Friday 21st August

Today was Biju's birthday so there was a large gathering in the Vision Rescue office to wish him a Happy Birthday. There was the usually blowing out the candles and cutting of the cake, which was then shared out. It was very nice cake and went down well with a cup of Indian tea. Also, Ajesh had returned from holiday so there was lots to discuss in the way of printing books and cards. He has a great ability to multi-task and will make sure things get done. The rest of the morning was spent at the office and then I drove with Rajesh to Mahim for a teachers meeting. Today, we put together a reward system to use on the bus and discussed different skills that we could encourage the children to use in their learning. I think the concept was new to them so I will check during the teaching sessions next week to see if they understood. We took a while discussing Respect for each other as this is something I have seen a decline in at some of the locations. The teachers seemed very motivated to change this and were keen to learn ways to encourage respect. As I came out from the teachers meeting in Dharavi (Asia's largest slum), I noticed that some of the locals were putting up a big marquee structure. When I enquired about the reason for the structure I was told it was in preparation for the Hindu festival Ganesh Chaturthi which lasts for up to ten days. It will be interesting to see the celebrations going on arond Mumbai. I spent the rest of the evening at Rajesh's house where we spent some time planning Saturday's activities. On 13th Sept, Hillsong London, who financially support the Vision Rescue Project, are having their 10th Birthday Celebrations at the O2 Arena. Biju was keen to make a short video thanking them for their support over the last 5 years. To do this, we hired a video cameraman and on Saturday I travelled with him to the different locations shooting clips of the children saying 'Happy Birthday' and 'Thank You'. Most of them coped with 'Thank You' but 'Happy Birthday' was a bit of a tongue twister for some of them. We also had a drawing competition going on. Some of these children were quite confident with 'Happy Birthday' and were even able to sing it! The drawing competition was a great success and there were some fabulous drawings. It is amazing to see how gifted some of these street children are. The pictures will hopefully be turned into a 2010 calendar along with cards and wrapping paper. I am looking forward to seeing the end products. Above are some pictures of the children who took part in the competition. When we got back to the kitchen, we took the opportunity to film some of the staff which started to attract a bit of a crowd on the street but it was one of those rare moments where we managed to get most of the team together. We then travelled back to Goregaon to Biju's house to film his part of the Birthday message. He has made a few video clips in the past so he is getting used to being in front of the camera. I spent the rest of the evening with Biju and his family and around 10pm Biju and I, along with his brother-in-law Martin who I was in Goa with, went for a Chinese meal. It was delicious! Great service, excellent food and a nice refreshing pint of beer! Both Biju and Martin have great Visions for the work in Mumbai and in Goa and it was great to have the opportunity to discuss my thought with both of them.