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Yesterday we went back to Mother Teresa’s  House we had visited over the weekend and volunteered.  We only spent about two hours but it was a good experience.  This time when we went the kids were all out of bed and in the “play room.”  The children were either lying on a large mat or in strollers.  There were about 25 children in this small room.  There were two other volunteers in this room and two Sisters of Mercy who came in and out.  

Last night as we went to bed and turned out the lights, the closing comment echoed by Zen was “I'm ready to go home.”  It was met by a chorus of “Me, too.”  The thought of going to another school tomorrow was tiring to just think about.  

Yet, our visit to National Hill View School was awesome.  This is a private school for middle-income families run by the friend of one of our friends in Bangalore.   I arrived only to find out that I was to teach two different sections of 10^th graders in 10 minutes.  I quickly put together a quick fishbowl on What India's priorities should be when it comes to tax dollars?  I gave the students four options:  Environment, Health Care, Education and Infrastructure.   

“Tessa distinguished absolutely between pain observed and pain shared.  Pain observed is journalistic pain....It's television pain, over as soon as you switch off your beastly set.  Those who watch suffering and do nothing about it, in her book, where little better than those who inflicted it.  They were bad Samaritans.”  John le Carre The Constant Gardener 

Our volunteer work at Christel House ended with a tour of one of the slums that 25% of the students at Christel House come from.  It was an eye opening experience. The slum consisted of two allies about the length of the road in the Winamac Town Park from the gates to the back horse shoe.  In that area there were 500 homes and over 3,000 people living. (About the entire population of Winamac crammed into this area!)  The “homes” were about the size of Mr. Defries' office.  Most had six people living there.  There was no running water, electricity, toilets, or for the most part furniture.  The homes were usually just a cement floor with reed mats used for sleeping.  Some might have one or two plastic chairs, most didn't.  They used community faucets, recently installed, to get water.  The faucets were located about every 40 yards along the alley.  The slum was next to the train tracks, so for toilets they climbed the hill to the train tracks and squatted on the tracks.  Most only had a curtain, if anything, for a door.   Yet surprisingly, the slum was “clean.”  The guide told us how having their children go to Christel House has spilled over into the parents and they are learning about health and sanitation and environment.  Plus, he said the fact that so many parents here have kids going to Christel House, it has built a sense of community in them, akin to school spirit.  (slum spirit?).  It was evident even when he introduced us to some of the parents that they were very proud to say they knew this man from Christel  House, and he was talking to them. 

Zen's Reaction to his first day of school in India: 

It was really fun to explore how different it was but the lack of self-discipline was very low.  The students didn't really listen to the teacher very much.  The teacher had to use some kind of force to get them to listen.  Usually with the Kannada (Kartanka Language) teacher it was hitting them with an eraser on their elbows.  She was trying to wack them in the head but the kids put up their arms. There were 40 kids in the class for one teacher.  The chairs were plastic lawn chairs  and you sat at big long tables with four other people.    They had paperback books instead of hardback textbooks.   

Sorry, I've been delayed in blogging...I was out of commission all day yesterday as I finally got the India sickness that the kids and Annette got.  I was up all night and felt terrible all the next day.  So much for me thinking I was above getting  sick!  I guess now I can say I've had the complete India experience as well!  After 24 hours I'm feeling fine again...but once was enough! 

We've reached our final destination in India.  We all breathed a sigh of relief!  In fact, I think everyone, me included, are counting down the days until we fly home.  Not so much because we want to escape India, we are just craving things we know:  our bed, our shower, our yard, our toys, our food, our own schedule!   We were proud of our last train ride.  Not only did it leave on time and arrive on time...but we looked like seasoned travelers.  No taxi guy to help us board or find our platform—we did it ourselves.   Dagny even discovered the board that showed you where your specific coach would end up at the platform.   She had us stand under number 14 on the platform, and loan and behold, our coach A-2 stops right there.  We knew how to find our berth in the train. are now experts at putting on the sheets, etc.   It figures that after finally figuring it out, we wouldn't have any more train rides!   

Our homestay was great for the kids!  They had great fun playing with their new friends.  Fifth grade teachers, you will like this, Dagny, Zen and Roman teach them how to play their verision of Exchange City!  They play this all afternoon!  Our host has a monopoly game so they use it for their play money!  Hopefully, it was a game of caring capitalism?!    

Mrs. Sandberg asked me to reflect on how this trip might have changed or altered the beliefs and values I had previously held before the trip?   

Thus, I mulled this question during our lazy afternoons here on the backwaters. I posed it to the kids as well.    Annette blogs in below as well with her thoughts.