India Service Program Blog

2012-01-30T14:45:00.001+05:30

Friday,January 27, 2012

Try not to become a man of success,but rather try to become a man of value.” - Albert Einstein

Chris and I headed over to SEAM’s with only one thing on our mind. It was tofinish making the sand shifter. We have a big crew coming in next week and Ididn’t want anything slowing us down… Last week the odds weren’t in our favorwhether it was power outage, missing extension cord, or lack of propersupplies. Well nothing was stopping us today! Even after a fuse blew on ourfirst cut, we were determined to finish. In the end, we succeeded and built thebest shifter in southern India.We’ll see how it holds up next week…

During the afternoon break I decided to clean up the activity cabinet in theguest house before the new team arrives… There was so much random stuff inthere and I did the best I could to straighten it up… Then I focused onfinishing the SEAM’s children's profiles. We decided we would place each kid in4 different categories based on there English abilities so that when futurevolunteers teach a SEAMs the will know where others have left off and wherethey should continue... After all that was complete a ran some errands and gotready for another trip to SEAMs

Today Chris and I finalized all the profiles, then spent the rest of thetime reviewing the points system, and handing out some fruit. This has beensomething we’ve done the last few Fridays and the kids really seem to enjoy it.In the end everyone wins but they realize that it's important to keep theirhome clean and finish their chores. Room 1 won again this week and there hasbeen much improvement since the program was started. The boys have yet to winbut are gettin close.

Over the weekend I spent the my time looking all over Chennai for ablackboard for SEAMs Children's Home. This was a task I set out for in 2010 andfinally found one. I went to a few stores then carried this thing back to theguest house by train,auto, and even crossed the main road without getting runover! I cant wait to install it this week...

Dustin

Thursday,January 26, 2012

“On the mountains oftruth you can never climb in vain- either you will reach a point higher uptoday, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climbhigher tomorrow.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Today was similar tothose preceding it, except that Dustin and I went in different directions. Imade my last trip to Assisito complete work on the computers and I’m happy to say that everything wentvery well. Dustin made his way to SEAMs to continue work on the profiles.Following lunch we both headed back to SEAMs. After more than a week of work weare almost finished. The profiles will be immensely helpful for futurevolunteers. Based on the children’s levels we can group them in order toimprove teaching efficacy. My hat goes off to Dustin for his brilliant ideawith the profiles. Like me, he’s never satisfied with just the status quo andis continually searching for areas to improve. We ended the day with adelightful meal, though by the end we were all nodding off, a sure sign of apleasant rest to come and a great conclusion to the day.

Chris

Wednesday, January 25, 2012.

“Allgreat things are only a number of small things that have carefully beencollected together.” – Anonymous

Today Iwoke up pretty early and I headed downstairs for my normal morning coffee…Today I figured I would try to make coffee a little different by heating itusing one of those hot plates. Well I turned it on and it started making somenoises, so I put my hand over to see if it was hot. Well it was and I burnt thetips of 3 of my fingers (don’t worry mom I’m ok). I guess I was a little moresleepy than i thought.. Let’s just say if the coffee doesn’t wake you up thiswill… I escaped with only some minor burns and Sheeba came to the rescue. I’lljust stay out of the kitchen for a while especially after my incident last year.

At AssisiIllam, Chris continued with the computer project while I played with thebabies… We read books, played with blocks and worked on some basic Englishskills…. The time moved quickly and they were some much fun. After they werefed and napping. Sister Rose had a wonderful lunch prepared for us of cabbage,beets, tomato rice, okra, French fries, and a few other treats. This was myfirst time having lunch over there but Chris has been talking about how greatit was since I arrived. He was right, it was amazing!

After aquick break back at the guest house Chris and I worked at SEAMs. Our goal is tocomplete the profiles for each kid but I can easily be distracted when asked toplay; snap cards, bingo, cricket, or just reading with the children…There isdefinitely not enough of me to go around and I just need to find away to makemy rounds to each child… Chris and I are trying to learn all the kids’ namesand I think we have about 85% memorized…

Just whenyou think the day couldn’t get any better. We finished the night off withdinner at a local restaurant with Sister Matilda, Sister Stella, and 5 of the Assisi children. Greatmeal and great company!

Dustin

Tuesday,January 24, 2012

“God couldnot be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” - Rudyard Kipling

Todaystarted with a great breakfast of omelets, rice cakes and spicy peanutchutney. Then Dustin and I headed overto Assisi Illam. We set up two computerstations yesterday and got everything up and running; however, we discoveredthat one of the computers, which was donated, contained some viruses. So it was decided that we would wipe thecomputer’s hard drive and install a fresh copy of Windows. This was where things got interesting. Armedwith my copy of Windows I assumed that the procedure would be a short and sweetaffair. No such luck. The optical drive was damaged and not registering withthe operating system, nor was the Ethernet adaptor functioning. Only after taking the computer apart, editingthe system registry and reconfiguring the Ethernet settings did we start to seeany progress. But by that point we hadto call it quits and head back to the guest house for lunch. I assured Sister Rose that tomorrow thecomputer would work better than it ever had.

After anice lunch, Dustin and I got a special treat. Stephen’s mother Jamuna came to the guest house and gave us some SouthIndian cooking lessons. We had requestsready for our favorite dishes and she was only too happy to show us poor whiteboys how to cook some real Chennai cuisine. Most importantly, she demonstrated that the majority of dishes we havebeen savoring these past weeks start very simply with a wok, hot vegetable oil,mustard seeds, onions, curry leaves, and chilies. We told her that we wouldreturn the favor and cook for her one day soon. That’s one critic I wouldn’t want to disappoint.

In theafternoon we went to SEAMs as usual. This is the third week of the points system that Kerry and I crafted andthe improvement is huge. I’m stunned athow clean SEAMs is now compared with four weeks ago. I’m so proud of thechildren. We took a break from our usual routine to show the kids a movie. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed watching theJungle Book so much. It was quite moving to see all of the little faces gluedto the screen, clapping and screaming at the dance between Baloo the bear andKing Louis the orangutan. Back at theguest house we got to enjoy all the excellent food that Stephen’s mother hadprepared during our lesson. Just anotherwonderful day in Chennai.

Chris

Monday,January 23, 2012

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by thethings that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in
your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain
It's the start of my third week and it still feels like I just arrived. Each week brings new and exciting things... On Saturday a few of the members from the last team headed back home. Diana and Candy
will definitely be missed. Even the Assisikids looked shocked when Chris and I showed up this morning. I'm sure they were looking forward to all the balloons and other exciting stuff Candy brought the last two weeks... The construction is on hold this week so we will be working with the daycare kids at Assisi.Although, today we got a break from playtime and Sister Rose had us put together some computers. Afterwards she surprised us with homemade French Fries, yummy!

After another wonderful lunch back at the guesthouse I cut down my first banana tree with the help of Stephen and Sheeba. It went down pretty easy and I even cut out the trunk which we will probably be eating the rest of the week. I can't wait for the 150 some bananas to ripe...

In the evening, we stuck to our routine and headed over to SEAM's. Chris and I are working on giving each kid a profile based on their level of English skills. This will definitely help future volunteers prepare and bring the proper materials before heading over to SEAMs. After working with a few kids my eyes got heavy and I played a match card game with Sneha and finished the night off with B.I.N.G.O...

Dustin

2012-01-24T21:58:00.000+05:30

Friday, January 20, 2012

“We have so far to go to realize our humanpotential for compassion, altruism, and love.” - Jane Goodall

Well it’s the final day for team 106. It started like any other with an enjoyablebreakfast and a team meeting. We then split up with Diana, Meagan, and Candygoing to Assisi and Grace School.Dustin and I headed to SEAMs once again for construction work. In the absenceof the workers, we set to sifting large amounts of sand that will be used forthe interior and exterior walls of the new library. Over the last two weeks we have come toappreciate and dread India’smedieval construction methods. Afterseveral hours labor, we rejoined the team for lunch. Then it was back to SEAM in theafternoon. This was my third timewitnessing the children’s farewell presentation for the departing teammembers. It was just as high-spiritedand adorable as the others. I don’tthink I’ll ever get tired of little Ezekiel’s dance. He’s quite the performer.

Back at the guest house, we enjoyed yetanother excellent meal courtesy of Rani. Then it was time to say our goodbyes to Diana. Working with her was a real pleasure. I know the children loved having someonearound to patch up all their boo-boos. Nextit was Candy’s turn to depart. Dustinand I are already missing her good humor and infectious laugh. The coming week it’s just me and Dustin untila new team of 12 arrives. I have complete sympathy for Stephen and thelogistical nightmare he’s about to face with that many volunteers to tend. ButI’m sure it will be prove to be another excellent group, just like 106.

Chris

2012-01-20T14:29:00.000+05:30

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

“Happiness is a how; not awhat. A talent, not an object.” - Hermann Hesse

Another wonderful day for team #106... This day didn't top yesterdaybut it was close...

Rani did something different with our scrambled eggs and some of usdefinitely enjoyed the change... Megan and Candy headed off to Assisiwhile our star teacher Dianna shaped the minds of the Grace Schoolkids... Chris and I on the other hand head back to SEAMs. The construction crewis off this week so we scratched our heads as we tried to figure out how wewere going to cut some wood left over from the construction project... Withlimited tools at hand, the first part of the morning went without success. Theax was pretty dull and it was like chopping through a tree with a baseballbat... Just before lunch Chris and I took the time to figure out how we wouldfinish the project with the limited tools and resources that we had... In theend we decided to bring everything we had available... The coconut clever, oneinch reciprocating saw, half an ax, and two determined minds...In the end thewood won and Chris and I retreated back to the guesthouse to take on theproject another day...

In the evening, we all headed over to SEAMs like we have everyday sincewe started. We all broke out into our individual learning sessions and the timepast by very quickly. Then the eight of us all packed into 2 rickshaws andfinished the night with a wonderful dinner at the neighborhood restaurant!

Dustin

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Quote of the day: "Education is themost powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela

The team started the morning with anotherdelicious breakfast of rice cakes, peanut chutney, eggs, & milk tea. As theschools were closed Monday & Tuesday for the Pongal Festival, everyoneheaded to Assisi.We were greeted at the door by the children & soon we were gathered insmall groups reading, practicing sight words, drawing, & playing games. Therelative quiet was soon shattered when one of the kids discovered a bag ofballoons in Megan's bag & a rambunctious game of balloon volley ballensued. I had forgotten how strenuous chasing a balloon can be & soon I wasbreathless, hot, & sweaty. The children, however, were as energized as ever.We left Assisiat lunchtime & I hope for the Sister's sake we wore the boisterous bunchout enough for a long afternoon nap.

We were all relieved that Chris was feelingbetter & out of his Benadryl haze. Candy however was feeling a bit underthe weather, & so stayed behind for some rest & a much anticipatedcooking lesson from Rani & Sheeba. The rest of the team walked over toSEAMS for the afternoon. The atmosphere there was much more relaxed than usual& it was a treat to spend time just "hanging out" with the kids. Franklin has becomeparticularly enamored with my camera & greeted me at the gates with callsof "Photo! Photo!" The boys crowded around & scrolled through thepictures I had taken of them, the team's trip to Pondicherry,& of my friends, pets, & family in America. I helped Franklin & some of the other children takepictures. They all really love anything to do with cameras & had hugesmiles & looks of pride on their faces after they snap a photo & seethe resulting image. The girls got theirturn with the camera & enjoyed the pictures I had taken of the kollamaround the neighborhood. Swathy said she could do it & proceeded to drawone of her own. She said she would show us how to do it tomorrow if we bringher the supplies.

A quick stop at the house & the teamwas off again, this time to the beach. Today was the final day of the Pongal holiday,Kanum Pongal, so the beach was quite crowded. Actually it was like Woodstock on steroids. wewere the only white people their & so became a strange type of celebrityKids & families rushed up to shake our hands & to wish us a happyPongal. Many asked us to take their photo & some asked for photos of us. Megan,Candy, & I were even interviewed on camera for the evening news!

Upon returning home we had a delicious mealof korma & poori that Candy had helped prepare.

It was a long eventful day well spent. I amlooking forward to return to the kids at Grace & to hear how they spenttheir holiday.

Diana

Friday, January 13, 2012

“Work harder, not smarter” Dustin Homicki

Friday the 13^th started quiteominously. Dustin and I headed to SEAM’safter breakfast, while Candy, Diana, and Megan went to GraceSchool and Assisi. Over the last week we’d comeaccustomed to the site of a small chicken that resides at SEAM’s. A day earlier we joked about how meager thehen looked at that once its egg-laying days were behind it, the kids would geta surprise chicken dinner. So we were abit nervous when there was no sign of the chicken. We didn’t think much of the disappearance andcarried on with our work. I spotted the pastor and asked with trepidation if thechicken was around. He said “chickendead, chicken dead.” I was horrified until I realized he was actually saying“chicken there, chicken there” pointing to a shaded area where the hen wasquite happily pecking at the ground, head and all.

When the mason arrived we got to workpulling up steel beams for the roof of the new library/computer room. Then we set to carrying up tremendously heavyfiberglass roof panels. Once that arduoustask was completed, Dustin and I took a well deserved break while the masonmysteriously vanished. Later we found out that those heavy beams were theincorrect length and he was off getting them welded for the right size. We’re used to the mason’s seemingly inaneattempts at communication for our direction, but in his absence we decided to carryon by getting rid of the large brush pile on the roof next to our constructionsite. SEAM’s lovely neighbors haddecided a bordering tree was a nuisance and cut off most of the limbs, leavingthe children with no lines to hang their clothes.

After lunch we made our way back to SEAM’sreenergized, this time with Diana to help us. I for one was particularly glad to have a nurse around since Dustin wasusing an electric reciprocating saw. Happily, the disturbing omen from the morning did not cast a shadow overthe afternoon’s work. We finished clearingthe brush pile, put up new clothes lines. Theevening’s work went wonderfully. Werevealed the top point earners for the week, and the girls, who previously hadthe worst rooms, came out on top. It wasa fantastic sight to see them all jumping up and down out in the yard afterrealizing their victory. The childrenwere overjoyed when we distributed candy based on their week’sperformance. It’s quite gratifying tosee the amount of change occurring at SEAM’s. One day at a time, it really is getting better and better.

Chris

Thursday, January 12, 2012

"Be the Change you want to see in theworld" Gandhi

Well it’s Day 4 and it looks like everyonehas settled into their routine. Candy and Megan prepared for Assisi, Dianna not feeling 100%, still headedoff to Grace school, while Chris and I headed back to SEAM's for another day atthe construction zone.

Today was all about sand! So one load at atime we hauled the sand to the rooftop where the local construction crew waswaiting. Chris and I usually enjoy good conversation and music so the day goespretty quick...Earlier in the week; I've scratched my head and tried to figurehow this project was going to play out. But after only a few days things arereally starting to come together. It’s a different style of construction forsure but we hope to have a roof on by this weekend.

Back at the guesthouse, Rani put togetheranother wonderful meal for us and Sheeba added some awesome fried chilis! Inever wanted the meal to end but I knew I still had an afternoon shift atSEAM's.

Megan joined Chris and I for the afternoonand it was more of the same thing! Sand, sand, and more sand! The pile isshrinking and it’s always nice to have an extra hand.

In the evening, we all headed back toSEAM's to finish the day off with our one-on-one English sessions. This isusually the best part of my day. I'm working on creating a profile for each kidso that current and future volunteers will know were we left off. Once I figureout a system I will be sure to share it with the rest of the team... Towardsthe end of the night my eyes were getting heavy and we headed back to theguesthouse for dinner and some much needed rest! Candy and Megan headed off forsome shopping.

Dustin

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

“Experience is a hardteacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.”

The day started off with alovely breakfast of eggs and papaya. Very delicious! We discussed as agroup our schedule for the day and talked about the needs of some of thechildren at Seams. It was decided that we would have a wash day next week to shampoo thegirls’ hair which I very much look forward to. Sort of like playing beauty parlor with the girls for an evening. J

Megan and I arrived at Assisi to find Jovan witha serve allergic reaction that he must have received athome and worsened as the morning progressed. We all gathered around him in obvious concern to soothe and comfort himas best we could while we waited for his grandma to pick him up. He was so brave and never complained. I am always struck at the resilience of thesechildren and how incredibly strong they are. Jessica, Munesh were their usual mischievous selves but like the others,were a joy to spend time with. Therewere a few meltdowns by some of the girls and there always a couple kicks andslaps that occur amongst the little ones but we always get through it with acouple of songs and some coloring.

We breaked for a livelylunch filled with laughter and it was great fun learning more about my fellowvolunteers. After lunch Dustin, Chrisand I headed to Seams and it was great to change things up a bit and workoutside with the guys. Shoveling andcarrying sand was hot, sweaty work but Chris provided us with some tunes tohelp pass the time.

Later and after a much needed shower, we headedoff in a rickshaw to see the beguiling and beautiful Bharathanatyamdancers. The rickshaw ride was both funand exciting but also a little hard on the sinuses and the buns. However, it was well worth the experience andDiana and I made it home in one piece. J

All in all just anotherinteresting, challenging, emotional and growth filled day here in India.

Candice

2012-01-11T20:40:00.002+05:30

Tuesday,January 10, 2012

“Ifyou could only see how important you are to the lives of those you meet…Thereis something of yourself you leave at every meeting with another person.” –FredRogers

Todaywas another incredibly exhausting & rewarding day. The beautiful chaos of Chennaiis like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. Cows, cars, motorcycles,cabs, bicyclists, & brightly colored pedestrians all come within a breathof collision at any moment. It is literally a symphony of sight & soundthat is hard to imagine & even harder to describe. Our driver, Stephen,amazes me every morning as he calmly & deftly weaves among the throngs tosafely deliver me to Grace School.

Todaywas my second day at Grace teaching English to the 3^rd, 4^th,& 5^th graders. They are all so beautiful & eager to learn. Ishowed the 3^rd graders pictures of my garden back home in Virginia & theyworked on their English skills by writing sentences describingwhat they saw. Wehave been challenged at times to understand each other, but so far we’ve beenable to work it out. They have requested stickers, longer stories, &Simonsays for tomorrow. One of my third grade boys, Jastein, ran back into theroom atthe last minute to give me a flower, which I have pressed into my journal.The 4^th grade class had fun working with anagrams & thecompetition was fierce tocreate the most words. 5^th standard is mylargest class with 9 students. It can get quite boisterous as they call out“Mam, Mam “ to get my attention. We have been working on expanding theirconversational English by writing descriptive sentences. Today they wrote abouttheir favorite thing to do after school.

Balaji,a boy from my 4^th grade class, came & sat with me during recess.He showed me his sticker collection & reminded me to bring some tomorrow.Then he & some of the others taught me a few Tamil words before it was timefor me to go. As I was leaving I was surrounded & given high fives &fist bumps as some of the little ones hugged my waist.

Aftera delicious lunch & a quick nap the team walked to SEAMS to work with thekids one on one. SEAMS always starts off a bit chaotic as the kids are gettinghome from school & are rushing to complete their chores & get groomedfor the evening’s activities. Arun, “dancing man,” always looks particularlysharp with a bright crisp shirt & jeans.

Beforewe got started, Megan, Candy & I ran upstairs to check out the progress onthe library. The mason & some of the boys proudly posed for pictures whilethey worked. Chris & Dustin have done an amazing job working with themasons. It looks like their goal to have it completed before they leave inFebruary just might happen.

Inbetween working with the kids on their English skills I held a mini clinic tocheck their various wounds. I wish I could have done more, but they seemedhappy to have their cuts & sores washed & bandaged & to receive afew soothing words. Some seemed disappointed when their fresh scars weren’t“band-aid worthy.” As always our time at SEAMS was way to short. I’m looking forwardto returning tomorrow.

Diana

Monday,January 9, 2012

Agreat day for firsts!

Asour new team assembles for the first time at the breakfast table, there aremany emotions running in all of us. Excitement, anxiousness, curiosity, and even a little fear are allpresent in the team as we prepare for our day of firsts. First time building a library, workingconstruction, or teaching children English. All tasks equally daunting and difficult but nevertheless, rewarding and satisfying to each of us.

Chris,who is helping build Seam’s first library has also taken the task of puttingtogether Seam’s first reward point system. This system allows groups as well as the individual kids to accruepoints by completing chores, cleaning their room and going the extra mile tohelp in whatever way they can. At theend of the month, the top team and top individuals win a prize. This is a great way to instill responsibility in the kids and it’s alsoreally fun! Chris put together the chart, the point system and even put on hisphotography cap for a Seam’s group photo!

Itwas Dustin’s first day working on the construction for the library. When he came home from lunch, his clotheswere drenched , and he had a look of pure satisfaction on his face. The look of pride in getting your hands dirtyand really accomplishing something great. He told us of how he enjoyed hisexperience learning how local construction takes place. He also helped with Chris with the pointsystem, and while at Seam’s in the afternoon, took individual time to help thekids with their comprehension of words.

AlthoughDiana’s a nursing teacher, this was her first experience teaching kids. I empathized greatly with the nervousness andtrepidation she felt as she was also the first to go to Grace school. Talk about brave! But with determination inher eyes, and with a stoic nature that I’m sure she has had all her life, shefaced this head on and succeeded in teaching her class to use descriptive wordsand making sentences of those words.

Itwas Candy’s first trip to the classroom as well. She explained how she feltnervous to be in front of the students and even said she didn’t think she wouldlike it. But with Candy’s optimism andpositive attitude she came home thrilled to have gone and was excited to returntomorrow! I think she has found a new calling with the second graders!

Likemost of the team here, I have a lot of firsts as well. First time to

India

. First time at GlobalVolunteers. First time in a classroom setting. My first experience with thelittle ones at Assisiwas truly memorable. I felt as if I hadnever left home when I entered the school. Something about being able to teach the young ones appeals to me andinspires. My experience at Grace waschallenging to say the least. But youknow what they say, if at first you don’t succeed, try try again.

Itwas a great day for firsts and we all look forward to seconds!

Diana

Sunday,January 8, 2012

“Oldfriends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old daypasses, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: ameaningful friend or a meaningful day.” – Tenzin Gyatso

Whileit was sad to see Kerry depart, this weekend was exciting because of thearrival of the latest team. The new teamis: Megan, Diana, Candy, and Dustin, who like myself will be staying untilFebruary 11. It’s exciting to besurrounded by such an eager and enthusiastic group. Saturday was a slow and comfortable day withseveral in the new group recovering from jet lag. Today (Sunday) we went through theorientation process, my second. When wegot to the group exercise of describing the characteristics of an effectiveteam it was interesting that the descriptors used were almost identical tothose offered by the previous team. Isuppose great minds think alike.

Inthe afternoon we ventured over to SEAM for the new group’s introductions andtour of the facility. Dustin has theupper hand here, being a former volunteer to Chennai. Indeed, many of the children recognized him,with one pointing out that he was wearing the same pants that he had previouslyworn on his trip in 2010. It was a verylively time that included songs and dance from the children. After spending some time with the kids weheaded off for a delicious dinner. Once we returned to the guest house Ifinally completed work on my photos…so far. Tomorrow we will be splitting up asusual with Dustin and I heading to SEAM for the library build. I know he’s as eager as I am to see thisthing completed. I look forward to aproductive day with an engaging and high-spirited new team.

Chris

2012-01-11T10:18:00.000+05:30

Thursday, 5^th January, 2012

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonableone persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progressdepends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw

Today was one of the most rewarding yet. After breakfast, Kerry and I headed to SEAMto continue with the construction project. Kerry was assisting the mason and my job was the same as yesterday,moving bricks 3 or 4 at a time balanced in a pail on my head from the largestack in the yard to the rooftop build site. There was a new worker today, ayoung guy in his 20s, who was also carrying bricks to the rooftop. He had a very lackadaisical approach to hiswork. Indeed, at one point I carried up 18 bricks in the same time-span it tookhim to move 5. But to his credit, it is difficult to text and move bricks atthe same time. On a positive note, theyoung man’s lack of vigor seemed to energize me. I really hit my stride and by the time wewere ready to break for lunch I had moved approximately 120 bricks. It wasamusing to see the other workers smiling at me, at one point commenting “youwork fastly!” I have every intention of seeing this project completed so Iwanted to make sure that the workers had enough bricks to keep going.

During our water breaks Kerry and I walked around inspecting SEAM. After finding a number of areas that wereseverely lacking, we decided on a new approach, based on a point system thatrewards good behavior and discourages bad behavior. The points are based on the performance ofeach dorm room as well as individual acts displayed by the children. There will be a competition each week amongthe rooms for a small reward and at the end of each month a prize or a field tripwill be awarded to the top room and top 3 children.

After spending the afternoon fine-tuning the points system andevaluation criteria we headed back to SEAM. It was chaotic to say the least, but after we got the children settledand explained the new system there was a marked difference in theirattitudes. I could tell immediately thatthese kids relished the opportunity to compete with one another for areward. This is absolutely a learningprocess and it will take time for the children and volunteers to adjust, butultimately we think it will result in a cleaner home for the children and moretime to devote to the emotional and educational needs of the children. SinceKerry is leaving on Saturday morning we decided to have a final goodbye dinnerat a restaurant. It was a most enjoyablemeal and we were most pleased at the amount of progress we achieved in arelatively short amount of time. I willmiss Kerry’s company. We worked welltogether and she was a true asset to the team.

Chris

Wednesday, 4^th January, 2012

"Life is not a matter of milestones but of moments"- unknown

Today when we arrived at SEAM the local workers were there to startconstructing the walls for the new library. Steven made some introductions andtold them we were here to assist them. Then he left us with the two workers whospeak NO English. We took our lead by following one of the workers and pilingbricks in a certain manner so the other worker who was building the wall couldeasily reach them. Every once in a while one of them would ask us in theirnative tongue, Tamil, to do something and the point. Chris and I would taketurns looking bewildered and then by process of elimination would figure outwhat they needed. Meanwhile, there was some singing and drum music coming fromclose by and I asked Chris where he thought it was coming from and he saiddownstairs, sure enough he was right. The pastor that runs SEAM was having ameeting of other pastors and they were singing and praying as well asdiscussing important matters or so I assume. It was a nice backdrop for us aswe worked. Luckily we got to leave at 12:30pm as the day starts to heat up butthe workers will put in about a 7 or 8 hour day.

When we return at 4:45pm we find some good progress on the walls, it actuallylooks like something now. The girls are excited since they know the other halfwill get their hair washed and blow dried tonight since I did the other halflast night. There is no lingering they pull me straight into their room to getstarted. Saranya is the oldest in the room since Sunitha is away this week soshe takes charge. We start with the little ones, lathering them up good,scrubbing and rinsing 5 times and then we are done. Next, I comb their hair andwe blow dry it, they love the blow dryer, a wise investment I must admit.

When I come outside to hang their towels on the clothes line it's an hour and ahalf later and Steven tells me I missed the chaos,for which I am grateful. Thereason it was so crazy is that all of the clothes that had been washed thenight before were up on the roof and when the workers showed up to beginconstruction they had to be moved and some (most) were put on the brick wallwhich is covered in dirt so they had to be re-washed. The real problem was notnecessarily the re-washing but the assigning of the clothes from the big pileto the right kid, for some reason they don't seem to know what clothes aretheirs, or maybe they just didn't want to claim it because they didn't want towash it. Either way it all got sorted out.

The day went by fast and it's hard to believe I only have 2 days left in myprogram. I will make the most of it!

My best moment of the day? Having the girls sit on my lap as I blow dried andcombed their hair. Their giggles as I put the blow dyer in their face lifted myspirits and the way they closed their eyes and sighed in contentment when Ibrushed their hair moved me beyond words.

Kerry

Tuesday, 3^rd January, 2012.

“Nothing got without pains but an ill name and long nails” – ScottishProverb

After surviving a bout of what Stephen termed “Delhi Belly”, I was ableto rejoin Kerry for a hard day’s work at SEAM. We are starting a large projectthat will result in a library/computer room for the children. The logistics are somewhat challenging as thebuild site is atop the roof of the main hall. For several hours in the morning,it was just Kerry and I hauling load after load of bricks across the yard, up astaircase, and stacked along the rooftop. Coming from a place that relies soheavily on machinery to accomplish similar tasks, it’s quite humbling to movehundreds of bricks, four at a time balanced in a pail on your head. I’d belying if I said my back wasn’t a little stiff.

After a well-earned lunch and a short break we headed back to SEAM.Kerry spent the evening in the girls dormitories going over groomingtechniques, braiding hair…girl stuff. Ion the other hand continued with the construction project, only this time I hada lot of eager little helpers to assist me. After a dreadful attempt at tossingbricks up to one of the boys on the roof, I suggested we try a relay approachwhere I would carry bricks across the yard to a boy who would then take them upthe stairs and hand them off to another to stack. This was far more successful, although it waspretty funny to see Siva, a 17 year-old eager to impress me with his physicalprowess, strain under the weight of the first load I handed off to him. He quickly resumed his stoic composure andproved to be an excellent helper the rest of the evening.

I’ve noticed in the past that the American non-profit and volunteerworld is disproportionately female. Ihave no objection with this….but the children at SEAM are so used to a majorityof female volunteers that they habitually call me “sister”. I correct them and say “no, brother” at whichthey grin and reply “sorry, brother”. We wrapped up the evening by having allof the children gather their dirty clothes for washing. This is a much more manageable task now thatwe have taken an inventory of their clothing. Tomorrow we will continue with the construction project and finish theclothes washing. I must say that even though we are engaging in difficultmanual labor, it’s incredibly rewarding to know that this library and computerroom will have an enormous positive impact on the lives of these kids. I feel very fortunate that I am volunteeringuntil mid-February. It is my hope that Iwill see the project completed during my stay. Well, off to bed…I’m sure I’llsleep like a rock tonight. Bonne nuit, àdemain!

Chris

Monday, January 2^nd, 2012

"We can do no great things- only small things with greatlove"- Mother Teresa

Today since the rain has stopped we have decided to prep for the constructionproject at SEAM. This project will build a library on the rooftop above thekitchen and prep area. Piles of brick were delivered a few weeks ago and havebeen sitting in the courtyard, it is my job today to begin to move the bricksup to the roof so construction can get under way later this week.

This sounds easy enough but the stairs are steep and I am still being gentlewith my left knee and ankle since the swelling just went down and the pain hasfinally gotten better I don't want to press my luck my re-injuring it. After afew trips up and down the stairs carrying just 2bricks at a time I am a hot sweatymess and decide to take it easy. There are two boys that stayed home fromschool as they didn't feel well and they begin to help by bringing the bricks Iunload from the piles up the stairs. Soon Siva and Ajith Kumar are also tiredso Jacob, one of the caregivers,who wants them to continue moving the bricksgoes and gets a chair and brings it under the overhang of the roof by the washarea. I was wondering what he was doing but soon found out that what I thoughwas odd what was actually ingenious. Siva climbed from the roof down onto theoverhang and Jacob stood on the chair and began to toss a brick up in the airto Siva who miraculously caught it while balancing on the grooved makeshiftroof that forms the overhang. Next Siva tossed the brick up the all the way tothe roof, which is about 3 feet.

I left at 12:30pm to return to the guest hose for lunch and I think the boyswere relieved as it meant they could also take a break. I took a shower and forthe first time was happy it was cold water! It felt good.

Chris is still feeling under the weather still so Steven and I return to SEAMat 4:30pm and had to wait 45 minutes for the kids to return home from school,it ran late today. I went into the girls room oversee their changing andwashing up and when I came back to the courtyard I was amazed at how well theboys were working together to unload the bricks and carry them upstairs. Therewere many different techniques being used. Kabilan and Siva continued thetossing the brick up in the air and then catching it while standing on theoverhang while the younger kids keep the supply of bricks coming. Others arespeedily unloading the bricks from the pile and handing off to other boys whoare filling up their arms with 3-4 bricks and still others wrap a towel aroundtheir head and pile 3 bricks balancing on their head to transport the load. Onething all of these methods have in common is teamwork, they all work together andeagerly with a common goal.

When it got dark we gathered in the prayer hall and had a visit fromsome local neighborhood people who came to wish the children a Happy New Year.They handed each child a notebook, pencils with a case and colored drawingpencils. Then they ended by giving out candy, it was a great end to the nightand well deserved by the children who worked hard and showed good cooperation.

We came back to the guest house and were greeted by Chris who looked muchbetter than in the morning and was o. Good spirits despite a rough couple ofdays with stomach problems.

We had a delicious dinner and I slept really well after a long day ofmanual labor.

Kerry

2012-01-02T21:27:00.001+05:30

Friday, December 30,2011

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"

Today is the second day of the cyclone and the rain is unyielding. The storm ispredicted to peak this morning and then hopefully die down which is good sinceKatie, Will, and Ginny's flights are leaving late tonight /early tomorrowmorning.
Chris, Mary, and I go to SEAM in the morning and play games with the kids.Memory is a favorite along with Bingo and the older kids like the flash cards.Anish ,Paul Anthony, and Kabilan are competing who can answer the fastest as Igo through multiplication and division flashcards. It's a close race so thereis no clear winner, to me they are all winners just for applying themselves.Cheran, 16, struggles to read me and the other kids a book but I give him a lotof credit for his persistence and patience in Trying to sound out the words andlooking to me for reassurance that he is pronouncing the words correctly. NextI work with Anish, 12, and he breezes through flashcards with full sentences, Ineed to test that out next time by having him read a book to me.

Chris is workingwith Siva on the laptop helping him with his computer programming homework ( heis going to school to learn a trade) as he is 17 years old. Mary is has createda safe and fun environment for the girls in their room, away from the rain andthe rambunctious boys, where she has cleverly created a game where the girlsdon't realize they are actually learning sentences while they play. Katie, Will, andGinny go to Assisi Illam for the last time this trip and stay for lunch perKatie's request. Sister Rose is a delightful host always serving drinks andsnacks whenever the volunteers visit and she is a great cook which is why it'sa spe ial treat for them to be able to stay for lunch and sample her culinarytalents. I ask Katie if it'shard to say goodbye to the kids she's come to know so well at Assisi ( this isher second visit this year) and she said it's not as bad since they are allstill young and will still be there when she comes bak next time ( which Iexpect will be next year foe her). She explains it is harder to say goodbye atSEAM to some of the older boys who will leave next year once they turn 18 yearsold, she is deeply saddened by the thought of losing touch with them.

At 4:30pm it's time to go to SEAM again to say goodbyes for most. The power isout again from the storm and the rain has not let up. We prepare for thechallenge of maneuvering ourselves through the mud and deep puddles withoutsinking in or falling, luckily it's only about 30 feet to the safety of therickshaw which takes us to see the children.

We play for a littlebit and then Steven has them line up order of age and sir in their rows by roomnumber. They sing a song to Katie since she needs to leave for the airport in30 minutes and present her with a card and their thanks for the time she spentwith them and then come up one at a time to say a personal goodbye, pretty soonthey are all surrounding her and she is giving out her email address andsigning autographs os so it appears, also there are lots of hugs beingexchanged.
After she leaves webegin to play again but I didn't bring any games so I have to think on thefly...luckily I had packed a flashlight in my bag in case the power went outagain so taught them how to play my version of flashlight tag, as simple as itwas it kept them amused.

Next it was time toline up again and say good-byes to Mary, Will, and Ginny. The same procedurewas followed and then each of the volunteers said a few words. Mary expressedhow they had all made a difference in her life by touching her heart which wasevident by the tears that rolled down her face as she spoke. Ginny encouragedthem all to continue studying hard so they could be what ever they wanted to bewhen they grew up, there options were unlimited if they put the work in. Willtold them he had fun getting to know them and gave some very sound advice" be good to each other" which is a good reminder to us all..

We returned to theguest house for one last dinner and then Steven took Ginny and Will to theairport and Mary departed with her friends to begin the next leg of her trip.

The house is quiet now... but wait what's that? Oh yeah Roshan is still here soit won't be quiet for long...

Kerry

Thursday,December 29, 2011

"Don'tcry because it's over. Smile because it happened ". - Dr. Seuss

Thecyclone that caused us to forego a field trip to the beach has brought rain andwind to Chennai. But that did not deterKatie,Will and I from setting out before breakfast to experience the localflower and fruit market. The flowermarket was a dazzling kaleidoscope of color. More than a few of the vendors gave Katie and I flowers and wanted theirpicture taken, giving us their cards and asking us to mail the pictures back tothem. At the fruit market, we were happy to pick out oranges, bananas, strawberries and carrots forthe children at SEAM.

When wearrived at SEAM this morning, the children were all assembled indoors withtheir books for study time, I thought itwould be easy to sit next to them, work one-on-one for a few minutes, and justmove around the room that way. Afteralmost two weeks, how could I still be so naive? As soon as we started working with one child,5 more would gather around wanting the same attention. It was impossible tokeep any kind of order. Within a few minutes of our arrival, we had disruptedeverything. Still, we did our bestworking in small, and shall I say "fluid", groups having the studentsread to us or reading stories to them.

Whenstudy time ended, I showed the caregiver the strawberries we had brought forthe children. She expertly restoredorder in the room once again, and the children sat in their neat rows while wehanded out the strawberries. We had noticed pictures of strawberries in thepicture books we used so the students recognized them, but for some, it was the first time they evertasted one.

In theevening, the team returned to SEAM. Weworked in small groups again. Katie organized a rambunctious game of"Memory". Will and I playedvery competitive Word BINGO, and Kerry kept an older group challenged withmultiplication and division practice. Agroup of girls and I retreated to one of the dorm rooms where the girls gotcreative with crayons, stickers and cutouts for tracing. Sweety sat quietly onthe bed and drew a very intricate flower design which she signed and asked meto keep. I had been to an art gallerydowntown earlier in the day where I purchased some fine art prints and a Buddhapainting, but I have no doubt which work of art I will treasure the most.

Ginnytook some of the older boys to another room where she helped them write lettersback to Joelle's students who had written to them. Joelle will be so surprised to get these. Weand the children both missed her today, and we know that Ginny's thoughtfulgesture will return to Joelle a small bit of the warmth she had shared with allof us.

At theend of the evening, we distributed the fresh oranges and bananas to thechildren. As i watched them savor thesedelicacies, I thought to myself that I would never again be able to let fruitgo uneaten and rot on my kitchen table.

Afterdinner this evening, we surprised Stephen and Sheeba with cake to celebratetheir their 7th Wedding Anniversary. Mixing special occasion traditions, wesang "Happy Anniversary to You" and they blew out the Number"7" candle. Our singing was sogood, that we sang a "Happy Birthday" encore for Ginny who will becelebrating her birthday tomorrow,

Most ofus are nearing the end of our two weeks together. Speaking for myself, I found it verydifficult to leave the children at SEAM tonight. I'm worried about how I will be able tomanage a final goodbye tomorrow. I'm happy to know that Kerry will be with themanother week and Chris another six weeks, but still, it will be really, reallyhard for me. I just have to rememberthat's the price I have to pay for the opportunity of having had thesewonderful children in my life.

Mary

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

"If you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven'tbeen in bed with a mosquito!" - AnitaRoddick, The Body Shops

Our team timed things rightcoming over the Christmas Holiday as the students have off from school andwe’re able to take day trips together. Yesterday the older boys had the opportunity to climb a mountain, todaythe girls and the younger boys joined the volunteers to the Chennai Zoo.

We met at SEAM at 9AM wherethe children were cleaned up and dressed in their new Christmas outfits. They lined up in two lines, one for the girlsand one for the boys youngest to oldest. The Pastor shared a prayer and we filled into two vans. I was in the same van as the day before andthe driver played some of the same callywood music, which was a hit again withthe little kids dancing in their seats and isles.

Once at the zoo, Stephenhad us pair up and counted everyone to make sure we were all set. Plastic bags are not allowed into thezoo. At the entrance there’s a tablewhere people open their knapsacks and rewrap their plastic bagged items withnewspaper. I saw this as a step in theright direction towards keeping the park clean, I just wonder where the plasticbags are trashed, probably on the street just outside the zoo.

The zoo was huge in sizeand tiny in quantity of animals. The zoowas crowded with spectators as everyone seemed to be taking advantage of theholiday from school. This didn’t seem tobe an issue for the children; they loved it! The best part of the trip to the zoo was watching the kid’s excitementas they encountered the zoo animals. They were eager to point “Sister, sister, look!” It was hard to havemoment to take a proper picture because I had two girls who clung to me likeleaches. We saw monkeys, ducks, birdsdeer and even chickens on display. I wassurprised in how excited the kids were to see deer. We can’t get rid of the quick enough backhome.

Having come off of the“Girls Night” at SEAM, we could tell that the girls displayed moreconfidence. We saw them all smile widegrins and each of them cling to one of the female volunteers throughout thetrip. We saw this as a huge accomplishment,as two days prior; we had a hard time getting a smile out of a few of thesegirls. The girls just needed a littlebit of special love and attention; that was all.

Us volunteers were the onlyforeigners at the Zoo and at times I felt like we were and animal of sorts ondisplay. There were several people whosnapped our pictures and wanted to be in pictures with us.

We found a spot under ashelter to break for lunch. We hadlunches packed of rice and potatoes and a hard-boiled egg with an ice creamtreat to follow. We continued on to seethe tiger, lion, giraffe, elephant, snakes and white tiger. We stopped once every thirty minutes or so tomake sure everyone was still together and I’m relieved to say no one ever wentmissing. Once we had seen all of theanimals we were beyond exhausted and loaded the vans for the return journeyhome.

Joelle met us at SEAM, (shehad opted out of the zoo in order to spend her last day with the kids at Assisi) to say hergood-byes. This was her fourth trip to India withGlobal Volunteers. She has grown to lovethese children and it is clear that they love her in return. I watched her say her good-byes and reflectedon how thankful I was to have her as my real auntie.

Katie

Tuesday,December 27, 2011

Thegreatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everydaythings as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing isso familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson

Chris Katie and all headed to seams to get on thebus with the older kids from seams. The minute we got on the bus everyone wasjumping up and down because they thought the bus was so cool. You could tell itwas a big treat for these kids. After we too off the driver pit on Indian Dancemusic and everybody in the bus got out of their seats and started dancing. Thenwe got to the mountain and encountered monkeys. These ones went so nice. Theygrowled. I thought the hike was absolutely amazing you climbed up stone stepsand wandered through old temples and ruins that might of been a thousand yearsold I'm not sure.and at the way top wasan amazing view. It was very tiring and hot and everybody was successful. Afterat hike I realized I need to save up for backpacking this summer. Mountains aredifferent all over the world. When we got down we saw a banyan tree and me andall the kids swung on the roots like in the Tarzan movie. Then we went to eat lunch in a grass field in front of abeautiful temple. It was very picturesque. Then we took off and when I thoughtwe were heading back we parked at the next mountain and I thought maybe Chrisor katie wanted to take a photo but then Stephen said we were hiking this onetoo. So we started to head up and everyone was very exhausted. But once we gotto the top of the mountIn we climbed onto of the ruins and all dance tobeyonce. The older boys at seems love to dance. Then we headed back to chennaiand to seems. Joelle katie Kerri,Ginni and marry decided to have a girls night.It was a terrific idea. Normally the girls keep to themselves and do not playgames. But once they get away from the boys apparently they all seem to have amore fun. Joelle said they did manicures massages and made a butterfly craft.All the girls had a great time I hope that the girls night carries on as atradition with the next teams that come here. Then me and Joelle walked back fromseams and talked about my future plans and not to stress about it. At home wehad a nice meal and talked about our day together. The group gets along nicely.Everyday here in India has had many surprises

William

2011-12-26T12:20:00.001+05:30

ChristmasDay – Sunday, December 25, 2011

A Long View – One Volunteer’s Perspective

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The fish only knows that it lives in waterafter it is already on the river bank. Without our awareness of another world out there it would never occur tous to change. (Author unknown, butcontributed by a former student)

Coming to India on my 4^thGlobal Volunteers trip has been a real privilege - in spite of the long flight, unceasingmosquitoes, and not being able to spend enough time with “My Little Heart,Augustine.”

This dedicated group ofvolunteers is enthusiastic, supportive, and striving to make the world a betterplace, so simply put in one of our team goals: To Make a PositiveDifference. Little actions have bigconsequences. Unfortunately, in a brief,two-week encounter with children whose smiles can light our world, we do wonderwho is changed more, the children or ourselves. Over the past few days I have pondered this thought as we hope to make apositive impact on the children’s lives at SEAMs, our main work project thisyear. In hopes of teaching the childrengood hygiene practices and clothing care we discussed how likely is it thatthese lessons will be learned. Thescripture passage that talks about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, andPeter requests, not only wash my feet, but my hands and head as well…. – Jesusreturns, “to those who have bathed, there is no further need for cleaning, butthe feet….” Strange, but I never fully grasped the meaning of those words untilthis forth time to Chennai and feel that as I prepare to leave this week, I will carry with me residual citystreet dust on my own feet all the way home to Minnesota. So, how is it possible for these little onesto cross a dirt courtyard, five feet from their bedroom door and be expected tobed with clean feet? I think about thesethings and our two worlds but know the children were proud to show us theycould thoroughly and properly wash themselves. It all matters.

So it may seem that Will’ssong about teaching the parts of a tree to students at Grace School, playing“clothing Bingo” as the volunteers attempted to bring organize and inventorythe boy’s clothing at SEAMs, singing the Lollipop song for the 100^thtime, or Katie planning and executing the picture board in the guest house ofphotos, names and family pairs of SEAMs children are insignificant acts ofkindness. Yet, all may be but a singlegrain of rice in the dish of vegetable biryani. Each grain is necessary to create a delectable feast. So today, dear volunteers, those of youembarking on your first India Global, I offer this as my Christmas Hope for you– Your action, your grain does matter.

I now see a dormitory wherefive years ago none stood - could be a room and a bed or a palace to thesechildren.

I see children thriving,happy, and learning. ConversationalEnglish is taking root and students could enjoy reading their letters from mystudents.

I hear sweet heavenly musicsung for only my ears to hear as Sunitha sings a lullaby in Tamil; she hastrusted me as “a friend.”

I watch the children ofSEAMs work together and play together better before. The Christmas program extravaganza “SUPER” –“PERFECTO” – complete with stagecurtains, props, set-design, make-up, directors, actors, performers, singers,comedy, stuntmen, lighting changes, special effects, song and dance and (John) a precocious Santa weaving his magicthroughout. I’m convinced no traditionalIndian dance in Chennai could have been more entertaining or performed with asmuch heart.

I know that I’m rememberedfrom past years by songs and rhymes and dances and hugs, because they have beenheaped on me in abundant joy and these little ones continue to remind me whatit was that I had forgotten I taught them in past years.

I see healthy arms and legswhich once displayed gaping wounds and infections. To see less illness is truly wonderful.

I see Stephen and Sheeba sodedicated to doing the right thing and knowing how to set priorities for thework and improvement of the children’s lives and I continue to marvel at theirwisdom and dedication. I respectStephen’s juggling ability for keeping the program in flight….. Of schedules,desires, transportation, food requests, outings, events, dance parties, weekendtravel excursions, so patiently without skipping a beat. Sheeba is the co-pilot of the craft and well,Roshan, sometimes the host and sometimes the rowdy passenger about to be throwoff the plane - all make for a marvelous adventure.

I see in my niece, someonewhom I highly respect for sharing her love, her heart, her life with thesechildren who mean so much to me. She hasbeen my delight on this trip.

And I see a small boy, whothinks that in this world “he is my child”,…..the son of mother with no childrenof her own. It is a tie that binds anAunty to her “monkey boy!”

So much had been done in soshort a time – because of your love and dedication to the children of

India

I offer this only as onevolunteer’s view mindful that the God of Abraham, and Muslims, the Gods ofHindus and a Christmas God named Emmanuel have the ultimate view – but I’m sureGod would say, IT ALL MATTERS AND IT’S ALL GOOD.

Merry Christmas Everyone,

Love JOYelle - my perfect seasonal name! (Joelle)

Joelle

Thursday, December 22, 2011

QUOTE OF THEDAY: “What you give ought to be indirect relationship to what you’ve received. If you have been blessedwith a great deal, then you have a lot of giving to do.” - JohnnettaB. Cole

We met, as we always do, at8:30AM for breakfast and conversation. I’m used to eating most meals alone on the run back home, so mealtimetogether is a treat, it reminds me of life growing up with seven people in myfamily, there is never a shortage of thing to talk about. After planning outthe day’s schedule we divided onto our different tasks.

Will and Ginny headed of tohelp the teachers at GRACE. They havecome to have an appreciation for grade school teacher; it’s tiring work!

Mary and Kerry joinedStephen Sheeba and Roshan to shop for some essentionals for the SEAM kids. Their list included towels, underwear, soapcases, shampoo and cleaning supplies. They shopped at a local store that was without electricity; thestoreowner was leading them around with a candle. I have to think that we made thisstorekeepers week with the amount of inventory we purchased.

Joelle, Chris and I headedback to Assisi. Joelle was greeted at Assisi with the children ruining the surprisethat her special boy, Augustine would be home for lunch. This was terrific news and she’s been missinghim while he’s been at school taking exams all this week.

Our task at Assisi was to decoratefor Christmas. We created an assemblyline of sorts for the children to paint a Christmas tree, holly, flowers andbulbs. The kids stayed focused on thistask for well over an hour. We even hadSister Rose and Sister Matilda helping out too.

The three first gradersarrived before lunch and went about their routine of putting their bags away,changing out of their uniform and washing up for lunch. All attention was the Indian soap opera thatruns from 1-2PM. There is no point instriking up a conversation with the Sisters or the kids during this show; alleyes are on the TV where it seems that the same thing happens every episodewhere some Indian girl starts crying.

The afternoon at Assisi was spentrehearsing a dance to the Bruno Mars, Just the Way You Are song along withdancing to a few other tunes. These kidssure have great moves.

Mary stayed back to workdocumenting the inventory for SEAM on a professional looking spreadsheet andthe rest of us headed out to SEAM for our washday. After their chores were donethe kids linked up in a row with their toothbrush in hand. I distributed toothpaste on each kids brush anddid a demonstration on how to brush your teeth. We brushed for the duration of 3 ABC’s (which I have to admit is waylonger than I brush back home). Somekids had troubles keeping the paste from overflowing out of their mouth. Next was the washing demonstration let byWill. The kids were eager to followsuit, with some washing themselves three times over.

Our last activity at SEAMwas a special project that Joelle coordinated with her art students back in Minnesota. She had her students create a culture box ofthings that represented MN to share with the kids at SEAM, items included ahockey puck, teen magazine, baseball bat and pictures of snow. Each kid also received a letter written bythe students with a picture enclosed. Itwas fun to see the children’s reactions to the individual letters. The older boys loved getting pictures of theattractive teens. Some kids receivedadditional goodies including stickers and the prized possession of a $5 bill.We helped the younger kids read their letters; it was fun to share in theirexcitement.

Next was dinner atStephen’s parent’s house. The intentionwas for us to take auto rickshaws back to the guesthouse to freshen up beforeheading out to dinner. When Will and Chriswere missing at the guest house Stephen called their driver to find that hethought Stephen meant for him to drive them to his parent’s house and not theguest house. I can only imagine theconcern that Chris and Will had when the 5 minute drive turned into a 30 minuteone. I’m sure they were put at ease whenthey were greeted by Stephen’s mom and her beautiful smile.

We agreed that dinner atStephen’s parents was our best meal yet. Chicken briyani, raita, aloo mattar, appalam, vada, complete with ricepudding. Since it’s the holidays.Stephen’s sister and her family where in town on their annual visit. We were also able to meet Little Stephen’s10-month-old daughter Jaclyn. After ourmeal, we took a tour of the neighborhood to pay a visit to Stephen’s relativeswho live nearby. We visited LittleStephen, Rani, our cook along and Stephen’s aunt. Stephen’s cousin was homewith her youngest child, a 3-month-old baby; Ginny had the opportunity toattend this cousin’s wedding when she was here four years ago on her firstGlobal Volunteers trip. Ginny was quickto hold the baby and was busy signing her songs until she realized that thebaby wasn’t wearing a diaper or anything on her bottom for that matter. Ginny quickly said, “Take it back” and hergrandmother quickly took the baby and put some sort of covering over thechild’s bottom before returning her back to Ginny. We said our goodbyes andheaded back to the guesthouse and called it a good day.

Katie

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Watch your thoughts: they become your words
Watch your words: they become your actions
Watch your actions: they become your habits
Watch your habits: they become your character
Watch your character: it becomes your destiny

Today was officially day three at our volunteer assignments and it felt reallygood. I think it was because we were more relaxed and the kids were becomingmore familiar to us which helped put us all at ease. Joelle, Chris and Icontinued the paper mâché project as Assisi, the kids are really good at it andat getting glue all over themselves and their clothes! Mary, Ginny and Willwent to the Grace School and were joined by Katie who made a special guestappearance. Steven brought some gifts that Ginny provided and the children weresurprised and delighted.

In the afternoon, Mary, Chris, Will and I went to visit St. Thomas Mountain (the site were Doubting Thomas one of the decibels of Jesus lived and was laterkilled). Meanwhile Joelle took a trip to the hospital when she had an allergicreaction to a mosquito bite and Katie went to Assisi. Fortunately, Joelle wasokay, she got a shot which made her a little dizzy so she went to bed for theremainder of the afternoon. She was amazed at how efficient yet cheap thehospital visit was, just 200 rupees (equivalent to 4 dollars) which includedbeing seen by the doctor and the medication. Funny how a trip to the hospitalin India is cheaper then most people's daily Starbucks latte.

This evening we went to SEAM and started the inventory of the boys clothes andpersonal hygiene products. It was a very different experience then doing thegirls...talk about chaos! Since there were so many boys as opposed to the girls(25 to be exact) Steven had them come to us so they all brought their trunks orduffle bag full of clothes to the courtyard and we counted how many pairs ofpants, shirts, underwear ( if any) that they had along with soap, toothbrush,comb, towel. To further complicate the task it seemed it was close to laundryday so we had to figure out a way to account for the dirty clothes which werein a community pile.

This is where it got fun: we gathered everyone into the prayer hall with theirtrunks and had them sit in rows and then had the community pile of dirtyclothes in the corner and then the 5 of us sat in chairs at the front of theroom facing them. We had two helpers Tamil and Anan who held up one article ofclothing at a time and the boys were supposed to claim what was theirs thenthey had to find which volunteer had their card with their name on it and makesure we checked off their article of clothing. It was kind of like BINGO"Who has a shirt for Suresh? " Who has a pair of pants forMukesh?"
Meanwhile Ginny kept the girls busy by reading and teaching them math.

About 45 minutes later we got through everything and it was time for a reward.Katie handed out pictures of each kid to them that she had taken a few daysbefore. They were so happy, Eziekel was very careful with his and put it in aclear plastic bag as one of his most prized possessions. Mary went around andtook pictures of the kids holding the pictures of themselves and they laughed.We played for a bit and then Steven had them line up again and everyone gotchocolate candy Mary had brought.

We left there around 7pm and headed to a local hotel for dinner. We had a greatmeal and recounted the fun we had with the kids.

It was a great day for all except maybe Joelle...

Kerry

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

QUOTE OF THE DAY: While we try to teach our children all aboutlife, Our children teach us what lifeis all about. -Angela Schwindt

We started out today with a bitmore confidence than yesterday. For themorning, Will, Ginny and I returned to Grace School. I think all three of us were a little betterprepared with activities for the children. I'd like to thank the authors of the Global Volunteers Manual; they expanded my children's song repertoirebeyond "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" by reminding me of such classics as"Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "Old McDonald'sFarm". I found that "ee-i-ee-i-oh" translates perfectlyinto Tamil. Our teamwork isstrengthening too. Will shared one of his successful classroom activities withGinny who used in her classroom today with equal success.

The other volunteers returnedto Assisi Illam. They enjoyed a birthdayparty for one of the children, Jasmine. They also embarked on what sounds like a rather sophisticated papermâché project with the children. Ihaven't seen the blueprints, but it seems to involve a large, sticky mess withballoons and paints. I'm anxious to see the result.

This afternoon, the whole teammet the SEAM children as they returned home from school. Joelle had created a list of essentials thateach girl and each dormitory room should have. We worked one-on-one with each girl to go through their belongings. We checked their clothes for tears, brokenzippers and missing buttons, and to see that they had clothes that fit. We also checked their personal hygieneproducts and cleaning supplies. Besideslearning what each girl needed, there were some unexpected benefits to theprocess. The girls enjoyed showing us their special Diiwali dresses and tryingon clothes to model for us. Girls everywhere love to dress up and look pretty,don't they? It was nice to see the girlssupporting each other, encouraging them to let go of clothes that they hadoutgrown or that were beyond repair. Wealso sensed the girls felt empowered making their own decisions about theirclothes. It was a good process all around.

While all this was going onwith the girls, it was haircut day for the boys. It was fun when they came up to us with theirfresh haircuts wanting their picturessnapped. We're going to tackle the boyswardrobe inventory tomorrow.

This evening, Joelle and Katieworked on a poster for the Guest House that has the picture and name of eachchild at SEAM. They did a wonderful jobon this. Learning their names has been astruggle for all of us. It means so muchto the children to be remembered by name as individuals. This poster will be a great asset not justfor us, but for all the volunteer teams here in the future.

Mary

Monday, December 19, 2011

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It’s the beginning of a great adventure” –Lou Reed

It’s the end of our firstofficial day of volunteering and I like the rest of my teammates am totallybeat. The day started off with yoga (forsome) and an excellent breakfast prepared by our cook Rani. During breakfast we discussed the plans forthe day. Then we broke off into separate groups with some going to Grace Schooland the others to Assisi Illam. I waspart of the group that went to Assisi Illam. We managed our way through a terrific traffic jam before arriving at Assisi. Upon arrival we were greeted by a group oflittle smiling faces. There was such joyin those smiles. We were introduced to Assisi’s matron, SisterRose, who welcomed us to this most impressive home. Amongst rows of meager thatched roof homes, Assisi stands modern,clean, and comfortable, and a true oasis for the children.

It’s remarkable howintelligent and articulate these children are, even by American standards. These are 3 and 4 year olds that caneffortlessly recite and write the alphabet and count to 100. I was impressed. After studying with the children, we had areally enjoyable playtime. George, avery precocious little boy was emphatic that his building blocks be stacked tohis specifications. I don’t recallhaving any idiosyncrasies at such a young age, but I probably did. Sister Rose offered each of the volunteers amysterious thick drink served in a tea cup. We looked at one another and said this is very good, at which SisterRose gave a wry smile and said “I know”. We finally discovered that this amazing substance was oatmeal. Yes, oatmeal. Funny how we’re so conditioned to expect something exotic that wecouldn’t conceive of anything as mundane as oatmeal.

Later in the afternoon bothgroups went to SEAMS and waited for the children who were making their way backfrom exams. Now THESE kids getexcited. If you’ve never volunteeredwith orphans, it’s difficult to prepare yourself for the onslaught of all thoselittle arms and hands reaching out for an affectionate embrace. My first dutyat SEAMS was to stand guard outside the boys’ dormitories and ensure that theywashed up, changed clothes, and cleaned their rooms. Initially, they were so overwhelmed by ourpresence that it was difficult to keep them on task. Several of them tried to drag me away from mypost to go play. I was amused by many ofthe boys ignoring the work at hand, who after making eye contact with meoffered up a sheepish smile and a lively dance.

We divided the children upfor 30 minute one-on-one tutoring sessions with each of the volunteers. I must admit that it was difficult to keep upwith their energy levels. By the end ofthe evening, after a spirited playtime, we headed back to the volunteer housevery, very tired. After a wonderful dinner,we discussed our favorite moments of the day and our most challenging moments. Although it’s only been 2 days, I can saythat we work well together as a team, a true collaboration amongst individualsthat have the utmost commitment to achieving common goals. I foresee the coming weeks to beexceptionally rewarding.

Chris

Sunday, December 18, 2011

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Everything issmall stuff.”

We began our day withbreakfast consisting of delicious scrambled eggs, steamed rice cakes withchutney, lots of tea or coffee at a very reasonable hour of 9AM. We began our orientation by establishing thegoals of our team followed by the objectives of our team and characteristics ofa good team. Raja described the schoolsor orphanages we would be working with this coming week. The schools are having exams this week so Iwon’t be working at St. Joseph’s school thistime but at Grace School and orphanage andat SEAMS. Raja explained otheractivities we would be involved with in the coming weeks such as free timeplans.

Our lunch began at 1 pm andconsisted of another great meal cooked by Rani. I remember he great t cooking the last time I was here four years agoand she didn’t disappoint me with a dish of eggplant, vegetable with rice andcoconut lemon chutney followed by fresh papaya.

After lunch we continuedour orientation. I will not be attendingthe Christmas party at SEAMS because my friend, Antony, has invited me to his house to sharetheir Catholic Christmas. I met Antony on my Elderhostel trip to southern India. He, like Raja, was sent by his travel companyon this trip. We had great fun with Antonyon the trip. I was so impressed with southern India that I decided to come backand explore more on my own. I started with Chennai doing my third GlobalVolunteer program here. Antony arranged mydomestic flights and a hotel in Goa. I met his wife, daughter, Rakshita, who wasthree at that time. Global Volunteershad accomplished my goal of establishing friendships with Indians including nowSheeba and Raja. We continuedorientation after lunch deciding what activities we would do during the week.The free-time coordinator is Katie, who has returned for her second time withher aunt. Obviously, she enjoys thesetrips and one saw later at SEAMS how the children loved her and Joelle. Waterand sewer pipes installed in the street have made walking on the streets aroundthe guesthouse especially in the dark risky for me since I like to look ateverything as I walk. So I got a ride back along with Joelle in athree wheeled taxi. The SEAMS childrenwere all happy to see us. I don’tremember any of the kids here but do remember how excited they were to meet us. We introduced ourselves to them and the onlyname I remember is John. The kids areushered into their r all purpose room, quickly seated and Raja o rather Roshan,passes out the Mint Chocolate chip gum. I was thinking of bringing Salt water taffy but decided against itbecause I know what it did to my teeth chewing it quickly. Soon the director of SEAMS appeared with hisspotless white pants and shirt wearing a Santa Claus hat. He danced very nicely and I was impressedwith his arm movements and graceful body movement. Soon, all of us were invited to accompany thekids to see where they slept. Next came the dancing in the all-purpose roomwith the kids. I haven’t had this muchexercise since coming to India. We say good bye to the children and I rideback.

Dinner is at a localrestaurant. Raja orders for us but weall have a say in what we will eat. Someof us ordered lassis (no mango ones but salty or sweet lassis available). Some of us have the sweet and sour chickensoup with coriander. Delicious. Spicycauliflower, paneer, tandoori chicken and of course my favorite Indian foodnaan bread in two flavors (butter and garlic). Will liked the spicy cauliflower but missed out on the lassi. As a former teacher one of my personal goalsis to get Will to TRY a banana and a LASSI.

We all walked back to theguesthouse including me. Everyonecrashed but I took my shower and was still not sleepy. So I came down stairs quietly, and just aboutfinished this journal when something flashed and I lost the entire journalpage. So hopefully I rememberedeverything.

Ginny

2011-11-22T16:27:00.001+05:30

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The morning session at Assisi Illam wasa lot easier today. We started off bysinging rhymes and songs, then read some books and colored. We learned that the key to quieting them downis coloring books and crayons. They alsowatched the Discovery Channel which featured a man having his hands bitten byvenomous ants and a 600 lb woman. Thechildren were riveted and I was freaked out. At the Grace School, both of myclasses need to learn the difference between nouns and verbs and basic sentencestructure which is what we worked on. The 5^th graders insisted, as in days past, that we start offthe class by singing and dancing to “Love Me Do” by the Beatles which is theirfavorite. It is a challenge trying tokeep the children from talking to each other during class and to simplyfocus. At SEAMS, McKenzie and I eachworked with two girls for 30 minutes each. We found that their English skills are very basic so there is a lot forthem to learn. But, they are very eagerto learn, and such sweet kids. Thechildren at SEAMS are so welcoming and happy to see you that they make you feellike you are the most special person in the world. After our sessions at SEAMS, we went todowntown Chennai to watch a traditional dance performance. The music and dance were both veryinteresting – the dance moves seemed very complex with many facial expressionsbut did not seem to really follow the rhythm of the music. The music lulled us to sleep so after 45minutes we decided to head back to the guesthouse.

Zora

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

After day 1 things became a lot clearer about what we should bedoing. We played ring around the rosyand hokey pokey with the children from Assisi Illiam and they seemed to enjoythat. Some of the children just stood in the group and watched. Once theystarted loosing interest, we pulled out the books. It kept them entertained for a while and theywere even asking what some of the pictures were. When the throwing of books andyelling and running started to happen we decided we would try a new game. Itwas a failed attempt. We learned that once the books and toys are out, all wecan really do is keep them from fighting and using the toys as weapons. Zora’s spinning was once again a hit, and Ifinally go the shyest boy in class to come play and smile. I would call it a pretty successful day atAssisi Illiam.

Thechildren at Grace School were just asenergetic as ever. I started really listening to what they were saying and howthey were saying it, and I realized that they have somewhat good vocabulary,but what the second and third graders really lack is using complete sentences.I had to change my whole lesson plan around and I have set a new goal for thosestudents. For discovering weak areas, I would call it a success at Grace Schoolas well.

When we gotto Seam’s they were having a birthday party for a young shild in theneighborhood. We had some cake and sang and had a good time. Then Zora and I went off to do one on onesessions with the children. We only had time for one round, and I worked withRamish. He is the sweetest boy and has a contagious smile. It was difficult to know where to start withhim. I asked him questions and he didn’t seem to really understand, then Iasked him to read a simple book, and he didn’t do so well with that either, sofor the remainder of the time we went over sounds, and what words had thatsound in them. I think he became less nervous, and felt more comfortablebecause he stared doing better and better.

Right after Seams we went into the city to goshopping! After that trip I can say I am truly grateful for laws of the road inAmerica. Sheeba helped us pick out some beautifulfabric for saris, and we got a chudidhar as well. It was a lot of fun.

All in all,it was a pretty awesome day.

Kenzie

Monday, November 14, 2011

After breakfast we headed to AssisiIllam armed with boos and flash acards for our first day with the littleones. We met Sister Rose and SisterMatilda who gave us a tour of the facility and children’s rooms. The children sang the ABC song for us andafter candy was passed out (it was Children’s Day) play time began. McKenzie and I each brought out books whichonly held the children’s attention for so long. The children were captivated by McKenzie’s camera and loved having theirpictures taken. I got my exercise byspinning children around and playing tag. We then headed to the guesthouse for lunch and afterwards went to the Grace School.I worked with the 4^th and 5^th graders while McKenzieworked with the 2^nd and 3^rd graders. I found that the children were more advancedin their English than I expected. Thestudents were eager to speak English and demonstrate what they knew. The 5^th graders enjoy singingsongs. In the evening we went to SEAMSwhere the children participated in a drawing contest of which McKenzie and Iwere the judges. The children were verycreative and some quite talented. Agroup of local women brought treats for Children’s Day and played games withthe children in which we were asked to participate. It was a fun day with the children. They are so happy to see us and their smileswarm your heart.

Zora

Sunday, November 13, 2011

It was our first day as a team. Zora, a long time lawyer from Chicago who hastravelled a lot, but first time to India, McKenzie (myself), a massagetherapist from Salt Lake City, young and ready to start her travellingrepertoire, and of course Stephanraja our team leader. Not to mention hisbeautiful wife Sheeba and adorable son Roshan.

We had ourfirst morning meeting and I don’t think Zora nor I knew quite what toexpect. This is both of our first timeswith Global Volunteers, and I must say, it has been a great one thus far. We wrote our goals and came up with 15characteristics of a successful team. Ibelieve some of those were repeating others, but we just wanted to fill theboard with exquisite answers. Our goals included learning about Indian Culture,giving to the community, making progress with the children as far as educationgoes, and using our abilities and gifts to serve those around us.

After oursuccessful meeting, Zora and I wanted to take a walk to get to know oursurroundings. It just so happened thatStephan needed to take back some clothes for Rosha and get some new ones, so wedecided to tag along. We knew we wouldn’t get lost that way. We dared the busychaotic streets as we ran across them, and Zora found a nice friend who wasinsisting Zora to buy cotton swabs from her. We returned the clothes and soaked in all of the unbelievable sights ofPorur, Chennai, such as half demolished buildings, cows everywhere, and amazingcolors of clothing worn by the Chennai women.

When we gotback we ate a wonderful lunch made by Sheeba and went and took a very longpower nap. Eleven and a half hours of adifference in time is not easy to overcome.

We thenwent and met the children at the Seams home. The welcome we received when arriving is one I will never forget. Children ran up to us with the largestsmiles. They were hugging us and putting their arms around us and holding ourhands. They were all saying “hello, how are you” then tell us their names. Itwas overwhelming but so incredibly amazing. They led us to the front of the room where there was two seats, thereluctantly went and sat in front of us. You could tell they were dying toplay. They then sang a song to us and Ifelt as if I would cry! I was debating on which sweet child I was going tostuff in my suitcase and take home with me. They did an amazing job at welcoming us. I thought I was the most special person in the world at that moment.

After theyall introduced themselves individually, they sang another song then Stephanselected a few to show us their rooms. They gave us a thorough tour of everydorm and the bathroom inside. The dorms were decent, probably credited toGlobal Volunteers, but it was just heart breaking to think that they had tolive there with no parents of the constant individual care they alldeserve. These children need all thelove they can get, and I am so proud to be able to give it to them for a shorttime.

Thesechildren are just to die for. Their joy and energy can fill a room in a second.They were just being kids, but their emanating sweet spirits told you they aremuch more than that.

The timecame all too soon that we had to leave. It would have been very pleasantfarewell they gave us, if I wasn’t sad we had to leave. They taught me how tosay “I’ll see you tomorrow” in Tamil, then were on our way.

Their excitement and enthusiasmrubbed off on me and had me leaving with a large smile and a high ofself-esteem. These children really are spectacular.

We thenwent out for dinner and enjoyed a wonderful meal from Kaaraikudi, a Chettinadrestaurant, and returned to the guest house practically falling over ourselveswith exhaust. We retired immediately tobed and had a good nights sleep, dreaming of the adventures that would beawaiting us the following day.

Kenzie

2011-11-07T21:09:00.001+05:30

Friday November 4, 2011

“All religions, artsand sciences are the branches of same tree” Einstein

Today is our last day so we started with heavy heart as wehave been getting used to the people here and now we have to leave.

I went to Grace School as usual to teachthe 3, 4 and 5^th grade classes. They were aware that this was mylast day so they kept on asking when I will come back. I mixed the English andArithmetic teaching with stretching exercises and some singing to break themonotony. It was hard to say goodbye to the students and the teachers as theywere so nice to us. The students and teachers gave us letters expressing theirthanks to us for being there and asking if we will be back. Eileen and Sheriehad gone to Assisito work with the young children there and said their goodbyes to them. In theafternoon Eileen & Sherie visited the Grace Schoolto do their last teaching classes there. They also received many letters fromthe students expressing there love for them and wanting them to come back nextyear. It was genuine expressions of gratitude by them.

In the afternoon we made our usual visit to the SEAMorphanage, where we did not teach, but have them play games in the courtyard.It was fun to watch them play and watch their enthusiasms for the games. Theyplayed two Indian games- Kabaddi and Koko, which are not common outside India, so weenjoyed learning them. It was again sad to say goodbye to them also. They performedsome songs for us and we even joined them in some dances.

After a great dinner at a restaurant nearby, our day wasover.

As we finished our two weeks here all of us felt that it wasa great experience in more ways than one. It was a good teamwork with goodleadership from our local host. We hope we made some difference in the lives ofthese children and adults with whom we interacted.

Shankha

Thursday November 3, 2011

Life is too deep for words,

Don’t try to describe it.
Just live it. - Unknown

Only one day left, how can this be.

We left for our morning work with showers still in the airand very slippery mud on the road. Shankha was happy again with his students at GraceSchool and later joined Sherrie and meat Assisi. We had a very busy morning with fourteendaycare children who were enjoying some of the new books we got at the storethe other night. Some of them are reallytrying to make English sounds. Thesisters had invited us to stay for lunch today which was a south Indian feast.

In the afternoon we headed to Grace Schooland continued our English conversation with the students. I can maybe see some improvement in thefourth and fifth grade even in this short bit of time.

We spent time again at SEAMS this evening. The children there really thrive on the oneto one attention that is really lacking in their lives. Tomorrow evening I begin my three plane tripback to Boston. An unforgettable experience here in Chennai.

Eileen

Wednesday November 2 ,2011

We must recognize that the suffering of one person or onenation is the suffering of humanity. That the happiness of one person or nation is the happiness of humanity. - Dalai Lama

Because of the heavy rains there is no school for thechildren at the Assisiorphanage. That means we have a biggerjob with more children and a lot more energy. We did coloring, stories, songs and some one-on-one reading. Stephen (Raja) organized a ball toss gamewhich everyone enjoyed.

Grace school was in session today so we had our normalschedule there and we attended Seams as usual later in the day.

The big event of the evening was going to Stephens parentshome for dinner. Stephens’s warm and graciousparents served a delicious dinner.

Sherie

Tuesday November 1, 2011

“If you can, helpothers; if you cannot do that at least do not harm others” Dalai Lama

As usual after a great breakfast we were off to our tasks. Iwent to teach the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th graders atthe Grace School. I started with the 3^rdgraders with English, followed by more English for the 4^th gradersand finished the morning with the 5^th grade arithmetic lessons. Igave them some simple problems to solve and it was fun to see who finishes itfirst. We are doing some stretching exercises before the start in all myclasses.

Sheri and Eileen went to Assisi for the usual work with the kidsthere. Today Carlos had joined us also for our rounds. They loved him at theGrace school as he plays with them a lot.

In the afternoon Sheri & Eileen went to Grace Schooland they had prepared themselves more to be even more efficient. Carlosaccompanied them also. They were happy by their interactions there.

We went to Seam a bit early as we had some engagements laterin the evening. I had three kids to teach in the hour that I had there. Igrilled them with right pronunciations and phonics. One of the new childrenneeded more help than others. A new student (a girl) was quite good at reading.Sheri and Eileen also have been trying their best to get points across so thatthe pronunciations of the students get better. We had to cut our visit short asI had to leave for a dinner engagement and others were going for shopping. Ourroads near the Guest House are getting rougher as the rains damage the surface,but we are managing to get in and out somehow. Stephen is doing a great job oftransporting us all over the place.

Shankha

2011-11-01T10:08:00.001+05:30

Monday October 31, 2011

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is amiracle, you can live as if everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein”

Week two begins. Raining again as Shankha headed off to the Grace Schoolthis morning. He really enjoys his timethere with the students as well as helping the teachers with their English.

Sherie and I went to Assisi. Soon after we arrived we went with one of thesisters to St. Thomas Hospital to meet with Sr. Rexline, the medicaldirector and head of Assisiand many social programs for women and children in the area. She is a tiny, very energetic woman who hasbuilt a very impressive program over the past thirty five years. She lives in asingle room at the hospital and is on call for the patients day and night. We met with two of the doctors and toured thepediatric ward. There were a couple ofchildren who were just going home after suffering fire cracker burns over theDevali holiday.

In the afternoon Sheri and I continued our classes with thefirst through fourth graders at Grace School. The children are quite receptive and theirskills are quite good. Today I had themmake as many small words from large words and they were pleased to get nearlytwenty. They had to spell and pronouncethe word with the class.

Tonight at SEAMS we met with students we had not worked withduring the first week. They just love to look at the books and sit quietly onthe bunks while we are working with an individual student. The day went quickly.

The monsoon rains and drainage problem have caused the roadoutside the guesthouse to collapse in a number of spots with deep holes. Steven now meets us at the corner but the wayis made a bit drier with dried palm branches to ease the way.

Eileen

Friday - October 28, 2011

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands inmoments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challengeand controversy.” Martin Luther King Jr.

The cyclone missed us, the holiday is over and we are backto our regular schedule.

Eileen and I went to Assisifacility in the morning and interacted with the day care children for an hourand then we helped with ironing, mending and folding clothes, which had piledup because of the rain.

Shankha spent the morning at Grace school where he trulyenjoys teaching 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade. Healso spent some time conversing with the teachers.

After lunch, Eileen and I went to the Grace school. I felt more prepared this time but thethirteen 1^st graders are a challenge. My four 2^nd grade girls are eager to learn and a real joy.

We picked up the energetic, smiling, Roshan, Stephen and Sheeba’s son, at hiskindergarten. This private school withspacious grounds, is K-12^th grade with approximately 1000 studentsand more on a waiting list.

We later, continued our daily work at the Seam Home.

Sherie

Thursday – October 27, 2011

“The best way to cheeryourself up is to cheer somebody else” – Mark Twain

We were getting ready to do our usual routine in the morningbut Stephen informed us that the school classes had been called off in Chenaidue to a Cyclone that was heading this way. We were disappointed but we had tochange our plans and I went to Assisi Orphanage with other volunteers as thehome children would be there and need help. The rains have been fairly regularso the roads are still a bit difficult but our driver Stephen has been doingwell to get us wherever we want to go. There were many children at theorphanage. We worked one on one with a child to help their Englishcomprehension. Later we got them busy doing some coloring which they like a lotand then played some games with them.

After lunch we went shopping downtown at the Governmentowned Cottage Industries store. It was a good place to get Indian products ofgood quality.

The last activity was our usual stop at the Seam Orphanagewhere we teach individually students English reading and spelling. As mentionedearlier these kids really need attention to improve their reading skills. Wetried our best to have them pronounce words correctly and read simple sentenceswithout coaching.

Shankha

Wednesday - October 26, 2011

“I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts thenthere is no hurt, only more love. “ Mother Teresa

Deepavali, Chennai 2011

Well the firecrackers started before four in the morning tomake the most celebrated Indian holiday. Neither monsoon rains, deeply muddiedroads or endless exploding fireworks in the path of the Tata could keep us fromour assignments for Global today.

At Assisithere were no daycare children as they were home with their families. Howeverthe center was teeming with excitement as we arrived to nearly all of thechildren who reside there setting off fireworks in the street andcourtyard. Even the small ones weresetting off sparklers with their own smoldering lighters. Truly a scene we would not see in America. Oncethe explosions were over and without any obvious injuries we worked with theschool age children with reading, English pronunciation and songs. They were very enthusiastic. Some of the children are from homelessfamilies and some are survivors of the past Tsunami several years back. The work of the center is truly a humblingexperience.

At SEAMS this afternoon, each child had a separate newoutfit and were very pleased to show us. No two shirts or dresses the same. Everyone was special. Wecontinued to help them with their reading skills which are really veryelementary. Using basic flash cards andvery easy reading books and lots of praise for small accomplishments seems tobe the way to go. The children greet usas soon as we arrive and are really eager to work with someone just tothemselves. The ride back to the guest house was harrowing with live fireworks being set off right in front of the car but as usual Stephen ourdriver was determined to get us through so we could have dinner and prepare thenext day’s lessons.

Eileen

Tuesday - October 25, 2011

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in theservice of others” Mahatma Ghandhi

‘It’s raining-it’s pouring’ Today we woke up to a downpourbut because of our efficient driver, Stephen (Stephen/Raja brother) we wereable to go to the Assisifacility. We were better prepared with more books andcrayons for coloring but to our surprise there were only three childrenattending the day care. Because of theDewahli holiday on the 26^th, many families had other plans. It actually turned out nicely in that wecould give special attention to Karthick, Rickshan and Sherin and get to knowthem better. Sherin we decided was avery good manager, as she directed Eileen to color her fish picture with specific colors.

We had some free time in the afternoon since the Grace Schoolwas closed for the holiday.

In the late afternoon we went to the Seam Home, to workindividually with the children. We feltwe were better prepared since we had some of the same children and we hadbrought materials which met their level. The children were very excited fortomorrows holiday when they can wear their new clothes bought for them from thecommunity.

Sherie

Monday – October 24, 2011

“Life is like abicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving”

After a delicious breakfast we wenton our separate ways to our respective work.

I went to the Grace school which is a primary school from KGto 5^th grade. It is a small school with about 60 students. I met thePrincipal and the teachers and toured the classes where I was greeted in unisonwith a loud remark-Good morning. I was assigned the grades 3, 4 and 5. I taughtEnglish using their textbook to the 3^rd grade first. We practicedreading in simple sentences and asked each student to spell out words. I also questionedthem about words that they read and asked them to use these in sentences. Itwas a joy to teach these bright kids. Next I had the 4^th grade kids.There were only 4 students today. Again it was English lessons and I used theirtextbook to go over some pages that they already had studied. It was fun to seestudents trying to answer out of turn and trying to help the one on the spot.

After a 15 min break I went to teach arithmetic to 5^thgrade class. There were six students and one was supposedly absent. They had notextbook so we practiced simple additions, subtractions, multiplications anddivisions. Some of them were quite adept at these exercises and would answer meeven though it was not their turn, so eager and wanting applause. They didlisten to my requests and were well mannered. It was a fun morning. I alsospent some time with teachers as they wanted to speak better English. Weexchanged our life histories and our family details. Not surprisingly theirultimate goal was to be a good teacher,

Sheri and Eileen visited in themorning the Assisi Illam which is a daycare facility. They were dealing with2-4 yr old kids. They liked the experience a lot as the children were lovablebut Sheri described it as a “challenging” task. They read books to them andsang songs to them. In future coloring of books may be a regular task for them.

Raja suggested that we should have 4 or 5 half houractivities for these kids to keep them busy, such as book reading, songs,physical activities like playing ball, etc., coloring books and maybe practicealphabets on the wall blackboard. He also suggested that we should take breaksonce in a while.

In the afternoon (after lunch) Sheri and Eileen went to the Grace School.Eileen was involved with the 3,4 and 5^th grades and Sheri handledthe 1^st and 2^ndgrades. Eileen found them to be quite competent in math; she read passages fromtheir text books and played a language game with them. In Sheri’s first gradeclass the teacher was also present which was a bit unsettling to her as oftenwhen she asked questions, the teacher would let the class know the answer andthe class chimed the answer in unison. She also had songs in the class whosewords she wrote on the board. Her 2^nd grade class had only 3students so she could manage them well. They were quite bright and didcommunicate more.

Later we all visited The Seam Children’s Home which is ahome for poor and orphaned children. We had been there the evening before andseen their enthusiasm toward us. We each had a child to go over individuallysome practice in English reading. It was clear that these children did not havethe competence to read simple words from lessons that they already had goneover. They need lot more practice in reading. They are understaffed at thisplace so the help that Global Volunteers provide can be of great help inremedying their English.

It was a rewarding and memorable day for all of us.

Shankha

Sunday - October 23, 2011

Orientation Day

"If we are to come togetherin peace, we must come to know each other better." Lyndon Johnson

Our team of three, Sheri,Shankha and myself under the kind and very informative Stephan had our day oforientation beginning with breakfast. Stephen introduced us to the projectsthat the volunteers currently participate including the SEAMS Children’s Home,Assisi Illam and the Grace School.

Stephan helped us to formulateteam goals for the week to focus on helping the children learn better Englishskills as well as gaining a better understanding of the Tamil culture of South India. We reviewed the schedule for the week whichwill involve working at three community projects with children from age two totwenty. We know that we serve as theguests of the host.

We took a walk through town thisafternoon and met a number of families who were out with their children as itwas not a workday. The children werequite eager to have their photos taken. We practiced a few of the Tamil greetings Stephen shared with us in themorning.

This evening we walked to theSEAMS home and met the lively cheerful residents who were very eager toserenade us with local songs as well as to show off their dorm rooms. We promised to return nightly for morestories, conversation and games.

Stephen was ever so patient withour endless questions as we tried to absorb as much of the information of thisnew, busy bustling culture. After onlytwenty four hours it seems that this time will just fly by.

Eileen

2011-10-25T14:05:00.001+05:30

Thursday October 20, 2011

"How lucky are we, to have known someone who were so hard to say goodbyeto" - Anonymous

Last day in our program.

Garza and I started our day looking forward and grieving the goodbyes to come.Both of us prepared ourselves to say farewell to our students at Grace schooland the beloved children at SEAM. We were greeted at breakfast, by our teamleader, Raja, Sheeba his cheerful wife, our dear and fellow third volunteer,Jean, and little Mr. Roshan.

We finished our spiced Indian breakfast and readied ourselves to spend ourfinal morning at Grace. Stephen was waiting outside of our guesthouse in thesmall Tata, which had been our transport for almost twenty days. We arrived atthe school and the uniformed students were waiting for their foreign teachersto give out their last lesson and wisdom sharing. Instead of having the usualclass, we decided to have some healthy fun. Playing Simon says, I spy, guessthe drawing and handing out harmless chocolates to all of our pupils. Wereceived countless goodbye letters, which only brightened our day andexponentially increased the difficulty to say farewell. Garza and I were goingback after lunch so we told them we weren't parting ways just yet. We came backhome, and enjoyed our last lunch at Porur, where Jean told us about her greatand havocky morning with the toddlers at Assisi Illam.

Back at Grace school, Garza and I thanked all of the teachers, gifts andaddresses were exchanged, as well as handshakes and hugs of goodbye. As we werewalking out, the whole school alumni trapped us in a warm and tight hug, andeven thought it wasn’t hard to step outside of the school it was hard to leavetheir embrace. Their happiness and gratefulness was a mirror on us, as weshared their feelings of gratitude and knowing that we learnt as much form themas they had learnt from us.

The team re-gathered, and the Mexicans started to show the symptoms of a hardgoodbye, finding so difficult to detach to something so close, which grew on uson three so short weeks.

We took a deep breath before leaving to the South East Asia Mission, were weknew saying goodbye to our new little brothers was going to be heartbreaking.The evening started off, with the playful games that had come up in previousvisits, kabdi, the derivation of cricket, SEAM karate against the two young andenduring volunteers, tossing the little ones in mid air, and so many more. Thebell rung and the children lined up in front of us in their usual formation.The farewell ceremony was moving from the beginning, where they sang a coupleof sad toned songs, followed by some energetic dancing where we were invited tojoin and tried to imitate their Indian dancing. Both parties sat down, and twoof the youngest members of our now called family, handed Garza and me a thankyou letter with all of their names and some touching words. The end had come,so after a few tears, long hugs and words to remember we parted from SEAM,looking back over our shoulder to all of those faces who had marked our life.Even though we were sad to depart, we were proud to do so with a smile on ourfaces.

The last supper.

Our team, but what we can very trustfully call our friends, went for one lastdinner with all of its present members together. Jean wore her beautiful Indiandress, which gleamed white and contrasted with its black shapes, we reallydidn't expect such a fancy goodbye. We shared our thoughts, emotions andfeelings before our departure and thank yous went both ways. A pair so lucky tobe a part of this team.

I believe there is an equation that fits our meandering experience, whereattachment will equal how difficult it will be to say goodbye and let go. Allof those strong feelings which became a part of each one of us are exposed whenit's time to depart and say goodbye to those you grew so fond of. Today it wasthat time, and even though sadness was deep within us, we became part ofsomething greater than ourselves. With our spirit held high over giving thosein need a part of ourselves that will make a difference, small or great, but adifference nevertheless.

Carlos

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Wednesday, the middle of the week, but in terms of ourtenures here at Global Volunteers we are all on the short side. “G” and Carlos are flying on to other partsof India on Friday; I’mflying on to Kochion Saturday.

At the day care center this week, when no one was crying, Ilooked at the little ones as individuals – seeing their different personalitiesmirrored in the way they play (alone or with one other or in a group); notingtheir outfits (some of the girls dressed in sequins and puffy skirts and theboys in matching shirts and pants but others with smudges of dirt here andthere; some strong willed and able to fight their own battles while others needhelp (the little girl I have nicknamed “Tsunami” is one who doesn’t needhelp). With all of them thrown into asingle room, they are a fascinating mix.

The students at Grace, I sense, come from more similarbackgrounds. Their uniforms also givethem the appearance, at least, of a similarity. There is one student that stands out, however – a challenged girl. She is an older student in age but theyoungest of all in mental capabilities. Yet, at times she yearns to be included - at others, she is content toexplore in a way she understands. Surrounding her are very capable and enthusiastic students.

The kids at SEAM follow yet another pattern. Living as orphans or half-orphans in aninstitution set up for their well being, they are a big family – playingtogether, eating together, doing homework together. There is little space for an introvert, but Iknow to search in a quiet corner for Sweetie. She prefers to listen to music on the radio to watching TV; prefers toread to playing games. She worksstudiously at reading to me, apologizing when she makes a silly mistake.

Yes, there is always one that catches a special place in ourhearts but there are many we will remember for their enthusiasm, their energy,their motivation. I have dreams for allof them.

Here at the guesthouse we have our own mix, and “G” andCarlos who are in their third week here have witnessed changes in the teamweekly. We are a family too, sharingtime together at meals and as we go to our assignments together but alsofinding our refuges.

One of the most pleasant surprises for me has been to learnsomething about our neighboring country,

Mexico

, from the fellows. And, I feel so fortunate to have Raja and hisfamily help me to understand their country. Our three countries so different in our histories yet, in this globalworld, there are threads binding us together. When I leave Saturday, I will doso with a tremendous amount of awareness about

India

that will help me tounderstand the wider picture of this country over my travels in the next threeweeks.

Jean

Monday October 17, 2011

"happiness is only real when shared" - Alexander Supertramp

The team woke up to the first day of their last week at the Chennai program. Gand Jean were going to their respective duties, Garza and the former went to
Assisi Illam. I was exhausted after the weekend in the jungle and 28 hours onthe road with Stephen, so I missed breakfast and the morning activities. Islept in and was fully recovered by lunch. Grace school was inactive for theday as elections were taking place. Garza and Jean had a good morning playingwith the day care children as well as the orphans, who didn't go to school, atthe children's home.

During lunch, I told them about my adventures and they filled me in on whatwent on during the weekend at Porur.

After lunch, we all left for SEAM, where we started off with our individual andfond students. They practiced their reading, learnt some vocabulary, and Garzashared his knowledge in maths with multiplications. Some time after, G and myselfstarted a game with the children, where it was two mexicans against all, but westood our ground. It was a laughter full time, but we were more than tired whenit was time to go back home.

We had a lovely dinner and fell like logs on our pillows, as tiredness closedour heavy feeling eyes. Everyone slept and rested before another day of ourlast week began so cheerfully.

Carlos

Friday, October 14, 2011

Our team is undergoing a shift today with Carlos on a biggame hunt – sorry, a wildlife safari – and Charlotte on her way out – out ofthis volunteer stint with Global Volunteers, that is. Carlos is expected back on the job Monday; Charlotte, in the morning, will be off on an extendedadventure in

India

With Carlos out of the picture today and Steven as well,Raja and I go to Assisiin an autorickshaw. I use thisopportunity to get photo shoots of Cennai traffic as I want to show my friendsin D.C. that our beltway is nothing compared to this traffic.

The Assisikids miss Carlos’ physicality, and I am not as strong as he. Nevertheless, I try a few calisthenics withthe kids and manage to get a few smiles in return.

At Grace, I take a different approach with my youngestgroup, interacting with them in small groups. There is less bedlam even though there are always a number of studentson their own. However, maybe they werejust suffering from end-of-the-week blues.

At SEAM, the kids had an emotional send-off for Charlotte, giving her abeautifully designed card drawn by one of the fellows. Everyone had signed the card on theinside. Charlotte was quite moved and had anopportunity to express her gratitude to each of the kids as they shook handswith her. These kids are mannerly andrespectful. They also seem happy, a truetribute to the staff here.

For dinner we went to an restaurant to celebrate Charlotte’s contributionto the team. It is quite a nicerestaurant, and we all enjoyed our meals.

With the support of Raja and Sheeba, I had my first shoppingexperience in

India

. Particularly after seeing the fellows in thehandsome outfits they wore when Raja’s parents entertained us, I decided Iwanted to get an outfit too. I hateshopping, but this was an interesting experience. In the end ,I purchased material that I willhave tailor made. That will be anotheradventure, I am sure.

Raja has been most patient, guiding us through our variousvolunteer activities. But, he also isresponsive to our questions about his country’s history, culture, religions,etc. I have learned so much about hiscountry through him. In a sense, he ison duty 24 hours a day as we pop in and out of our assignments, in and out ofthe guesthouse for this or that. He isalways available – or his faithful partner Sheeba. And, if worse comes to worse, we haveRooshon.

Jeanne

ThursdayOctober 13, 2011

"The best way to cheer yourself is totry cheer somebody esle up" - Mark Twain

We woke up for our usual breakfast at eight thirty. Jean and Carlos were goingto Assisi Illam with the little day care children and I went to Grace school.There were some new kids at the daycare with Carlos and Jean, with someparticular girl who bit all of the other boys and made quite a few cry.

We came back to the guest house, where Raja and Sheeba werewaiting for us. Roshan was feeling a lot better and had the huge smile back.After lunch, Jean and Carlos went to teach their two classes at Grace school,where Esther, the principal, was a student in both of Carlos' classes. Theywalked back, this time without Barnabus, and got home safely.

In the afternoon Charlottewas feeling a lot better so we all left for SEAM. Raja, Carlos and I walkedthere while Charlotte and Jean went with Stephen. At SEAM, Jean taught the twoolder girls, Carlos helped his two students with their reading and I taughtthem multiplications. Charlottehad her prepared material with Rajeesh and even though they spent some timereviewing it, Rajeesh, unfortunately had to leave early.

We came back to the guest house for dinner, and afterwards we had the groupshots before Carlos was leaving at three in the morning and Charlotte after the weekend.

It was a great day, most of it because of the improvementwith the children we were teaching. Once again we look forward to our next dayin India.

Eugenio

2011-10-15T21:35:00.000+05:30

Wednesday October 12, 2011
"You can't shake hands with a clenched fist" - Indira Gandhi
It was a humid and relatively warmer morning in the beautiful district of Porur.Eugenio and I were late for breakfast as it had been settled from the beginningof the program; while Charlotte,Jean and Raja waited for the drowsy teenagers at the table. Not much was saidduring the early meal and we got ready for our daily volunteering. Garza andCharlotte headed to Grace School, Jean and I wentto Assisi Illam to take care of the toddlers. The morning at Assisi Illam wasbetter than those before, as the youngsters started to trust us a little bitmore and weren't that eager for their mothers to pick them up; it didn't,however, mute the noise of those crying looking at the gate waiting desperatelyto leave the children’s home and go home. Grace school for Garza and Charlottewas also great, as they were making progress with the students. Charlotte teaching fourthand fifth grade and Eugenio with the kindergardeans and second grade. Eugeniogifted a mentally challenged student with a coloring book and crayons which sheseemed almost too grateful for. We came back for lunch and Raja reminded us ofevening supper at his parent’s house. Jean and I left for Grace Schoolafter lunch, while Charlotte and Eugenio had a much deserved rest. Jean took afew students from one class to give them some wise teaching, while I, hadfourth and fifth forms again. We played a couple of learning goaled games, andbecause their behavior was not too horrid, I gave them some nutritious andcavity-causing chocolates. The principal also had a couple and seemed happierto receive them than the children. Barnabas was waiting with his habitualrusted bike at school's end and Jean and I walked with some of the students whowhere headed someplace with the same direction. The team re gathered at theguest house and we left towards SEAM. The volunteers had a shortened sessionwith their individual students, and left early to take a quick shower beforethe much expected supper. Eugenio and I dressed in the typical and fancy Indianway, wearing our respective Kurtas. Charlotte and Jean went via autoshaw toRajas parents home, and when we all arrived, we were welcomed by both hisfather and mother and Stephen's family. They proudly showed us their familyalbum, looking at the pictures mostly caused either awe or laughter among us,looking at our hosts in their baby forms, childhood and teenage years. The foodwas excellent, we could not have wished for something more delicious andextravagant. After dinner, they gave us a short tour of the house and Stephenshowed us his as well. A photo shoot took place and I had the opportunity to carryStephen's 7 month old daughter which was a great accomplishment after sheopenly had rejected Garza. The team had a lovely evening, we said goodbye toour top notch hosts and headed back home.

Our time in Chennai seems to go at the speed of light, as we have reached themiddle of the program, and it feels like we just arrived yesterday. We go tosleep waiting for and dreaming of another day filled with awesomeness.

Carlos

Tuesday October 11, 2011

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fishand he eats for a lifetime.

Today we reshuffled the deck slightly – G. and Charlottespent the morning at Grace Nursery and Primary School. G. worked with the younger and Charlotte continued withthe 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th standard classes. Carlos and Jean went to Assisi Illam for acouple of hours. Jean felt that spendingtime with the day care children at Assisi Illam was a better fit for her.

Rani, our cook, out did herself today. For lunch we had balloon bread, always a bighit, fried seasoned onions, and a chicken dish. Umm umm good.

Early in the afternoon Carlos and Jean spent some time atGrace Nursery and Primary School. Laterin the afternoon we all went to SEAM. Since the children are all back in school now, we each spent time withjust one or two students at a time. Shortly after Charlottestarted to work with Rajesh, his Mother arrived. I met her – she seemed like a lovely lady aswell as very appreciative. While Rajeshvisited with his Mother, Charlotteread with John until Rajesh was available again. Each Jean, Carlos, and G. was huddled with acouple of students all evening – the names and faces changingperiodically. Raja was directingtraffic. Some of the children were disappointed that Carlos and G. were notplaying cricket with them.

Back at the guest house once again, we enjoyed a deliciousdinner of vegetable/rice briyani served with a light yogurt and chopped redonion sauce. I must try that yogurt sauce when I return to my home. Raja treated us with I. C. for the bigD. We all enjoyed the treat.

Following dinner, Raja reviewed with us, our goals anddefinitions of an effective team. Overall we felt that we were achieving our goals – although Carlos saidthat he and G. could improve on punctuality…..we’ll see.

CharlotteMc

Monday October 10, 2011

I always have difficulty starting when I write. Where is that first sentence?

Writing about

India

presents an additionaldilemma because the country is overflowing – with people, cars, motorcycles,garbage. All of these are everywhere,and except for the garbage, all are in motion. With that motion, there is noise – of the vehicles. The people, on the other hand, are quiet,their movements slow but flowing smoothly. The people are colorful also with their shining black hair and theirenormous brown eyes. To these featuresthe women add their colorful saris.

At Global Volunteer’s guesthouse we are sampling alsoIndian’s cuisine. Actually, I chose tooverlook one dish when given the option, but others have introduced new andflavorful spices to my taste buds.

It has been a few years since I last participated in a GVprogram, and Raja’s attention to detail has reminded me of the heavy workloadthe on-site coordinators carry. Simplyhandling the varying personalities could provide enough stress to send thesemiracle workers in search of a bottle of Prozac.

Here we have the additional pleasure of Raja’s family – Sheba, hiswife, and Roshan, their 3-1/.2-year-old son. He reminds me of Levi, my youngest grandson, and Roshan’s constantchatter in his high, tiny voice brings a smile to my face.

We are a four-person team with “G” and Carlos tipping thesee saw between their youth and the senior status of Charlotte and myself. It is an interesting mix. I like their innocence yet theirsophistication, their inquisitive natures, their openness to newdiscoveries. For instance, they bothtried the bitter gourd, even though they don’t suffer from high blood pressure.

Yesterday, Charlotteand myself, introducing us to a few rock art sites south of Chennai. The carvings depict the major Hindu gods,with their guardians, in many different stances. These figures in themselves are fascinatingbut there also is the craft itself which is amazing. How were these craftsmen able to produce suchintricate works with such primitive tools?

After that day of sightseeing, I think we were all ready toget down to our responsibilities today. For me, on my first day, this Monday was jam packed with new faces, eachdifferent yet each with a wide smile. Inboth the school and then the orphanage in the evening, thee students werewelcoming, polite and bubbling over with enthusiasm. They are the students I am sure every teacherdreams of having in her classroom.

I have never participated in a volunteer experience where Idid not feel that I gained much more than I gave. I have no reason to believe this experiencein Cheenai, India, will be any different.

Jean

FridayOctober 7, 2011

“Things don’t have to change the world to be important.” - Steve jobs

We woke up as usual. Today’s activities were very similar to the whole weekbefore, we went to the Asssi Illam Day Care center. We started reading booksand playing with. After a while Carlos, Eugenio and charlotte where seated and had to listen tothe kids sing out load and had to point their body parts, we where veryimpressed that they where very shie when singing by themselves but in groupactivities are very loud. We left and time passed faster then usual. we hadlunch and took our very well deserved nap to go to the South East Asia Missionchildren's home. We left at 4:30 and they were all ready expecting us assalways Charlotte taught the students she had been teaching to and where learninga lot. Carlos and Eugenio worked with other younger students and when throwtheir English books. We left there at 6:00 because Charlotte wanted to go down town to see silkfabrics, and stores.. Everything was full eaves the streets, it was hard towalk without getting pushed or run over, but after all we had a great day. Andit was very interesting looking at all that. After a long while in the trafficwe arrived home safely and had dinner. had dinner and headed back to sleep

Eugenio

2011-10-07T15:21:00.000+05:30

Thursday October 6, 2011
"People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do" Lewis Cass
Another thrilling day at Porur as we reach the end of our workdays this week. We got off to a slow start in the morning as tiredness was beginning to pile up after a few days into our Program. Breakfast helped shake the sleepiness off and prepare to meet the everlasting energy children. They were already waiting for us, for their English lesson and their playtime with the merry volunteers. They were separated into groups once again; Charlotte taught her usual girls group, Eugenio got the littlest ones and Carlos worked with Satish and Isaac. After some time of good and healthy teaching, Sister Metilda called for a break were the children were served tea and was compulsory to finish it. A new boy arrived, who was joining day care, and everyone gathered around him and welcomed him to their home. Eugenio and Carlos played uncountable games with the little children while Charlotte went to a secluded room to keep imparting her teachings to those eager to keep learning. We came back to the house for lunch where the brave ones tried deep fried green chilly, which was very delicious and extremely spicy if you aren't either Indian or Mexican. The volunteers left to SEAM, and upon our arrival Raja told us that it was the wedding anniversary of the caretaker of the children's home and family guests where there to congratulate her. We met her family, a couple of very well English spoken girls and a young adult who where very kind to us. Charlotte taught her star student, John, who was making great progress and a somewhat difficult Kumar. Carlos and Eugenio worked with two of the older boys and they went on to their sporting activities, before daylight went away, there was the habitual cricket and afterwards they played kabadi, which is an Indian duel where one faces all. The mexicana were playfully tested and passed.

In the late evening, we went for dinner at a nice local restaurant instead of the House which was a nice routine change up. We had an interesting discussion on religion while little Roshan devoured his chicken lollypops. Raja and Carlos walked back home while the others took Stephens Tata.

We add another great day to our program in Chennai, and our expectations grow higher every day as we wait for the next one.

Carlos

Wednesday October 5, 2011

“Nine-tenths of education is encouragement”. - Anatole France

Following breakfast, Carlos read Monday’s journal before we went to Assisi Illam for the morning. Sheeba and Roshan joined us today at both facilities. Roshan really is in his glory with so many small children to play with. When we arrived, the children were drinking their morning nutritious beverage. Then the children were divided into groups. Charlotte had a small group – she helped the children with their reading, vocabulary and pronunciation. Carlos and G. each had larger groups. They played games, read and shared word books, and rough-housed with the children – they enjoy the energy of the young people so much.

We went back to the Guest House for lunch and an afternoon of rest and relaxation. About 4:40 PM, we are off to the SEAM facility. On the way, Carlos purchased some balls and cricket bats for the children. Again the children were very glad to see us. They were especially excited about the new balls and bats. Carlos and G. played ball with the children for awhile before they settled down to sharing word books.

We returned to the Guest House for a good meal and conversation. Stephen and Sheeba explained the caste system in India to us and some of the related history. India has seen so many changes in the past fifty plus years.

Charlotte Mc

Tuesday October 4, 2011

“it’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are” - Roy Disney

Today we gathered for breakfast in the morning, and Charlotte wasn't feeling very good because of the malaria medication, she decided it would be best to take the morning off so that she could feel better in the afternoon. The activities were very similar to the day before, but at the same time everything is different we went to the Asssi Illam Day Care center and found out that most of the children went to the hospital to get their identification card for the government. But with the children that were there we went throw a picture dictionary and a couple of short story books. We started playing, drawing, and making paper air plains. After a while Carlos and Eugenio where exhausted and the kids with rechargeable batteries had plenty of energy left. We left before they had launch and headed back home. The team met again for lunch and Charlotte was filling much better, we had lunch and look a nap to be ready for the South East Asia Mission children's home. We left at 4:30 and they were all ready expecting us.

Charlotte taught English to some very dedicated students, that were much more advance then what she thought, but that didn't stop her of doing a great job. Carlos and Eugenio played a cricket game with a lot of excitement. The kids are very good. After a very long day we returned to the guest house, exhausted but happy about our day, looking forward to go back tomorrow

Eugenio

Monday October 3, 2011
"The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring." - Oscar Wilde
We woke up to a cloudy morning but with a high temperature nevertheless. We had a small breakfast and were told the schedule for the day; in the morning, we were going to visit for the first time Assisimi Illam Day Care center, and after lunch we were going to the South East Asia Mission children's home for our second time. Raja's younger brother Stephen, gave us a lift in his Tata to the day care center. As soon as we arrived, the children rushed to greet us with a massive and beautiful smile stamped on their face. Most of the children were still quite young, most of them aging from 5 to 9 years. All of them were orphans, as the semi-orphans were away. We sat down and they introduced themselves, some better than others but all of them making a huge effort. Sister Rose introduced herself and gave us a short briefing regarding the day care center. Raja and her separated the children in three groups so that each volunteer would have his own group accordingly. We brought some books with pictures and basic words, they were very excited and with two children on our lap, one climbing on our back peeking over our shoulder and a last one trying to flip the pages we managed to teach them a little bit. After a little while, given their age and their short attention span, they lost interest in the books and engaged in running, jumping around and tugging two Mexican volunteers around. Charlotte, on the other hand, had a quiet and attentive circle of girls around her, listening to her wise words as she went through the books. During this time, Sister Metilda also introduced herself and welcomed us there. After a tiring two hours with the benevolent and radiantly happy children, we came back to the guest house for lunch. After satisfying our hungry stomachs and our appetites had vanished, we headed towards SEAM where we had been the previous day. The children were quick to say hello as we got there, we greeted them and got ready to teach. Charlotte, Eugenio and Carlos worked separately, each with one child or rather, student. We taught them some new words, basic spelling, sums, subtractions, went through some Dr.Seuss' books and read them a couple of stories. There was some sort of cricket game, with the principles of the game applied and distorted to fit their facilities and inventory, before we left. The children waved us goodbye with their faces of eagerness to our return.

It was a long day, tiring but full of joy on both sides. We look forward to our next day and meeting the little youngsters again, who are so in need of love and we should be there to provide it for them.

Carlos

Sunday October 2, 2011

“Travel teaches tolerance”

Vanakkam -

Following breakfast, Stephen led an Orientation Meeting. Each of us introduced ourselves. Stephen explained how he became involved with Global Volunteers, then each of us gave a brief bio. Both Carlos and G. are recent high school graduates from Mexico. They just finished a stint as Global Volunteers in Tanzania a couple of weeks ago. Carlos plans to go to China next month and work with Global Volunteers there. Charlotte has had a couple of volunteer experiences in the past with Global Volunteers - one in China and one in Italy.

The various Global Volunteer Projects in the Chennai area were reviewed and a general idea of a schedule. Since we are a small group of only three, we will only be spending time at three of the facilities – namely Assisi Illam, Grace Nursery and Primary School, and SEAM. Although we will be visiting the SEAM Children’s Home late Sunday afternoon, we go to Assisi Illam in the mornings. The daily schedule was reviewed and possible free time activities were discussed. As a group we developed a list of characteristics of an effective team – namely, share ourselves, learn as much as we can from the volunteer experience, enjoy and be happy during our volunteer experience. The Policies, Guidelines, and Philosophy of Global Volunteers were outlined. We were briefed on the 12 Essential Package of the United Nations and how the Global Volunteer organization is working with the United Nations and the individual Chennai projects to achieve the goals of the UN – basically to improve the nutrition, education and health of some of the world’s disadvantaged. Stephen also talked about the specific projects in Chennai that the Global Volunteers Organization had accomplished over the past eleven years.

After lunch and an afternoon rest/break, we all walked over to the SEAM facility. The children were very glad to see us. We each introduced ourselves to the children. They sat on the floor in a very orderly fashion. The children then welcomed us by singing two songs with great gusto. Carlos, G. and Charlotte sat in the front of the room and the children came up in turn and introduced themselves to us – their name, age and class. Charlotte was given a tour of the girls’ rooms and Carlos and G. toured the boys’ rooms. We all spent some time together outside with the children before we left to enjoy a delicious meal at an Indian restaurant in the neighborhood.

Charlotte

2011-08-06T12:24:00.000+05:30

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS 100TH TEAM CELEBRATIONS IN INDIA

Song by the little ones at Assisi Illam

2011-08-06T12:19:00.000+05:30

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS 100TH TEAM CELEBRATIONS IN INDIA

Dance by the kids from Assisi Illam

2011-08-06T11:53:00.000+05:30

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS 100TH TEAM CELEBRATIONS IN INDIA

Dance by the Children of Assisi Illam

2011-08-06T10:46:00.002+05:30

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS 100TH TEAM CELEBRATIONS IN INDIA

Speech by Sylvia at Assisi Illam

2011-08-03T17:06:00.005+05:30

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Millinium Development Goals Achieved by this team from July 9 - July 29.

270 Hours of class room instruction in conversational English by 4 volunteers and 270 Hours of preparation time
60 Hours of Childcare by 2 volunteer. over 15 students impacted

2 Children's Homes, 1 School and over 140 students impacted

Friday, 29 July, 2011

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story" -Orson Welles

Today was easily the best and worst day of my life. I do not say this lightly or sadly; it was full of smiles but joined by tears. It was a hard day.

We got up this morning and set off for the regular day. We were all a bit tired from packing and melancholy to see the end come. Had it really been three weeks? Are you sure it wasn't three days? It was three weeks? Are you sure? Well...can we stay longer? We had a breakfast of eggs, pongal, and toast. It was delicious, with some mango juice to wash it all down. Katie and I left for work, our last lesson plans in mind. For all of my classes, we read a book, answered some questions about the book, then played a game before I took a picture of the class. My first class was sad when they realized I wouldn't be coming back, which I quickly fixed by bringing out my camera. Jerryn and David made Spiderman poses in every picture while Vishal flashed his quiet smile. The fourth graders, as active and energetic as usual, hid their papers from me after they answered the questions and later revealed they had all wrote me letters. They were all smiling for the picture, even the withdrawn Aruna, putting bunny ears on an unsuspecting Priya. The fifth graders and I definitely had a special bond, and I didnt want to ruin their happy attitudes with the news of my leaving. I love every one of the students in the class and our secret little jokes. I will especially miss hearing the children yell "STATUE!" when I tried to erase the board; this command would force me to move away from the board, hands in the air, and standing as still as I can as quick as I can. The children found it hilarious. Once I told them the news of my leaving, Deepika demanded I close my eyes while they came up with a song for me. I opened them a minute later to the entire class standing up and singing "Happy journey to you...happy journey to you...happy journey dear Marion Mam...happy journey to you!" followed by laughter and clapping. They posed for the pictures, smiling and putting the arms around everyone, making the peace signs with their hands. Sureka had reminded me of some left over stickers I had, so I gave them each one for the end of class. As I opened the doors to scurry the reluctant children out, I found my 3rd and 4th standard there with letters in hands. I have yet to read many of them as they demanded I wait till I was on the plane. I did see one said "I am cry" which I got the urge to hand back so they could correct this typo. At least everything was spelled right. I hugged the teachers goodbye, which was highlighted by the jasmine in their hair. Katie and I were reluctant to leave, but eventually got through the doors. For lunch, we had some raw veggies, lemon rice, and chapati where we talked about what we would miss. Katie and I wandered around town, getting slightly lost on our way, in search for some henna. We returned to our pervious destination of Naidu Hall, where I talked to saleswomen my own age. I bought three packs in hoping to let my friends back home experience some of what I did. Katie and I changed into nicer clothes for the evening before SEAMs as did the others. I must say, the realization of leaving SEAMs hit me like a wrecking ball. I was hit with the flashbacks to my first week. I was miserable but didnt want to admit it. The food hurt my mouth, the heat was overwhelming, I was sick, and none of my friends had tried to contact me. But seeing Johns smile or hearing Tamils jokes erased all that easily. The thought of leaving my newly made friends hurt badly. When we got there, the children had beautifully decorated the main hall with streamers and balloons. We all sat in the back while the children danced and sung. The dances were intense and original from the younger children’s dance with candles in their hands to Sivas dance which I can only describe as "spazzmically rhythmic”. Siva, Kabilan and Tamil all danced like crazy, and even covering my mouth couldn't stop my laughter. Lastly, a bunch of the boys went up to the front and invited the volunteers for a dance. We got up to dance our silliest or our best dance moves. I danced with Kabilan and Tamil mostly who dance like wild animals let loose. We switched seats to hand out gifts to the children, for things from the cleanest room to the-only-person-who-studied to cleanest clothes. We were then herded out while they set up for dinner. During this time, I taught the kids a dance my older sister (Hi ceile!) and I did at events when we were younger. Cheran and Tamil, once they learned it, performed it for the other kids and I who were smiling nonstop. We had a dinner of Briyani where we sat with the kids. I sat next to Tamil, who was my first friend at Seams. He is a fourteen year old, who is nonstop talking or acting crazy. Throughout my time in India, we would pull pranks on each other or play hand games as fast as we could. I was sad to realize that though this was my first time eating with him, it is also my last. After dinner, we all went out for hugs where I did everything I could to not cry. I hugged my new friends, Kabilan, Siva, Cheran, Tamil, and John goodbye. They all asked when I was coming back and I was sad to say I don't know if I would. The minute we walked out the gate, our backs turned to the children, I broke down. I hadn't realized how much they all meant to me until it hit me I wouldn't return. I was sad to say the least.

This trip breaks the mold for "trip of a lifetime". It has changed me and inspired me. Sheeba and Stephen are the nicest people I have ever met and I have so many specific memories of them putting everyone before themselves. Katie, Heather and Sylvie are amazing volunteers and even better teachers, as you could see their love for the children clearly. I have never ever before met more beautiful people in such a beautiful place.

Marion

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Thursday, 28 July, 2011

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. - Dr.Seuss

Today started off the usual way with a delicious Indian breakfast. I am finding that I am enjoying the lack of sugar in my morning meal, but wonder how long I'll be able to keep It up once I go home. At 9:30, Marion and Katie left for the Grace School while Sylvie and I headed to Assisi. I really like spending the morning with the two and three-year-olds there. They are so cute and most of them enjoy the songs and nursery rhymes that we try to sing for them. Even though they don't talk much I know that they are picking up the English that we are teaching them. Rakshan, who is about 3 and 1/2 will look at me blankly when I try to engage him in conversation, but I know he understands me because one time, just after I took his picture, I asked him if he would like to see it and he nodded and said "Yes!". Jessica will come up to me and talk rapidly in Tamil and pull my arm. When I ask her if it is the blocks she wants, her face breaks into a smile and she will nod enthusiastically. It makes me laugh every time.

As an additional treat this morning Sister Rose hennaed beautiful designs on the palms of our hands and on Sylvie's feet. The sisters at Assisi have been very welcoming and I will miss the tea they offered me every morning.

The rest of the day signaled that the end of our trip was near as the celebrations began. In the afternoon everyone dressed in their newly purchased traditional clothes; Marion and Katie in saris and Sylvie and I in our salwar kameez (these are the longer tunic tops with matching leggings). We went to the Grace school for a magnificent Indian dance performance by Sureka and Deepika, two talented fifth graders, along with other songs and dances by the rest of the school. After that Marion helped Stephen award prizes to the students for the art contest and the volunteers received heartfelt thank you notes from the school. As a final treat the kindergarten teacher, Vanitha, created intricate hennaed artwork on Katie and Marion's palms. The four of us could have easily been mistaken for Chennai natives. At 4:00 we headed back to the guesthouse where Katie and Marion carefully sat for an hour and half as the henna on their palms dried. Then it was time to go to SEAMS once again. The children's faces lit up as they saw us in our outfits. "Very pretty sister!" echoed throughout the courtyard. Knowing that it was our last evening to work with the children was bittersweet. I think were proud of the friendships and progress we had made while we recognized that there is always more to do. The children, who do not have much, were so happy to see us every day and the excitement they showed when we arrived every day touched us deeply. It will be difficult to leave tomorrow after the 100th team celebration.

Our final event for the evening was a restaurant dinner. We all choose our favorite dishes; chicken marsala, garlic naan, curried cauliflower and fresh lime soda and, for Katie and I, a dessert of Gulab jamun, small treats similar to donut holes doused in simple syrup. Stephen, as usual, kept the conversation alive with stories about

India

's history, geography and politics, then we switched to one of our favorite topics, his son, Roshan . As we left the restaurant I realized what a unique bond had formed between us and was sad that our time here was drawing to an end.

Heather

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Wednesday, 27 July, 2011

I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then. - Lewis Carroll

It occurred to me today that there are only three days left in the program. I cannot believe that my time in India is almost over. One change that I have noticed in myself after three weeks here is that I talk more slowly, and I have stopped using contractions in my speech and apparently my writing too. I also have a newfound appreciation for rain that I have never felt at home (it is very hot and dry in Chennai).

I came to India expecting to pity the children that I worked with, but I have found that I cannot do that. I have seen too much joy and determination from them to feel pity. Despite being separated from their parents for varying circumstances, they have love and a family from each other and from the pastor and his family who run the home. I have compassion for their circumstances, and I desperately want to stay and try to do something about it, but I do not pity them. I am grateful that I have been able to be a part of this program and a part of their lives if only for a brief time.

We spent the morning and afternoon in our usual classes. There was nothing too out of the ordinary. Then we left after SEAMs to go to shower and dress before leaving for a classical dance performance. The dancer was beautiful and so was the music, but we had a little trouble understanding the story that she was acting out.

After the performance we stopped by the Puma store to buy the essential tourist souvenir, the t-shirt. I had been searching for an "India" shirt all week. I have to admit I felt a little embarrassed wanting something so touristy, but I realized that this is my way of saying goodbye to a place. I want to remember my time in

India

forever and this t-shirt is one way that I can say I was there and I will never forget it.

Katie

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Tuesday, 26 July, 2011

"The language of friendship is not words but meanings." – Henry David Thoreau

To think that I had thought our first weekend was tiresome seems ridiculous after this weekend. From getting caught in the rain to jungle safaris every day to sleeping in tree houses, we were all excited to return home this morning. We took showers and ate breakfast, realizing that though our weekend had just ended, we still had to work today. Katie helped me with my lesson plan for the day of making masks and discussing emotions for the 3rd-5th grade at Grace. We left for Grace School as Heather and Sylvie left for Assisi. As we got there, we set off to work. I began class by asking the kids emotions and having them make faces showing the emotions. We wrote them on the board and drew the faces before handing masks out. The children set off to drawing and coloring, learning new emotions along the way. Jerryn and David wanted to make their masks look angry without being angry. We explained this was called being "scary" and had them explain what was scary to them. They came up with horns and big teeth, which they quickly drew on. We ended with each student standing up and explaining what their mask (or masks) emotions were. I did this for all of the classes, and the children loved it. I left Grace, waving goodbye and promising to bring the masks back tomorrow. Katie and I returned home for lunch were we discussed our mornings with the other volunteers. Heather and Sylvie soon after left for Grace whereas Katie and I set out for the hard work of our afternoon: sleeping and reading, of course. We met up after an hour and returned to The Government Store, where we all shopped for everything. Since we had been here before we knew what we wanted and split up to check the items off our list. We all ended up buying a lot of gifts for family and friends, and left the store earlier than expected, but content. We relaxed at home before going to SEAMs that night. I must admit, I really missed the children from Seams and was excited to return, cracking jokes with John and Tamil or simply talking with Kabilan and Siva. We continued with one-on-ones, working with children who had a lot of trouble with English or were very young. I worked with a girl named Keerthana, who couldn't read English and barely knew the alphabet. I was interested that she could recognize words like lions, mangoes, or peacocks but not dog, cat, or day. We worked on the sounds the letters made and before I knew it, Stephen came in to announce it was time to go home. We returned home for dinner and showers, all tired and eager for a goodnights rest.

Marion

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Monday, 25 July, 2011

‘Love to be real, it must cost – it must hurt – it must empty us of self.’

Mother Teresa

Mudumalai. Day 17.

We all got up around 6:20 after spending the night in a vert unusual decor: the team slept in tree houses. The sounds of the birds and the songs of water were our lullaby. The place called Safari Land is located in the middle of a beautiful wild garden where tropical flowers happily grow in abundance. Spending the weekend at this resort was definitely a magic moment I will never forget. I really loved this place.

The next activity on the schedule was suppose to be a ride in search for elephants, but because of the recent rain falls, the ground was too muddy for it, and we had to look for a plan B.

On our way to breakfast, we saw few tamed elephants and a baby elephant too. So, after a delicious meal, the team went for a jeep safari and a trek inside the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. The path we drove on was pretty bumpy and the experience was a lot of fun. It is also why Roshan and his wonderful parents did not join us: the road was certainly too bumpy for little Roshan!

So, while Katie, Heather and Marion went for a trek with the guides, I went for a jeep safari during which I took several pictures of the nature surrounding me, but no tigers in sight! We ended the ride with a cool walk to get a nice panorama of the Nilgiris Mountains all around. What a wonderful view we got from there!

And time for lunch already which we took a last meal at the Safari Land before hitting the road for our next destination: Mysore and its royal palace. This was an amazing visit in the past with Stephen our friendly private guide. But before getting there, in between two scattered showers, we saw many sunflowers fields from the road as for tumeric, cotton, sugar cane, etc. Pure beauty for the eyes. After the visit of the palace, we did some shopping again. And then I became the photographer in charge, trying to immortalize the elephant ride everybody took after that. It was certainly fun to watch Katie, Heather, Marion, Sheeba, Stephen and Roshan approaching slowly but surely, all smiling on top of the big animal!

Before taking the train back home to Porur which was our second experience, we had a wonderful time sharing a meal at the restaurant of the Park Lane Hotel. Good restaurant. Good food. Good company.

Certainly one of the most unforgettable weekends in the Indian country side.

Sylvie

Celebrating 100th Team in India

2011-07-26T10:37:00.005+05:30

Sunday, 24 July, 2011

"We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character" -Henry David Thoreau

Wild Mongoose, black bear, water buffalo, eagle, warthogs, deer and two kinds of monkeys were some of the animals that we saw today in the Mudumalai forest. As I lie in the bed high up in the trees, (I am sleeping in a treehouse in the Safari Land resort!) and listen to the stream below and the calls of the animals outside, I am still trying to take it all in. We woke up early this morning on the the sleeper train from Chennai to Mysore. Some of us slept better than others in the cramped quarters but spirits were high as Stephen found a cab and we headed to a restaurant for breakfast. It was a combination of Indian and American food. I had toast, papaya and coffee. Then we began our two hour drive to the forest. There was a little "hiccup" when the taxi ran out of gas, but this was quickly remedied by the gas station located less than a quarter of a mile away. The volunteers all slept for some of the ride but woke to see fields of blooming sunflowers followed later by the entrance to the forest.

It was quite a change from Chennai There is lots of green and the air is cool. The forest is so large it covers parts of of three states. We drove through it for an hour or so on our ever elusive search for wild elephants. Although we have not yet spotted a wild one we have seen some others that were working for their owners. Then we arrived at the Safari Land resort where we are staying for our visit. After lunch Sylvie and Katie napped while Marion and I explored the grounds with Stephen, Sheeba and Roshan. We played on the slide and swings with Roshan and then Sheeba showed us all of the the fruits that were growing around us; mangoes, sweet limes, and small oranges were the ones I recognized. She also showed us this amazing ground cover that looks like a one inch long fern. When you touch it the leaves fold in on themselves so that it looks like a little dried stick. This must be how it protects itself from the goats that Sheba says like to eat it. Marion and I spent the next half hour finding these plants, touching them and watching them fold. They open up again after a few minutes. At 4:30, after a quick cup of coffee or tea, we left for a two hour jeep tour of the forest. The part we were in is nestled by the mountains of Nilgiri which made a beautiful backdrop for the tour. This is when we saw most of those animals I mentioned above while braving a heavy rainstorm in the open jeep. Dinner was a buffet at the Resort Land including French fries, macaroni and cheese along with some Indian favorites of biriyani and naan. We are going to bed early to be ready for a 6:45 a.m. departure for an elephant ride. This is great!

Heather

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Saturday, 23 July, 2011

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are”

Today started off like any other work day except for the fact that it was Saturday and breakfast would be later. Since we're scheduled to go to Mysore via overnight train, our weekend became Sunday and Monday instead of Saturday and Sunday. So, like usual, we all headed out for Assisi. Today, they were throwing a celebration and the kids who live there that we don't normally get the pleasure to see were there. They were dressed in their best from frilly skirts and tops to clean shirts and jeans. Katie and Alex, a boy helping out at the orphanage, began giving the children bracelets and headbands made of sparkly ribbon which the children loved. I spoke to some little girls who taught me some silly dances and would stand on my feet as I walked. They wore purple sparkly dresses and all had jasmine in their hair. Soon all the children had came downstairs and we sat down to watch the celebration begin. A girl named Priya, who wasn't one of the children dancing, sat on my lap as we watched the older and younger kids dance. Some performances were well synchronized, full of colorful outfits and dance moves. Others were silly, children laughing or making up their own dances. Afterwords, we played games, starting with who-can-finish-their-banana-first. I specifically remember after this game, Sheeba came up to us and announced Roshan had placed last as he gleefully held up his banana, barely touched. Next was some sort of balloon game where the children tried to pop each others balloons while running around in circles. Lastly, the volunteers, nuns, and Alex played musical chairs. Katie and I joked about how vicious we would get during playing, already circling the chairs. The game was still a lot of fun and for some reason it didn't surprise me Sister Rose won first, pushing Alex off the chair. After that, awards were given, including presents and flowers to the volunteers. Sylvie and I gleefully pawed at our presents, wondering what could be inside. Like children. Next we had lunch of vegetable briyani, beets, cucumber-yogurt salad and some soup. It was all delicious and after every bite, the children next to me would yell "Suuuppeerr!". Soon after, we drove home for a relaxing afternoon before SEAMs. We went shopping, where we all bought something and explored the stores. We packed for the overnight train and left for SEAMs early. Tonight we had one-on-ones as usual, but I was nervous about working with a seventeen year old, Charon; what can I teach to someone older than me? It turns out the answer is rhymes and reading comprehension. After Charon, I spoke with Siva and Charons older brother, Kabilan. We all joked around and overall, couldn't stop laughing. As always, I was sad to leave SEAMs when the time came, high-fiving and handshaking everyone goodbye. But we hurried home, taking quick showers and eating dinner before leaving for the train. We got there right on time, finding our "berths" and quickly dibs-ing which one we wanted (top bunk!). We stayed up till around ten, before one by one we all headed for bed, snuggling into our blankets, stuffing earplugs in, and hoping we wouldn't roll off.

Marion

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Thursday, 21 July, 2011

‘The happiness of one's own heart alone cannot satisfy the soul; one must try to include, as necessary to one's own happiness, the happiness of others.’ Paramahansa Yogananda

Day 13 began with the charming diversity of bird’s songs and the first rays of sun. The promise of a beautiful, hot and sunny day in Porur.

As usual, the team and our kind hosts shared a delicious breakfast before starting the daily schedule. Heather, Marion at Assisi Illam as for Katie and myself at Grace School. Needless to say that it is always a new pleasure to be with the children day after.

By the way, our friendly driver Stephen just purchased a new car which he was proud to show us all. And fortunately, we have been lucky enough to try it!

As our daily activities followed the usual rythmn, a very special one took place today : a drawing contest for all the children of Grace School and SEAM as well. Katie, Heather, Marion and I had a lot of fun watching them all concentrated on their white sheet of paper which slowly but surely revealed shapes and colors. We spent unforgettable moments at both places, observing them all, the young and the old, drawing and erasing, drawing and erasing again and again! The result has been just amazing. After a couple of hours of intense creative work, plenty of colorful mountains, flowers, fruits, birds, butterflies, pumas, etc. appeared before our eyes. And the challenge did not stop there. After eating a splendid meal for supper, the team, Sheeba and Stephen had the challenge to decide who would be the winner for each grade. Personally, I would have all given them the first price! They all deserve it! By next week, the students will found out about the winners of this fun contest! I just cannot wait to see their reactions, and I hope that from now on, this new activity will take place every year.

Ho yes, before ending here, I have to add that the team also spent the day with a new movie star : Roshan in person! The little boy just looked so cool with like his new sunglasses. A star is born, and I am positively sure that he has a great future in front of him. For real.

Sylvie

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Wednesday, 20 July, 2011.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. - Theodore Roosevelt

Today was a "regular" day, which is a good thing. We have been so busy with the children and traveling and shopping that we have not really had much down time. I am not complaining, I am just observing.
This morning, after a breakfast of eggs, noodles and mango, Katie and Sylvie went to the Grace School and Marion and I headed off to Asissi. Now that it is the third day I recognize the children and they recognize me and they don't always cry when they see me. Sanjay and his cousin were happy today and had a lot of fun combining the blocks to make a tall tower. They kept asking me to count how many blocks they used, not with their words, but with their gestures. They took pride in making them as tall as they could. Karthic, the five-year-old boy who is living at Assisi and waiting till next year to go to school counted with me. Marion spent most of the day watching Athina, an strong willed thirteen-month-old, making sure she did not ingest any small toys or take any from the others. Danny finally came out of the kitchen to look at some books and fell asleep on Marion's lap, which was fine, but hot for Marion. We practiced some English with the children as we played with the blocks and books and the plastic jungle animals that we brought with us.

I also got to meet Arockia Das Christu Raj, a priest who is a friend of Sister Rose's at Assisi orphanage. He is an intelligent and widely travelled man who spoke with me for a while then enthusiastically asked if I was on Facebook and could he "friend me.” I said yes and, right then and there, he sent the request, had me sign on to my account and accept it. For the next few minutes we looked at each others pictures and interests but then it was time to leave.

Stephen's brother, Stephen, who is also our driver, was trying to buy a new van today so we travelled by an auto rickshaw. This experience brought the road, and traffic, even closer to us. I could have touched a hundred people simply by poking my finger out the side of the windowless carriage. Wisdom prevailed however and I refrained. We got home safely for a lunch of poori, a yummy deep fried bread, spinach and cauliflower curries, jackfruit (an Asian fruit which can grow to 83 pounds and feed a family of at least ten) and mangos. Katie and Sylvie gamely ate the mangos like Indians, by peeling and eating the fruit as we would an apple. It was very messy and entertaining.

After lunch, Marion and I headed to the Grace School where we met the headmaster's parrot named Becky and an 8-month-old boy Samil, from upstairs, who was eating his lunch and visiting. Then we headed to our respective classrooms to teach the exuberant children some English. Marion's class was visited by a tailless lizard, whom they named Peanut, making good use off the compound word lesson Marion was teaching. I worked on shapes and word scrambles with the first and second grades.

After a brief rest at home we headed back to SEAMS to continue our one-on-one tutoring sessions. For the life of me I cannot remember anyone's name, but that does nor seems to bother the children as they enjoy asking me who they are and laughing when I give the wrong answer. The other volunteers are so much better at this than I am. Today I worked with Sneha who sat touching my side as we sounded out our book. Then, as it was almost time to leave, we played tic-tac-toe. I loved seeing the glee on her face as she won her games.

Another American dinner from Pizza Hut with coca-cola. Marion was in heaven. Tomorrow are looking forward to judging the Grace School's 100th team coloring contest!

Heather

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Tuesday, 19 July, 2011

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill
Day 10

The team has recovered from our weekend out of town, but this is going to be a busy week. There are many extra activities to look forward to. There is a performance at Assisi Illam scheduled, as well as a dinner at Stephen's parents' house. We also hope to catch a classical dance performance and maybe even a Tamil movie.

In addition, we have a busy teaching schedule to keep up with. There are classes in the morning and afternoon, and English conversations in the evenings. We have each settled into our new teaching assignments. Sylvie teaches the 1st and 2nd graders, and I teach the 4th and 5th. We both teach the third grade in the mornings, but the other classes do not get shortchanged, because they get either Marion or Heather in the afternoons. By 5th grade (or 5th Standard as it is called here) the students are able to carry on conversations, and they can read basic books pretty well. Stephen says they do better than average students on English examinations because of their work with Global Volunteers.

In the afternoon while Heather and Marion were teaching, Sylvie and I decided to explore the neighborhood. There are daily power cuts in Chennai, so we left the house during the hour that the power would be switched off (and hence no air conditioning). We bought some much needed chalk and tape for the Grace School, and we purchased bangles and bindis at a local jewelry store. However, I think our biggest accomplishment of the day was crossing the busy main road without being hit by an auto rickshaw, motorbike, car, or bus. Traffic in Chennai makes New York look like a small village. We returned safely to the guesthouse, and then went to our evening session at SEAMs.

Admittedly, we cut our evening session a little short to go shopping in downtown Chennai, but one cannot go to India without visiting the clothing and jewelry shops (especially when you are with a team of women). And looked at in another light we were "learning more about Indian culture," which is one of our team goals after all.

Katie

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Monday, 18 July, 2011

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate
the mind on the present moment" –Buddha

Today we woke up stumbled downstairs to breakfast. We're all still tried from the long weekend, jam-packed with adventure. We were welcomed with a breakfast of rice cakes with coconut chutney and eggs mixed with cheese and green pepper. I washed my down with some left over mango juice from the week. Mmmm. It's the first day of switched schedules, so Heather and I left for Assisi. I was pretty nervous as I rarely work with children this age and wasn't sure how to handle them. When we got there, some children were crying and others were running around. But soon after, a little girl fell into my legs and looked up with eyes that were ready to burst with tears. I immediately held her hand and said soothing words to her in a language she couldn't understand. Still she calmed down, and within a few minutes (with the help of some ridiculous dance moves) I got her to laugh and smile. After that, time at Assisi became a blur. One minute I was playing with blocks and the next coloring with crayons. When Stephen and Roshan (adorable in his school uniform) arrived to pick us up, the children were sad to see us go. We went home for a lunch of Lemon rice (my favorite), cabbage, beets, and mango. While Katie and Sylvie were done till SEAMS, Heather and I still had work at The Grace School. I was comforted to see familiar faces and calmed down from my rambunctious morning. Before I knew it, it was the last class and I was high-fiving student’s goodbye. We went home and shared our days with the rest of the team. After some relaxing and reading (yes Dad, on the kindle) we left for SEAMS. Katie and I made a quick stop on the way to get fitted for our Saris (which shall be done by Thursday. Yay!). At SEAMS, we did the regular one-on-ones, reading \ books and discussing school. I especially had fun playing with Tamil and John, two boys around my own age, as I owned them at Hangman AND managed to correct their spelling. We ended the day waving goodbye to the children and telling them we'll see them tomorrow. We went home for a wonderful meal of chickpea-potato curry, white rice, flatbread, and squash before returning to bed, ready for some well needed sleep.

Marion

Celebrating 100th Team in India

2011-07-19T15:43:00.003+05:30

Sunday, July 17, 2011

“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” Mother Teresa

Sunday, divine Sunday.

We spent Saturday night at the Lotus Comfort Hotel located in Puducherry where I shared a room with Katie. A room with a delicious view on a big mango tree. While I was still relaxing in bed, in the morning, reading, Katie went for a walk on the boardwalk near the sea where she also enjoyed a nice and tasty coffee.

8:45 was time for breakfast which we had at the hotel. Orange juice, corn flakes, eggs, toasts and jam, coffee and tea were on the menu. Then, with our bellies full, we were ready to hit the road and pursue the second day of our journey outside Chennai.

Still in Puducherry, our next step was the visit of Aurobindo’s Ashram, which was decorated with the delicate perfumes of plenty colorful flowers. It is in this very garden that Sri Aurobindo and his faithful friend, The Mother, were both buried many years ago. Our team was not alone there, as many visitors were showing up to pay a respectful tribute. Silently. We also discovered there a library full of spiritual and/or philosophical books all translated in many languages.

Then, walk in Auroville, located in Viluppuram, was how we discovered this small experimental township founded in 1968 by The Mother, and where about 2,000 souls, locals and foreigners, are living permanently. On the site, I bought some Auroville sandal wood incense. My favorite. The team had refreshing lime drinks under this hot sunny day after taking a look, from far, at the Matrimandir, a special architectural object looking like a giant golf ball, and which has been acclaimed as "an outstanding and original architectural achievement". It was conceived by The Mother as "a symbol of the Divine's answer to man's inspiration for perfection as a scientific invention which is suppose to improve the concentration.”

And then Mamalapuram, a town in Kancheepuram, where we visited some master pieces of rock carvings. From the side of the road, on our way getting there, we saw mountains of salt, and instantly Stephen thought of Marionne who loves her salt sooooooo much! We girls stopped and took some photos to immortalize this salty moment. And another quick stop. This time for Stephen to buy an enormous jackfruit. Something Katie, Marionne, Heather and I never saw in direct until this day. The size of this fruit is very impressive. Then, time for lunch. Already. We stopped for a bite to eat in a new restaurant where even Stephen had never been before. The vegetarian noodles and rice were very tasty.

The rock-cut monuments at Mamalapuram were just amazing. We took plenty of pictures of these sculptures and cave temples. Stephen, our generous friend and brilliant private guide, taught us interesting stories during the visit of this incredible and precious archeological site.

We ended this unforgettable afternoon, our feet in the ocean, playing with the waves. A lovely moment. And to make everything more perfect, we all had a taste of coconut water before hitting the road to come back home where we were kindly welcomed by Sheeba and Roshan who could not joined us this weekend. Fortunately, they will next weekend! The family will then be complete!

Sylvie

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Saturday, 16 July, 2011

"If you reject the food, ignore the custom, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home." ~ James Michener

Field trip doesn't do it justice. We planned to leave the house this morning at 7:30, for the first day of a two-day whirlwind field trip, but were a little delayed. The driver was late, and when Stephen called to check on him, he answered his cell phone while driving, promptly earning himself a ticket and delaying his arrival further. Fortunately there were no other problems and the driver got here by 8:30. We climbed into the luxurious air-conditioned SUV and were on our way. We had driven in town before, but not more then a few miles. This was a whole different experience, mostly because of the continuous cacophony of horns, both ours and other drivers. And when I say continuous, that's no exaggeration. Who needs a radio when you have this background noise? This beeping is not like American beeping saying "Get out of my way!"' but more like a "Hey, look out I'm coming, be careful, make sure you seem Me.", gentler kind of beeping. After a while I found it kind of reassuring.

On our way out of the city we passed 13 engineering colleges, on one road. It is no surprise that India graduates so many more engineers than the US. Next we passed the Hyundai plant that produced over 500,000 cars and ships them out to other countries. I was kind of awestruck.

Our first stop was at the Rajiv Gandhi memorial site, the actual spot where the Prime Minister was killed by a woman suicide bomber in May of 1991. There was a large green expanse of lawn and seven tall pillars that represent the concepts of Satya, Dharma, Vigyan, Nyaya, Shanti, Tyaga and Smiridhi. (I did not remember that, I copied it from a press release) I found the whole park incredibly moving and impressive and sad.

We headed back to the car. Unfortunately, this is where things start to blur for me, as we started the temple tour, visiting four beautiful temples. They were built starting in the 8th century and most were added onto over the course of the next 800 years. Some were carved from single pieces of stone, some from granite, some were enormous and some were not. I remember the first one best because Marion, Katie and I were able to sit on an elephant while we were there. All four of us were blessed by the elephant.

After a lunch of a selection of dishes, including pander, naan, chicken masala and lime rice, we headed to a more materialistic venue than the temples, a sari shop. There we were warmly greeted and shown the loom where they weave the products they sell and we were given a demonstration. Next we actually got to look at the wares. They had thousands of saris, floor to ceiling, of every color and complexity you could imagine. Some of them took forty days to weave, those were out of our price range, but we were not disappointed with what we could afford. Katie picked two saris, one purple and yellow, her school colors, and one cream. Marion picked a green one that brought out the color of her eyes. When we return to Chennai they will visit a tailor who will make matching shirts from the fabric. Sylvie and I had a blast looking at the silk scarves. I left with 14 of them. (Sorry to my husband, but good news for my friends.) When we left the shop, everyone was content, both the team and the proprietors.

Next we drove to Pondicherry, also spelled Puducherry, an Oceanside town where we would spend the night. We walked on the boardwalk, admired the ocean, and had an "American" style dinner from Pizza Hut and dessert from Baskin Robbins . I apologize to my family, who I know wants to hear about all our Indian meals, but the food was comforting and there is always tomorrow. It was a fantastic, exhausting day and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Heather

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Friday, 15 July, 2011

- "make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of the same mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others." Philippians 2:2-4

We have finished our first week, which means we are one third of the way through the program. I cannot believe it. It seems like yesterday that we arrive, yet it also seems like we've been here forever.

We've learned that children in India are just like children at home. But I have been particularly struck by the love and generosity of the children at the SEAMs Children's Home. During Roshan's birthday celebration Stephen and Sheeba brought a cake to share with the children. We sang Happy Birthday and then they passed out cake. There was not enough cake for us, which was fine since we had just eaten cake at the other children's home. Anish, who was seated next to me turned and tried to offer me his cake, something he rarely has the opportunity to indulge in. At first I thought that he must not like cake, but I still declined (we had already had two rounds of cake that day). After declining again and suggesting that he give it to another child he finally decided to eat his cake. I realized he wanted to share with me because he didn't want me to go without it. I was humbled seeing a child whose worldly possessions fit into a small box under his bunk bed insist that I share in the rare treat that he was receiving. The girl seated next to me then tried to offer me her cake, but again I insisted that it was hers, and that she enjoy it.

The children at the home laugh and play. When you look at their faces you can see such joy. They sometimes fight and become angry with one another, but the love that they have for each another is evident. The older ones help care for the little ones by cooking, cleaning and braiding hair. When we arrive each night there is a circle of young children with their homework out, and one of the older boys or girls helps them with the lessons. I hope after leaving Chennai that I have given them even half as much as they have given me.

Katie

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Thursday, 14 July, 2011

"Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every
day a holiday and celebrate just living!" - Amanda Bradley

Today was a very special day. We woke up early, and had to be downstairs at 7:15 to celebrate what could be a world holiday. The other "Auntys" and I gathered around to admire the smartly dressed little boy who was especially excited. And we all pulled out our cameras, iPhones, and iPads to watch Roshan blow out the candles that adorned a singing flower on top of his cake. Today was a very special day because today is Roshan's third birthday! Soon after Sheeba and Stephen left to take the birthday boy to school. Katie, Sylvie, Heather and I all sat round at the table, trying teas till they returned. We had a delicious breakfast of rice cakes, coconut chutney, and eggs with green pepper and cheese. Mmmm too good. Sheeba put garlands of Jasmine in our hair and decorated our forehead with a bindi before we left for the Grace school. Our lesson plan for each class we have is to start with a game, go over the main subject of the day and then end with a book and/or song. Our third graders did well with the lesson and loved singing about snowmen at the end. Ah the fourth graders. The fourth graders are always excited for today's class; and though they sometimes struggle, by the end, I can visibly see that they have learned something. One of the fourth graders in particular, Bharath, always manages to make me smile. During the Guessing Game, when he answered something right he would stand up, flex his arm muscles, and point with a smile. When we played the Toilet Paper game, he fashioned his pieces into a scarf and attempted a runway walk. Every time, I laugh. Next were the fifth graders. These children really understand and every day they pass the challenges we think of with little struggles. I also really click with this class, remembering Sharmila and Arulkalkis favorite color is pink and that Deepilka loves chicken biryani. Even though they are too smart for me, they still love to hear us read a book and enjoy singing silly songs. Lastly, we talked with Sylvie, one of the Grace School teachers. She had brought in pictures of her beautiful daughter to show us. We oohed and ahhed at the photos of her family, all the while talking about what seems like everything. Before we left, she asked I come back one day with a Sari as I would look like a doll. That made me glow. We went home for a lunch of rice, chutney, and some cucumbers and tomatoes. Boy I missed raw veggies. Afterwords, Heather and I lazed around as we do most afternoons while Katie and Sylvie were at the Grace School. Later once they returned we got ready to leave, but this time not just for SEAMs. Since it was Roshins birthday, we would be going to Assisi for cake and dances before SEAMs for, get this, more cake! We just love cake. It was my first time at Assisi and I was very nervous. But the sisters were very nice and the children were so excited. Though there were 3 boys from Houston, Texas my age there, I didn't get a chance to speak to them between birthday festivities. Hopefully I will later. The childrens dance was beautiful, if not accented by Roshans playing with a trolley and wheeling it all over. At the end they all stood together and sang while Roshan stood in front, on the trolley, looking very much like a symphony conductor. Trust me, many jokes later came and probably will come of his famous conductor days. We left Assisi very late and got to SEAMs even later. But the minute we walked in, my living shadow hugged me. A young boy with a name sounding like Ajee who never let's go of my hand and demands my every attention. Still, he is very endearing and like all the children, I adore him. We sat down for some more cake and photo taking. After what seems like five minutes (and very well could have been) we left for dinner. Tonight, as part of the celebration, we went out to a hotel resturant near by. There we tried "lime sodas" where they bring you a bottle of bubbly water, a glass with lime juice, a straw, and some sugar syrup. You mix the syrup with the bubbly water to make it as sweet as you want and we all loved it. The food had every one asking for seconds, and even though it burned my cheeks and sizzled my tongue I was stubborn and managed to leave my plate clean.

We all went home tired and full, ready for Friday and to see the children's smiling faces.

Marion

Celebrating 100th Team in India

2011-07-14T16:32:00.002+05:30

Wednesday, 13 July, 2011

'The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.'

- Mencius

Day 5 in Chennai - or another great day between two birthday celebrations.

After a good night of sleep, followed by an exquisite breakfast (the sweet couscous was absolutely wonderful, thank you, Ranie) taken with beautiful people, I was ready to start this new day!

Heather and Marionne left for Grace School, as Katie and I for Assisi Illam, where both of us spent a busy and fun time with our little friends. Few cried, few peed on the ground while few others fought and bit, but in the end we had a great time dancing, singing and playing with them. It is absolutely impossible not to love these beautiful angels. Some young visitors from Houston,Texas showed up during our busy morning. Then, without knowing, it was already time to come back 'home' for another delicious lunch and some pleasant conversations... but, not before experiencing a great concert of honking cars stocked on the crowded road. Definitely an experience by itself, I would say.

After lunch, Katie and I got ready for our daily afternoon at Grace School. Needless to say that, as usual, Stephen had the kindness to take us there. So off we went, Roshan and his father seating in front. Our teaching only lasted an hour today because we had the privilege to go make some shopping. Around 3h45, the four of us left with our private chauffeur for a new destination : the Central Cottage Industries Emporium which is a leading source for indian handicrafts created by skilled Indian artists. We girls had a good time buying gifts to bring back for our friends and the family.

After our shopping session and few purchases later, we all went to play with our brothers and sisters of SEAM Children's Home where we had a great time as usual. Taking pictures and having fun blowing soap bubbles outside. That is right : no teaching today!

Finally, to end this day more beautifully, a power cut invited all of us, after dinner, to the intimacy of candles lightning. Yes,another great day this was, and I just can't wait for tomorrow!

Sylvie

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Tuesday, 12 July, 2011

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
Mahatma Gandhi

I've read that it takes three weeks to change a habit, or to make a behavior rote, and I wonder if this is true. We've only been In been Chennai for three days and what was originally nerve wracking and unusual is no longer so. Small children on motorcycles - seen that. Cows in the middle of the street - no big deal. Temperatures in the high 90's - ho hum. However, what does strike me, is the things that are the same. Children in Chennai want to learn. Children in Chennai will goof off, if given the opportunity. Teachers in Chennai get excited talking about teaching, what you ate for breakfast, and 100's of other things.

Today there was not the anxiety of first walking into a classroom. We knew what we were going to teach and knew the students. Or at least, we knew to have them make name tags so we could pretend we knew who they were. The third graders laughed at the mad libs game, at the same time that they were learning nouns. The fourth graders didn't want to use full sentences, but couldn't play the guessing game without using them. The fifth graders surprised us with their comprehension of the story we read and we learned that we needed to make the next day's lesson a little harder.

We returned to the guest house for another delicious meal, of lemon rice, green curry sauce, and the fried bread that takes like potato chips, and after a quick rest, worked on our lesson preparation for tomorrow. Then we went to SEAMS house for one-on-one tutoring. It was haircut and bath day. The boys were sitting outside getting their hair trimmed by a barber and the girls were just finishing putting fresh braids into their clean hair. We each worked with a child and started with the usual, "How are you?" , "I am fine.", "How are you.", and progressed into more complex topics, depending on the ability of the student. But, as I was sitting there, talking to a young boy, and and listened to him say that he wanted to go to university to become a computer engineer, as he swatted the flies off of his face and I watched another 100 or so buzz around us, I thought about how he was living. There are six children in a room, he sees his parents one time a month, His meals are cooked over a fire, and I realized that it wasn't the same. Some things are meant to be changed and this is certainly one of them, even if it takes more than three weeks.

Heather

Celebrating 100th Team in India

Monday 11, July 2011

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."

Today was our first day teaching.

Sylvia and I started working with the little children at the Assisi Illam Children's Home and Daycare Center in the morning. Sister Mathilda and Sister Rose run both the home and daycare. The oldest child in daycare is five, but most have never been to school before. Their school year just started, so many of the little ones were having a very difficult time adjusting to being away from their parents for the first time. Some cried, and some were so young they weren't even speaking in Tamil yet. We played with them, looked at picture books, and sang nursery rhymes. I think I need to brush up on my nursery rhymes! I forgot how short two and three year olds' attention spans are. But they were darling.

There was one boy in particular, Karthick, who already knew several English words. Stephen told me that he is 5 years old and will be starting school next year. He is an orphan and lives at Assisi Illam. The other children that we worked with were only at the facility for the morning while their parents worked. But Assisi Illam is also a children's home, mostly for girls who either lost or can no longer live with their parents. They live at Assisi Illam and attend school during the day, so we will most likely not be working with them during our stay in Chennai. We met one girl though, because she was home sick. There were a lot of children sick today because of the rains last week.

After a couple of hours we returned to the Guesthouse for lunch. It was awfully hot today, even the Indians complained, so the air-conditioning was a welcome relief.

Sylvia and I began our second assignment after lunch, teaching English at the Grace School. She had 1st and 2nd graders, and I taught 3rd through 5th. It is a small private school that serves mostly lower income families who hope for a better education for their children.

My classes were small, but they were lively. I teach fifth graders at home, so it was fun to work with kids the same age here. Their English is surprisingly good, especially since their English teachers change every three weeks as new volunteer groups come. We could carry on basic conversations without the need of a translator. They have a lot of vocabulary, but their sentence structure is weak, so we will focus on that in our lessons.

After Grace we returned to the Guesthouse for a break, and the other volunteers and I were able to plan lessons for tomorrow.

In the evening, we returned to SEAMS House, but this time we practiced speaking English with individual children. They loved looking through the picture books and having me read to them. We also practiced conversations. The two hours flew, and soon it was time to return to the Guesthouse for dinner. It has been a long and exciting day. We will all sleep very well tonight!

Katie

Celebrating 100th Team in India

2011-07-11T21:05:00.003+05:30

Sunday 10, July 2011

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost,
to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer
experience."— Eleanor Roosevelt

Today we ate breakfast at nine. I'm still adjusting to the spicy food so I tried to eat as much of it as I could. Apparently it's bland to Sheeba and Stephen even though it burns my tongue. After breakfast we had a meeting. We all sat at the table as Stephen went over A LOT.

First we came up with our group goals and the characteristic of a good team. Our group goals are "To love, To serve, and To learn". Next we learned about the three school we'll be working with: SEAM children's home, The Grace School, and Assisi Illam. We figured out the schedule, so Heather and I will be working at the Grace school this week while Sylvie and Katie will be working at Assisi Illam and The Grace School. Next week, we decided we will switch places. Every night, including tonight, we will go visit SEAM from 5:30 to 7:00. We went over policies, guidelines, a Global Volunteers philosophy, the 12 essential package, and some vocab. This meeting went all the way till 1 which is when we had lunch. We then had some free time before visiting SEAM. Most of us took the time to relax. Next thing we knew it was time to go! It was a short walk to SEAM and when we got there we were sweating beyond belief. We went into a room where the children were sitting but the minute we walked in they all swarmed. They were so excited to see us. I shook hands with, oh I don't even know how many children. They were so eager to try English, asking us our names and telling us theirs. It was very endearing. After the quick meet and greet, we all sat down in chairs in front of the children. Stephen introduced us to the children and one-by-one they came up and introduced themselves. They started with the youngest, around five, and ended with the oldest, around seventeen. It was interesting to meet kids my age. Afterwords, we each got a tour of the buildings by our own guide, a little boy. My tour guides name sounded like Stanjay and after we shook hands, he didn't want to let go. He showed me all the rooms asking if they were clean and jumped up and down when I got to see his. After the tour, the children sang us a welcoming song while playing a drum and then we played around. Everywhere you looked, children were jumping up and down or singing. I played some games of Simon Says and Ring Around The Rosie. I was surprised and enlightened by how happy they became by simply jumping. They couldn't stop laughing when we played Patty Cake. What seemed like 15 minutes turned out to be an hours and we were all sad to go. We left saying "Goodbye" and "See you tomorrow!" while doused in sweat. Afterwords we went out to dinner and walked home. If I had to describe this day in one word, I would definitely say "fun".

Marion

Celebrating 100th Team in India

2011-07-11T15:53:00.002+05:30

Millinium Development Goals Achieved by this team from June 18 - July 9

75 Hours of class room instruction in conversational English by 2 volunteers and 75 Hours of preparation time

30 Hours of Childcare by 1 volunteer. over 15 students impacted

2 Children's Homes, 1 School and over 140 students impacted

July 8, 2011

“Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. “ - Mother Teresa

The last day in India has approached. Although it was inevitably going to happen, I did not think that it would approach this soon. There is a mixed bag of emotions I am feeling today. I am very happy to get back to my soon to be husband, my dogs, and all of the people I love back at home. However, there are people here in

India

who I have built relationships with that I am so very sad to leave.

Zach and I survived three weeks being just a very small little team. As I said earlier, yes we were small but I think, no, I know we were power packed. We ran on diesel engines! We were both so committed to the program here in India that we gave it our absolute all each and every day we woke up. Each day we had wonderful stories about the children we served. Each day we soaked in as much as India as we possibly could. I think we both truly loved this trip to India.

I did my usually routine-ate breakfast, filled my water bottle and headed to Grace. Today I also dressed in my last saree. I was again greeted so kindly by the children and the teachers. A slight sadness was in the air knowing it was my last day and tomorrow I would be boarding the airplane back to Minnesota. However, I wanted to make this last memory as happy as possible so that is just what I did! I decided it would be a day to have fun with the students. My first graders drew pictures of a bear. We sang a song and I put a sticker on each of their palms. I then gave them giant hugs as they left, treasuring each one. They are young and do not fully understand it when I say I will be leaving tomorrow. So, when I said goodbye they stated, Nali ku pakalum (see you tomorrow). I just said, “Good bye” and smiled. My 2^nd grade girls. OH how they have won my heart. This group was one of the hardest to say good bye to. We started by taking a lot of photos. I set my camera timer and we all hugged, made goofy faces and had fun taking pictures together. We then played word bingo (which they ADORE). When the bell rang I felt the sadness in my heart to say goodbye to these young girls. Each gave me a giant hug and two said I will miss you. I stated to each of them, “I will miss you so much”. Then on to my 3^rd graders who have also won my heart. They are such a fun and smart group. They also requested to play word BINGO. We had a lot of fun with this and then after we too did a photo shoot. It was hilarious. We were all laughing so hard while we took such fun pictures together. Their sweet good bye notes I will treasure. At the lunch hour I gathered the teachers, whom I have had such fun with, for a picture and then big goodbye hugs. They made me promise to write to them from America. That I will do. Wonderful ladies with wonderful hearts. I then realized I had to face the other direction and head for the van when Stephen arrived as the tears were beginning to well up in my eyes. It was sad to say good bye to a new family at Grace.

When I returned home, Stephen, Sheeba and Roshan served Zach and I a wonderful meal on a big banana leaf. We ate the meal traditional Indian style, with our hands. It was such a fun experience and a fun way to spend our last lunch together at the guesthouse. Roshan was so kind to help clean up the table afterwards. A sweet, hilarious, and smart little boy he is! It was then on to my daily nap to rest from the morning and rejuvenate for the evening.

In the evening we went to SEAMS where we spent our last night with the children. The time went by so very fast, too fast. We played with the children, spinning them around in our arms, shooting baskets, throwing balls, simple things that mean so much to the children. We then went into the hall where the children sang us a thank you song, danced, said good-bye and presented us with a beautiful handmade card (I love handmade items-they tug at my heartstrings). I again found it to be such a sad moment…we had a lot of fun; however, saying goodbye to children whom you have grown quite fond of is a hard thing to do. I was really starting connecting with many of the young ladies there which was hard to say goodbye to. All the children were hard to say goodbye to. I leave them knowing that I poured my heart into them and I hope in the end, it impacted them in some way. I know I will continuously think about them, pray for them, and hope the very best for them. I also hope to see them again soon in the near future…hopefully sooner than later!

After SEAMS we went out for a nice dinner where Zach and I literally stuffed ourselves silly. The food here is just too delicious to turn down second, oh, third helpings! Tandoori chicken, Naan, Chicken butter masala (Zach’s favorite), a lentil curry dish, dosa with onion chutney, oh my, it was all so good. It was so nice to spend our last night as a team, Zach, myself and also Sheeba, Stephen and Roshan. We all made up our team while here in India. A small, but, wonderful team whom I will miss. Thank you so very very very much to Stephen, Sheeba and Roshan. The three of them made our time in India amazing. Such kind, generous and giving people. I will miss them. I also thank Stephen, the driver, Roni, our cook, Barnabos, the security guard and all the hosts at our work sites. They too made this trip to

India

amazing.

I (as well as Zach) hand the torch on to the next team. Please, enjoy every single part of India and everyone you meet. Try every single food and fruit that Stephen or Roni offers (you never know what you might just really like!). Eat as many Mangos as possible as they are so very delicious. Pour your heart into the children. They do not need anyone’s money; they need your full heart, love and care. I promise you, they will give it back to you as well! To the eye, India may not be as beautiful as a tropical destinations you may have been on, however, underneath India is filled with beauty that is beyond imaginable; the people, the sounds, the children, the food, the country, it is all such a wonderful and marvelous place. Soak in every bit of India as you can as it will fly by and before you know it you will be boarding the plane to go back to America!

Naomi

July 7, 2011

This serves as my final journal entry where I realize I cannot possible explain in words what a spectacular experience this has been. From day one, I recall stepping out of the International Terminal at Chennai/Madras Airport and being surrounded by a mob of locals there to help me with my bags and provide transportation. And within 3 short weeks, it is time to leave this now-familiar city we have called home. Naomi and I have both accomplished our tremendous goals in India. From the instant I started working with these ever-so-cute children, I knew saying goodbye was not going to be an easy task. From little Danny at Assisi Illam thinking I am his “pa pa” to my fourth grade class always hiding in the classroom when I arrive; my experiences in Chennai has left a dramatic imprint on my life. When I return home, I am going to recognize the simple values in life. Having bountiful amounts of food in my refrigerator, clean drinking water at my endless disposal, and a beautiful family to share all my memories with are all pleasures I have taken for granted in the past. The orphanages I have served at have taught me to value the simple things in life, and to not be so dependent on the luxuries that plague America. I am determined to cherish my family, lifestyle, and education; many which the children I have worked with lack. As it is our last day of service tomorrow, Naomi will be wearing her Saree and I will be wearing my new Kurta. I look forward to spending a carefree day with the children and taking lots of pictures.

To wrap this journal up, these 3 weeks have been life-changing. I know Naomi and I will return to the States with a new outlook on society. We have been through endless sore throats, a plethora of mosquito bites, and even a trip to the hospital. Yet, Naomi and I have successfully tackled our goal at improving the education of these young children. Our three goals were to love and care for the children, to experience the culture of India, and to teach the children English. All three of these goals have been accomplished, and I look forward to returning to this beautiful country in the future.

“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” –Anonymous

I chose this quote because my time here in Chennai has taught me that the education and prosperity of children is not completely recognized worldwide. Naomi and I have contributed as a piece of the puzzle that Global Volunteers is helping to put together year around for these amazing children!

Zach

2011-07-07T09:22:00.000+05:30

Wednesday, 6th July 2011.

“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth". - Baha'u'llah (an Iranian theologian and philosopher)

Today marked the middle of our third and final week here in India. It was yet another wonderful day. Again, we started the day with a good breakfast. As always, I anxiously waited to see what food would be waiting in the container, ready for my indulgence. To my surprise, it was a new food! Pungul. I liked it. I would say that I like the dosa or kasari more; however, this was pretty good. I was sure to remember the name of it as everyday at Grace the teachers as me what I had for breakfast. I have been doing a good job of remembering the names the past week and a half whereas before I would scrunch my shoulders and state, “Uhhh, ummm, a yellowish dish”. Much confusion across their faces.

Today I told me students that I only have a couple days left and I will then be flying on a plane back to America. They were curious, asked a lot of questions and stated, “So you will be back next week?” So, I then explained it again. Aw, awwwwwww, they said. “So you will be back next year?” I responded by saying to them I will miss them dearly and hope to someday come back to India. They seemed satisfied with this answer. In my first grade class we played number BINGO. Oh wow, this is quite the activity with the group. Every time they get a number on their card each and every student, every time, and I mean EVERY time, needs to inform me they got that number by shouting, “Mam, mam” and they will not stop until I confirm with a head nod that they do indeed have that number. Needless to say, I do not think I would attempt this activity with them again; however, they sure did enjoy it so I was happy with that. The bell rang and each of the 1^st graders lined up to give me their daily hugs and then they grab my head to pull it down for a kiss on the cheek. This has been our routine for the past week. I must say, it is so very sweet and a great way to end the class. I only had 3 students in my 2^nd grade class today. Although a small group, we sure did have a lot of fun. They are clearly great friends and care a lot about each other. It is so nice to see. Again, our daily routine of a big, giant, squeeze of a hug and then out the door. I am always in such a pleasant and content mood after seeing my 2^nd graders. On to my third graders I go. The time with my 3^rd grade always passes so quickly. Before I know it the bell has rang and they are on to lunch. One little boy in this class, Victor, just fascinates me. I have written about him before. Victor is always lost in space, thinking about something else. Always the last to finish his work. However, he is so incredibly smart. His cute little face always scrunches up, evident that he is thinking so very hard about something. He is my translator as well. If I cannot get a message across to my students clearly, he will translate my English into Tamil for the other students to understand. This child, clearly, has a bright future ahead of him. He probably has the most English out of any of the students I have met in Chennai!

During lunch time I again chatted with the teachers. We always have fun conversations and many of them are quite interesting as well. Today I wore a beautiful blue saree. I was looking pretty fancy and also pretty Indian today! I had my blue saree, a bindi, jasmine flowers in my hair, bangles, and a beautiful blue necklace (many thanks to Sheeba for helping me blend in with India!). The teachers had much to say about my dress today. It was a fun conversation. We also talked about how few days I have left in India and how we are all feeling sad about that. It will be sad to leave everyone I have met here in India. Great relationships have been formed.

Again, in the evening, we all headed over to SEAMS where Zach and I went through the routine, working one on one with the children. As always, such loving, gentle, heartfelt kids are at SEAMS. Eager to please, eager to learn and eager to be loved. One thing that I have recognized even more from the children and this trip to India is that it doesn’t matter what color our skin is, what religion we are affiliated with or what country we come from, for we are all the same underneath. All of us want to just be loved and cared for, the most important thing in life. All of us just want to laugh and be joyful. We all have that same inner need. I believe that if the world could recognize this, we would be more easily united. I do believe we continue to get closer to that and that is why I love global volunteers. It is a program that helps to unite countries and gain respect for each other through acts of service.

Naomi

2011-07-06T16:51:00.000+05:30

July 5, 2011

Today we began our third week working with the children. We spent an amazing week in the forest this past weekend but I must admit, as wonderful as it was, I was ready to get back to Chennai and work with the children again!

Greeted again by their wonderful smiles, beautiful eyes, kisses on the cheek and their prideful exclamations of knowing my name, I again felt that reassuring feeling as to why I came to India, to impact the children in some way, shape or form. I truly hope that the hugs I give, the lessons I teach, and the care I render will affect the children in some form after I leave.

My first graders worked on their shapes today, something they appear to struggle with. An activity at the board followed by a drawing activity on shapes, appeared to hold their attention well today. Of course, there were those whispers on the side, jumping out of the seat, and the constant “mam, mam” to get my attention so I could see the work they did, were all present, however, they worked pretty hard. My second graders were again sweet as pie. Happy to greet me with the greeting song they had learned. They are so sweet as the always want to be as helpful as possible; erasing the board for me, turning on the fan, placing my bag of supplies in a good spot, whatever they could do to help. My last group, the 3^rd graders, did their regular routine, a morning message, question of the day and then various work activities. One of the boys had a piece of wood that was covered with some blue crayon. It was a piece of “art” he had made me over the weekend. The gesture was so sweet as this piece of wood was nothing but a scrap, however, the thought and love he put into it made it a treasured artifact. Another great day at Grace school. I never leave that school without smiling on my way out.

We ate a great lunch today, as always. A couple of my favorites were present, Chapatti bread and also mangos. Give me those to things at any meal and I am one happy girl. I am realizing how much I am going to miss this food. I look forward to opening the round containers at each meal to see what pleasantly awaits us. I am always happy with what it is because I have liked everything. My two cups of coffee in the morning and the delicious meals will be missed terribly! Tomorrow night we will be learning how to make a few items we have come to love. I know they will not turn out near as good as Roni’s, however, I hope I can master a portion of the deliciousness so I can continue to eat some of this divine food at home.

After lunch and a MUCH needed nap from the weekend, we headed over to SEAMS. Zach and I both worked one on one with the children again. I love their eagerness to work with us and learn. One of the girls, Saranya, was so funny as all she could do was giggle and hide her head in my arm. It took some time getting started on our work. I giggled along with her though as I just could not help it. Toward the end of our time together so begged, and I mean begged, for just one more book mam, just one more. I have into one. Then she did it again. I now had to figure out how to say no more books (which is so hard for me to say to child when they beg to read). Putting all the books into my backpack and zipping it up appeared to do the trick! I worked with about 4 children tonight, seesawing between working and talking with each one. Such impressions they each leave on me. Such sweet kids. The end of the night all of the sudden got a little out of control as it appeared they just wanted to play. But, all in all, it was a successful night, another night of memories. Only 3 days left to make as many memories as possible with the children. I will miss them, that is one thing I know to be true.

Don't spend your precious time asking "why isn't the world a better place?" It will only be a waste of time. The question to ask is "How can I make it better?”

Naomi

July 3 – 5, 2011

This past weekend was quite the experience. We hopped on our overnight train to the town of Mysore. No I have never experienced an Indian train ride nor have I heard of the “vast” accommodations on these trains. However, it was definitely worth the crammed sleeping conditions and constant sounds of “coffee coffee chai chai”. When we arrived in Mysore we were greeted by our driver and headed to a small restaurant for a simple breakfast. Then into the forest (more like jungle) we went. The car took us to a small village where Naomi, Stephen, and I were met by our jungle expert. He took us deep into the center of the jungle to a small coffee plantation. On this plantation rested two beautiful cottages with simple living necessities. Here, amenities included an electric fence to warn off strange pretenders as well as a very nice viewing point. We unpacked, showered, and rested on the terraces admiring the absolute magnificence of the nature. Around 5pm we headed out onto our jeep safari. The forest was so quiet, and almost no animals were to be seen. We searched for nearly an hour, until the driver brought us to the main road where it seemed all the action was. Our drive spotted a few elephants in the distance and instructed us to remain silent. We admired the beasts from a distance and eventually moved on. Throughout the night we heard sounds of peacocks, bison, elephants, various birds, and leopards. The jungle seemed to be filled with hidden creatures that dared not to reveal their identity. After, we ate dinner on the terrace and listened into the jungle. Upon finishing, we sat in the dark listening for any animals who decided to indulge in the tasty salt laid out by our hosts. Suddenly, the mahout called that an elephant was close by. After a moment, he shined the mega flashlight into the night and there stood a magnificent baby elephant. We searched around for the mother, but she was no where to be found. The baby elephant eventually fled, and we remained in silence. Upon going to bed, I heard the sounds of something else strange outside our cottage. I woke Stephen up to find that an elephant and two bison made their way to the salty treats! We admired for a bit and went back to bed. The next morning we woke up promptly at 5:30am (yes that early) to attempt to go on an elephant ride through the jungle. The elephants were booked so we did some sight seeing instead. Throughout the village and forest we could see spectacular views of the large mountainous terrain. There exists on the top of the colossal mountains a village called Ooty. Ooty is home to tribal Indians who have rested there for a long time. Although many of these smaller villages are filled with nothing but unemployed drunks who enjoy their lifestyle of mooching off the government, I found the idea of living on top a huge mountain very interesting.

After our failed attempt at the elephant we headed to a small sanctuary for elephants where Naomi, Stephen, and I got to touch and see a baby elephant. This little fella was only 1 year old and was no bigger than the size of a SmartCar. He was very playful and watching his trunk flail around in the air and grabbing string was very entertaining. Later, we trekked through the jungle where we only saw some spotted deer. It seemed as though the animals knew we were coming much sooner than we knew where they were. It was disappointing walking around so much and not seeing much. However, the sights were so gorgeous. As we rested by a rock briefly, our mahout noticed an elephant at a distance. It was a baby and a mama elephant. We watched in silence at these beauts, and admired their natural habitat that they lived. The mother and baby elephant seemed so natural and untouched, and I really admired that. The forest was extremely silent, with air only pierced by the sounds of wild birds and tiny insects. We packed up back at our temporary home, and made the long drive back to the village. Naomi and I proudly received complementary chiropractic adjustments by the generosity of the 4x4 jeep. As there are no roads per say, it was a bumpy ride to say the least. Rocks, dirt, mud, and lack of pavement seemed like no problem for this bustling vehicle. Our driver, as fearless as he was, seemed as he was taking it easy on the roads too. American roads have nothing on those in the jungle, that’s for sure! We started the drive back to Meysore an incredible palace. Here, we saw beautiful gold architecture, amazing dancing halls, and some authentic ivory-crested doors. The king of this palace was amazingly wealthy, and this obvious. Throughout the early 1900’s he was perceived as more of an idol, and when his former palace burnt down. An outstanding new palace was built at the low cost of only $100,000. If I could build that structure today at that same price I would definitely be taking out some loans. The architecture, history, and numerous artifacts were unbelievable to say the least. The palace had 12 temples located just on the grounds alone. There I got to ride my elephant around the palace (in the heavy downfall of rain) and admire the true gem of

India

. Later, we visited the marketplace that was hustling and bustling with hundreds of visitors and thousands of vendors. The true lifestyle of an average Indian could be seen in this small, crowded marketplace. Young boys preparing vegetables for sale and desperate men trying to sell their bananas next to 5 other people selling the same bananas was a common experience. The market was crammed with vendors, but few buyers were on the grounds. It was quite the experience seeing young boys trying to lure us in by saying “hello hello where are you from”. We then boarded the train out of Meysore and enjoyed the absolutely spectacular accommodations of the Southern Indian Railroad. The next morning Naomi headed to Grace and I headed to Assisi. The kids at Assisi were a bit difficult yesterday but it also may have been to my lack of sleep. As I have spent more time getting to know each child they seem to really feel more comfortable around me. The boys and girls each gave me a kiss on the cheek before I left, and it made me feel sooo special and important in their lives. That is why leaving

India

will be such a difficult thing for me. The kids at Assisi, Grace, and SEAMS all are purely amazing. At Grace, I worked with the kids on using a given noun in a sentence, and finished with letting them do some creative drawing. It’s quite comical how they always want to draw a house or some sort of an animal. I started to get creative and made one draw a dancing Veejay (a popular Indian actor/singer) and another draw an auto rickshaw in the forest and another draw a monster under a bed. They enjoyed these challenges and it helped to break them from the mold of traditional schooling, which I believe is important in all educational aspects. At SEAMS, we spent more time with the kids individually working on their English reading and conversational skills. The children always jump at the opportunity to read a book, but their attention span is quite short. It is necessary to come prepared with multiple activities and to always ‘play’ with the children in some way. I personally enjoy tickling them! The kids enjoyed some cake and then we had a bit of free-for-all time. Naomi and I were exhausted so we then headed back to the guest house and to simply put it…… slept like rocks. I’m anxious to come back home, but every time I’m spending time with the children it makes me want to stay for 2 more weeks soooo badly. The kids seem to love Naomi and me, and it will definitely be difficult heading back home after what seems sooo soon, yet so long.

Zach

July 1, 2011

“Love is when the other person's happiness is more important than your own.”

This quote was chosen after visiting SEAMS tonight. Tonight at SEAMS I sat next to a young boy, who is 14 years old. I have been quite fond of this young man since the beginning of this trip. He has a constant smile, takes such care of the other children, and has such a sweet, gentle heart. Some members of the community came into SEAMS tonight to give some food to the children: a banana, crackers, and a rice-crispy ball. We were advised to not take the food (for health precautions). This young boy next to me realized I did not have any food (unknowing of the fact that I had declined) and he offered me his banana and crackers. Of course I politely declined his offer, however, I think this is something I will never forget. This child does not have a whole lot in life, however, he recognized I didn’t have anything and offered his food to me. My heart literally melted by his generous offer. It was a clear example of how people should live; with self-less love and generosity.

We have been in India for two weeks. My feelings of India, the children, the things I have learned, the places I have seen, the people I have met, the culture, they are all almost indescribable. I talked with my future husband on Skype this evening and told him we must come back together. Even if he does not come, I know I will for sure come back. This has been an amazing two weeks and I look forward to the third week. Yes, I am missing things back at home, however, I also feel a comfort here in India. I look forward to seeing my students at Grace each day, the children at SEAMS each night, the teachers, our hosts, Stephen, Sheeba, and Roshan, and everyone else we meat along the way. It has been a far better trip then I ever would have expected. They say that India is one of the hardest Global Volunteer trips. As a past volunteer in Ecuador, I would agree, this trip has been harder but, while I loved my experience in Ecuador, I have really grown quite fond of the India program and all that the program has given to me.

Today was a good day. I was really tired today as it was a hot, hot, hot one however, it was still a good day. My 2^nd grade class again greeted me as I walked into the room, singing the greeting I had taught them. So very very sweet. There are 4 young girls in my 2^nd grade class. We all have so much fun together. Each day we laugh and laugh and laugh. We are probably a little bit too loud, but, I am okay with it as there is learning taking place and smiles on their faces. They now leave each day giving me a giant hug and saying “see you tomorrow, I’ll miss you”. Ok, heart melts again. I can see why volunteers come back again and again to India! My 3^rd graders had drawn more pictures and written more notes. The notes stated, “I love you mam”. Ok, again, melt my heart. These simple little handwritten notes are evidence that I have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish here; giving the children as much love and care as I possibly can. At lunch time one of my 1^st graders, who is as cute as a button but also tests my patience quite often, came over to where I was sitting on a bench, took my hand and just sat next to me for about 15 minutes. Ok, and again, melt my heart. These are the reasons why volunteering in India is so amazing.

At SEAMS tonight things became a little unstructured, however, it turned out to be a lot of fun actually. It is so very important to sit with the children to work on their English. However, once in a while having a “fun day” isn’t so bad! Zach and I worked with a couple of children and then the community members came in with food so we had to pause our work. It was then raining outside so the children could not go into the common area to play, read books, etc. so everybody was in the hall. Altogether, it did not lend to a good learning environment. So, we played 3 round of Simon Says in a big circle. This game tends to get very loud, however, I look around and I see so many smiles and so much laughter. After Simon Says we all just kind of hung out for a bit. I played many games of “hand slap”, “thumb war”, and “arm wrestling” with the boys. One of the older boys and I sat and played these games for quite some time. We were both rolling with laugher and were having a marvelous time. So, I thank the rain tonight as it provided us all with some fun times together and big smiles on everyone’s faces.

So, cheers to a wonderful third and last week in India. This week will be filled to the top with many emotions: sadness to leave, excitement to see our loved ones at home, reflection on our experience, and so much more. We leave tomorrow night for our train ride into the forest. I look forward to seeing a different part of India and experiencing more of the Indian culture! Luckily Zach is in charge of the journal entry because it will be cholk full of details!

Naomi

June 30, 2011

Today Naomi and I continued at Assisi, Grace, and SEAMS. I have been struggling with a young boy at Assisi named Setvet, he constantly hit the other children and loves to make the other kids cry. I have been trying to break him apart from the other children so they don’t get hurt, but it seems as soon as I sit him down; he’s back up and hitting the other kids. Danny wasn’t at Assisi today, so it was just me and the other children. They really love their building blocks! Sister Rose was not feeling well so it was basically Shiva and I who were watching the kids today. The younger boy, Rocshen, has been very quiet. The sisters told me he is very shy and never talks. I’ve noticed he always keeps to himself and never plays with any of the other children. Today, I picked him up, set him on the tricycle, and pushed him around the room. He all of a sudden was laughing a giggling, and he seemed like a whole new boy after that. He was interacting with me and loved the attention. Teaching the kids at Assisi is nearly impossible, as their attention span is about .25 seconds, but today I did manage to work on some English noun-recognition with them. When I got to Grace, I taught my fifth graders more sentence-formation and they are really starting to improve. The fourth graders still struggle, but they love the activities I plan for them! At SEAMS, Naomi and I have been working with the kids individually, and the results seem very effective. The boys absolutely love playing the “high-five game” and being lifted up into the air. They are sooo light because they weigh hardly anything that I even pick up the 13 year olds! Tonight, we headed to Stephen’s parent’s house for a lovely dinner. I could hardly eat all of the food on my plate, but I enjoyed everything. I was quite amazed at a young girl we met at Dinner. She lives above Stephen’s parent’s house with her husband. She seemed very unhappy with her arranged marriage, and almost depressed. She was sooooo excited when Naomi and I visited her home and she was very ecstatic to have “company” in her home. It was hard to hear how miserable she was, and not tell her to just leave her husband. I understand Indian culture is quite different from American’s, but my philosophy is, if you’re not happy, why would one put oneself through the torture. She sits at home all day cooking and cleaning. Her husband is never home cause he works 12 hour days, and she has no friends it seems like. My immediate response would be to do what she actually wants to and travel and see the world. However, the culture is different. If I had to force myself into a marriage and cope with the conditions, I would at least find a job (despite her mother and father-in laws demands). She should also find friends in the village and work towards accomplishing some sort of happiness in her life. India claims to be progressing in women’s rights and better-educated women. However, her story made me realize the customs that may still oppress women to an unimaginable extent. This experience was extremely impacting on my beliefs and my interpretation of the culture within the system.

Other than that, I am extremely homesick. I miss my family and my friends so much! All of my relatives and compadres are very supportive and excited for me to come home, but I just keep thinking about all the smiles on the kids’ faces when I walk through their gate. The gleam in their eyes when I teach absolutely stuns me. I truly believe I am making a difference in these children’s education, and I can’t wait to see how we can continue to progress throughout this trip. But I definitely still miss my home!

"You see, when weaving a blanket, and Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out." -Martha Graham

I chose this because all cultures are flawed or different in some way. Society needs these flaws to work towards some progress and to uniquely identify themselves as human. Humans clearly are not all perfect, otherwise they would lose the essence of their soul; their spirit; and the foundation by which they live.

Zach