Losing your way is sometimes the best way of finding something new

0 months to go. We’re down to just 2 weeks.  It has taken all of us by surprise. At least, it has done me. Not long ago we still had a whole month left and now we don’t even have 20 days! I do regret not going out as much in the earlier days as temperatures are winding up to the 30s and humidity continues to rise, sapping our energy and drive.

Despite this, I think we have actually managed to start getting more variety into our day to day lives. At church two weeks ago Harriet and I met a Pastor who is involved with a school in the slums. He left us his number and we decided to contact him and visit the school.

The younger class

Raja, one of the teachers, picked us up from the Guesthouse at 8am. If I had thought the room at Hatibagan was small…! These children – about 30 in the first class, 50 in the second and 75 in the bible study – all managed to squeeze into one tiny room, about 6 metres squared. We sang some songs for them and I told them the story of the prodigal son. That was the first time in a long while that I have told a story without reading it off something. It was nerve-racking but really great to do some story-telling again.

The tiny school room

We learned a lot about the slums before the second class started, talking to the teachers, one of whom used to be a student himself and had gone on to get his degree at university. The second class were all younger and we taught them simpler things like the alphabet and numbers.

There was one girl in this class whose face was covered in a yellow powder. The teacher told us some of the girls in the slums rubbed turmeric into their skin to make it look whiter. So they would look beautiful. So we want to be browner, they want to be whiter. Something wrong with this picture?

We are hoping to go to all of their Sunday activities on the last Sunday before we leave.

A few days ago we took a trip on the Metro to find and Art Gallery one of our new friends at Freeset had told us about. It took us until we got to the other Metro station to realise that we really didn’t know where go from there. We came out at the wrong gate, went left, turned back down the same road and then back up it again when we were certain it was in fact the wrong way. I asked four different people in four different places which way to go.

In between leaving the Metro and arriving at the art gallery (finally) we found some peaceful (in Kolkatan terms) gardens, an impressive university campus and a photography exhibition which I absolutely loved. All in all, it was a great adventure.

We have taken Benjamin Frances upon his offer to take us out to some villages for Medical camps. Out in these rural parts of India, I counted out various sized and coloured pills and tablets that the people were prescribed by the doctor who was travelling with us. I greatly enjoyed these two trips, seeing the line grow as more villagers caught wind of what was going on. Even those with nothing wrong with them were given some vitamins because everyone wanted to go away with something.

The other village we went to, the people there were doing a sports and games evening which we joined in with. Sorry to say but I did not win the needle and thread race. We also performed The Prodigal Son in a few very awkward scenes. I played the youngest son and the villagers seemed to love it so all is well.

After the main event we were asked to come to a house to pray for a little boy, about 3 or 4 years old who could not speak. While all the other people gathered around him and started muttering prayers over his head, I knelt down and took his hand and looked him in the eyes and talked to him. He was so wide-eyed. I was glad when I let go of his hand and he reached back down and took a hold of it again. We haven’t heard anything about that yet.

Last of all, the 8^th of March brought Holi, the festival of colour. Us four and a few friends from Freeset ran around Sunnogatchi (not entirely sure how to spell that but that is where Freeset is based) and threw paint powder and mix at people and had randomers come up and rub colours into our faces and arms.

There was red and green and blue and purple and silver and black and yellow and gold…and PINK. Pink seemed to overwhelm all else. Harriet and I wore shower caps as our hair is lighter and the dye can stay in for months after, even on the skin. Thankfully, I scrubbed up pretty good but Ellen will most probably still have a pink streak in her hair when we arrive at Gatwick.

Next weekend we are taking a train ride up to Darjeeling. I can't wait! My next blog will probably be a few days before I leave India. Scary times.

Unfortunately, no photos yet as the internet has been pretty bad the past few days.

When everything starts moving faster...

For a good few weeks before Christmas, at school, the children spent their time practicing songs, dances and a play for a performance in front of their parents at the end of the year, so teaching was put on hold for a bit. We continued going on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and helped out with washing the children and dressing them in their uniforms, doing songs with them, playing and keeping them in line. We also made some costumes for them to use in their play. At the end of the performance the children were each given a nice warm jumper and two little goody bags with a mixture of snacks and useful bits and bobs such as toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap.

We have come to know some of the children very well; their names, personalities, traits. We have given a good many of them nicknames too! It was somewhat difficult to say goodbye to our new friends from the streets and not know whether they would survive the winter. 

On Monday, on our first week back at work, we were back at school. The vast majority of the children we know were back. Some have now got siblings in the school - of whom they are very proud and show off all the time - and some have moved up in education, leaving Hatibagan. We went back again on the Thursday and started teaching. It was hectic but I enjoyed every minute. It is so much fun using games and props to teach them, even if you have to repeat a word 20 times before they get it!

I have really enjoyed all the manual labor we have been doing at Freeset. Closer to the Christmas holidays we were able to work more closely with the women, helping with packaging and printing, getting more of an idea of the production line and how it works. We spent one day tagging along with a large group from New Zealand and visited two other companies doing the same sort of work as Freeset. Inalogics and Connexions which both make products using old saris. The things they produce are really exquisite.

Whilst on holiday we found out that BMS (the company who sent us out here) is ordering us all T-shirts for tour - which is the third part of my gap year adventure - and they are ordering them from Freeset! So we will see if we can be involved in their manufacture. Since the holiday we haven't been back to Freeset, but we are hoping to go later on this week.

On the Tuesday we went to another branch of the Good News Children Education Mission; the baby centre. We left BMS around 8 as usual but got back around 5:30 rather than 12. There was always at least one baby crying, but some of them were so incredibly adorable when they smiled and laughed and giggled when you tickled them, the crying didn't really seem like such a challenge. We fed, changed, calmed down and played with them. At nap-time we played cards and then dropped them with their parents.

Wednesday felt very rewarding to me. If you consider yourself squeamish, you might want to skip this chunk.  Harriet and I decided to volunteer for the day at a branch of the Mother House, Mother Theresa's work. We went to a home/hospital where the sick and injured came. Once we got there we were told to just go and help, use our initiatives and decide what needed to be done. There was a lot going on, it was difficult to take it all in. We started by helping with the laundry and when that was finished we had already separated and both went whichever way we thought needed help. I talked to some of the women (there are separate men and woman sections).

After this I helped hand out Chi (tea) and helped the women move around. I took a lady to the toilet which was pretty hard as we had to drag her in a (wheel-less) chair and do everything (except her business) for her. After this I think I quickly settled into a state of acceptance that I was going to have to cope with things that might otherwise be embarrassing or horrific in my eyes.

We looked after one woman who could barely move and had become incontinent  so we had to clean her up a few times. She really was a skeleton with paper-thin wrinkled skin draped over her arms and thighs. The skin over her shins was tight and shiny and closely resembled an uncooked Cumberland sausage. There were terrible hollows sucking in around her hips and she felt brittle enough to break when we moved her.

Around the building volunteers and sisters were treating burns and wounds. A sister was dabbing at a glistening white, red-streaked skull where the top of a woman's scalp had come completely off. Another lady had no eyes and slits for a nose, shiny skin over her face as if she had been burned. It was hard to see the sadness in one of the women there who had lost family members and was very ill. She spoke good English and tears welled in her eyes as she told me that sometimes she just wonders if she will ever be well and if there was really any hope for her.

This has probably been the hardest project I have done so far, but at the same time, the most like the India I had expected, and also the most rewarding. Some of the stuff I wrote about isn't very nice to read but I really want anyone who will listen to know about some of the things that are going on where I am living.

Now, we have all registered to work at some of Mother Theresa's homes 2 days a week. Harriet and I are working mornings at Shanti Dan, a home for mentally disabled girls and women. I only work with the girls. Josh and Ellen are working at Kalighat, the home for the dying and destitute. It is very much like Prem Dan and I expect they'll be seeing some nasty things in the weeks to come, as well as feeling useful and needed.

It's getting busy now and we only have about two months left. I am looking forward to coming home so much, but at the same time I don't want to waste a day. It's leaving me feeling a bit confused for sure, but I am still enjoying living in India to the max.

A-going to Goa

After all the Christmas celebrations were over, we set out for Goa for our holiday. We had booked a night train and would be travelling for three days, stopping off in Mumbai on the way to change trains. As we were trying to keep a handle on finances, we decided to go Sleeper class, one off the lowest possible class. The journey was interesting to say the least. People selling Chi and nuts and crisps and chains and toys and socks and who knows what else, going up and down the isles calling out their wares. Men dressed as women sauntering up and clapping at you, demanding money. There were even people that came and settled down on our beds in the middle of the night!

Still, the journey was pretty fun, playing card games and catching up on our diary writing. Best of all was hanging out of the doors, looking into the wind until our eyes streamed and gazing out at India as it flashed past.

We had a nice hotel room and spent New Years Eve having dinner down on the beach. 

And throughout the holiday we went swimming, sunbathing, paragliding and trekking. The temperature inched towards 40 degrees C and I was grateful when we finally got back to the cool winter air of Kolkata. Of course, now that we've been back in the cold for a while I wish it could warm up again :)

And of course you can't forget all the wonderful English food. Aaaaaaaaah fry-ups!

All in all we had a pretty good holiday but I can say for sure that I'm glad it wasn't any longer. It's so exciting to be back in Kolkata, looking for new projects and starting back at the old, making the most of our last two and a half months left in India

A Christmas Far From Home

So on the run up to Christmas we were all preparing ourselves for the homesickness that was bound to come when the big day arrived and our families were still half-way around the world. Christmas has always been such a family orientated time for me and spending it away was, truth be told, very difficult.

This, however, was eased by the face that we got to dress up in a slightly different way. We went down to a small shopping mall with Anu, our supervisor, and each picked out the most beautiful Saris. Beautifully coloured flowing material, metres long, that we wound round and round ourselves, pleating at the front. Walking down the street on Christmas day all dressed in our Saris and Indian jewellery certainly turned a few heads!

Posing with the Domino's Pizza Delivery man

Thankfully, Josh chose a rather more gentlemanly outfit than a Sari.

 As tradition compelled us to have a Christmas tree for our celebrations, we put our heads together and thought of a creative, low-budget and eco friendly way of doing this. The product was truly magnificent and we were most proud of our success. Then we decided on a 250 rupee limit with which we could buy each other presents. The limit worked both ways though, and it was decided that we could spend not one rupee over, nor under the limit. This led to some interesting gifts of biscuits in wrapping paper.

We also got our Henna done by an Indian woman but after she had finished it we managed to get our hands on some henna and decided to give it a go ourselves. This was the outcome:

Anu invited us up to her house for dinner. We were put in charge of the salad...

Our Christmas present to Anu was a Sari blanket made by women at a business called Connexions that we went to visit a few weeks back. The blankets are made out of 6 layers of Saris and despite all the detailed hard work that is put into them, the women are able to make one in just a few days. Connexions does the same kind of work as Freeset. Giving women in the sex trade the option to get out of a life of selling their bodies.

Christmas didn't  feel like Christmas. But we managed to stay on top by seeing it as a glorified day off and by Skyping all our families. Seeing my family gave me that little seasonal flavour I was missing.

Testing the waters

So I realised the other day I haven't posted in a while. I am pleased to report everything is still amazing and the team is still going strong. So much has happened in these past weeks, the time is just flying by, it's hard to believe I've been here 3 weeks already! At the same time, I feel really settled and am starting to see BMS Guesthouse as my home now.

We are all pretty used to the way of life in India now. From the food to the people to the crazy Kolkatan roads. Food-wise, it's still curry (no surprise there!) but, thanks to a dare, I've now become accustomed to eating meals without the aid of cutlery. As I said, it started as a dare, but when I realised how much more chicken I could get off the bone...well, how could I resist?

The BMS staff are all really friendly - getting to know the guards at the gates and the cooks and cleaners - and we are slowly (very slowly) starting to learn bits and bobs of the language. Not quite up to conversation standard yet but just you wait!

As for the roads...well they are generally pavements for us now. We walk in the roads with cars beeping around us, day by day growing more oblivious to their noise. We have found a favorite form of transport in the shape of an auto-mobile - or a tuktuk as some people may know them - and a journey to park street, a big road with lots of western shops, is 6 rupees each, that's about 7p.

Auto-rickshaw

We started going to Little Sisters of the Poor home for the elderly on Friday nights and serving food. It's only a half hour job but it's really lovely chatting with the old people as we go round dishing out. One week ago now, we had our first day at Freeset. Freeset is a business making t-shirts, bags and a few other things besides. about 13 years ago a family came to Kolkata and decided that the sex trade was one of the biggest problems that needed to be combated, and that it was a business. So their logic was: fight trade with trade. They set up Freeset to employ women who are currently working for the sex trade, give them a better work, better pay, and brighter prospects for the future.

Little Sisters Building

Unfortunately Freeset doesn't allow photography so I don't have any pictures of that area of our work.

Unlike Hatibagan Mobile School, which is from 8-12, Freeset is a full days work, from 9 to 5. We were given a tour around their two buildings and then had some chi (a traditional Indian tea) with Steve, the man who would be our 'boss' and tell us what we were to do.

We were put to work making a fireplace, sawing bamboo and setting it on fire, which is not a light task in the heat and, as you can imagine, we were far from grateful for the 'warming glow' of the bonfire we'd made. after a few hours of this we went and had lunch and then recommenced work,scraping paint off window pains and wondering why on earth they hadn't put tape round the edges before painting the frames.

After three hours of this painstaking manual labor its fair to say we were all ready to go home. Nonetheless, we decided we would start working two days a week at Freeset rather than only one. In the end I think I enjoyed the manual labor. Somehow, the more you sweat, the more good you feel you're doing.

The most recent project we've tested (last night) is Entally Girls hostel. We went in for only half an hour and pretty much just played games and sang songs with the girls, ages ranging from, I think, 6-16. It wasn't my favorite project but a bit of fun anyway.

Right now we are at the tail end of the latest festival. Apparently, the many cows and goats we have been seeing over the past week are now being slaughtered and sacrificed and it's becoming hard not to see every piece of meat or red stain whenever we decide to go for a stroll.

We have tried out 3 different churches now and still have one or two to go before we decide on a church to make our own for the next 5 months. In my case, I thought the first was too big - they do sermons in 8 different language all in different parts of this massive building, and I think all at once! -, the second was too small, ironically called Big Life, but the third was juuuuust right :) Still, I'll hold my horses till I've tested the waters in all the churches in the local area, then I'll make my decision.

We've had some tough times but nothing too trying on our team bond and the laughs far out-number the tears. The next 5 months are going to be epic, not gonna lie!

Traffic, Curry and Fireflies

So I've been in Kolkata one week today though it feels much longer. We've had a few particularly hot days but, save from the first two or three nights, it's actually been getting a little cool when I try to get to sleep. On the way from the airport to the BMS Guesthouse, where I am now staying, we got our first real taste of Indian driving. To be honest I think Indian drivers must be so much better than us in some ways, for example, they seem to have no particular rules, weaving in and out of each other, racing for gaps in between vehicles. However, they still manage to avoid each other to the nearest centimeter! They must be so intensely and permanently alert, unlike many English drivers.

Taxi

Our first meal was slightly awkward using a fork and spoon rather than a knife. This proved to be a real hindrance when it came to the little balls of chicken which were rather more bone than chicken. We tend, in our mealtimes, to now avoid the chicken unless we are quite sure it is absolutely boneless. As we'd been told, there is curry for every meal except breakfast, or rather, several different types of curry. most of them are actually pretty tasty :)

We've started doing bible studies in the evenings after dinner, using the book Storylines, given to us by BMS. It's great fun when it comes to reading out the bible stories, allocating parts and attempting all the ridiculously tongue-twisting names of places and people that seem unnecessary to point out, and yet still occur many times in every chapter. Aside from that I feel we are slowly gaining a greater understanding of the Big Book.

My section of the wall :)

Been to a number of shops now and bought ready-made clothes, fabric 'packs' which are the materials for complimentary trousers, top and scarf which we then took to the tailors where we were measured up ad got out salwar kemeezes 3 days later. And just yesterday we went to the fabric shop where they had the most beautiful patterns and most stunning colours! We just wanted to buy them all. We did get invited round the counter which was awesome. We just picked out whichever fabrics caught our eyes and had them all spread across the counter in an array of colour.

Our good Salwar Kameezes

Beautiful fabrics

Really selling it!

I have gone outside within the grounds of the guesthouse most nights to see the fireflies and glowworms. We first encountered them on our first night when we had slept all through the day after the flight and could not sleep. We ventured outside and sat on the plastic chairs in the garden. Suddenly one of the others said 'Look at that!' and we looked and saw a little green light in the grass blinking on and off, moving among the grass. After that night I went out each night and eventually found a spot in the long grass by the shed where many lights were blinking all at once. The most wonderful part, however, was when some of the lights took off into the air around me. A bit like Avatar, just a hundred times less impressive. Beautiful nonetheless.

BMS Guesthouse (the old building)

Two days ago we started work at the Good News Children Education Mission School and were picked up outside the gates of the guesthouse just after 8. We were met by a chorus of voices all calling 'Auntie! Uncle! Auntie!', which is what the street children are taught to call people, I guess, when they are begging. Some of the children ran down the steps and grabbed hold of our arms and hands and clothes, wherever they could get a grip, and pulled us up the steps of the bus, telling us where to sit and then jumping up on our laps.

School room

The school is a small room raised a couple of steps in a little courtyard. On out first day there were about 50 children ranging probably from 2 to 10 years of age. The order of the day goes songs first, then a prayer, then we read a story. After that is break followed by the main lessons. The children are split into three groups: older, middle and younger. The older ones do maths, more complicated sums, while the middle group do easier maths and numbers Bengali into English, including the spellings. The younger group recites the English alphabet and the words that go with it, e.g. a for apple, and numbers up to 10. They all sit on the floor and have lunch together, curry would you believe, and playtime before and after the meal.

Lunch time

Queue for the slide

An Indian game

Curry!

The children are so beautiful, each with such a separate personality and all with big eyes and gorgeous smiles. When the bus dropped some of the children home it felt a little strange because they would get off onto the pavement and sit down because that was where many of them lived. At our stop they all waved goodbye, hand reaching through the windows, calling 'Bye Auntie! Bye Uncle!' On Tuesday we attempted to teach the younger children's lesson which consisted of much repetition and trying to make the pictures we made the night before understood. We had read the story of creation and so were teaching things like day and night, land and sea, people, plants and animals. All in all I don't think it went too badly :)

Milk and biscuit break

First time teaching

Reciting the alphabet

Teach and repeat

Human climbing frame!

Gorgeous faces

Love all around

Making friends

I am really looking forward to trying out all the other projects we will have a chance to help out with such as Freeset. I would like to try as many as possible until I can find one my heart sets on, where I expect I'll spend most of my time.

It's Diwali today so we are all looking forward to the sparklers and the lights and the general excitement of such a big festival!

Diwali temples

Lights everywhere!

Sparklers!!!

Team Kolkata

All the team xxx