Independence Day with the Volunteers.
We had a group of volunteers from Portugal last month. The group comprised of medical students and were a very cheerful and dedicated lot. They got down to teaching right from the beginning and the kids were so enamoured of them that they started coming back in the afternoons also. Joao took the blackboard out in the afternoons and taught out in the open. Sofia also took a few classes in the afternoon when the kids came back. Others also taught outside in the open fields during school hours whenever they got a chance.The kids had a lot of fun and learnt a lot also meanwhile.
On 15th August, our Independence day, the kids all came, some villagers also came. There was flag hoisting etc and boondi and sev were distributed to all present and everybody had a nice time.
The volunteers held medical camps for the local villagers who came with different kinds of maladies. They discussed among themselves in real earnest and treated the villagers who went away happy and satisfied. They had offered to send medicines prior to their coming but so little time was left that if they had sent the package it would not have reached me by the time they came to the project.
It was Joao's idea to paint one wall and fill up with the kids' handprints and footprints in multicolour. I arranged for the paints and they got down to business. First the whole wall was whitewashed and then the volunteers drew the Indian flag in the middle of the wall. The rest of the wall was filled up with the kid's hand and footprints in multicolours. On one side the volunteers also put their hand prints.
Some of the volunteers gave the elder kids a few things. Ricardo and Diogo gave their own class school uniforms and Joao gave his class school uniforms and also dresses, copies and pencils. The whole group together gave a football for the kids to play and made a swing out of tyre for them.
All in all, it was a good experience for everybody.
We had a group of volunteers from Portugal last month. The group comprised of medical students and were a very cheerful and dedicated lot. They got down to teaching right from the beginning and the kids were so enamoured of them that they started coming back in the afternoons also. Joao took the blackboard out in the afternoons and taught out in the open. Sofia also took a few classes in the afternoon when the kids came back. Others also taught outside in the open fields during school hours whenever they got a chance.The kids had a lot of fun and learnt a lot also meanwhile.
On 15th August, our Independence day, the kids all came, some villagers also came. There was flag hoisting etc and boondi and sev were distributed to all present and everybody had a nice time.
The volunteers held medical camps for the local villagers who came with different kinds of maladies. They discussed among themselves in real earnest and treated the villagers who went away happy and satisfied. They had offered to send medicines prior to their coming but so little time was left that if they had sent the package it would not have reached me by the time they came to the project.
It was Joao's idea to paint one wall and fill up with the kids' handprints and footprints in multicolour. I arranged for the paints and they got down to business. First the whole wall was whitewashed and then the volunteers drew the Indian flag in the middle of the wall. The rest of the wall was filled up with the kid's hand and footprints in multicolours. On one side the volunteers also put their hand prints.
Some of the volunteers gave the elder kids a few things. Ricardo and Diogo gave their own class school uniforms and Joao gave his class school uniforms and also dresses, copies and pencils. The whole group together gave a football for the kids to play and made a swing out of tyre for them.
All in all, it was a good experience for everybody.
