Today Katie went as usual to Grace School and Ellen and Winnie taught their usual morning Kindergarten classes at St. Joseph’s. Then the three of them joined Katrine at Assissi Illam, where they and Stephen had a bountiful lunch with Sister Rose and Sister Matilda. It was fun to watch the nuns’ soap opera with them while we ate. In the afternoon, Stephen took them to meet the amazing Sister Rexline at St. Thomas Hospital. She suggested they see another project of the Franciscan sisters, a printing business, garment factory, housing project and day care for the workers and their children. Winnie seemed an especial favorite of one of the nuns who insisted on leading her by hand all over the building, the rest of us trailing behind.
The power was out from 9 o’clock until this evening, and the drinking water wasn’t delivered today, but Stephen and Sheeba and the volunteers took it in stride. Some of us shopped at the Fancy store in the afternoon, for cheap, sparkly jewelry and bindi. At SEAM’s Jeff and Stephen and Stephen’s brother worked with the boys with the new saw, building boxes to store the children’s belongings. They completed the bottom and sides of the first box, which was designed by. Stephen, to be the prototype for the 40 boxes the children will need.
Pizza was the final treat of the day. Since Ellen is writing this, she claims the privilege of saying that she is growing very fond of her SEAM team, four 7 and 8 year olds, who love to draw and color. And she also quotes herself with this thought for the day:
“Whatever we do is more than would have been done, if we didn’t do it.”
Ellen
Both days started with yoga on the rooftop for almost all of us. This was followed by breakfast and then off to our various assignments. Breakfast consists of something new every day. We all seem to be getting more comfortable with our children although every day is different and what one day worked very well sometimes does not work so well the next day. On Wednesday morning Sheba pinned jasmine flowers in our hair - that is Jeff did not get any flowers. Lovely scent. Katie reported that the computer room at SEAMS now seems to be working well. And Jeff enjoys his time at SEAM although the planned start of making the boxes has been put off for another day due to problems with the saw.Stephen announced that there will be a dance party at SEAMS next Friday. A priest joined us at Assissi on Wednesday for lunch. He teaches the older children there how to dance on Monday evenings for one hour. He told me he is involved in a youth program for the children. We also had a discussion about marriage and how girls should be married. On Tuesday evening we all piled in the van and went shopping for a sari for Katie who is going to Hyderabad for a wedding this week-end. The array of sari material was incredible. Also some jewelry was bought - anklbracelets etc.
"Nobody can do everything but everyone can do something" (Unknown)
Katrine
Today marked the first full day of active volunteering with the children. Even before breakfast, we were reminded that each day holds the potential for new surprises. For some of us, it was a morning shower amounting to little more than a trickle of water. For others, it was an unexpected encounter with one of the locals during a morning walk. Jeff and Winnie felt sure the kind man we ran into was the SEAMS director we met the evening before. Katey, was positive it was not. After being invited into his home and meeting his family, Jeff and Winnie agreed it was not. Like the SEAMS director, this gracious gentleman with salt-and-pepper hair was also a minister, but with other projects. We awkwardly turned down their kind offer of tea and biscuits, snapped quick photos, received his blessing in the form of a lengthy prayer and got quickly on our way. As we all embarked on our various assignments, so we reflected this evening with feelings of both apprehension and confidence. Katey is thrilled to begin her second GV experience in India. Thriving on the busyness offered by the first day at Grace School; getting to know her new god-daughter, Jasmine, at Assisi Illam; and welcoming the relief of a nap before heading off to SEAMS in the evening, her only frustration with the day was wanting to do “everything” that comes before her but knowing it is impossible.
Winnie and Ellen spent their morning at St. Joseph School and their afternoon at Grace School. Both felt a bit ill-prepared for teaching on the first day, but agreed on ways they can remedy that. For Ellen, it was the kids themselves at both Grace School and SEAMS who were the highlight of the day. Winnie echoed that by describing joy in students’ successes and positive responses.
Katrine and Jeff spent the entire morning and afternoon at Assisi Illam. Unsure about her teaching skills after so many years with no small children around the house, Katrine was reassured by the support and guidance provided by Sister Matilda, one of the school’s two coordinating nuns. At the evening meal, Katrine could state with confidence that the day had turned out well.
Jeff wholeheartedly agreed. Impressed by the children’s eagerness for learning, he specifically noted the SEAMS kids’ creativity and respect for the volunteers. Underscoring a comment made earlier by Ellen, his only frustration with the day was understanding and remember children’s names. In short, Stephen summed up the group’s feelings with five simple words: “It was a good day.” After a brief discussion about education in India versus that in our own country, we were well ready to retire early in order to be well- equipped for tomorrow. For some of us, that will also involve our first early-morning yoga session on the rooftop terrace!
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jeff
We gathered for our first breakfast together which consisted of dosa with kalla chutney and omelets. Breakfast was complete with coffee and chi, which we agreed was a nice way to add the sweetness to the meal. We spent the better part of the day working through the orientation materials and the discussions that stemmed from the various topic areas. The team consists of five volunteers: Winnie (Oregon), Ellen (Oregon), Jeff (Oregon), Katrine (Ottawa) and Katie (Minnesota). Winnie, Ellen and Jeff discovered that they all went to school in the west part of Portland and during the introductions we discovered that Ellen and Jeff both worked at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland (at different times). Small world. We learned about the different communities that we serve through Global Volunteers in the surrounding area: St Joseph’s School, Grace School, Assisi Ilam, and SEAM Children’s Home. St Joseph’s School is a Catholic school with about 550 students with 40+per classroom. Although it is a Catholic school, only 20% of the students are Christians. This school is designed for poor people to be able to get a good education. Although the classes are taught in English, the students’ parents do not speak English so it is important for us volunteers to help out so that the hear native English speakers. The tuition is 450 rupees a month (approx $10/month) . Grace school has 65 students in grades K-5 with 8-10 children per classroom. These children come from families who are too poor for private school, but who do not want to send their children to government schools. When this program started the teachers were not even speaking English. Volunteers are needed for Grace school, as there is a shortage of teachers due to the minimal tuition paid for schooling. Assisi Illam had a day care and orphanage with 25 children in day care and 29 in the orphanage. This is cared for by the Franciscan Sisters of St Joseph. Their motto is to work with the poorest of the poor in the lowest cast. They offer day care so that the parents are able to work during the day. We got to talking about Dr Sr Rexline, an amazing woman who started up Assisi Illam and St Joseph’s Hospital among many different projects focused on serving the poor. We’re exited to meet her. SEAM Children’s home has 39 children who are orphaned or semi-orphans who attend public schools that are taught in Tamil. Their English is poor so we will work with them every evening in small groups. The also crave attention and affection, which is something that we’re able to provide. We divvied up the assignments and set the schedule for the week. Each volunteer needs to work 40 hours per week. We worked through an exercise of determine our team goals and categorized them into four main areas: to learn about India, to teach English, to connect with Indians, and to share ourselves. We talked through the characteristics of an effective team, and from the sounds of it, I think we will work together quite well ,We broke for lunch which consisted on chapatti, eggplant and potatoes and got back to the orientation. One item that interested me was the Global Volunteers is in partnership with the United Nations. The United Nations has made up a list of minimum requirements for children around the world, “the 12 essential package.” We discussed what Global Volunteers has/is/and will do to serve in those areas which include: basic education, food for education, promotion of girls education, portable water and sanitary latrines, health nutrition and hygienic education, systematic deworming, micro-nutrient supplementation, HIV and AIDS education, psychosocial support, malaria prevention, school gardens, and improved stoves. We headed to SEAM Children’s Home and met Pastor Arul who has been serving at SEAM’s since 1976. The kids were eager to great us. The sang and danced for us and lined up to meet us one by one. We were all a bit overwhelmed with all of the new names coming at us, but we’re confident that we’ll connect with the kids. We had free time to play with the kids and they sure wore us out. We walked to a neighborhood restaurant; Kaaraikudi and Stephen ordered us an assortment of food to try. The meal was served on a banana leaf and it was very tasty.
Message of the day: If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. Booker T Washington
Katie
No comments:
Post a Comment