Global Volunteers India - IND0801a1

January 7th, 2008 by Anne Littrell

Our day starts with an excellent breakfast including fresh small bananas, tangerines, hard boiled eggs and “spaghetti” (delicious noodles mildly spiced). It is our first day to “work” – interact with the children. We approach the day with various degrees of excitement, apprehension and fear. George and Ruth are going to Grace School where they will assist teaching 1st to 5th grades. Grace School serves the children of the local community. Additionally Ruth will work with the Bethlamite Sisters helping them with conversational English and psychology. Jan and Ginny are going to St. Joseph’s School. Jan will teach Kindergarten and Ginny 1st thru 9th grade. Those kids are in for a treat! Roma, Lucy, Elyse and Anne are going to Assisi Illam, an orphanage and day care center. They will help care for the one to five year olds. Rick and Joanne are our work crew this week as they head off to St. Joseph’s Social Service Center to paint – the 23 year old building is in need of a facelift. Christine has a most interesting assignment for as a nurse she will work with the staff at the St. Thomas Hospital.
By 3:30pm we return to the guest house. Rick and Joann had a productive day. With many gestures and few words they were shown the painting procedure. They commented on the amount of work that has been accomplished by Global Volunteers at St. Joseph’s. They were entertained by the children of the center with a rendition of the Hoky Pokey.
Roma, Lucy, Elyse and Anne played with, sang to, and helped feed the children of Assisi Illam. There was laughter, many hugs and a few tears. The children are friendly and eager for attention.
George had a great day. He says this is the perfect assignment for him. He did sound a little unsure of what to do with those tiny first graders. They will instruct him as the week goes on.
Ruth met with the nuns at Bethlamite and feels their time together will be productive. Unfortunately she wasn’t feeling well and came back to the Guest House to rest.
Jan and Ginny were pleased with their school and the students. We all feel we need to prepare for each day’s activity.
At 5:15 we wnet to SEAM. Such friendly and energetic children! They were happy to see us. They sang a song for us and we sang for them.
It was a good day. As Stephen had told us would happen, the blindfolds are now off. We have a better understanding of what we need to do and what the procedures are.
Thought for the day: “One Day At A Time!”