Day 11 - Tuesday 30th July

The day began with an early morning wake-up call from the Chaplain for the morning run. Only the hardiest of souls dared to get out of bed for this grueling endurance test, myself included! Once outside however, we were greeted with a sea of SJS boys returning from a run of their own. I use the term ‘run’ very loosely as they were kicked out of the complex by Gopal, the house warden, for making too much noise. Having returned from the run, we slipped back into our daily routine of lazing about until we were ready to teach. 

At 13.30, we were introduced to Kritheka Selvi, the only child that Emanuel School sponsors to go to Sri Jayendra, for the small fee of £144.00 a year. If you would like to sponsor a child, please contact Reverend Father Mr Paul Hunt, or ‘The Rev’, as he is more popularly known, at pmh@emanuel.org.uk

After our final lesson of the day, we headed up many flights of stairs to the music hall to continue with our rehearsals for our farewell concert for the school. We were once again joined by the school choir to perfect our version of ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ by Journey and to commence Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’. 

After our singing session, we headed off to the handball pitch to continue improving our skills in preparation for our big game against the school: our skills improved minimally. Despite the constant shouts of encouragement by Miss Fitz, unsurprisingly we were thoroughly trounced.

By Tom McC 

After handball practice, we had a quick shower before some of us went with Usha (the headmistress) and Ganga (the deputy headmistress) to visit the homes of some GKV pupils. We realised why our opposing handball team consistently thrashed us as they were still out on the pitch practising as we drove past in the school bus and seem to do so for as many hours of the day as they can.

At GKV 90% of the children come from homes where no English is spoken, compared to only 10-15% at SJS (the fee paying kindergarten, primary and secondary school opposite our boarding house). GKV is the free primary school linked to SJS which was established in 2008. Their oldest pupils are currently in the equivalent of our Year 5 but Usha does not want to leave them with no free secondary school to go to when they reach that age. 

Before continuing to the pupils' houses we saw the land which has been bought by SJS to build a new GKV as it currently consists of two one storey buildings in the centre of Sankanagar. All the teachers have also bought up plots of land to build their houses surrounding the planned GKV space. This not only gives them the opportunity to have their own house, which they could not usually afford, but makes the journey to work considerably easier.

We visited two different colonies within about 10 minutes driving distance of SJS. The children have to make their own way to school from here but we were told that the inhabitants of the close-set houses share the responsibility of ferrying the children to and from school. The houses were built from concrete and the insides painted in a cheerful baby blue. Both houses consisted of one main room which functioned as a kitchen and living room during the day and a bedroom during the night with a smaller side room for storage.

Here are some of the responses from those who visited:
Nadia: It made me feel grateful for the menial things in life that we don't notice until they're not there, like electricity and water.
Kimberley: Initially, I was a little apprehensive about visiting the homes: a big group of Westerners intruding on these people's private lives as if they were some sort of tourist attraction. However, all the inhabitants were extremely welcoming (it goes without saying that they fully consented to our visit) and seemed proud of how they had made their space their own. I realised that the mindset plaguing people like me is not remembering how fortunate we are. Instead of constantly desiring the next best thing we should spend our energy preserving and appreciating what we already have.
Sabby: My most memorable experience from visiting the homes of the GKV children was not acknowledging how welcome all the locals were but a more personal with one of the toddlers. She turned her adorable little face towards me and within a second was cuddled in my arms. I then introduced her to Kimberley, Hannah and Miss Ellery but, to my immense pleasure, I was her favourite.
Hannah: I will return home with very different views.
Sasha: It changed my perspective on life.

Jamie: The children work hard to get out of the conditions that they're in.
Ewan: It made me more committed to giving such impoverished kids a chance to improve their and their families' lives.

By Kimberley