception to the latter is at a funeral
because one does not want to come back to a sad event.
Prep time was spent in several ways. Naps can definitely be
preparation and energy savers for the time at SEAMS in the late afternoon. We
walked and rode to SEAMS and were greeted enthusiastically as usual. We spent
an enjoyable one-on-one time with students. Because we were going shopping we
left at 6:30. The group split up, half in Stephen’s car and half in a motorized
rickshaw/cab (name?), and we set out for Tnagar the number one shopping center
in Chennai on South Usman Road. The trip itself was an adventure. It was rush
hour in Chennai although the streets are
always filled with cars, buses, and motorbikes. The three of us in the cab were
amazed, as we swerved from one lane to another, coming close to both bikes and
cars, but never too close. Vivian remarked that she hadn’t seen any cars with
big dents, but she had to emend her comment. We noticed that many of the bigger
vehicles had the words Sound Horn on the back. Nobody seemed to need any
encouragement to honk. We looked at the passing scenes of small shops, street
vendors, open doors.
At the shopping center we started at the textile store. A
staff member led us to the correct floor and was a big help. Two of us,
Margaret and Sonja, didn’t buy anything to the disappointment of one clerk.
However, the others, Lachenna, Dorothy, and Vivian, bought items which we hope
they will model. From there we walked to the gold and silver store. With the
advice of everyone LaChenna bought a beautiful bracelet. We have yet to see
Dorothy’s purchase.
The trip back to the residence was a reversal of the first
one – thick traffic, passengers on motorbikes who didn’t hold on to anything,
swerving vehicles, seemingly close calls, and then a safe arrival “at home”.
For dinner we had egg curry, okra, and rice. It has become commonplace
to say that it was delicious. But it was.
Thought for the day
I am life that
wants to live amidst life that wants to live. Albert Schweitzer in Africa
As Global
Volunteers we are sharing our lives with others, giving and receiving cultural nourishment and nurture.
Sonja
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