Millinium Development Goals
Achieved by this team from February 2 - 6;
82 Hours of class room instruction in conversational English and computer skills by 6 volunteers and 82 Hours of preparation time.
20 Hours of childcare by 2 volunteers
50 Hours of construction labor at SEAM Children's Home by 2 volunteers
2 Schools, 2 Children's Home and over 500 students impacted
Monday, 2/2/09 (Ann Cheng)
“Your only duty is to do the best you can.” David Seabury
Today is our first day of the second week. Ginny and I were switched to the construction work while Georgie and Linda were going to Assisi. Linda and Katie were continuing the teaching in St. Joseph School and Grace School.
Today was a hard day for Katie because the teacher in kindergarten was sick, so she had to take over the whole class on her own. Linda had a very fun experience with those little kids in Grace School. To prevent them from copying the math problem, she had two types of sheets. After they found out there were differences between the sheets, they tried to switch it but unsuccessfully. Linda and Georgie had a very good time with those babies in Assisi and they went to St. Joseph school to teach English to the nuns in the afternoon. Ginny and I were falling in love with the construction. With Ginny’s help, they built up two sides of the wall. And I finally mastered the head-loading thing. This simply made the day to be my greatest day ever.
We all went to Seam at 5 p.m. and enjoyed our time with the children there while teaching them English and computer skills. After we came home from Seam, we had our own cooking class taught by Sheeba. We learned how to make Puri, and I bet that is the best Puri we ever had.
Tuesday, 2/3/09 (Linda W.)
“Prayer in action is love. Love in action is service. Mother Teresa”
By Tuesday our “tourist” frame of mind of the weekend had very much been replaced by our “worker” frame of mind. We are back in the thick of teaching, head loading and sand sifting.
The day had great moments. It started off with Sheeba decorating our hair with jasmine and our foreheads with bindis. Thus adorned we set off for work in the little white van. Linda M. and Georgie brought silence to the children of Assissi by introducing them to glue sticks and construction paper. Each child had a sheet of paper. To this paper she could attach a variety of shapes … circle, rectangle, square, triangle, heart. The child had to request by shape and color; so she was learning on many levels. Katie had good responses from her computer students. And today’s construction work was similar to Monday’s. Linda W.’s joy of the day was Pradesh, a first grader. During the past week when asked what 1 + 2 was, he would happily say 5. He would just as happily say that 2 + 3 = 1. Today he got everyone of his written problems correct. The secret … the number line!!!!!
We finished our day with a super dinner at Grand Residence where Ginny had strawberry ice cream for medicinal purposes. Over dinner Ann informed us that the men do wear shorts under their skirts. And Stephen shared lots of anecdotes about Indian culture and life.
So another day of service-learning ends!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 (Georgie Kovacs)
“There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, whithers rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.”-Josiah Gilbert Holland
This quote accurately and effectively depicts our world. I believe this is why we are calmly able to handle each day of volunteering. Today started off with a few changes as Ginny’s cold was too much to handle construction. While she rested and took medicine, Ann continued off to the construction site with Linda M. in tow. They were greeted by arguing construction workers which Stephan, our calm, even-toned leader dealt with.
The remainder of us went on with our usual schedule. Linda W. headed off to Grace School and had a “one step forward, two steps back” kind of day with the kids. It is both her patience and persistence that we admire as she handles the ups and downs.
I had a quiet ride to Assisi where I helped Sister Rose and Sister Caroline on the computer. Since they know little English and virtually never interacted with a computer, I had to use extreme patience to make sure they got the most out of it. They are wonderful to work with as they see the outcome of the learning process and show great appreciation for my assistance. Just as my one-on-one lesson with Sister Carolin came to an end, she had to rush downstairs because one of the little boy’s finger was slammed into the gate resulting in a visit to the hospital for stitches and a splint.
Katie’s voice is coming back thanks to the many cups of ginger tea made by Sheeba and Rani. Thus, she is better able to speak over the 50 kids in her morning classes. I am sure that her new salwar kamis helps her feel refreshed, too!
Linda M. and I are doing well with the novices at St. Joseph’s. They bought us a small package of bindi. Given that they are given 300 Rs (~6 USD) per month as “play money,” this was quite the generous gesture.
The highlight of the day was having dinner with Stephen’s family. We were each handed a large plate of briyani rice, chicken, fish, potatoes, veggies, two kinds of Indian bread, and for dessert – bananas. Ann was the only one who was able to fit a second helping of rice into her tummy – and she is the smallest one of us all!
Stephen’s family is wonderful. His parents are kind, always smiling, and love their grandchildren. They spoke enough English that we were able to communicate with ease. I know I can speak for us all when I say how much we appreciated their generosity and delicious cooking!
Thursday, 2/05/09 (Katie Ohotto)
“Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in actions; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.” –Tryon Edwards
By day thirteen all was down to habit starting with 7:30am yoga on the rooftop. “Take five breathing” was now a familiar resting posture although our teacher threw us off with a wheel pose at the end of class. Breakfast and morning assignments were habit as well with the exception of the newborn kitten that Ann took from a child at the SEAMS’s construction site. Animalitarian efforts were aborted when the kitten couldn’t take milk on her own and had to bee returned to SEAMS by Barnabus. Lunch was habit with the exception of the cake and cookies from Kumar’s Sweet Shop that Stephen brought home for a surprise. Even the work assignment van reports were becoming a bit habit. In Linda’s words, “There were some good things that happened today.” Perhaps after two weeks we were becoming a bit accustomed to the culture? Or perhaps not as Katie was shocked to receive the kind letters of gratitude from the computer students at Grace School since during the education process they didn’t appear interested in maintaining the positive and calm disposition of the teacher. In the end, they were truly sweethearts. In the same fashion, the SEAMS children said goodbye to Katie, and they were truly sweethearts too.
Stephen treated the whole team to a last full team supper at the Green Park Hotel’s Tulip Restaurant. The buffet was the best yet- it was a very special treat. Katie’s the first to depart and wishes everyone a safe and pleasant final journey.
Friday Feb 6th ( Linda McCamic)
The most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well!
It’s Friday and the end of our second full week volunteering.
Katie left today for her next adventure in India, 2 weeks in Goa at a yoga retreat. She seemed excited to be going and we will miss her but I am sure her students will miss her more.
Ginny and Ann were back at SEAMS on the construction crew where work is progressing nicely. They were quite happy to find out that the kitten they found the day before is still alive and well.
Linda W. is slowly taking a few steps forward at Grace School.
Georgie made some progress teaching Sr. Caroline the computer and I made progress with Vinayagam at SEAMS to read English. He read a 4 page book by himself today and was as proud as could be but no as proud as I was of him.
So all and all even though it sometimes is frustrating because it seems that progress is slow in coming, it is coming! We are beginning to see the fruits of our labor if it is in the completion of a wall, the understanding of a math equation, the recognition of a word or just a smile on a child’s face at the end of the day we have accomplished something and made our time here worthwhile!
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