Reay Road and The T-shirts!

Pictures of Reay Road the children wearing the new t-shirts we bought for them out of the donated money. I have managed to upload a video of the children saying 'Thank You' after recieving their t-shirts. Please let me know if it works and I will try uploading some more video clips

Pictures from Juhu and Reay Road from Thurday's blog!

More Football

9.30am and more football! Being a Saturday we were a little unsure how many boys we would get but still about 10 showed up at Mahim Gardens. Again, they were all very keen to play. Today I had Jaywanth as my interpreter as Rajesh was not feeling to well this morning. We did a warm up and then played for a good 45 mins. The temperature is very hot today and there was a need for a great deal of water. I can definitely start to see some improvement in the boys and they are picking up the rules well. Once they know what a free kick is given for they have no hesitation in spotting it happen. We even had a penalty kick for a handball right in front of the goal. At 11.00am we were once again stopped by the park security who needed to lock up. The boys headed over to the bus to watch the end of the film the children had been watching and to then have some food. Due to the ground they we play football on, I am always cover in dirt. As I was meeting up with Biju for another meeting, I decided to head back home and get changed - all this football is creating lots of washing! I then went on to the Vision Rescue office to print out some teaching reasource and have lunch, and then we wnet onto the hospital to see Biju. He wanted to run through an financial concept caqlled micro financing. This is a way of lending money to underpriviledged people that allows a more effective way of repaying the money. The rates are much better than banks but the money is lent to a small group rather than an individual. The group members then support each other in paying back the money. Staff are employed to advise and help groups through the repayment process. Biju has lots of contacts around the world involved in micro finance and together we will draw up a proposal for how Vision Rescue can be involved in such a scheme.
The picture I have included above this blog are of Juhu and Reay Road from Thurdays blog!

Friday 29th May

This worning I was in a meeting about the school links that Vision Rescue has. Some of the teachers go into some of the local schools and and do class assemblies with groups of children. They needed to talk through some of the topics of the assemblies and come up with activity ideas. The link with the school is also important when it comes getting the children who they have been teaching in the buses into the schools. Over the last four years, over 100 children have been able to go to school due to the work Vision Rescue has been doing on the buses.
In the afternoon I ran another teacher training session on Brain gym and mental starters. I feel that the teachers really need activities to start off the teaching as the children come onto the bus so I ran them through some ideas for maths and English. Again it is hard with limited resources but there are things that can be made and bought.
In the evening, I went to see Biju in hospital and have a meeting with him. He is having his back work on after slipping a disc. He wanted to introduce me to two new memebers of the Vision Rescue team and talk to me about their roles in the organisiation. Louisa is going to be coming on board as a teacher and also as a counsellor and Ajish will be coming in as a CEO of Vision Rescue. He has experience in strategic planning for World Vision. It is good to see how Biju is extending the staff at Vision Rescue to allow for expansion.

Thurs 28th May - Teaching in Juhu

Today has been non stop! At 9.30am, I was in Mahim with Rajesh to meet the street kids and play some football. I decided that it is best to just let them play and get them interested in football. Once the interest is there and the numbers grow then, I will start more coaching. It was a great time. There were about 12 kids to start with (all 12 -16yr) but by the end of the game we were up to 16. I marked out a pitch and we just played. Many of them are new to football and struggle to even kick the ball. A few got better as the game went on and I am sure by next week they will be more coachable. I decided to join in the game which seemed to encourage them even more and it gave me a chance to give some valuable tips to them as the game went on. The kids loved it! By the end of the game they were so enthusiastic that they wanted to know when they could play again. We finished about 10.30 and they then joined the younger children for food. As you can imagine, Playing almost an hour of football in the Indian heat is going to send the sweat glands into overtime. By 11.00, I had already drunk 4 litres of water. At 11.00am, I got back into the car (not before ripping my jeans on the number plate) and we headed for Juhu beach. At Juhu beach, there is a sheltered area where teaching and feeding takes place. Most of the children here are street children and beggers, some live with older siblings on the street with no parents. It was great to go and see them learning and they were all really keen to show me the work they were doing on the alphabet. Unfortunately the children that we met on Juhu beach during the first were not there but the team are looking out for them. Whilst watching the teaching at Juhu, I noticed that one boy (aged 11) had an old rag wrapped arount his foot. I asked Rajesh to find out from the boy what was wrong. He told Rajesh that a car had run over the side of his foot and that he had been to the doctor. By the state of the rag and the fact there were flies gathering around his foot, I didn't believe that he had been to a doctor. I asked Rajesh to get him to remove the rag, which he did! What I saw was a huge flesh wound which was dirty, septic and was going rotten to the extent that it attracted all the flies. I told Rajesh that he has to go to a doctor and I gave some money to one of the teachers to take him the clinic at the end of the session. Unfortunately, we left before the end of the session and this did not happen as the boy ran into the sea and would not come out. I told Rajesh that he must be taken to the doctor tomorrow. If his wound is not treated then he could end up losing his foot. I will continue to chase this one up! After Juhu beach, I was invited bach to Rajesh's house for lunch. His wife is an amazing cook and made excellent Japattis and chicken curry. I am being converted to traditional Indian food and I don't know whether I will be able to go back to English Indian curries again! After lunch we followed the late shift bus to it's first two stops. The second stop, Reay Road, is where the children are incredibly dirty and the children here are hygienically the worst of all the Vision Rescue children. I watch the teaching session making careful notes to feedback to the teacher and then we gave the children the new t-shirts that we had printed for them. I can not describe the look of joy on the children's faces when they were told they were getting a new t-shirt as a school uniform. They looked so smart! The front of the t-shirt has the Vision Rescu logo and on the back it says ' I am worthy of a brighter future' in Hindi! I will be going back next week to see if they are still wearing the t-shirt and then we will order another 700, one for each child.

Wed 27th May

Today I was due to be picked up by Rajesh at 9.00am but he was unfortunately delayed and then we got stuck in a big traffic jam (Not uncommon for Mumbai!!). It meant that we didn't arrive in Mahim until 10.30am. When we arrive all the kids on the bus and some of the street kids were eatinf the food they had been given. This unfortunately left us little time for the football and on Wednesdays many of the street children will be selling or begging in the local market, which meant only a handful of kids. After chatting to Rajesh and some of the boys we agreed to meet up tomorrow at 9.30 - lets hope we get there on time!! After the attempted football session, we travelled onto Mahim Creek to meet some of the drug addicts and then on to Bandra. Here I watch the teaching session which was on Hindi. I know many of the kids at Bandra now so they all say 'Hello' to me when I am there. It was really pleasing to see the teacher using some of the ideas I had suggested in my training sessions. She was very positive, used a simple form of assessment and got the children interacting well. There were a few suggestions that noted down and will talk them through with her. After Bandra it was back to the kitchen. Here I got involved in yet another game of cricket with the boys and again there was some very clever dodging of the traffic. Whilst we were in Mahim, Rajesh and I wnet to a small restaurant for lunch and I had BEEF!! It was great. One of the best meals I have had since being here. On our way back to the car, I spotted 4 children playing at the side of the road. I asked Rajesh if he knew them but he did not. We then realised that the rest of the family were sitting on the street corner and that the whole family was homeless. Tomorrow, Rajesh and I will go back to the same spot and see if we can get the children to come along to the bus when it stops in Mahim. This will provide them with some decent food and give them some education. As we were driving back home we were approach by a begging womn at the crossroad. She had a little girl aged about 3 with her. I wound down my window and Rajesh told her about where the bus stops in Mahim. Lets hope she turns up tomorrow with her little girl. We stopped of at Rajesh's house for a cup of tea and then we went onto the Shopping Centre so that I could find a decent barbers to get a haircut - and a very good one we found! A top stylist for only £6!! I have also decided to teach myself Hindi and bought a complete beginners guide. Lets hope I can find the time to use it.

Tomorrow, I will be at Mahim with the street kids and then I am going off to Juhu beach to see the teaching over there.

Tuesday 26th May - Deonar again!!

Today I had to get up early and catch a taxi in order to meet the yellow bus at 9.00am. Neethi, one of the teachers, got a taxi to my accommodation and I join her for the journey to the Vision Rescue kitchen in Mahim. All was going well until we got a puncture. The taxi driver told us it would only take a couple of minutes to fix so we waited. He then informed us that he was unable to fix the puncture and we had to catch another taxi which was not easy as we were on a main road. Eventually, I flagged down a taxi and we arrived in Mahim at 9.20.am. As the bus had gone to fill up with diesel, Neethi and I had to wait 15mins for them to return. During that time, Albaz and Imran ( two of the boys who lives by the kitchen) showed me how they play ' Marbles' in India. This is a very popular game that many of the kids play in the street and it occupies them for hours. Unfortunately I did not have time to challenge them to a game but maybe next time.

We set off in the bus to the first stop, Kurla. There are not many children at this location and quite a few of them are now in school so the need is not as great as it was to start with. Vision Rescue are actually going to find a new location to start teaching at instead of coming to Kurla. The teaching for today was English writing and they children were learning how to write the words 'Apple', 'Ball' and 'Cat'. Neethi did a great job with the lesson and I wrote down some of my observations during the lesson. I then gave her some feedback on how I thought it had gone. There were some areas where I needed her to explain again as she teaches in Hindi so I didn't fully pick up what she was telling the children.

The second location was Chunnabatti. I was informed by the teachers that this is an area where many gang and tribal people live. Some of them have quite aggressive personalities so the teachers have to keep everything peaceful and not upsetting the parents by remove a child from the bus or telling them off. Neethi pointed out to me a home where two of the children live. They did not come onto the bus yeaterday or today because on Sunday their father had hung himself outside the family home. As there are many other family members, it was not a situation where Vision Rescue needed to immediately step in help the children but I am sure they may well need some counselling if and when they return to the bus. Manoj, the other teacher on the bus, taught the lesson at Chunnabatti. It was the same content just a slightly different activity that he used.

Next it was Deonar, the rubbish dumping groud, which I visited on Saturday. I don't think I have ever had to interact with so many flies before - they are everywhere. The flies will land all over the children- in their eyes, on their lips, in their hair- but they do not seemed bothered by in. When I could see a child with 8 or 9 flies on their face, I just wanted to swat them all away, but to them it is a daily occurence. I was then told that on Monday, as the bus was arriving at Deonar, the driver spotted a dead 2 month old baby by the side of the road amongst the rubbish. I was totally shocked!! It was a baby girl that had been dumped because the mother did not want her. How another human has the ability to do such a thing I will never know. Apparently, it is quite common for this to happen to baby girls. Many slum families want boys because they will earn them more money working. If the baby is a girl, they will sometimes dumped them amongst the rubbish to die. The Vision Rescue Team were so upset that no one had told them. Often they will hear about unwanted children and will take them into one of their homes to look after them. This is one life they could have saved if they knew!

There are a lot of kids that come onto the bus at Deonar and their are still lots more who don't go to school and don't get any teaching. For this reason, Vision Rescue is going to start up another feeding and teaching location at the other end of the dumping ground.

The last stop was Mankhurd. As the bus was late here, the children were all queuing up nicely ready for the arrival of the bus. I have never seen such an enthusiastic bunch of children waiting for school to start. At the end of all the teaching, I chatted to Neethi and Manoj about at the teaching I had seen and will be working through some of the points I made in the remaining training sessions. They need quite a bit of training on phonics as this is not used as much as it should. We then headed back to the kitchen for lunch and then it was back to the Vision Rescue office. A very tiring day!! More football tomorrow!

Monday 25th May

This morning was spent mainly preparing for the training session I was doing with the teachers in the afternoon. I had decided to talk to them about how to structure their lessons more effectively and give them some ideas for activities to start the lessons off, so I prepare a sheet of ideas for them. At 1.30 I travelled to the Vision Rescue kitchen and joined the bus on it's next feeding location. There was no teaching at this stop so I helped with the feeding and the bus then travelled back to the kitchen where we got a taxi to the methodist church hall for the training session. I think the session today was quite difficult for the teachers because they are so used to teaching just the main part of the lesson that the idea of having a warm up activity and a conclusion at the end was difficut for them to understand. There are also lots of teaching techniques that we use in England that are not used as part of the eductaion culture in India so they are totally new concepts to the teachers. Also, the discipline is much harsher and children are expected to learn what they are told and not learn for themselves. Over the next few days I wil be spending lots of time on the buses watching the teachers and giving them individual feedback. That will also help me to find more ways to improve the education that they are giving to the children.

Deonar - The Dumping Ground

I thought I had seen the worst of Mumbai until today. At 10.30, Pradeep drove me to the largest dumping ground in Mumbai where we were to meet the yellow bus. I could not believe what I saw. This is the area where lots of the rubbish, that is collected in Mumbai, is dumped and people live amongst it. The smell can only be described as intoxicating and the conditions that these people live in are awful. It is so unhygenic for the children, who smell as bad as the air, and I have never seen so many flies in one place before. The children obviously get used to the flies which in some ways makes it worst because they do nothing and the flies will hover around their faces. Many of the people spend their day trampling through all the rubbish trying to find plastic and metal that they can sell. On a good day some of them will make 200 rupees (approx. £3) from the rubbish they collect. Many off the children do not where shoes but they do make a bit of an effort to smarten themselves up when they come onto the bus. This is encouraged by the teacher to try and improve the children's level of hygiene. Normally visitors are not allowed on the bus here because it is a high Muslim area and some of the locals get suspicious about foreigners. It is also where part of Slumdog Millionaire was filmed. Unfortunately, it was the scene where the boys are taken from their tent by the mafia group so some people have become very cautious. Pradeep did allow me onto the bus which was great because I got to interact with the kids.

In the afternoon, Pradeep took me shopping along with a group of visitors from Australia. I didn't actually buy anything this time but it was still good to look around. I was followed most of the afternoon by a group of small homeless children who wanted money. Instead, I bought them some sandwhiches, gave them some water and sent them on their way. In the evening we walked along Juhu beach which was packed. We even stopped for a quick game of cricket with a group of lads. Another emotionally tough day but it motivates me even more to help Vision Rescue give these children a future they are entitled to!

First Teacher Training Session

Today I have been running the first of seven teacher training sessions. Normally I am used to running these sorts of sessions in a classroom with a projector and interactive whiteboard. The room we used was in a small methodist church building in Dharavi (Asia Largest slum). As you can probably guess there was no whiteboard. Just one plug socket and some chairs and tables but that was all we needed! The purpose behind these training sessions is to help the teacher improve the quality of education that they are giving to the children on the buses. Teaching a group of 30 children, aged 3 - 12 from the slums of Mumbai, on a big yellow bus is very different from teaching 30 children, aged 10-11 from Surrey, England, in a classroom, but many of the same principles can be applied. I had two hours for the sessions and everything I said had to be translated into Hindi as some of the bus helpers do not speak much English. One of the main observations I have seen is a lack of positive reinforcement. I think this is because of the Indian culture and many peoples attitudes towards children. The teachers can be positive but it needs to be more, especially with the children that they are teaching. This was the focus of my first sessions but I also wanted to get from them what they see as the strengths and the weekness of the teaching on the buses. Unfortunately they found it very difficult to tell me so I when through my list of what they are doing well and where they can improve. At the end of the session, I explained that I would come and help them on the buses with their positive reinforcement.

I also moved accomodation today. The place I am now staying is much nearer to the Vision Rescue office (just 5 mins walk) so it will save time and money. The room is still very basic but it does have a nicer bathroom (With toilet paper!!!).

Tomorrow I will be back on the buses - games day tomorrow! I am also hoping the visit the large rubbish dumping ground that was used in Slumdog Millionaire. This is one of the locations where the bus stops but they don't normally take visitors.

Thursday 21st May - Hillsong Band concert

Today was very different as the Vision Rescue Team were organising and setting up the concert for the Hillsong London Band. My role for the day was to help looked after the band which was great because I got to have lunch at the same hotel!!


The concert was scheduled for a 6.oopm start so at about 3.00pm I arrived with the band at the venue to do the sound check. The Venue was a large Theatre which holds about 2500 - 3000 people and I was told that the concert was totally sold out. For those of you who don't know, The Hillsong London Band are professional musicians who play Christian Rock music - and these guys can play!!! They were a couple of bands on before them and then they started around 8.00pm. I spent most of the evening in the green room with the band and then at the side of the stage whilst they were playing. (to be continued)

First taste of football in India!

Yesterday morning was one of the most interesting yet. I was pick up at 9.30 and taken to Mahim Gardens where I met up with the 15 street boys who wanted to play some football. Nearly all of them were barefooted and I had no equipment apart from two football. When I arrived the staff on the bus had just started feeding the kids so it gave me a chance to properly meet them all before starting the football. The ground that we were going to use for the football was not available so we had to use the local park- no grass, just red dusty earth and lots of stones! Some of them had never kicked a football before so I had to start from the very beginning. They enjoyed the warm up, but stretching their muscles was alien to many of them. After the warm up, we did some very basic passing and shooting exercises for about 15 mins. This was not easy as everything I said had to go through an interpreter who doesn't play football either! They then played a small game (or something that closely resembled a game of football) during which one lad (probably the best there) scored two goals. The game was unfortunately cut short by a) some of the boys getting tired and b) the security guard wanted to lock up the park! You have to remember that most of these boys spend their time roaming the streets and have drug / glue addictions so the experience of being coach football was completely new and very exciting for them. From here we went on to the Vision Rescue kitchen to wait for the bus to arrive back this to a lot longer than expected as it had to fill up with diesel meaning a long detour! Fortunately, some of there were some boys playing cricket in the street outside the kitchen so I decided to join in. The bat was very small and the ball was a very light air filled ball but it was great fun. One shot that I hit flew in to the middle of the road and about 5 boys chased after it. They are used to dodging the traffic to fetch cricket balls. I was also entertained with the spinning tops again and this time I had a go. It was more difficult than I thought but eventually got the hang of it. I will be looking out for the in the shops so I can bring some back to England. I am beginning to see more and more that in the poorer families children serve one of two purposes. They are either a financial investment or they are a burden and a nuisance. In the slums and poorer areas, I have seen very little adult and child interaction. This is why the interaction with the adults on the Vision Rescue buses is so important to these kids.

After having some lunch, I headed back to the ashram to freshen up and then met Biju at the office to update him on how things were going and to discuss the teaching.

In the evening , I was lucky enough to be invited out to dinner at a very nice hotel! Biju and his team had organised the band from Hillsong Church in London to come and do a concert in Mumbai and we spent the evening with them having dinner. I got to have STEAK!!!!!!! I have missed having beef so I had no hesitation in ordering it! It was also really nice to chat to a group of Westerners. It was a very good ending to what had been a very tiring yet rewarding day.

Tuesday 19th May

This morning was very quiet. The nuns and monks are still on retreat for one more day and I didn't have Caron to talk to. I was quite tired this morning because I was late back last night. I was showing some of the Vision Rescue staff (plus some other spectators) how to play pool. Some of them have never pick a snooker cue up and so it took a while for them to get the hang of it.


Today I was picked up by Rajesh who took me to meet the principal of a technology college where I am hoping to run some football coaching sessions for some of the street kids. Unfortunately, the pitch we would be using was being set up for a wedding so I didn't get a chance see much of it. We will not be able to use it this week but hopefully we can book it for the remainder of my time here. We do go and have a look at some other places but they were not really suitable. It is very difficult to find anything that resembles a football pitch as grass is very scarce in Mumbai and the main sport here is cricket!

From here, we caught up with the bus at Mahim Gardens and met some of the lads that I will be coaching. They were all very excited and insisted on shaking my hand and saying 'Thank You' - it means so much to these kids!! Next we went on to Bandra where they are also hoping to recruit some boys from the slum to join in the football. Unfortunately, there was a big political meeting in one of the hotels next to the slum which ment lots of Media! Rajesh told me that the India media can sometimes get suspicious if they see foreigners in the slum areas so it was best not to go in.

We stopped off at the Vision Rescue Kitchen for lunch as Rajesh needed to speak to some of the staff. There I was kept entertained by the local kids who were showing me their spinning tops - these were great and I will be on the look out to try and buy some!

After lunch, I accompanied Rajesh to view a potential building for the new Vision Rescue Kitchen. Rather stupidly, the Estate Agent had forgotten about one small detail - access for the buses. The food need to go on the buses and so there must be space to park them. It was a struggle to get Rajesh's car down the road let alone a bus. Because of this, we didn't even bother looking inside which then upset the estate agent. Hopefully, he with remember this minor detail when he looks for some more properties.

Week 3

Today, Caron left to head back for England. I know she has enjoyed her time in India and she will be missed by the Vision rescue Team. I spent this morning with Secu (Biju's wife) and we put together a plan of action for developing the education. I shared many ideas with her and I am going to be running two training sessions a week with the teaching staff to try and help them develop their teaching. These will mainly be on Lesson structure, Positive Reinforcement and Assessment. I will also be working with them on the buses and giving them regular feedback on the lessons they teach. Secu and I will be working on developing the curriculum and we will draw up some long, medium and short term plans for the coming year. This afternoon, Biju told me to take the afternoon off and rest so Pradeep took me to some of the local shops for a bit of retail therapy. They have some great clothes here and they are much cheaper than England!!

Last Saturday evening, we went to Reay Road which is one of the evening locations visited by the bus. Here we were able to see the children watching cartoons on the new televisions that we had bought. I cannot describe the look of sheer delight on the children's faces. Mina, one of the teachers, commented that she has never seen the children so quiet - they were all mesmorized! The DVD's that we bought for them to watch were a mix of Hindi and English and can be used as learning tools as well as entertainment.
The children at this location are the dirtiest children we have come across. Their slum is an area where lots of coal and other raw materials are picked up by lorries. You can literally feel the dirt in the air. The childrens hands, feet, faces and clothes are covered in dirt to the extend that your hands would become dirty if you touched them. Some of the children who did not come onto the bus were out playing. One little boy was rolling a tyre with a stick, an activity that you would have seen in Victorian times. another boy and girl were simply throwing a ball and then racing to it. These children will find the simplest things to entertainment them and it will bring them laughter and joy!

Friday 15th May

We are hoping to put together a documentry on 'Vision Rescues' work but focusing on the staff. We have been blown away by the way the staff have looked after us out hear and they work so hard - we felt we wanted to show this side of the work! We had a cameraman working with us all day trying to take various shots of the staff and the work. We started out at Marhim Creek where the drug addicts hang out. They have a counselling session on the bus and they are then fed. The couselling and feeding work is all done by men at this location as some of the men can get aggressive. Thankfully, there were no problems while we were there. We then moved onto Bandra slum (famous for its connections with 'Slumdog Millionaire) where we filmed the teaching and the feeding of the children there. Again, we tried to focus on the work that the workers / teachers do. The kids loved the camera and they eventually were able just to ignore the filming that was going on. It is always hard taking photos and videos as you want to try and capture the reality of what the slums are like but at the same time you want to have respect for the people that live there. It is their home and they are entitled to privacy. Having said that many of them ask for their photo to be taken so it eases the pressure slightly. After filming at Bandra, we needed to capture some footage of the local shopping mall to get to the contrast betwwen the wealth and the poverty. Whilst filming outside the mall, we were approach by a group of 6 begging children. They simply do not leave you alone but we gave them nothing as they need to be encouraged not to beg. We decided to show they show clapping games and different hand shake greetings. Their attention was instantly diverted away from begging and onto the entertainment that we were creating. Unfortunately we did not see the man who suddenly approached and hit one of the children hard on the back (This is part of the discipline culture in India!) Caron pulled the children away and I gave the man a talking to. He thought we were giving them money and like most people, the children are seen as pests. By this time the cameraman had finished filming and we then walk back to the Vision Rescue head office. Back at the office I had a chance to chat to Biju about the lessons I had observed the day before and my ideas for improving the education. He is very keen to get many of these ideas up and running as soon as possible so he has arranged for me to discuss the education and curriculum with his wife who currently heads up that side of the project. An eventful day! It will be interesting to see how the video footage come out and I can now start implementing some changes to the educational program.

Thursday 14th May

Today was the first day that Caron and I have been involved in different activities in different places. I spent the morning on one of the buses whilst Caron travelled to the rescue home to see the girls staying there and meet a couple of new children who have been brought into the home because their mother set fire to herself and the father did not want to look after them. I will get more details off Caron and update you on that story.

On the bus, I visited a new place today and the bus picked up many of the children on route. These children seemed more chatty than some others I have met and I even got a rendition of 'Jingle Bells' from one of the children. Many of these children are not even from slums and simply sleep by the side of the road. Despite this, they are still happy because they don't know any different. After the bus had stopped at the teaching location, they sang a song together about the fingers and they were given a lesson in Hindi. The teachers are very confident in their delivery of the lessons but they need tighter structures, better endings to the lessons and more use of praise. These are some of the things I will be helping them with. They also have a limited curriculum which needs to be freshened up. We stopped for lunch at the Vision Rescue kitchen and had (Yes, you've guess it!) rice and curry! Whilst having lunch, some boys were playing 'stones in the street'. I tried to video them playing the game but everytime you get out the camera they instantly rush to you to have a look. They then want their photo taken.

After lunch, we made our way back to the Vision Rescue office to discuss the days activities. About 5 o'clock, we went to the local Shopping Centre which is a complete contrast to the rest of Mumbai and you could well be in the middle of London or New York. Even out in India, there is still the need for a bit of retail theraphy. This is very much a place used by the wealthier people of Mumbai and is very Westernized! They even had children playing musical chairs to the 'Crazy Frog' music - got very annoying after about the 5 time. This was put on by the local radio station - Radio One! We decided to go and see a movie at the cinema but the choice was very limited and the showings were a bit later than we wanted - we have to be back at the accomodation by 11.00pm or we get locked out!! The cinema will have to wait till another day.

Thursday 13th May

Up at 7.30 this morning for breakfast and we left the Ashram at 8.00am and headed for the Vision Rescue office. Our first task today was to go and buy some new teaching resources for the buses. We visited the local Shopping centre to buy Vision Rescue two TVs and DVD players - one for each bus and a collection of learning DVDs, and hindi cartoons and films for the children to watch on the bus. The children love watching cartoons as they do not have the opportunity to watch any TV other than on the bus. Apparently, cartoon day attracts a few more children to the bus.
In the afternoon I visited some sporting facilities in Juhu that Vision Rescue are thinking of using for the children. Here they will be able to learn basketball and volleyball. Unfortunately, the facilities were not suitable for football and cricket so they we have to look for another option for these sports. I didn't have time to visit Juhu beach today but will be doing so in the next few days. The rest of the afternoon was spent brainstorming ideas for the new curriculum. The level that the children are at is very low so a lot of the work will be basic but more interactive. Caron has been busily putting together ideas for a short documentary on the staff which she will be staring to film tomorrow
Sorry but today has not been that exciting. Tomorrow I am back on the buses observing the teachers so will hopefully have more to report.

The Medical Van

It was an early start today and we were picked up by Biju at 8.00am and taken to see the medical van, which is almost complete. The Van will be kitted out with lots of medical provisions and will be run by a doctor and a nurse. It will visit a different area each day and will be open for people in the slums and on the streets to come and get medical help and advivce. Many of the basic medical needs of these people will be dealt with on the bus and the more serious cases will be passed on to the hospitals. There are currently lots of people who have illnesses and infections and can't get any help. The medical van will allow these people to get the help they need.

Lunch today was Chinese and on our way to the restaurant we were surrounded by a group of seven begging children desperate for us to give them something. In his wisdom, Biju drew them away by giving a street vendor 70 Rupees for 7 plates of food - one for each child. We continued on leaving the street vendor surrounded by the 7 children! Hopefully, one day, we can have those children on the Vision Rescue Bus!

In the afternoon, we were able to spend time thinking about how the donations will be spent. We will be buying 3 televisions and DVDs for the buses and the medical van, and also buying t-shirts for the children to wear when they come onto the bus for their education. Many of the children are very dirty, smelly and their hair needs combing. Providing them with a very basic school uniform to wear on the bus will help promote the need for them to be well dressed and clean when they have their lesson. It will also give them a sense of pride and belonging, two things that some of these children have never felt before! The money will also go towards providing water containers to put on the bus to allow the children to drink cleaner, fresher water, and to provide combs and toothbrushes for the children to start learning about basic hygiene.

Biju also showed us a new Vision Rescue video clip which is currently on You tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur9KOmZIoik. Please watch it! As it tells the story of Vision Rescue and the work that is being done here in India.

Tomorrow, I will be heading off to some sports facilities owned by the YMCA. I am hoping to discuss with them a new sports program that I will be helping Vision Rescue set up for the older boys from the slums and the streets. It will allow them to be coached and participate in organised sport such as cricket, soccer and basketball. Caron will be working on some health promotional leaflets that can be used on the medical van. I hope all is well in England and I will update you again tomorrow.

Week 2 - Monday

Today was a 10.30am start and we were pick up by taxi and taken to the drug addicts feeding location in Bandra. One of the hardest parts of being out in India is the stares you get. It is as if many of these people have not seen a white person before. The drug addict are very much the same and one man had being drinking quite heavily. He was fascinated by us and demanded that we speak some English to him, which we did and he spoke back in very slurred Hindi. Some of the Vision Rescue team will take the time to talk to these men about their addictions or other issues and give them advice.

It was then off to a slum that we visited last week to meet the children again. Today they were learning English so we sat among the children and helped them out with their pronunciation of letters. They were learning the letters of the alphabet so eventually they will move on to form words. Again it was evident just how eager these children are to learn. They rushed to the bus and climbed aboard with smiles. Many of them are getting used to the 'High 5' and love touching you hand. For many of them human touch can be a bad experience or non-existant and so when they touch your hand it shows that they are starting to trust you. As you can see from the picture, two boys were desperate to have a photo taken with their bowls on their heads.

The afternoon was spent at the Vision Rescue office talking with Biju about the work we will be doing and sharing our observations and thoughts with him. He also very kindly bought us lunch in a very posh Indian restaurant next to the office. He also shared with us some ideas about how the donations that many of you so kindly gave will be spent. They need new TV's and DVD players for the buses to use when teaching the kids and also one for the new medical unit. Some of the money will pay for these and other resources need for the teaching. I will update you on what we have spent at a later stage.

Tomorrow we will be visiting the medical unit which Caron will be able to advise them on and I will be taken to see some sports facilities that Biju would like to use with some of the older boys. I will be able to help Vision Rescue to set up a new sports programme and train some of the team to coach sports like football and cricket.

I hope all is well back in England and that the weather is good. I was informed today that the Indian monsoon season starts in June which means lots of rain. Still, at least I will be used to that!!

Juhu Beach

Juhu is known for its beach and many children can be found wandering and begging along there. Here ‘Vision Rescue’ has a sheltered area which is part of the YMCA premises. At this shelter informal teaching and food is provided for these children. On Saturday, we visited the beach to see the extent of the poverty in this area, and were instantly surrounded by a group of begging children aged 3- 10 yrs. The children were new to the area and had obviously been sent out begging by a family member. We were amazed at their reflex action to hold their hand out to us. However, the distraction of having their photo taken sent them into fits of laughter and smiles. We hope to follow vision rescue in their work helping to ‘rescue’ these children.

Rescue Home

On Friday we visited one of the rescue homes in North East Mumbai which is home to six children and three carers. These children have all been saved by Vision Rescue from horrendous circumstances. There are five girls aged 4 – 15yrs and a little boy aged just 1 and a half. He was found abandoned by his mother at a railway station and no family ever came back for him. He is very malnourished and weighs only 5 Kg instead of 11kg. The four year old girl has been at the home for three weeks. Her mother left her alone for three days in the middle of the slum. Vision Rescue was informed and took her into the home. When they contacted the mother she did not want her child and requested that she be reported as dead if the police asked. One of the older girls, Joti, was thrown off a train by her father when she was just 5 yrs old. Vision Rescue paid to have her head and arm injuries treated but her head injury was so severe that she is now schizophrenic. This is an example of the amazing work that Vision Rescue is doing and it is thanks to them that these children live in a safe home with a future filled with love and hope.

We've arrived in Mumbai!

Well I have finally got the internet up and running in my room and I can now continue writing the blog. I will give you summary of the first week and then try to update the blog each day.

Caron and I arrived safely in Mumbai on Tuesday morning after a wonderful flight on Kingfisher Airlines (a 5 Star airline!). The service of the flight was great apart from the entertainmanet system not being that good - lots of time for sleep!


We were picked up by one of the 'Vision Rescue' team, Pradeep, and taken to our accomodation which is a Christian Ashram (Like a hostel). Our journey to our accommodation was our first test of survival in Mumbai. Never again will we get road rage in London!! It is mad! Cars and rickshaw drive in all directions and ‘boy’ do they cut each other up. Every two seconds you will hear someone honk their horn as they overtake, or move commonly, undertake! Our accommodation is basic but very peaceful and clean, with a shower (cold) and a flushing toilet (not the hole in the floor that we were expecting). We did have to buy some toilet paper as most people in India use their left hand but our willingness to experience the Indian culture did not stretch that far!! Unfortunately there is no mini-bar but I think we’ll manage. The monks and nuns are highly entertaining and very down to Earth. They are very patient when it comes to teaching us Hindi and have an unusual taste in Bollywood films not to mention a surprising passion for Joseph and the Technicoloured dream coat (They know all the words!).

Tuesday was really a day for us to relax, settle in and get used to the heat - very hot!!

Wednesday started with breakfast at 7.30am and we were then picked up at 10.00am by Rajesh, who is the project director for 'Vision Rescue'. Rajesh drove us to the one of the location where the yellow bus stops and during the journey the realisation of the appalling conditions that these people live in really hit home. Your heart really goes out to these people as you watch them go about their daily lives amongst the pollution, dirt and rubbish. This location that the bus stops at is specifically to feed homeless adults and drug addicts. As soon as the bus pulled into the area, they were all there waiting. As it was the first stop we had come to, we were advised just to watch from a distance to see what goes on. Around 40 – 50 men queued up for food, which consisted of an egg, rice and curried vegetables. Once all the food was given out, the bus then moves on. Caron and i drove with Rajesh to the next stop and our first experience of Slum Life. I cannot begin to describe the smell and the awful conditions. Again, as the bus pulled in, the children from the slum come running to meet it and eagerly clim aboard. Some of them are so small, they have to be lifted on. They bring with them a bowl for their food after the teaching session. They have no shoes on their feet and their clothes are very dirty, but so many of them say ‘Hello’ and smile at you. They have so much missing from their lives yet they are happy. In England we have more than we need and yet grummble so much - why is that??? About 40 children came onto the bus and some had to queue outside. Unfortunately not all of them can fit on for the lesson but they queue to get the food. Caron and I sat on the bus during the lesson on Hindi which lasts about 45 mins. All the children sit, listen and enthusiastically join in. It was a amazing to see these children with very little in lives, enjoying being taught! Once they have the lesson the children then get called up one at a time for their food. They are given very large portions of the egg, rice and curried vegetables. They love having their photo taken and will burst into smiles and laughter when you show them the picture of the camera.
After stop two, we moved on to the third location which was another slum at the edge of a main road. This time there were less children again they all wait eagerly for the bus to arrive and then climb aboard. At this location there is moree opportunity to interact with other family members. The interaction with mothers, fathers, grandparents or brothers/ sisters is so important as it allows the team to help them learn about how to look after themselves and their children. After the third stop, we then visited the kitchen where the food is prepared. We were shocked how small it was. Here they cook enough food for 800 people every day. They start at 4.00am and finish cooking after the buses go out on the second shift at 4.30. Whilst we were waiting around the kitchen we attracted a few local street children who were fascinated by us. They were playing cricket with a piece of wood and an old ball. Some of them had made their own mini catapult which they took great delight in showing us. Caron and I introduced then to the good old ‘High 5’ greeting which they loved and they even sang a song for us. It is so humbling to see these kids enjoying life.
Whist we were at the Kitchen, we met up with another English couple (Maryam and Kenny)who were out in Mumbai just visiting for a week. We decided to head off to a market place in Mumbai with two of the ‘Vision Rescue’ Team (Mina and Jaywan) as our guides. Wow – what an experience! The market was a typical Indian market where you haggle for the best price. Luckily, Mina is fantastic at bargaining and could reduce their starting price by way over half. As it was a ladies market, us guys just soaked in the atmosphere rather than spending money. Being Westerners, as we walked around the market, we attracted lots attention from the sellers and street children who were begging. Again you feel you want to help but know that you have to walk on and not give the anything. Giving money to the begging children only encourages them to do it more and they may not spend the money properley. For lunch we went to a good old KFC. The amazing thing is to see the two extremes in the same place. One moment you are passing a wealthy person and next you are passing begging mothers and children. This day was a real eye opener for Caron and I and we knew at the end of the day that there is going to be so much that we can give and offer to help these children reach the life they deserve.

On Thursday, Rajesh gave us a tour of Mumbai, taking us to many of the different slums that the 'Vision Rescue' buses stop at and to the rubbish dump. When we arrived at the rubbish dump we had to wind up the windows because of the smell. The shock comes when you see the heads of children pop up from the rubbish. They collect anything rubbish that they can then sell or used to make things to sell. No shoes, dirty clothes and hair, and going through the rubbish - these are the children that Vision Rescue aims to save. Our journey also took us past Asia largest slum, one of the filming locations for slumdog millionnaire and the wealthier parts of Mumbai.


I have some photos of some of the children we have met but am having trouble uploading so will try again later.