I thought I'd put up at least one of the articles written by the children of class 4 and one poem written by the kids of class 2. Unfortunately, I got caught up in other things and left it too late. So I will do it tomorrow for sure. Sharad invited me to come and listen to the children of class 2 recite their own poems. They were thrilled. And very proud of their efforts. It's a very lively class. The class decided that Saniram Murmu should recite his poem first. It is interesting. You will see it here tomorrow. So watch this space!
The well diggers had to take out a lot of water this morning before they could start digging deeper. They didn't count how many buckets, but it took them about an hour to drain out the well. But work has been very tardy. The did not manage to dig two feet despite the soft soil and they did not pour the concrete. Which means tomorrow will be wasted in that task. They'll have to first drain out the well and I suspect it will take at least two hours tomorrow. They they will dig some more before pouring the concrete. So the well is going to be only 24 feet deep at the end of day tomorrow. Hmmmm. I'm anxious to get the job completed and start on the next one.
Bhola, Nilambar and Sharad went on village visit today. Bansi and Khagen stayed back to water the plants. The team spent some time at Santlal's home talking to his mother. They are really very poor and whatever they may have saved must have been spent during his father's illness. But Santlal's mother said she would ensure that he comes to school. The team told her that if she needed any help she'd be most welcome to come to the project. We can't give her any financial assistance. But we can certainly waive the school fee next year. And we can also give Santlal pencils and copy books if he needs them.
Pitho's brother Dharma came to see me today. He wanted to know if I'd help him to build the roof of his house. I asked how? He said he wanted a loan to buy tiles for the roof. I told him I won't give him the money. But I could buy the tiles for him and treat the amount as a loan which he needs to pay back. I pointed out that his brother Pitho had borrowed money and not paid back. Had he done so, I would have found it easier to lend him money. But I will do the next best thing -- I'll give him the tiles as a loan and he can repay the amount in instalments that he finds easy. I also explained to him that I will use the returned money to help someone else who needs a roof. He'll come back on Sunday to discuss the issue. I think he was hoping to get the money and not pay back like his brother! But I'd be stupid if I made the same mistake twice!
The rest of the day was uneventful. I've given the team the task of drawing up a list of things that they do on the project or should be doing. All of them listed "eating", "washing clothes", "having a bath" as work they do for the project! I wonder why they didn't add "defecating" to the list! Except Suman, the others have listed teaching and watering plants as the role of the project. Hmmmmmm.
I'm sleepy now. I'm sure there's a lot more to tell. That will have to be tomorrow's entry.
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