The Program Begins

Last night we went for the 1st time to the SEAM childrens home - which we will visit each evening to spend time with the children. It is a heartbreaking place. the children range in age from 5 - 16 and most are what they call "semi-orphans." They often have parents or other relatives who do not have the means to support them. They are beautiful and exceptionally friendly children. When we arrived - about half of them went rushing up to one of the volunteers who was with the program last year and has returned with our group. They were so excited to see her again!!!

They all are very happy to introduce themselves, have their pictures taken (of course) and spend time getting attention from the volunteers in small groups. One of the boys in the small group I worked with last night - Lucas - is a natural born leader. He immediately sat the group down, organized a game, and managed it so that he would win each time!!

But the home itself is grim, almost beyond description, with virtually no amenities. There is one large room in the main building where activities take place and where all the boys sleep on the concrete floor. Their dinner (rice) was being cooked outside the building over an open wood fire. There is another building in which the girls sleep. Let's just say it would not meet our American standards of cleanliness and leave it at that.

One of the projects that GV is working on, including a few volunteers from our group - is building a dormitory for the children to sleep which will ultimately have bunkbeds for the children. The children go to the Grace school during the day - and some of us are working there. Apparently most of the boys get some sort of vocational training after they turn 16 and the girls stay at the SEAM home until husbands are found for them. Again - it's a different world from what we're used to.

Which brings me to the need to clarify my statement the other day that our neighborhood is considered upper middle class, according to our GV host. The roads are dirt and very rough. There is rubble and garbage freely distributed virtually everywhere. Each block seems to have an open lot as the local garbage dump. Also - our host told us that 30% of the population lives below the poverty line - defined here as, get this: LESS THAN $1 PER DAY. So we're talking about a vastly different standard tahn th US.

As volunteers we are not allowed to cross the main road without someone from the program. There is a very good reason for this. The concept of a "l;ane" or "lanes" is nonexistent. The surge of traffic flows wherever it can and, as far as I can tell - traffic signals are VERY few and far between. When we cross the busy road as a group, we are instructed to form into one horizontal ine and cross together, so we can move to the midpoint, and then the other side as a single unit. This takes awhile as the traffic never ceases. Amidst this hubub - the cows placidly sit in the CENTER of the 2 "lanes" of traffic or along the edges. Apparently the rush of traffic keeps the flies off them.

There clearly are propserous homes that are gated and have air conditioning - yet most are very basic, and there are people sleeping on doorsteps and sidewalks. Women cary large loads on their heads with grace; men ride bicycles laden with an unbelievable amount of goods: aluminum pots, cut branches, fuel cans, you name it.

My morning assignment was to help in the kindergarten of a Catholic school...apparently one of the better schools in the area which accepts some low inocme scholarship students. It is exam week and the teacher had me grade the students on presenting 2 stories that they were to have memorized...on content, presentation of the "moral of the story" and on pronunciation. It was agony for me - having no context on which to judge. The first story was the familiar "caps for sale" in which the cap salesman falls asleep under the tree and the monkeys steal the caps and throw them on the ground. I never quite got the gist of the 2nd story...I think it was some variation of an Aesop's fable about birds working together to lift a net or get food or some such thing...but I clearly got the moral of the story: "unity is strenght!"

The afternoon I went to the Grace school to help small groups of 3rd and 5th graders prepare for their exams. The readers are very religious-oriented with stories that focus on things such as "cleanliness is Godliness" and "honor thy mother and father." They are very much drilled on memorization and it was challenging to try to work with them on comprehension. But the children were, as we've seen everywhere - friendly and eager.

So - my final note for today - at the house for hte volunteers we have a cook - Rani - and I have been eating the best food of my life. Three meals a day of Southern Indian vegetarian cooking - my absolute favorite. I can't even begin to describe the variety and deliciousness. I don't think ALL the volunteers are quite as enthralled as I am - but it is a real treat for me.

I REALLY want to be able to post some photos - but i have to find a time at the Internet cafe when someone can help me see if they have software that is compatible with my camera, or can download it. Until then...you'll just have to use your imagination.