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 

Day 10 - Monday 29th July

Today was the first day of our second week of teaching, and it’s fair to say that the novelty of teaching had definitely worn off judging by the exhausted looking faces at breakfast.

However, today presented a change as Ewan, Miss Fitzgibbon, Miss Ellory and I went to GKV, the primary school around the corner from SJS, to teach four lessons in the morning. Unlike the ridged teaching timetable at SJS, GKV had a more spontaneous timetable. During the break we were taken to one of the teacher’s house for an interesting selection of snacks including some homemade carrot juice which was unlike any carrot juice we had ever tasted before. While GKV is linked to SJS, the children have a different uniform which is grey and red, making them distinguishable from their older counterparts. 

Passing through the school today, it was noticeable that all the children were dressed in white as opposed to the usual green. This was because it is the old uniform and was changed due to its lack of practicality with all the orange coloured dust around, so as a compromise, the pupils wear the white uniform every Monday so that money is not wasted. However, there is a slight flaw in this logic as any new pupils will be forced to buy two sets of uniform.

Later in the day, we all joined for some singing led by Hannah and Toby. Our dulcet tones added to the sound of the SJS choir as we warbled along to ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. Today we finished learning the song, added a few dance moves and incorporated some harmonies. We are planning on performing this song in the final assembly.

After some relaxation and biscuits and onion bhajis for tea, some girls and boys went Paul’s house; who is a retired Mill Hill teacher who devotes his time to teaching in SJS, to look at scarves for possible presents for mothers and sisters. He showed us an array of colourful scarves and, as these are real pashminas for very cheap prices, most of us then went on to purchase several each.

The evening was spent relaxing, something I think we all needed after a long Monday back at school. The female teachers decided to have a night out on the town at a restaurant which served Western food. This left Mr Hunt supervising all of us; something he seemed a little apprehensive about. 

By Sasha

 

Day 9 - Sunday 28th July

I awoke to the hottest day of the trip so far. 35C heat mirrored Britain earlier this summer, but even the local kids related how this was unusually hot weather for India. It did, though, provide an helpful excuse to skip the early morning run. 

Mr Hunt, Jamie and I then left at 8.30am to attend a local church service; typically, we had no idea what time it started. The 20 minute walk through the searing heat was reconciled by a cooler church: upwards of two dozen fans rotated at a refreshing speed. The deacon paused his service – we arrived mid-way through – to welcome us; one of the nice features of religion is that it binds together even two very different cultures under one welcoming banner. The service was not a Eucharist as such, but more a series of lectures punctuated by (English) hymns. One talk, for example, warned of the dangers of drugs and alcoholism. As these were delivered in Tamil, we decided to slip out after an hour. 

A relaxing period of rest followed, much needed after a tiring first week. Of course, no day would be complete without a Fitzgibbon-orchestrated sporting fixture: this time we played volleyball. Admittedly, my team felt a little aggrieved the opposition welcomed a local boy to even out the teams. It turned out he played volleyball for India U16s and so he was referred to as ‘International Player’. 

At 4pm, Hannah and I attended our regular veena lesson – the veena is a form of Indian guitar. We are being taught by Pushpa, the daughter of Jesus the music teacher. She is a virtuosic player and a clear tutor. Needless to say, Hannah is already vastly superior than me.

Two hours later I clambered on to a giant school bus with my fellow Emanuels and 20 SJS pupils – a mixture of trainee monks and orphans of the tsunami – to drive to the funfair. It was inspirational to see such unfortunate kids with such optimism, and also satisfying to pay for their trips on various rides, even if the risk assessment does not allow us to join them. My gang of three kids were scared of most rides, but managed to stuff themselves with very tempting street food – a temptation, again owing to the risk assessment, that I resisted. However, we were permitted to visit the various exhibitions dotted around the site, including one about SJS.

After pizza for dinner – a rare break from curry – Jamie, Will, Toby and I walked back with Miss Ellery (a representative from Christchurch Primary School which is developing links with the GKV Primary School)  to her lodgings (safety in numbers). Her lodgings happen to be the house of SJS’s remarkable Principal, Usha Raman. As ever, Usha’s kindness extended to inviting us all in for a drink of lemonade, a comforting end to a day of new experiences.

By Ewan 

Day 8 - Saturday 27th July

This morning we had to wake up especially early to embark on our day trip to Kanyakumari (otherwise known as Cape Cormorin). It is the southern-most tip of India where the three seas (the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean) meet. Our first stop was the Ghandi Mandapam; or for those of you not so fluent in Tamil, it means a gigantic marshmallow-shaped shrine. After leaving our shoes at the entrance we met our guide, a small man who had apparently been working there for 43 years. He then proceeded to give us a ten minute long lecture that was rather difficult to understand, albeit very heartfelt, and characterised by his insistence on silence from any chattering tourists. I was only really able to gather one thing: that on Ghandi’s birthday every year, a thin sunbeam would pass through a hole in the ceiling and light up the tablet commemorating his ashes. He also made sure that we understood this was not magic. After his speech, his sung us a prayer following a rendition of the Indian national anthem.

Before we went to lunch we were given time to wander the small seaside market to see if we could barter for any trinkets. I think it’s fair to say that this was the point where all the wonderful weirdness of India finally settled in. In one stall we discovered a strange looking toy: a baby’s head with plastered on eyes attached to a toy car. It’s definitely something that will be revisiting us in our nightmares. As Mr Hunt has been insistent on us wearing sunhats, Sasha and Kimberley decided to invest in the latest ‘designer headwear’: A bright plastic visor with integral sunglasses. All for 50p! 

In another stall we discovered an array of perfumes with names that can only speak for themselves. There was ‘Yahoo’, ‘Dot Com’, ‘Police Force’ and ‘Open House’. ‘Touch Me’ was a definite winner, its packaging included pictures of Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.

I think if you ask any of us what the highlight of the day was we would without a doubt tell you that it was lunch, or ‘luncheon’ as Mr Hunt calls it. We ate at the ‘Hotel Seaview’, it being the only place in the vicinity with fish and chips that fulfilled Mr Hunt’s risk assessment requirements. The meal was an overall success, everyone delighting in the opportunity to eat some ‘English food’. We’d only just sat down when two young English men in vests strolled into the restaurant, a sight which seemed so out of place that Miss Fitzgibbon whipped out her camera and made many feeble excuses to turn around in their direction. 

After lunch, but before we were allowed time to digest, we were ushered onto a very rusty passenger ferry that was going to take us to two islands where the temple of Vivekananda and the Thiruvalluvar statue were located. Vivekananda was a 19^th Century holy man who lived in London for a while and wanted all faiths to work together for the greater good. The statue and the temple together felt like India’s version of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Alighting, it immediately became apparent that the main subject of attraction, other than the attractions themselves, was us. There were cameras flashing at us from every direction, a few of us were even offered rupees and handed packets of biscuits in return for photos of their family. 

The walls of the temple were etched from grey and black marble. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any photos and we were constantly being silenced every time we whispered. There was a mediation room with speakers with a recorded ‘Om’ on repeat. Outside we took photos next to the railings and Sabby felt like it was a picture perfect opportunity for a ‘Jack and Rose Titanic’ moment. She demanded that one of the boys should be her Jack but none seemed keen. Luckily Mr Hunt stepped up to the plate as you will see in the picture below.

By this point everyone was exhausted and the drive home offered an ideal ‘napportunity’. Even if the bumpy roads and ‘Grand Theft Auto style’ driving made it a tad difficult. 

By Nadia