Saturday again! How quickly it comes around. The past week is a bit of a blurr- I was trying to think of what I had to write about this morning and couldn't really remember anything that has happened this week. It has just been so busy! A typical day goes something like this: we leave to walk to the office at 8:30am, spend half an hour there for the morning devotion, then go for our hour long Tamil lesson, then on to Balwadi for an hour, then to Jacob's Well to teach for an hour and finally we have our 45min lunch break. Then it is another hour of teaching at Jacob's Well, followed by a quick tea break and visit to the office, and then we have fun clubs from 4:15 until 7:30pm. And after that there is the planning for the next day still to be done! I don't think I have been in bed before midnight once this week. Despite the busy schedule, though, I do like to feel as though I am using my time here well! Actually, things should quiet down a bit next week as we have finished Tamil lessons (although we will be teaching English to the Oasis staff 5 days a week from Monday).
Balwadi is still full of children- we have had to up our photocopying to 50 sheets now! Their behaviour is generally pretty good now, though, which makes it easier to handle them all. Quite often we find that the teacher wanders off when we arrive- I suppose taking a well-earned break! We are just introducing a new topic for this month: body parts. We plan Balwadi at the start of every month, so it was strange last night to find ourselves planning our very last Balwadi here. Believe it or not, I think I may actually miss the screaming children! We did speak to Becky about some of the changes we wanted to see in Balwadi and we decided that there were a few things we could do, like providing mops and disinfectant and making a display board of some kind there. But there are a lot of limitations on what we can do as we are only there for an hour each day and Oasis haven't been working there for very long. It is government run and really Oasis need to build up more of a rapport with the teachers before they can march in and change how things are done. Regardless, we are still trying to make the best of the rather dire facilities and conditions.
Jacob's Well is still a very enjoyable part of our work. I gave my class an English test this week and was pleased with how much they have taken in. For the next few weeks we are here, I am going to be doing some intensive reading lessons as I have several girls who still can't read any English and it is becoming more and more of a problem for them. We did a lesson this week all about England which the girls thoroughly enjoyed! Made them English tea (they were disgusted at how bitter it is compared to their super-sweet Indian chai!) and fed them Hobnobs and Digestives which they loved. We also told them a few facts about England, including the percentages of different religions followed. They were so surprised when we explained that such a huge percentage of people do not believe that there is a God. For them that is unthinkable- the matter is what god you follow, not if there is one or not. We spent a while showing them photos from home, too, and they were shocked that I would wear shorts at home that are above my knees! Disgraceful.
Fun Station has also seen a lot of kids attending- a total of about 30 on a busy night. They even attend if there is a function going on in the slum, which surprised the Oasis staff. Usually the kids wouldn't miss the functions for anything. Eunice, who oversees the Oasis education projets, also told us that the kids all seem to be doing better in school which is a real encouragement. You will be pleased to hear that one girl spent the evening checking my hair for nits and has informed me I am nit free! Last night I was doing a craft with them. I am sure I should have learnt this lesson by now- doing anything more ambitious than colouring is guaranteed to stress you out!
We started running the daily 45-minute Vyasarpadi Fun Club this week, too. There are about 25 kids attending, ranging in age from 3 to 15! They are great kids and we are looking forward to getting to know them as well as we know the SD Puram lot now. Vyasarpadi is one of those places that I have been itching to work in since I first visited, so to finally be there each day is fantastic! I only wish I was around for longer to see how the work develops there.
Aside from work, not that much has happened this week. It was Eunice's birthday this week, so we all had a delicious (!) lunch of Byriani together on Monday. Danny, a hilarious character who does the most fantastic impersonations, asked us if we could teach him how to use a fork in case he ever needs to visit the UK.
The termites had not been seen since pest control came in again on Tuesday- I really hope this is the last of them! We do have a new addition to the wildlife centre living in our flat, though- a little green and orange frog who lives in the toilet. Yes, sometimes he is actually IN the toilet! And there is a tiny black puppy that lives on the rubbish heap outside our flat which I would love to take home, but having looked at the quarantine laws I think it is probably a pretty stupid idea. So sad.
The holiday planning is still stressing us out. If it was left up to me, I really would just spend two weeks in one place because I couldn't deal with all the flights and trains and travelling logistics. Sabrina is doing a grand job with it all, though. Only four weeks and we will be headed off. How strange! We were even praying for the next GAT time at the office this week which was a peculiar feeling. How can our months here have gone so fast?
Prayer points:
- That we cope with the busy schedule!
- For fresh ideas, especially this weekend as we are planning a lot of what we will be doing this month.
- That we quickly get to know the kids at Vyasarpadi and can somehow learn all the names!
- For the dreaded holiday plans.
- For the staff Eglish lessons.
Anything else that was there last week and has disappeared is probably a 'thanks' now!
Take care everyone,
Kan x
P.S. Rosie Burnhams, I hope you've used paragraphs this week in your email!
Exodus 14:14 "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
