Millinium Development Goals
Achieved by this team from January 4 - January 8 ;
130 Hours of class room instruction in conversational English and computer skills by 9 volunteers and 130 Hours of preparation time.
30 Hours of childcare by 3 volunteer
24 Hours of construction at Seams to build the Stage 2 of the Dormitories and we fixed the roof in this team
1 Schools, 2 Children's Home and over 115 students impacted
Jan 4, 2010
After the great second weekend with amazing food, the sun of the new day had risen. I got ready myself for the last one week. In the morning, global volunteers finally met Maria, who joined the team late because of her work. Maria had come to India last September and decided to volunteer again. Probably the children’s bright smile and lovely eyes led her to visit India again.
We all started with a new schedule. Kimberly and Lori went to Grace School, which was where I went for the first week. Bruce and Kathy went to Seams for construction. Roma, Maria, and I went to Assisi Ilam to play with little kids, who age from 2 to 5.
As an only child, who was raised as the youngest among relatives, I was not used to play with kids rather kids usually played with me. Children at Assisi Illam were ready to welcome us with saying “HELLOOOO!” I appreciate that the children had a good time, amusing themselves whether or not I was a good entertainer.
Coming back from Assisi Ilam, our project for a performance, led by Kimberly, was planned more specifically. I chose a Korean number song to sing. Actually I wanted to choose a song, which I used to like to sing when I was in an elementary school, but it was hard to find its lyrics and I couldn’t read Korean words anyway. I found youtube videos of Korean children’s songs which showed the lyrics in the video. Because I get shy when I sing a song around people for some reasons, after watching the video, I slightly went up stairs and then practiced the song a couple of times. We also arranged a cooking lesson by Rani, who is a cook in the guest house, for tomorrow dinner. I’m not sure if my Indian food would be as good as hers but I believe it will get much much better after some trials with friends when I get back.
At the evening, all of us went to Seams. Thendrel and Priya, who are 9 years old girls, have been in my group. I’ve had difficulties to make them pay attention and get more interests in learning English. I had a book with me for tonight and tried to read it out together, which was not a great idea. When I frowned my face, thinking what to do, Stephen came to me and said, “These two are the most challenging kids. Don’t expect too much. Just walk with them, teaching basic Alphabet and words.” I couldn’t smile but I felt way better suddenly. I realized I was just focusing on just my plan. I didn’t consider enough what children could do and enjoy. For the rest of this week, I hope I could enjoy the time with the kids more and the children could be happy as well.
Nicole
January 5, 2010
Hello India! Another day came and went, worsening my dread of leaving next week. Although I just arrived, it already feels like I’m going to leave too quickly. The team had a very successful day though. Kim and Lori had their hands full at Grace School. Lori is working with the rowdy youngsters in kindergarten and Kim has an iron fist on the rambunctious older kids, both diligently working through 3 sessions of 45 minute lessons. Even I would need a crazy, sloppy oil massage after that, which incidentally Matt went to St. Thomas this morning to receive. Bruce, Kathy, and Candice dirtied up and sweated it out at the construction site, defying gravity to see who could carry the most bricks on top of their heads to the second floor. Actually, they carried bricks and sand up to the second floor of the dormitory with their hands, but defying gravity sounds cool. Roma brought her usual spunk to Assisi as she danced the Hockey Pockey, if you’re happy and you know it, and other nursery rhythms with me and Nicole. A priest was visiting and he made Nicole sing in front of everyone while he played the drums and she got terribly embarrassed. However, he complemented her on her beautiful voice, on Roma’s agility and youthful nature, and on my energetic interaction with the children. The children laughed, danced, and screamed at the activities and drum-playing, which helped with their nap shortly after. After lunch Kim strutted her stuff to teach us a line-dance and organize the songs and dances we will be performing at SEAMS on Thursday. It went very well, was much easier than originally expected, and even Roma busted a move, giving Bruce a run for his money. Kim and Lori then received a delightful cooking lesson from Rani and Sheba, which we all greatly enjoyed later at dinner. I tried to nap before SEAMS, but again it was useless, I was too excited. As I walked into the gate at SEAMS, 10 children pushed and shoved to hold my hands and arms to guide me to the new dormitory. It was wonderful to see them all again. I had John show me the scar where his stitches were that I removed, I told Rajesh how tall he’s gotten, and it was great to see Rebecca again. We then got down to business and worked on the alphabet while Kim taught advanced computer skills to Suresh. Later that evening Kathy, Nicole, and I strolled down the main road. Nicole is like a statue walking down the street. She’s stubborn and doesn’t move side to side. If you need to walk by her, you better know to move over, because she’s won’t, and even motorcyclists learned this quickly! Kathy bought a very beautiful knitted bag, I bought balls and cars for the children at Assisi, and Nicole of course bought sweets at the bakery. Although I only got 5 hours of sleep last night, that brings me to my quote, which exemplifies my feelings of enjoying every single moment I can during my time in India, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
Maria
January 7 2010
And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.
- Babylonian Talmud
India is a teenager; its birth, resulting from Independence in 1947. Suckled by the British Empire, India benefited from some of the infrastructure left behind by its colonial masters - specifically, a web of transportation and communication as well as a universality of English. Like any baby, it suffered separation anxiety; hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Hindus met terrifying and tortuous deaths as partition was enforced in the early day. As the nation grew, it became a petulant and impudent child. A policy of self-sufficiency was launched by its government in the 1970's, severely limiting imports of any sort. You could not buy a pair of Levis or a Coke. The only car available was the locally produced and stodgily styled Ambassador, still on the road today. While such a policy produced short term hardships and second grade products, it served to launch India into the 20th century. In less than a generation, the country evolved from a sustenance based agricultural society to an industrialized nation, created a new middle class along the way and sowed the seeds for future growth.
As 2010 rings in, India is in its adolescence. Sometimes and in some ways, it steps forward onto the world stage and assumes an adult like role. Witness its continued economic growth over the past two years while the west remains mired in an entropic recession. India is part of the BRIC anagram, joining Brazil, Russia, and China as the national vanguards of this nascent century. Yet in other ways, it remains under-developed, displaying an immaturity reflective of all teenagers, acting as men one day, children the next. For example, a lack of social responsibility on the governmental level, requiring all of us volunteers to be here to provide the types of services which should rightly be handled by a nation state striving to attain first world stature. The underdeveloped road system, the unreliable power grids, the chaotic mix of live animals, three wheeled rickshaws, large trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles competing for limited road space, with a rancour and cacophony of noise pollution from incessantly blaring horns unbefitting a nation that has made such strides forward in such a short period of time. A good first step wold be adopting the use of the turn signal, an apparently vestigial organ on all cars here. But it will all come. Not for free, but it will all come.
As India moves toward adulthood, it will do as all adults do - employ certain lessons learned from its parents while rejecting others. This is where culture comes into play. Unfortunately, as maturity sets in, part of the magic of youth will disappear. As cellphones become even more ubiquitous, part of the face to face communication will disappear forever. As children leave small towns and villages where their ancestors have lived for generations, moving to places such as Bangalore, getting higher paying jobs in back office call centers, and becoming Roger instead of Rajid, part of the country's uniqueness will vanish. Development means homogenization. The beautiful temples with their storied legends that have been sewn into the mindset of every young Indian child like the rich and colourful weavings of the saree will become distant memories as the next generation trades religion for TV. For the first time conscious effort will have to be expended to ingrain a culture that in previous times had entered the Indian psyche by osmosis.
Is this a good thing? Yes and No. Children will read. They will eat. They will receive medical care. They will also get divorced, take drugs, and become just another cog in the globalization machine. The march to adulthood is an inevitable one, full of joy, pain and uncertainty. With proper leadership, socially and politically, to lessen the inevitable trauma associated with growth, India will mature and take its rightful place as a global superpower at some point this century. It is my hope that as a world leader, it will not have given up too much of what made it a unique nation. India's spirituality, its diversity, its creativity and above all else the grace that is exhibited by its citizenry should be reflected in the new order and serve as a role model for the other nations of the world as India assumes its paternalistic duties in the coming years.
Bruce
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