Final days

Leaving the students and staff behind was again very painfull and I wonder if it will ever get any better. It has been my third time to India now and every time I come the welcoming is warmer and more wholeheartedly than ever. We immediately found our connections again this time and quickly built up friendships. Leaving everybody behind and going back to a totally different world that had become so far away was very very hard.

I have had a very good time in India, observing classes, teaching the students, talking to people, playing, singing, helping where help was needed and just beeing with the people just like one of them...

I used the final days do give some more presents to the kids and spend some final quality time with them.

The weeks before I had already given balls to the blind students. Now I finally got the chance to do the same for the deaf and mentally challenged students. It was amazing how happy they were. I had told the deaf boys a few weeks before and the day I returned from the blind school I was permanently asked about the balls and when they would get it. They were really very excited.

 

Everybody told me that they would be very sad because I had to leave and that they would cry. Some of the girls did indeed. They requested me to stay there or come back as a teacher after my course had finished. 

I managed to hold back my tears until I arrived at the airport. Once the gates had closed behind me I finally realized that I was leaving India again and could not stop my sadness. 

India has got a very, very big place in my heart and I already started missing it when I had not even left. I can't explain what it is.. the people, the culture, the food, the music... everything plays together and forms a big part which I really want to get back to.

the teachers in the deaf school

Now, having been back to Germany for two days, I can only say that a big part of myself seems to be missing. Studies will go on and I am already busy, but I am also remembering India and everybody over there every day, every hour, every minute and I hope I will get the chance to go back very soon!

Finally I also want to thank everybody who supported and helped me to go to India. I also want to thank everybody who donated something for the students. I thank you in their names and I think their happiness is witness enough of how well used the money has been.

THANK YOU !!!

5th September, Teachers day

On this day students take over the school and manage the classes. Days and weeks before they were already excited because some of them would get a chance to wear a Saree and suddenly be in the position of a teacher for a few hours. Whereas the students in the deaf school had brought their own Sarees from home, rich and colourful, it was a lot simpler in the blind school. 

The evening before that day the girls tried the teachers cloths and chose one each. The 5th happened to be a Sunday and thus they “performed” the “Teachers Day” on 6th. Instead of the real teachers suddenly 12 students were sitting in front of the whole group of students and managing the prayer, the announcements etc. Than they took over all classes and taught different subjects, just like any other teacher would have done. The students greeted them with “Good Morning Sir or Teacher” and took classes/lessons as usual, Gujarati, Hindi, History, Maths and English. The students performed quite well, but it was very obvious how they copied their own teachers. Unfortunately the teaching techniques here are not very developed and like in the deaf school the teacher here don’t differ very much from each other in class. Lessons are read to the students and questions asked. The students hardly ever get time to be active themselves apart from standing up and giving reply to the teacher. Nevertheless it was nice to get the chance and see something so different and maybe we will find that in our schools one day as well.

Janmastomi – Lord Krishna’s Birthday

Everywhere in India people celebrate this day. It is a bank holiday and especially in big cities there are parties held in the evening. People have a clay pot, filled with some special type of milk, coconut water and other things which has to be broken. They make a lot of music and dance, eat special dishes and celebrate until late in the night.

In the blind school they put up two long wooden posts in a distance of about 10 meters where they attached a rope on which they hung the clay pot. It was filled with coconut water and other liquids and flowers. Some of the bigger boys built a pyramid, 3 stories high, and the top boy broke the pot. It was light and thin and thus not very difficult to destroy. Some staff member trough coloured water on the students building the pyramid. They came down totally wet, but because having been successful, they were happy and with the music coming up they started dancing. Especially the boys were very keen and excited and I think they really enjoyed the time. Some people from a nearby village had brought speakers and drums and thus students, teachers and guests that had arrived were able to make nice and loud music. – Afterwards everybody met in the hall and had a nice, rich and special dinner, donated by some guests from Valsad.

Because the festival generally continues until late in the night, quite a few of the bigger students went to a nearby village to enjoy the time there with praying, singing and dancing.

Rakshabandan

 

August and September are very special months in the Hindu religion. Many holidays take place and people fast a lot. This week there was the holiday called Rakshabandan where the sister gives her brothers a bracelet and also prays for them. She wishes good luck, health, wealth etc. This procedure doesn’t take long, but families in India are big, so all the cousin-sisters have to come, that means be at their own home, but also go to others. Thus the whole day can be used for giving the blessings. Generally the sister arrives at ones house, ties the bracelet round her brother’s arm, gives sweets to everybody and that are it. The brother or his family in return gives a little bit of money, also as a sign of good luck.

Rakhis in a shop

For me it was the first time to see this festival. The students were all very excited about it, especially because they were given nearly 4 days of holidays when most of them went home to stay with their families. This also meant some free days for me which I used to see some places and do some writing. On 24th, Rakshabandan, itself I first stayed at the school where some students from another school had arrived and have the Rakis (bracelets) and some sweets to all students. Because I happened to be there I also had to tie the Rakis around some boys’ arms and give sweets to them. Afterwards I was also given 5 Rakis. For the girls from the other school was it like an honour to do that. In the area of the schools are hardly ever people from abroad that don’t have an Indian background and do thus look at least a little bit Indian. Thus I’m always special and interesting for them.

After the short program in school I went to a friend’s house and stayed there for some time. Because the proper celebration of Rakshabandan does not take that much time actually we also went to see some other places such as two temples and a fair that was around one of them. For Indians this is always very special, but for me it is sometimes very tiring because it is generally fairly crowded and then the stalls are sometimes right at the side of the road which means that there is on-going traffic, which is always chaotic in India, and hardly any space to walk, not to mention the time for relaxed looking around or shopping. Indians don’t mind that because they are used to it, but for me it will probably always be a bit strange and uncomfortable.

Rakhis - they occur in many different shapes, colours etc... a huge variety is available.

Presents

Days are passing very quickly and I’m always busy with something. Whenever possible I try to help where help is needed and have already learned and gained good experiences in Chapatti making and others.

I finally also got the chance to buy some toys for the kids with the funds I raised in Germany. I got balls for all the blind students and staff. Unfortunately there were no sound making toys available, but it was probably one of the first times that all of the students got a toy for themselves. They really enjoyed playing with it and I hope they will manage to keep the ball for a while.

Because they were quite cheap I have decided to make them even happier by giving everybody a photo of themselves. People in India are very keen in taking and watching pictures, even when can hardly see anything. All the time I’m asked to take more photos of them and because they don’t have a camera they don’t have many photos of themselves. Because of that we spend nearly half a day with taking photos of all the students and staff in the blind school. I can’t wait now to see their joy and surprise when they will get their own photo.

Some experiences of Indian timings

To see something different I went with one of the staff members to a nearby city to buy some things for her and the students. We went by bus and although it was only about 35km away it took us about 1 ½ hours to get there. Due to the monsoon the roads are quite bad and traffic in India is generally very chaotic and much slower than what we are used to. The average speed on a highway is probably around 70km/h for cars and a lot slower for trucks and other vehicles. Although it is supposed to be a road for fast locomotion one can find anything that moves on a highway, whether they are cars and buses, bikes, scooters or rickshaws, sometimes camel carts, bicycles, or even people and all sorts of animals. And although it seems as if there were no rules at all the system somehow works.

Of course there are certain bus times, but unfortunately they are wrong most of the time. Thus it happens that people wait for hours for one bus to come, and so did we when we wanted to go back to school. The bus came 1 ½ hours later than it was supposed to and due to this delay it was quickly overcrowded. Overcrowded (in India) means that there is absolutely no space left for another person. We had a journey of about 10 to 15 minutes when suddenly a fizzling sound could be heard. How else could it be, it happened to be a puncture and everybody had to get off the bus. There was no chance of going any further in it and thus we had no other choice than waiting for the next bus to come. It was supposed to be only half an hour later and all of us were standing and sitting at the side of the road, staring hopefully down the road. But nothing happened. One bus passed and picked up a few people but it was the wrong direction for us. Another one came by, but did not take any more passengers because it was already very full and people told us that it did also have a puncture. Nobody knew when the bus would finally come and thus we did not do anything else than sitting and standing around, getting very, very bored and tired. Some jeeps passed and would have taken a few of us, but nobody wanted to go in there because they had already paid the bus fare and a jeep was a lot more expensive and they would have had to pay that in addition.

Finally, two hours later, the long-awaited bus came and we could continue our journey. We reached school with a delay of nearly 5 hours in which we had done nothing else than waiting for a bus to come. But that is something that happens in India fairly often. In rural areas people that can afford it stand at the side of the road, waiting for a bus of jeep to come that goes in their direction. And sometimes one has to wait for several hours until the journey begins.

August 14, 2010

It has been a very mixed week with many extracurricular happenings during school timings. There were quite a few rehearsals for a presentation of how to handle different dangerous situations or accidents. We also prepared special requisites like an ambulance. The performance itself took place yesterday afternoon. It was very funny to watch all the different situationsthe boys and girls acted and the students, teachers and guests really enjoyed it. During the rehearsals I had already realized that deaf students were very good actors and more self-supporting than others. And because everybody had put a lot of effort in it, it was very successful.

It is really great that I got the chance to go back to India. I’m very much enjoying my time here and the students also love my presence. I can’t walk anywhere without being greeted happily and usually a few start talking immediately, want to shake my hand, give me a hug or show me something. It is attention one hardly ever gets like this and the impressing and moving aspect is that it really comes from the student’s heart. They already tell me that they will be very sad when I go back and ask me to stay here as a teacher.