Mahim street children
Pukka finishing off his food!
Kids at MMRDA playing on a mini ferris wheelI was picked up this morning by Manoj who drove me to Mahim! It was good to see that some of the street children have returned from being away during the rainy season. There were 10 on the bus this morning and they seemed happy to be back. One of the boys, who is about 13, was new and it was clear that he was very uneducated. Manoj did some very simple writing of letters with them. Some struggled to remember the letter names and their sounds but it was great to see them trying hard and concentrating on their work. One off the boys there was Pukka who designed the orange man on the cards I sold whilst back in England (Still have lots more if you want some when I return - all money goes to help these kids!). There are not yet enough older children to get the football going but hopefully more will start arriving. Next week I am visiting the Rescue homes in Goa so I will have to start the football the week after next.
After Mahim, we travelled to Bandra and on the way I gave Manoj some feedback on his teaching to help him improve next time. The great thing about Manoj is he is very keen to learn and will always try new things.
Bandra ran as usual and I spent time with some of the children practicing their letter shapes. It is good to see that most of the children are arriving on the bus with clean faces, teeth and hair combed. As the bus was about to leave Bandra, it started raining and some of the children decided they had too far to walk in the rain with their food so asked Manoj if they could stay on the bus and get dropped off on the way. It was funny watching them try and keep their plates of food level whilst riding on a bumpy bus. Luckily there was no need for any sudden braking so most of the food remained on their plates. I am still amazed by the great big smiles that beam across their faces when you help them and make them feel valued. The smiles themselves are worth all the effort!!
Lunch as usual at the kitchen and then off to MMRDA and more English writing. I am not sure how many of you know that Sunday was 'Friendship Day' which is quite big in India especially among the children. The tradition is that they give a friendship wristband to a special friend. These wristbands are made of ribbon which you tie around the wrist and some of them have words written on them like ' Best Friend!' and ' Be my special Friend'. Once the lesson had finished, five children came and gave me friendship bands which was very unexpected and very touching! Some of them needed several attempts to tie them as they only just fitted. A couple of them are pink, which is not really my colour, but the red and blue ones tend to stand out more. I am not quite sure how long I have to keep them on for but I will ask someone tomorrow. The rest of the day I spent in the office preparing for the teachers training session tomorrow. I am going to try and get them to evaluate and assess their own teaching ability, a concept that they don't understand that well. I booked my flight to Goa for Sunday morning and will book my return journey in a couple of days as I want to return by train. I have been told that the train journey is a good experience. I am really looking forward to the trip to Goa as it will give me the opportunity to meet the children who have been rescued and saved by Vision Rescue many of which were abandoned or abused or have lost their parents. It will be emotional listening to their stories.
After Mahim, we travelled to Bandra and on the way I gave Manoj some feedback on his teaching to help him improve next time. The great thing about Manoj is he is very keen to learn and will always try new things.
Bandra ran as usual and I spent time with some of the children practicing their letter shapes. It is good to see that most of the children are arriving on the bus with clean faces, teeth and hair combed. As the bus was about to leave Bandra, it started raining and some of the children decided they had too far to walk in the rain with their food so asked Manoj if they could stay on the bus and get dropped off on the way. It was funny watching them try and keep their plates of food level whilst riding on a bumpy bus. Luckily there was no need for any sudden braking so most of the food remained on their plates. I am still amazed by the great big smiles that beam across their faces when you help them and make them feel valued. The smiles themselves are worth all the effort!!
Lunch as usual at the kitchen and then off to MMRDA and more English writing. I am not sure how many of you know that Sunday was 'Friendship Day' which is quite big in India especially among the children. The tradition is that they give a friendship wristband to a special friend. These wristbands are made of ribbon which you tie around the wrist and some of them have words written on them like ' Best Friend!' and ' Be my special Friend'. Once the lesson had finished, five children came and gave me friendship bands which was very unexpected and very touching! Some of them needed several attempts to tie them as they only just fitted. A couple of them are pink, which is not really my colour, but the red and blue ones tend to stand out more. I am not quite sure how long I have to keep them on for but I will ask someone tomorrow. The rest of the day I spent in the office preparing for the teachers training session tomorrow. I am going to try and get them to evaluate and assess their own teaching ability, a concept that they don't understand that well. I booked my flight to Goa for Sunday morning and will book my return journey in a couple of days as I want to return by train. I have been told that the train journey is a good experience. I am really looking forward to the trip to Goa as it will give me the opportunity to meet the children who have been rescued and saved by Vision Rescue many of which were abandoned or abused or have lost their parents. It will be emotional listening to their stories.
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