The rollercoaster called 'life'

The past few days i've been teaching at the SEDS school. What was meant to be me teaching PE and being the librarian has lead me to become a Hindi, Telugu, Science, Maths and Arts and Craft teacher haha. There's alot of books here in the library, but alot of them are 4th hand maybe 5th hand - hand me downs. Theres a collection of readers digest from 2007.....no kid is going to read it. So im determined and my ocd has come out to sort out every single book so the kids actually want to come into the library and read books - books which are actually suitable for them. we also going to trial a borrowing system where kids can take books home to read to encourage reading english, but we'll see how that goes.

I've entitled this blog 'the rollercoaster called 'life'', as life is unpredictable and you just have to journey with it. The above paragraph gave a glimpse of how things are just unpredictable. there are highs and lows. We went and visited my fellow colleagues at their placement just randomly a few days ago. it was so so so good to see them, even though we didnt get to talk privately much and actually ask how they are going, but all in all it was so so good. We hadnt seen each other for over a month. It was good to compare our placements and hear what theyve been up to, where they're staying etc. we always have to compare food and internet capabilities haha.

But a low has happened only recently. My colleague Cait has left back to brisbane as she was called home due to a family emergency. Her dad's health isnt good. I've been supporting her as much as i could during our month here, but reality had struck when she needed to go home. It was very sad to say goodbye to her....everyone at SEDS misses her, even the students as she introduced chatterboxes to the kids for arts and crafts and they went mental for them. She also did crosswords with manil and that really helped destress manil and gave her some leisure time. Even tonight manil said she couldnt do the crosswords. its really hit us hard. SEDS is like family and now one of the family has temporarily gone home. But we know she'll be back, she wants to come back. They've even left her room the same for her wen she gets back. We chatted about cait over the dinner table and then the pain of what the founding family of SEDS has been through came out. The amount of pain, ordeal, anger, frustration, confusion etc here is just incredible, i truly have never experienced anything like it. Yet, some crazy reason thats why i feel that i am here and my role here, to be a listening ear and perhaps something more.



Just an update: Cait's father passed away before she could arrive to see him. Prayers for the family and her would be appreciated. we all share in her grief here at seds

It was a dark and stormy night

It was a dark and stormy night....but let me go back a few hours before hand. It was 5:30pm when Rohith (son of Rajen and manil), Ronny, 9 of the boys here and myself decided to check out Nikhara Fort. Nikhara Fort is 510 acres of private land owned by some rich people. The entrance of the area is shaped like a medieval castle/fort/moat. This place wasnt opened to the public but Rohith has a way of convincing people, so we were let in. The reason we wanted to go here was because Rohith's father built something like a small dam in this area 15 years ago. It did alot for this area, but now the land is privately used, so its almost like they've been robbed - they built something for the people and now its owned by private ppl from an area who dont even know let alone even care about what he's done.

So, we signed our car in and then we drove around Nikhara Fort to the head office ( u cant drive around here cause its private so we had to pretend we were here for business). on our drive we looked around and saw that the land was filled with crops with really good irrigation. Another words, these ppl were rich. We drove to the head office, which was about a 3 story building - nice fancy garden, glass doors, marble floor, formal furnishing....this place was mega rich. we pretended to be businessmen and found out these guys were selling plots of land to wealthy investors so they can build holiday homes. i think their target was city dwellers who wanted to build a home so they can spend some time in the rural parts of india. after some discussion, we asked if we could explore and so we did. we hopped in the jeep with all the boys and drove around. this place was huge!!!! u would not believe it. it was almost like a suburb of its own. We drove to the back parts of the land and thats where we found Rajen's masterpiece - the dam he built 15 years ago. it was tucked away in the back of the 510 acres, out of sight out of mind. almost a piece of history just forgotten about. you could see it frustrated some of the ppl.

it was about 6:30pm when we decided we needed to leave as dark clouds were coming in - the previous days were 37-40 degrees max, so the rains were gonna be hard. We started driving back on the dirt roads and then the rains fell - thick, hard and fast. it was torrential. It was so bad that the boys pointed out that it was hailing as well. We were driving in the now muddy road trying to find our way out (as we drove so far down) quite quickly becuase ronny had a flight to catch in 5 hours time, that we realised were lost. the dirt roads had turned to slush and we couldnt find the route. it was then that we made the mistake of driving down an embankment (probs about 60cm) and our jeep rolled on its side. all 12 of us were tossed to the left side of the car. i had to prop myself against the roof so i didnt crush the 3 young boys sitting next to me. After taking a few seconds to realise what had just happened, we realised a miracle occurred, no one was injured. no windows had broken and no one had smashed into the sides so we were alright.

We were now all standing in the car and we needed help, but we had no phone reception. It was decided we had to walk. but u need to picture this - it is pitch black (u cant even see ur arm infront of you) with torrential rain pouring down, with no phone reception. Here's another miracle - constant lightning strikes lit up the sky for us to just see where to put our feet. So with this on our side we just decided to walk towards a light. we couldnt see anything for a maybe 10mins, not knowing which way to walk, when we saw a glow in the distance. Cutting through farming land, slushy mud, and thorns we aimed for the light. what a miracle that this light happened to be where the main office was in the distance. After about an hour of walking we reached the light and then headed for the entrance of the fort, where we were hoping a jeep from seds would come pick us up as we had got phone reception (Btw, we had to wrap our phones in plastic bags so it was quite hard to use haha). We met security at the front gate and told them what happened. Its pretty funny in that we signed in with a jeep, and now were leaving without a jeep. He told us we had probs walked about 2-3km. felt like forever, having to trudge through mud.

So we were waiting for the jeep at the entrance to rescue us, with some of the kids shivering, when we got the news that the jeeps couldnt rescue us. u see, theres road constructions happening and the roads were flooded. no one could rescue us. so, we decided we need to walk back home. It was then the rains halted, but then poured again. It would have been a funny sight, but there was us, all 12 of us, walking on the pitch black road in the middle of a storm. ppl would have thought we were crazy. yet it was one of the greatest experiences ever. the absolute pitch blackness and just walking and then some jogging as a group was such fun and such good bonding for all of us. no one panicked or complained, but we were just laughing and joking. i couldnt stop smiling and laughing about how funny the situation was. Every now and then lightning bolts the ground in the distance....that was one of my concerns, but my main concern was some wild animal attacking us, because a leopard was spotted around the area just a few months back.

As we were walking a motorbike pulled up and could take 2 ppl back to SEDS....we found out he was actually the father of one of the students who went to seds school. Ronny and a young boy went back because he had a flight to catch. so the rest of us continued to walk for an hour or so. again it was good fun! thankfully a car pulled up and we could fit in. he drove us for about 2km to where the road construction had flooded. here, lorries, buses and cars and blockaded both sides of the road as no one could cross. it almost felt like we were in a apocalyptic movie - rain was pouring, lightning flashing and cars and people just in pandemonium. what a spectacle. we navigated around the construction and continued walking (theres no street lights here). we walked another km or so when finally the jeep had come to pick us up. we discovered the another jeep was sent but went via a different to pick us up. what a miracle this night was. anything that couldve gone wrong didnt. anything that couldve went right did. what a miracle.

we went to investigate the damage the next day. we had to explain to the manager we got lost in the mud haha. we retraced our steps and we found the jeep. we discovered that we drove down into a small river, and we were surrounded by mud. we wouldnt have any chance of getting out that previous night. we also put the trip meter on and discovered that altogether, we walked around 6 km that night. the car that drove us, drove us for 2km. All in all what a couple of days. so many miracles, so many stories. we cant stop laughing and saying how lucky we are. seriously though, no one got injured and we made it home. someone's looking out for us.

storm clouds are coming to Nikhara fort

us reaching the fort entrance after walking 2km in the torrential rain and storm

the aftermath

P.S. in case u were wondering (and i know u are), where do farmers go to do their number 2s? Answer: in the fields...i know, cause i accidentally startled one on my morning walk.

Independence Day (not the American one, or the movie with Will Smith)

So its Independence Day in India. i've attached a blog which i wrote on behalf of SEDS describing the day. Enjoy!

*********************************************************************************

August 15^th is Independence Day for Indians all across the nation. On this day, India was declared independent from their British occupants. It was just last week that we joined in unity with Indians around the country by celebrating the 69^th Independence Day here at SEDS. After a week of practicing, choreographing and rehearsing, the students and teachers here at the school displayed a colourful, vibrant performance to the Joshua family, staff and guests as to what Independence Day meant to them.

The day began with students, teachers, staff and guests dressed in school uniforms and other bright and colourful traditional Indian attire, respectively, standing waiting for our chief guest, Ronny Smet, to arrive. As chief guest, Ronny gave his speech to the crowds reminding them of the past, the present and the hope-filled future for independent India. Jai Hind! Afterwards, the national anthem was sung as the tri-coloured flag was unfurled for all to see.

We all moved towards the marquee, where the stage was set for the students and teachers to present their performances that they’d been working hard on for the past week. As we took our seats under the welcomed shade out of the hot sun, the program began with a ‘welcome’ song from the children. The program continued with a dazzling display of Indian dancing from the students, comedic skits and dramas, a chorus of songs as well as speeches from teachers and students highlighting what Independence Day meant to them. All in all the SEDS school displayed their creativity and skills, their gifts and talents, their confidence in speaking English and ultimately their vibrancy of being Indian to the audience.

At the closure of the program, it was now time for the sports carnival/day to begin. Here the students showed off their athletic prowess in events such as long jump, running races, volleyball and musical chairs. Students were divided into their classes and competed with each other for prizes such as chocolates, lunchboxes and other assorted items.

As it is my first time in India and my first Independence Day celebration, it was such a privilege, pleasure and joy to witness and to participate with Indians here at SEDS to celebrate Independence Day.

the sprint line

in case u were wondering what we eat for breakfast

kids performing a welcome song

bollywood dancing

teachers!!!

Day 25, 26, 27, 28: Schools

These past 3 days have been us checking out the local schools in the area. We have two Aussies here representing an organisation call Partners in Aid. They sponsor around 200 children to go to school either here at SEDS or to their local schools. Its eye opening seeing how not only schools are different to australia, but also to each other. 

One primary school had the mayor funding the repair of a fence, while another primary school was so deteriorated that the bores had dried up and there was no drinking water for the children, and the fence was broken so wild animals could come in and out of the school. And the toilets didnt work as there was no water. gosh, problem after problem. How could anyone learn in an environment like that? Another primary school was built right next to a main road with no fencing to stop children. Some consisted of one dark hot room where 30 children would sit, and with 2 teachers teaching prep - year 5, all in the one room. Did i mention that no one has a desk here? My goodness what an eye opening sight. What we take for granted back at home.

We then went and checked out some other schools in the area, those which were good i guess compared to the other schools. There were high schools which were thriving, one with 496 students, while another had over 200, with around 15 teachers each. It was good to see government initiatives happening (toilets for children, running water). Yet one initiative that didnt really work was that the government supplied computers and a generator for children to learn how to use a pc, yet they didnt supply funding for a teacher. so we saw a computer lab just sitting there for 3 years collecting dust. a thought came through my head that maybe i could teach them computer stuff…something to keep in the back of my mind. At this place they demonstrated to us the game Kabbadi. Its a rough and physical game (i doubt they’d let us play it in Aus without signing some sort of contract) where one team tries to tag the opposition in one breath, while the opposite team tries to tackle them so they cant get to home base to breathe. I played Kabbadi at the SEDS school, and unfortunately my knee bent the other way as i tried to tackle a student, so i was hobbling along for a few days.

At another school, we were treated like royalty. they assembled the entire school and they sat on the dusty ground while we all sat on chairs. Rajen is like a god in this area, so the principal was so elated to have him come to his school. he asked us all to do a speech, and Ian (one of the aussies) set me up to demonstrate what a kangaroo does. I had to jump with a sore knee. ahhh ian, i’ll get him back soon! the school demonstrated to us some of their dances and performances they were going to do for Independence Day that was coming up on Saturday.

Going around the schools, helped me see how privileged the children are at SEDS. not all schools teach english, not all schools have 9 teachers who can speak some english (and a ratio of 1 teacher to max. 4 students), not all schools have running water, not all schools have fences, not all schools have computer classes (SEDS does). So wot an eye opening experience that was today.

Later one of those nights i went to the main village and with the help of Rashna (daughter of rajen and manil) i brought a traditional indian attire, called a kurtha, as independence day was coming up. unfortunately its a little big atm so i might ask the tailor to tighten it. Its really thin and breezy which makes it so suitable for this hot dry weather.

On the friday i went to SEDS school to help prepare for the big independence day celebration. Also later that day i heard the horrific stories of the staff and children that come to seds. Some kids were sent by their parents to beg, and if they didnt come home with any money they didnt get dinner. another child belonged to a nomadic family that would just travel around and live in the forests. one staff member was the victim of domestic violence - she would get beaten so badly by her husband. others had husbands who died - so the wife had to work and raise a child too. One child had their father pour sand into his food.

something i need to learn asap!

Theres alot of pain here thats hidden behind every person’s smile. its heartbreaking, yet there’s Hope. 

Day 24: First experiences

Monday: so i went to the SEDS school this morning and the school was in performance mode - they were practicing for Independence Day on 15th August. Each grade had to present something - either a song, dance or personal stories about what Independence means to them. The teachers here had choreographed a dance routine for the older boys to perform so they had all gone and locked themselves in a room so they could practice. So look who became the new  unofficial kindergarten teacher....me. I say 'unofficial' because a handful of little kids (probs no older than 6yo) were just running around the playground unsupervised, climbing on rocks and just being kids - some of it was enjoyable, some of it was so really risky and dangerous from an Australian perspective. So i just really quickly thought of a game. We played Simon Says but without the Simon bit. Good to know the little ones enjoyed doing the Maccarena as well as Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes over and over again.

It was lunch time and we had the privilege of having lunch with the female teachers. For some strange reason, the male and female teachers eat separately. So we sat on the floor in a room and they all opened up their lunchboxes and shared their meals with us that they prepared. Chapati (a kind of bread), as well as different curries and rice were all presented to us. They also made a pasta dish in case we didnt like curry haha. They even made dessert for us; some kind of sweet ball (it was delicious). So all in all it was great. They asked us questions and vice versa.

Later that day, it was home time and Ronny said we should catch the bus into the main village (About 20mins away) to experience a bus trip in India. It was after school when we did this, so we saw the teachers get into an auto rickshaw (i thought Tuk Tuk  was its name, but they call it auto rickshaws here). We asked if we could jump into their auto since they were going to the main village too - Penukonda. So an Auto fits 3 ppl comfortably, yet this is India, and we had 12 ppl in the rickshaw. what an experience haha. we sat at the back facing the road. Im pretty sure we were only travelling 40km/h for the entire time. The driver blasted his Telugu electronica music to the delight of the teachers. Then Ronny started dancing in his seat. Road workers who stopped construction as they were in awe of seeing this beglium dancing to indian music. So funny. i joined in too and i think we may have embarassed the teachers, or ourselves. either way but they said it was the funnest auto ride they've ever had, so that was good to hear. We pulled up at a train crossing which can take about 10minutes, so we just sat there waiting for a train to pass. Afterwards Ronny and myself hung from the back of the auto, continuing to dance to Indian music. I forgot to mention that the female teachers are muslim, and so they donned the burqa prior to the drive. it was good to speak to them about it as i wondered if it was hot wearing a black burqa. They said sometimes it did but they enjoy wearing it as well as the face covering as well.

We pulled into Penukonda, and Ronnie took us to see some more sights of the village. There was a Islamic Shrine around here with much history. We tried finding it but we found a mosque firstly. i got to go in as well as Ronny, but unfortunately Cait was not allowed in. Whether it was because she was female or because she didnt have a head covering im not too sure. We were greeted by the imam and shown the history of the mosque and how its made out of stone. Afterwards we continued on our journey trying to find this shrine. We found it, but first we had to walk through a bazaar. Cait brought a head scarf, and i was advised to buy a small muslim cap to cover my head too. The bazaar was lined with beggars much like the church i went to in bangalore. as we continued, we encountered the shrine. This place is of significance as i was told that muslims from around the world would come here on pilgrim. im not exactly sure who was in the shrines, but again we followed the procedure of washing our feet and following the pathway to the shrines where ppl would pray there. Again Cait wasnt allowed in so she had to wait outside. Much history was here so it was great to see. It kinda felt like we were in the middle east more than india.

Day 22 & 23: Health Camp

Saturday

This sunday was a big day, it was Health camp day. This is a day where all the sponsored children in all the villages (sponsored by Australians through an organisation called PIA) came to SEDS to be immunised and have a dental check up. It was expected 200 kid would show up with their parents so approx 400 ppl attending. So on Saturday we helped prepare for the big day. 

sunday

Sunday

Today was a jammed packed day, but for a good reason - today was health camp day. What this means is that the children who are sponsored by an organisation in melbourne (PIA) get a free dental check, free immunisation shot, free lunch and reimbursement for the bus ride home. So all in all around 400 ppl rocked up to the SEDS’ farm today (approx 200 kids and 200 parents). The announcement of free lunch seems to get everyone onboard. This was awesome as this is community development - seeing kids come with their parents, and their parents being educated on health and hygiene. Even the male farmers came which is super awesome as it shows they are somewhat taking and interest in their family’s health. 

So my role for the day was official photographer. Just my luck as my SD card seems to be broken, so luckily Cait lent me hers, and i took plenty of photos. The first thing i noticed was that all the kids had dressed up quite formally (except for one little boy who wore his onesie….he’s parents probs woke him up and took him straight to SEDS). I believe the mindset is that this is an important event or outing and that families must dress up in their nice clothing. The school was filled with a sea of colours and the jingling of bells as girls wore ankle bracelets or their clothes had bells on the seams. Here in india Sunday is the only day off, yet teachers volunteered their time to come here and organise things as well as 2 doctors and 2 dentists who came to volunteer their time. Amazing stuff. it was such a privilege to be a part of it all. The hundreds of photos i took wont do any justice in capturing the atmosphere of the day. 

Funniest (but quite sad) was when i was in the immunisation room. kids would line up at the front with a big smile, only to find out this is where they were getting a needle in their arm. Many teachers were in the room to comfort the child (anywhere from 4-15yo i reckon) as they were oblivious to what was going to happen next. and then the scary doctor (he did kind look a bit scary with his white uniform) would come from behind the curtain and thats when fear seized the child. They would fight and cry and scream so much so that 2 ppl would have to hold the young children. After that they would walk out the room in tears. This pattern just happened all the time lol, a big smile would walk in and then a teary eyed person would walk out. This sent shockwaves throughout the children lining up haha, so no one wanted to enter the room. although their were exceptions for some of the girls. 

 It was a different case for the boys. They had to show their machoism by being strong haha. 

Again the bags of lollies help alot. so much so that the doctors asked me for them. i wasnt to sure if i could hand them out as the dentists were right next door lol. but it was all good, so the kids got sweets as well. 

Afterwards i helped prep for cooking. I was able to convince the women to let me help. So i started cutting onions, then corriander and then got to stir the pot. Remember we were feeding around 400 ppl so u need to imagine how much curry and rice and chicken need to be prepped. and then imagine how big the crockery needs to be to mix and cook of this….and then u will see how awesome it was to cook for so many ppl. we used almost something that resembled a tennis racket with a pole as a handle to stir the food. Wot an experience it was to see hundreds of kids and parents sitting on the ground eating chicken curry  - no utensils just hands. prior to this, the kids all received a toothbrush and toothpaste too. What a sight, what a day.

kids lining up at the entrance of SEDS

Kids lining up to get checked as well as teachers in the foreground

dentist checking little girl's teeth

girls and boys dressed up, except for my man whose wearing a onesie lol

she always smiles, until she saw the doctor

handing out of lollies to children

parents and children being educated

umesh

eating

What a great sight to see and experience today. 

Day 20 & 21: SEDS school

The previous night i forgot to mention that i had been learning Telugu. Its funny how certain humour or sentences can make ppl shy and laugh no matter what culture. I had learnt to say 'Dance chesthawa' (which means 'can you dance?') and also 'bata pardu thawa' (which means 'will you sing for me?'). So i was testing it out on all the teachers and boys who live here and everyone is just shy, and laugh. i ask them to dance bollywood style and i know they can but they are just shy.

So we went to school on Thursday and Friday. SEDS has its own school on its campus. They have 5 female teachers and 5 male teachers for around 48 children aged from LKG (lower kindergarten) up to Grade 10, so pretty much its private tuition for the kids. This school is classed as private with mostly disadvantaged children coming to it. Here they get taught the same subjects as public schooling but they also get to learn english as well. So they benefit greatly. 

We arrived and were greeted with the headmaster stopping classes and assembling all the children so that we could get a sneak glimpse of their performances for the upcoming Independence Day on 15th August. Each grade had to present something. We were shown an array of performances - singing in english, comedy skits, personal stories etc. I guess its an attempt to show their english skills and what they've learnt. Its funny in that telugu is spoken quite quickly, thus, they bring that when they speak English. Its almost like the 'full stop' doesn't exist. Its one continuous sentence haha. They also asked one of their brightest students to come up on stage and was quizzed with what they knew about Australia. Luckily my Telugu came in handy, and before he could sit down i yelled 'bata pardu thawa' to his embarrassment. #success

Then with a turn of events, i was called up to the front of the assembly. They wanted to learn about Australia by interviewing me. so spontaneous. After answering their questions about the Australian schooling system and some personal information about myself, i was about to go and sit back down in the back row, when i realised i had been played. There was yelling from the back telling me to sing! It was Ronny and the boys stirring up the crowd and wanting me to sing. They got back at me from last night. Dang it! i went through the song list i knew off the top of my head. Only bon jovi or ronan keating came to mind - i couldn't sing that. So luckily after some quick thinking i got Cait to come up on stage too and we sang the national anthem....after standing there trying to confirm the lyrics of the anthem, i realised that i couldnt really remember it haha. But we still sang it, with a few mumbling of lyrics here and there. But i definitely remember the 'girt by sea' bit. With a few chuckles from the crowd, i got one back on all the teachers by asking them to sing their national anthem, to their embarrassment of having to stand in front of the crowd. Afterwards, all classes got cancelled and it was play time for the rest of the day. bahaha. i guess its the effect we have on schools (Which wasn't what we want, we just want to observe classes). Of course when the camera came out, the crowds of intrigued children came too! it was awesome to see the teachers playing with the kids as well. 

Here's an interesting thing. Indian culture is a very physical affection culture. although romantic physical touch is taboo anything else is acceptable. So its interesting seeing teachers of the same gender holding hands or just being close with each other. but then that rolls onto the children too. they are very affectionate and squeezing the cheeks of the little ones. they aren't afraid show off their prized child or their favourite kid. They would say 'Jon she's my favourite, she's always smiling' and just pick up a little kindergarten kid and prop them on their lap. on the flip side, discipline is still strict and the hitting of kids as well as the threatening of children with a raised hand is prevalent, although its in a joking and playful gesture....usually.

i ended the day by dropping some of the children home in the jeep followed by a sweet game of volleyball. It gets quite competitive which is awesome. Theres one guy here who suffers from polio. Compassion for him has really grown so i try to hang out with him as much as possible. He's a great kid with good english so we can converse well. He's teaching me telugu.

The next day we went back to the school and actually were able to sit in on a class. i sat in grade 4 and watched them learn subtractions. It was one teacher and 4 students. they use a textbook which has every subject in it for the term so they carry that around with them the entire day. It even has telugu lessons in it. I had a bit of an ethical dilemma in class where the teacher was showing the symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. With the division symbol he wrote in a way that it looked like the percentage symbol. now, u might think this is nothing at all, but he is teaching the children an incorrect thing which is effecting their learning. But the dilemma is that i am a guest, and i came to observe, not correct. It would be absolutely shameful and loss of face if i came in and corrected him. Also the way the write the letter ‘r’ is the same in thailand, its this looped ‘v’ or if u can imagine that ‘pink ribbon’ for breast cancer but upside down, thats how they write their ‘r’s. and as much as i want to correct i cannot, its shaming and so so not good. but the thought passed my mind, did the same guy travel from thailand to india teaching this weird ‘r’ shape? garh lol! i had a chance to sit and play with the kids again.

 again i cant help but have compassion for the kids who are sitting by themselves. theres this one girl who always rides in the jeep, whose quiet, and i saw her eating lunch by herself, so we know each other. she doesnt talk, but we just made up a game. i said hello to her in telugu and she has the prettiest smile, just these glowing white teeth show everytime she smiles. so we played a few games as we sat under a tree. i would throw a leaf in the air and she would try and catch it. then she would throw a leaf in the air for me and then i would catch it. possibly the stupidest game ever invented but she loved it so that made me keep playing haha. next minute i grab a branch full of leaves and counted to 3 and tossed it to her, just to warn her that i was gonna throw it. To my surprise she started counting to 10 and then threw it back to me. SO i counted to 15 and threw it to her. then she counted to 20. little did i know her counting in english went all the way to hundred haha. everyone started coming in and joining as we would throw this branch to each other as they all recited their numbers. wow, their english was incredible. wot an amazing thing this school has taught them, as government school dont have an english sylubus. 

 We also had a couple from australia come to stay for 3 weeks. They are from an organisation called PIA (partners in aid) and have been helping sponsor children for over 20 years i think. it was funny and awesome to hear an aussie accent as well. oh and previous aussie students had left their jar of vegemite here. thank goodness! luckily i've got my tube in my bag just in case.

also, meal times here are delayed for some reason. we eat brekkie at 9am, lunch at 1:30pm and dinner at 9pm. something i will never get used to haha

Add caption

the teachers

Day 17, 18, 19: Bio gas and Low Carbon Farming

Monday

I think my time at Zim and Thailand has really helped me just go with the flow. you need to learn to be flexible, and able to change your schedule at anytime. And this is how this morning started. Cait and myself were meant to go check out the bio-gas installations in the morn, but the plans had changed. Now, i was the only one going as we were now going to transport cement in a ute so that people could actually build the bio-gas units. Yet even this was delayed by a few hours. So i just waited near the front gate. Yet the coolest thing happened - 6 mothers/grandmothers rocked up to the front gate with their young children - everyone dressed in their formal dresses and clothing. They look at me and said ‘sir’ and start speaking in Telugu haha. So i had to hand gesture to them to wait while i searched the entire ground for someone who could speak Telugu. Finally i found Roja a young girl who works here and she spoke to them. I found out they were here as they had been accepted to come to SEDS school, and they were here for their interview and collection of details for the database. The education officer came out and he was in charge of collecting their information. After some dialogue they were taken to a table to be interviewed and with the children’s photos taken. The atmosphere seemed a bit tense/clinical, so with the education officer’s permission, i got some lollies (jolly rancher lollipops to be exact) and handed them out to the kids. they were shy at first, but it was great to see the kids accept it and the smile on the parent’s faces. perhaps sweets are a rare thing for the kids, so it was good to just see a smile. 

I couldnt stay long as we had to go do the bio-gas units. We drove for quite some time on the highway heading towards bangalore wen we pulled into what is the equivalent of a service centre - shops would line the highway for ppl to just pull over and get food. It was here where we made the delivery for the cement. 10 bags of cement (i assume 20-25kg each) delivered to a restaurant as they were going to switch to bio-gas. A questionable sight was when we all sat around and watched one man take the bags of cement onto the head of another person, who would then haul the cement to the other side. these were heavy bags and only one person was moving it. As we continu

The farmers, Ronny and I

the ute

bio gas (L-R) input of manure, methane with pipe, output. Sammy is the expert 

kids 

farmers meeting

farms

manni!

ed on our journey, we went to different houses installing people’s bio-gas units. These units are quite clever. They use the owner’s cow manure and then by mixing it with water it funnels into a cylinder which then methane is produced. A pipe is then connected from the house to the person’s stove which then they can use to cook. it saves money, time and women dont need to go out and get wood which can be quite dangerous. The funny thing is that the unit may be close or far from the house. some units can be as far as 100m away. the piping also needs to be placed high, so in some cases, piping is running through trees, through parklands, through ppl’s front lawns and then through the roof to get to the stove. its almost like no planning or care has gone into how they pratically place the piping, its just all over the place. At every place we go to we get offered chai, which is so delicious. And i always hear Telugu as the SEDS crew and villagers talk. and then i always hear ‘blah blah blah “Australia” blah blah (replace the ‘blah with telugu words). haha. they are just so curious about why im hear. We went out to lunch at some shop and unfortunately they served peanuts. So i could only really eat plain rice, but it was still good. 

At night we had dinner with the family and here was an interesting parable/analogy that we got told about Indian mindset/culture. There once were 3 crab catchers; 1 from china, 1 from ireland and one from india (the first 2 countries can be anything, they were just the examples we got told). One day a man came and asked them how could they tell which was their crabs if they escaped the pots. The first said ‘ive painted my crabs blue’, the second said ‘ive painted mine red’. Yet the indian said, ‘easy, whenever one tries to climb out, i’ll just pull it back down’. Then to hear the explanation was incredible and something that has stuck in my mind. Supposedly, if someone tries to do something good, something out of the ordinary, people would unfortunately bring them down. If someone tried to whistleblow  or do something for the good of the people (whether in politics or police) they would be transferred, blackmailed or even killed. i believe Rajen and Manil have copped their fair share as they try and help the local communities here.

p.s. forgot to mention in the previous blog that Bahubali was a 2 part movie. looks like ill be coming back here to watch the sequel.

p.p.s theres also monkeys here which are a pest as they eat crops and coconuts and destroy piping. so theres an air rifle here.

Tuesday

Today was another day of bio-gas units, but this time Cait could come along. It was pretty similar to the other day; we’d go into someone’s house, we get treated like royalty, get given a seat while everyone else stands, we hear the word “Australian” as they speak to each other in telugu, and we are given chai everywhere we go. Man, chai is good!! Im not sure if i mentioned it before, but these bio gas units are all for free. All ppl have to do is make 6 weeks worth of manure mixed with water and put into the unit. Yet to Manni’s frustration ppl werent doing it, so we couldnt do anything. But the cool thing was that places we went to there were kids so we just handed out lollies to kids and took photos. they really really enjoyed that and so did i.

Wednesday

Today we did something similar but different. Similar in that it was related to climate change and how farmers could save money etc, but this was called Low Carbon Farming. i think i explained wot it is in a different blog. So today we got to go out to people’s farms and use GPS technology to plot the boundaries of each farmer’s field. The day started off firstly with a village meeting of farmers who were interested in participating in LCF. Again we were treated as royalty as we sat on chairs while everyone else sat on a tarp. It was really a great sight to see how the community got together to hear wot SEDS had to offer. even the mayor or ponchaiyit came to listen. After the meeting we went out to the farmers’ fields. It was crazy how vast the areas were. some where like 20 acres. it was crazy awesome! great views! The farmers really knew the place like the back of their hand because we had farmers crammed in our jeep showing us who’s field is who’s in this desolate place. Again they’ve never seen an asian before i guess, so everyone just really wanted to shake my hand. they even got photos of me. its almost like the tourist has become the tourist attraction. There was some really good crops growing - cotton, mango, even my arch nemesis ground nut. But the life of a farmer seems so interesting. Again u need to picture urself kinda lost in a desert, and then u see a man or a woman just walking or plucking some crops. We were so far from civilisation yet people were here working and living. Crazy stuff!