09.09.2007.
Today we left Kolkata for Santiniketan. The taxi driver could not open his boot so the
luggage was hauled in with us. I was concerned, worried that if he did manage to get it open
he might not be able to repeat the feat at the train station. When he tried to start the car he
realised that he had the wrong set of key much to his delight. The train trip was quick and we
arrived a Bolpur Station. We were met by an enthusiastic man holding a sign welcoming us.
Het turned out to be our driver. Bishnu was close behind with a warm welcome.
We went to our apartment which was is across a field from Bishnu's apartment. It had just
been finished and has an attached bathroom. The window can all be opened to allow the
breeze to draft through. After settling in walked across to Bishnu's apartment for lunch which
consisted of fish and vegetables. The food was not too hot even for Jodis. The apartment
building is under construction of a second stage of apartments with lots of workmen scurry
around.
After lunch we went for a bike ride and Bishnu pointed out key shops of interest. We made
our way down a gravel track to a leather craft shop. There is plenty of crafts available that
will make good present for every one at home. The craft shop also had an attached
workshop where the leather goods were made. It was interesting to see the different stage of
the products.
On the way home we picked up a mosquito net from our bed. This was important as there is
a lot of mosquitoes at night. Dinner was a delicious chicken dish with vegetables and roti.
Bishnu had arranged a Baul to come an sing for us. A Baul is like a wandering hippy. He
sang local folk songs with great enthusiasm and heart. After having some food he wandered
off into the night without any real destination. We retired to our apartment for some much
needed rest.
10.09.2007.
Today after lunch went to the school to meet the children. We made a few stops along the
way to bank, a shop to get rain coats (none of which would fit me) and to a bike shop to
exchange my bike which had a bad back tyre. The ride was beautiful, the rain keeping us
cool. We arrived at the school with the children eagerly awaiting us. The rain had kept some
of the children away.
After a game of bingo we broke up into groups. I had the older boys aged between 8-11
years. We went out into the field to play football. I got a bit of a shock when the kids
discovered a small snake slithering across the oval. They were very intrigued by the snake
and I had to persuade them keep their distance. I will be happy when the snakes go into
hibernation later in October.
When it started to rain heavier we went back under cover to sing some songs and draw. The
fact the children chose to draw the school showed me how me that they had a lot of pride in
their school. I will to have to work hard to keep their attention.
It got dark quickly due to weather so we finished up around 17:15. The ride home in the dark
was interesting and hectic as it was difficult to see where we were going. We stopped for
some tea and potato chops at a road side shop which were delicious. Dinner was chicken,
vegetables and roti. After a long ride the food was great. We sat around and discuss the
days events. Bishnu told us about his year long struggle trying to get the Tribal Elders to
accept him and his idea of an English School. It show me how much heart and soul Bishnu
had put into the school and it felt good to be apart of an relatively new venture.
11.09.2007
There was no rain today which means that the ride to school was very hot. We stopped at a
bridge about half to the school to have a rest and drink some water. I am still building up my
fitness and resistance to the humid weather. I now know why the Australian Cricket team
struggle when they tour the subcontinent. I am looking forward to the cooler weather during
October.
The school is currently only one building, a mud hut, with a veranda where the lessons are
held. Mid October the new brick building is going to be started. I am looking forward to
participating in the construction.
The young boys dragged me off to play football. I missed the introduction concerning the
structure and times for each of the lessons. After about half an hour when I tried to get the
boys back inside the school yard for a lesson they kept saying " No, no, no! no school". I
thought the children did not want to learn. I was concerned that I had no control over them.
When the time came for their lesson to start they grabbed me by the arm and said "School,
school, school now".
Dinner was all vegetarian. I was concerned being a meat eater that I am. The dinner
consisted of a bean dish, Panir which was a cheese dish with potato. Jodis's favorite dish
fried eggplant was also on the menu. It was the best meal that I have had while in India
"Darun" which means delicious. I am still a meat eater but now know that not all meals need
meat to be delicious.
12.09.2007
Once a week the children have a Hindi language lesson. Hindi is the common language
throughout India. This is something that has just started last week. Three young economics
students from Darjeeling come to the school on Wednesday to teach because the university
is closed. While the children were doing Hindi lesson we visited the Santal Villages where 270
families live. As with any good Australian travelling abroad the first thing we checked out was
the pub. This was a small mud building where they congregate to drink Hariya fermented rice
drink. For people that have very little they are very proud and happy. The trip home was
pleasant. We stopped for more tea (cha) and potato chops at the road side stall. This is
where the locals come to drink with potato chops costing 1.50 rupee (50 cents) and the tea 1
rupee. The young boy who works at the tea shop is saving money for a small bicycle. I gave
him a tip which he put in a small money box.
13.09.2007
We had a proper Begali breakfast consisting of potato fry and paratha (pancake- not sweet)
This was a pleasant change from the toast butter and jam.
Today was cooler for the ride to school. It rained when the blue group went out to play so we
all came under cover to play games and sing songs. I tried to teach the children a new song"
Mother Duck" with some success. They joined in for the chorus and enjoyed the actions.
After a short but heavy shower the lessons continued. The blue group was combined boys
and girls to allow Danielle and Jodis to break up the red group into a yellow group and red.
This allowed the younger children who are more advanced to work closer with Danielle.
I tried to worked with the blue group on sentences "I like to..." and "I dislike...". The children
picked up "like" really quickly. They all liked to play football. I struggled with "dislike" as I did
not know examples of what the children disliked. I discovered how important it was to prepare
the lesson in more detail. A few key Bengali words would help get the message across.
However it only takes one child to pick up the context for the rest of the children to catch on.
Tomorrow I will go the school better armed. It is important that we develop some more ridge
structure to the learning so volunteers going forward can continue on and expand key
learnings.
14.09.07
Today the three of us sat down before school and planned our lessons. The blue group was
focusing on feelings and emotions with some grammar introducing "am, is and are". The
lesson went well and all the children quickly picked up when to use the each of the three with
"I, he, she and we". They are very quick learners. I will need to continue the same type of
lesson for a few weeks to make it all sink in.
The tribal leader Sanat came to school today. He was there to discuss the new school
building with Bishnu. The tribe will have a meeting tomorrow morning at the school to decide
if it will go ahead. Budda is a man from the tribe who helps at the school hopped onto
Bishnu's motorbike to go an tell all the families in the area about the meeting. This will be a
very important decision for the tribe. If the building goes ahead it will be a major step forward
for First Light. The new building will allow friends of Bishnu who are doctors to come to the
village and perform check ups. With more under cover area we will be able to teach more
lessons. Monday is a Government holiday so the school is close. Yay! long weekend,
however, I would have like one more day to reinforce todays lesson.
15.09.07
The tribal meeting went well. They agreed to allow the second building at the school. Bishnu
is ecstatic. Building will start on Wednesday.
The maid was sick today so we helped Bishnu cook lunch, kitchery a rice dish with the second
dish potato fry. We helped by peeling the potatoes and onion. Among other things Bishnu is
a fine chef. He only likes to cook sometimes so for tea we had take away.
At 4:30 we rode to the forest markets. The markets were smaller than I expected. It was nice
being able to wander without people harassing you to buy. The markets are where people
from villages can sell their handicraft. This is a very important source of income for these
people. The day as a whole was relaxing.
16.09.07
Today we went to the village as we were invited to a ceremony at the tribal leaders house. It
was an offering to Punjar the Goddess of snakes. The villagers pray that for the coming year
the snakes will be calm and nobody will be bitten. As ceremonies go it was very earthly and
simple much like the tribe itself. It was the most spiritual things I have seen since being in
India.
The children were happy to see us however the were unusually quiet. I believe that the
school provides them a place to come together as play as children as well as learn English.
Sunday is also craft day at the school where the women from the tribe come to learn
handicraft. I left Jodis and Danielle at the school and went with Bishnu to get some plants
from the nursery. Unfortunately I got lost and spent the next hour riding about 25 km looking
for him. I was exhausted and rode home from the school slowly.
17.09.07
We played football at school today during our play time. It is hard to convince the children to
play anything else even in the hot weather. I cannot wait for cricket season there is a lot less
running around. The children love it when I kick the ball from the goals high and long. They
all tried to stop the bouncing ball. On one occasion I kicked the ball so long that it bounced
twice before going over the goalies head at the other end of the field much to the amusement
of the children.
We also went to an Internet café because Bishnu's Internet connection has been down for the
last few days due to a break in the cable. It was good to send emails to family and friends.
The cafe had a low ceiling and the fan was about 50mm from the top of my head. Whenever I
stood up the owner would beg for me to be careful. Unlike Australia, electricians, carpenters
and plumbers will come the same day. However, the Internet companies take time to sort out
problems with the cable.
The lesson went well again today as we continue on with the same theme from Friday "am, is
and are" expanding from emotions to actions such as "running". I have to remind myself that
you have to continue to reinforce the grammar and content to bed it in with the children. You
have to be careful to make sure that all children pick up the key points and not just the loud
ones.
18.09.07
Today was a Government holiday so the school was closed. It was also a holiday for the
builders, labourer, mechanics, manufacturing and engineers. We went into town to do some
shopping. Every third shop was closed for business and people were sitting on the floor
cutting up fruit. When you purchased something from an open shop they gave you a plate of
fruit.. There were makeshift shrine everywhere and all the cars and buses were decorated
with flowers.
We went out for tea. The first hotel we went to had sent the restaurant staff home for the day
due to the holiday. This was without the knowledge of the owner. Bishnu pointed out that the
holiday had nothing to do with hotel workers and it should have been open. The second
hotel was a beautiful resort with cottages. We had a mixture of Chinese dishes which were
delicious.
19.09.07
Today I tried to organise a large 20L bottle of water. It is cheaper than the 2L bottle but for
me the saving is in the reduction of empty bottles that you generate. The odd thing about
rubbish here is that you just pile it up next to the house in the creek. It feels wrong to do this
so we try to keep our rubbish to a minimum and have yet to have to dump any. When I first
got to India the fact that people ate of leaves seemed backward. However my experience at
tea shop on the way home from school where the potato chops are served on leaves seems
perfect. At the end of the chop you can easy dispose of the leaf. Unfortunately the bottle did
not arrive at our apartment so I will have to pick it up in the morning.
At school today I made a worksheet for blue group. It was a summary of the things that we
had gone through over in the last week. I bought some lead pencils for the children to use. It
was a eye opener. The whole class were able to fill out the sheet, but when I went through it
with the children individually I noticed only half understood what they were doing. The others
were just copying. It was an eye opener. I need to focus on the children that are quiet and
much sure they actively participate. I am lucky because there is only eleven children in the
group.
20.09.07
The building of the school started yesterday with the plan marked out on the ground. Today
the village men who are the source of labour broke ground. At first I did not understand why
they we digging down. My impression of building was compacting sand for the foundation
before put a concrete pad down to lay the brick on. They were digging foundations for the
walls. This made sense as it is easier to get a strong foundation down with no heavy
equipment required. I have a lot to learn about Indian construction.
The new school building will cost 150,000 rupee. This seems like a lot of money but when
you put into context it is about $5,000 AUS. One of the requirements for the building is water.
The village is not far from the school but far enough that carrying the water would be too time
constraining. A well has to be built for the purpose. This is great as it will be a source of
good drinking water for the school and children. The well has to be drilled about 50 metres
deep to ensure that the water is good.
To get drinking water to a quality that the volunteers could drink would require about double
the depth and this too costly. Wells cost about 10-12,000 rupee ($350-400 AUS). I like to
convert everything back to Australian dollars to put into context the cost associated with doing
things here. A lot of basic necessities here do not seem like a lot of money to us but to the
villages it can be way outside their means.
21.09.07
Today was the end of the second week at school. With two new volunteers the classes red
and yellow group lessons were divided into two. I still had the same 40 minute lesson. My
lesson approached an hour and the children were still keenly writing down the words from the
board. Today I focus and key sounds and continued as I did yesterday going through the
alphabet asking the children to list all the words beginning with a particular letter. This helped
me establish a good idea to the children's vocabulary which is broader than I thought. Next
week I need to work on more sentence structure so the children can put the words to use.
The lesson ended like it does most days with a whole heartedly rendition of "If your happy
and you know it".
Today we left Kolkata for Santiniketan. The taxi driver could not open his boot so the
luggage was hauled in with us. I was concerned, worried that if he did manage to get it open
he might not be able to repeat the feat at the train station. When he tried to start the car he
realised that he had the wrong set of key much to his delight. The train trip was quick and we
arrived a Bolpur Station. We were met by an enthusiastic man holding a sign welcoming us.
Het turned out to be our driver. Bishnu was close behind with a warm welcome.
We went to our apartment which was is across a field from Bishnu's apartment. It had just
been finished and has an attached bathroom. The window can all be opened to allow the
breeze to draft through. After settling in walked across to Bishnu's apartment for lunch which
consisted of fish and vegetables. The food was not too hot even for Jodis. The apartment
building is under construction of a second stage of apartments with lots of workmen scurry
around.
After lunch we went for a bike ride and Bishnu pointed out key shops of interest. We made
our way down a gravel track to a leather craft shop. There is plenty of crafts available that
will make good present for every one at home. The craft shop also had an attached
workshop where the leather goods were made. It was interesting to see the different stage of
the products.
On the way home we picked up a mosquito net from our bed. This was important as there is
a lot of mosquitoes at night. Dinner was a delicious chicken dish with vegetables and roti.
Bishnu had arranged a Baul to come an sing for us. A Baul is like a wandering hippy. He
sang local folk songs with great enthusiasm and heart. After having some food he wandered
off into the night without any real destination. We retired to our apartment for some much
needed rest.
10.09.2007.
Today after lunch went to the school to meet the children. We made a few stops along the
way to bank, a shop to get rain coats (none of which would fit me) and to a bike shop to
exchange my bike which had a bad back tyre. The ride was beautiful, the rain keeping us
cool. We arrived at the school with the children eagerly awaiting us. The rain had kept some
of the children away.
After a game of bingo we broke up into groups. I had the older boys aged between 8-11
years. We went out into the field to play football. I got a bit of a shock when the kids
discovered a small snake slithering across the oval. They were very intrigued by the snake
and I had to persuade them keep their distance. I will be happy when the snakes go into
hibernation later in October.
When it started to rain heavier we went back under cover to sing some songs and draw. The
fact the children chose to draw the school showed me how me that they had a lot of pride in
their school. I will to have to work hard to keep their attention.
It got dark quickly due to weather so we finished up around 17:15. The ride home in the dark
was interesting and hectic as it was difficult to see where we were going. We stopped for
some tea and potato chops at a road side shop which were delicious. Dinner was chicken,
vegetables and roti. After a long ride the food was great. We sat around and discuss the
days events. Bishnu told us about his year long struggle trying to get the Tribal Elders to
accept him and his idea of an English School. It show me how much heart and soul Bishnu
had put into the school and it felt good to be apart of an relatively new venture.
11.09.2007
There was no rain today which means that the ride to school was very hot. We stopped at a
bridge about half to the school to have a rest and drink some water. I am still building up my
fitness and resistance to the humid weather. I now know why the Australian Cricket team
struggle when they tour the subcontinent. I am looking forward to the cooler weather during
October.
The school is currently only one building, a mud hut, with a veranda where the lessons are
held. Mid October the new brick building is going to be started. I am looking forward to
participating in the construction.
The young boys dragged me off to play football. I missed the introduction concerning the
structure and times for each of the lessons. After about half an hour when I tried to get the
boys back inside the school yard for a lesson they kept saying " No, no, no! no school". I
thought the children did not want to learn. I was concerned that I had no control over them.
When the time came for their lesson to start they grabbed me by the arm and said "School,
school, school now".
Dinner was all vegetarian. I was concerned being a meat eater that I am. The dinner
consisted of a bean dish, Panir which was a cheese dish with potato. Jodis's favorite dish
fried eggplant was also on the menu. It was the best meal that I have had while in India
"Darun" which means delicious. I am still a meat eater but now know that not all meals need
meat to be delicious.
12.09.2007
Once a week the children have a Hindi language lesson. Hindi is the common language
throughout India. This is something that has just started last week. Three young economics
students from Darjeeling come to the school on Wednesday to teach because the university
is closed. While the children were doing Hindi lesson we visited the Santal Villages where 270
families live. As with any good Australian travelling abroad the first thing we checked out was
the pub. This was a small mud building where they congregate to drink Hariya fermented rice
drink. For people that have very little they are very proud and happy. The trip home was
pleasant. We stopped for more tea (cha) and potato chops at the road side stall. This is
where the locals come to drink with potato chops costing 1.50 rupee (50 cents) and the tea 1
rupee. The young boy who works at the tea shop is saving money for a small bicycle. I gave
him a tip which he put in a small money box.
13.09.2007
We had a proper Begali breakfast consisting of potato fry and paratha (pancake- not sweet)
This was a pleasant change from the toast butter and jam.
Today was cooler for the ride to school. It rained when the blue group went out to play so we
all came under cover to play games and sing songs. I tried to teach the children a new song"
Mother Duck" with some success. They joined in for the chorus and enjoyed the actions.
After a short but heavy shower the lessons continued. The blue group was combined boys
and girls to allow Danielle and Jodis to break up the red group into a yellow group and red.
This allowed the younger children who are more advanced to work closer with Danielle.
I tried to worked with the blue group on sentences "I like to..." and "I dislike...". The children
picked up "like" really quickly. They all liked to play football. I struggled with "dislike" as I did
not know examples of what the children disliked. I discovered how important it was to prepare
the lesson in more detail. A few key Bengali words would help get the message across.
However it only takes one child to pick up the context for the rest of the children to catch on.
Tomorrow I will go the school better armed. It is important that we develop some more ridge
structure to the learning so volunteers going forward can continue on and expand key
learnings.
14.09.07
Today the three of us sat down before school and planned our lessons. The blue group was
focusing on feelings and emotions with some grammar introducing "am, is and are". The
lesson went well and all the children quickly picked up when to use the each of the three with
"I, he, she and we". They are very quick learners. I will need to continue the same type of
lesson for a few weeks to make it all sink in.
The tribal leader Sanat came to school today. He was there to discuss the new school
building with Bishnu. The tribe will have a meeting tomorrow morning at the school to decide
if it will go ahead. Budda is a man from the tribe who helps at the school hopped onto
Bishnu's motorbike to go an tell all the families in the area about the meeting. This will be a
very important decision for the tribe. If the building goes ahead it will be a major step forward
for First Light. The new building will allow friends of Bishnu who are doctors to come to the
village and perform check ups. With more under cover area we will be able to teach more
lessons. Monday is a Government holiday so the school is close. Yay! long weekend,
however, I would have like one more day to reinforce todays lesson.
15.09.07
The tribal meeting went well. They agreed to allow the second building at the school. Bishnu
is ecstatic. Building will start on Wednesday.
The maid was sick today so we helped Bishnu cook lunch, kitchery a rice dish with the second
dish potato fry. We helped by peeling the potatoes and onion. Among other things Bishnu is
a fine chef. He only likes to cook sometimes so for tea we had take away.
At 4:30 we rode to the forest markets. The markets were smaller than I expected. It was nice
being able to wander without people harassing you to buy. The markets are where people
from villages can sell their handicraft. This is a very important source of income for these
people. The day as a whole was relaxing.
16.09.07
Today we went to the village as we were invited to a ceremony at the tribal leaders house. It
was an offering to Punjar the Goddess of snakes. The villagers pray that for the coming year
the snakes will be calm and nobody will be bitten. As ceremonies go it was very earthly and
simple much like the tribe itself. It was the most spiritual things I have seen since being in
India.
The children were happy to see us however the were unusually quiet. I believe that the
school provides them a place to come together as play as children as well as learn English.
Sunday is also craft day at the school where the women from the tribe come to learn
handicraft. I left Jodis and Danielle at the school and went with Bishnu to get some plants
from the nursery. Unfortunately I got lost and spent the next hour riding about 25 km looking
for him. I was exhausted and rode home from the school slowly.
17.09.07
We played football at school today during our play time. It is hard to convince the children to
play anything else even in the hot weather. I cannot wait for cricket season there is a lot less
running around. The children love it when I kick the ball from the goals high and long. They
all tried to stop the bouncing ball. On one occasion I kicked the ball so long that it bounced
twice before going over the goalies head at the other end of the field much to the amusement
of the children.
We also went to an Internet café because Bishnu's Internet connection has been down for the
last few days due to a break in the cable. It was good to send emails to family and friends.
The cafe had a low ceiling and the fan was about 50mm from the top of my head. Whenever I
stood up the owner would beg for me to be careful. Unlike Australia, electricians, carpenters
and plumbers will come the same day. However, the Internet companies take time to sort out
problems with the cable.
The lesson went well again today as we continue on with the same theme from Friday "am, is
and are" expanding from emotions to actions such as "running". I have to remind myself that
you have to continue to reinforce the grammar and content to bed it in with the children. You
have to be careful to make sure that all children pick up the key points and not just the loud
ones.
18.09.07
Today was a Government holiday so the school was closed. It was also a holiday for the
builders, labourer, mechanics, manufacturing and engineers. We went into town to do some
shopping. Every third shop was closed for business and people were sitting on the floor
cutting up fruit. When you purchased something from an open shop they gave you a plate of
fruit.. There were makeshift shrine everywhere and all the cars and buses were decorated
with flowers.
We went out for tea. The first hotel we went to had sent the restaurant staff home for the day
due to the holiday. This was without the knowledge of the owner. Bishnu pointed out that the
holiday had nothing to do with hotel workers and it should have been open. The second
hotel was a beautiful resort with cottages. We had a mixture of Chinese dishes which were
delicious.
19.09.07
Today I tried to organise a large 20L bottle of water. It is cheaper than the 2L bottle but for
me the saving is in the reduction of empty bottles that you generate. The odd thing about
rubbish here is that you just pile it up next to the house in the creek. It feels wrong to do this
so we try to keep our rubbish to a minimum and have yet to have to dump any. When I first
got to India the fact that people ate of leaves seemed backward. However my experience at
tea shop on the way home from school where the potato chops are served on leaves seems
perfect. At the end of the chop you can easy dispose of the leaf. Unfortunately the bottle did
not arrive at our apartment so I will have to pick it up in the morning.
At school today I made a worksheet for blue group. It was a summary of the things that we
had gone through over in the last week. I bought some lead pencils for the children to use. It
was a eye opener. The whole class were able to fill out the sheet, but when I went through it
with the children individually I noticed only half understood what they were doing. The others
were just copying. It was an eye opener. I need to focus on the children that are quiet and
much sure they actively participate. I am lucky because there is only eleven children in the
group.
20.09.07
The building of the school started yesterday with the plan marked out on the ground. Today
the village men who are the source of labour broke ground. At first I did not understand why
they we digging down. My impression of building was compacting sand for the foundation
before put a concrete pad down to lay the brick on. They were digging foundations for the
walls. This made sense as it is easier to get a strong foundation down with no heavy
equipment required. I have a lot to learn about Indian construction.
The new school building will cost 150,000 rupee. This seems like a lot of money but when
you put into context it is about $5,000 AUS. One of the requirements for the building is water.
The village is not far from the school but far enough that carrying the water would be too time
constraining. A well has to be built for the purpose. This is great as it will be a source of
good drinking water for the school and children. The well has to be drilled about 50 metres
deep to ensure that the water is good.
To get drinking water to a quality that the volunteers could drink would require about double
the depth and this too costly. Wells cost about 10-12,000 rupee ($350-400 AUS). I like to
convert everything back to Australian dollars to put into context the cost associated with doing
things here. A lot of basic necessities here do not seem like a lot of money to us but to the
villages it can be way outside their means.
21.09.07
Today was the end of the second week at school. With two new volunteers the classes red
and yellow group lessons were divided into two. I still had the same 40 minute lesson. My
lesson approached an hour and the children were still keenly writing down the words from the
board. Today I focus and key sounds and continued as I did yesterday going through the
alphabet asking the children to list all the words beginning with a particular letter. This helped
me establish a good idea to the children's vocabulary which is broader than I thought. Next
week I need to work on more sentence structure so the children can put the words to use.
The lesson ended like it does most days with a whole heartedly rendition of "If your happy
and you know it".
Colin's blog
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
