Saturday 26 December 2009

Christmas in Goa












The week leading up to Christmas seemed to fly past. I spent most mornings in the school and did some training with the staff and their have be various Christmas activities going on for the children in the school. I have been doing some football training with the older boys although they are so used to just playing in the park that the idea of a training session was a difficult concept for some of them. On Christmas eve there was a party at the school for children where they played games, had food and each received a small gift.
Christmas Day was great! The day started with a short church service at 9,30am that lots of people attended and then I was invited to a Christmas lunch with Beena and Martin at a brand new hotel complex in Panjim. We were joined by Angela and Nita, who are friends of Martin and Beena from London. At the hotel, we were greeted by a rather scary looking Santa Claus who I think might have frightened more children than made them smile! We were offered a glass of fruit punch and then shown to our table. The meal was a large buffet which included starters, main course and dessert. Although it wasn't all a traditional Christmas meal there was roast turkey, bacon and some veg. The rest of the selections were very much Indian. It was very all very delicious but not quite as good as the real Christmas roast I would have back at home. They did keep us well supplied with drinks throughout the meal and we even got to sample a brand new Indian wine.
After the meal, Martin, Angela, Nita and I visited the three children's homes to give them their Christmas day gifts. This was definitely the highlight of the day and the atmosphere in the homes was one of excitement and happiness. When we arrived at the girls home, they were all patiently sitting and waiting for our arrival. One by one the girls came out to receive their gifts and then they all opened them together. Inside they had a note book, a pen and a purse. It was amazing to see how such simple gifts brought such joy to them. Nita had bought some Indian sweets for the children so once they received their presents, they all had a sweet. Before we left they all prayed to say thank you for the gifts that they had received. Next we went onto the smaller boys home where again there was much excitement as we pulled up in the car. The boys were not waiting quite as patiently as the girls but were quickly ushered into the dining hall where they all sat down, eager to receive their gift. Martin spoke to the boys about how it was important to look after their gift and the fact it had come all the way form England. The boys then received their gifts one at a time but were told to not open it. Once each boy had a present they then opened them together. WOW! Their faces were a picture and there was real excitement when they took off the wrapping paper to find a football shirt inside. They looked great when they all tried them on. Thanks to pupils at Cleves School who donated the shirts! Martin told them how to look after their shirts and they were then put away in their cupboards. We were then treated to a excellent display of dancing by one of the boys (I will try and post the video) and we then moved onto the older boys home. Although the excitement was not quite as evident here you could still feel the anticipation as they sat and waited for their gifts. They had all been bought a bottle of aftershave so there was quite an aroma in the air once they had opened their gifts. It had been fantastic to be with all the children when they were opening their gifts. It means a lot more to these kids than to children that receive gifts all the time. It will certainly be a Christmas day that I will never forget!




Friday 25 December 2009

Baga Beach!




It has been a great week in Goa! Last Saturday Charlie and I visited Baga Beach and expected to spend most of the day Sunbathing. However, the activities of the day changed slightly when we were approach by some begging children, a small boy and his sister. The girl was playing a small Indian drum and the boy was dancing. It is always best not to give these children money as you don't know where it ends up so we bought them both an ice-cream which they seemed to enjoy much more than a few rupees. Looking around, I could see another boy who was begging and we invited him over to give him some food. We had just ordered lunch which we were eating on the beach so we were able to give him a selection on rice, curry and naan bread to eat. It was very difficult to get him to say anything and even one of the waiters who spoke Hindi to him didn't get a response. He was then joined by his sister who was a little more talkative. She also had some food and then we all had an ice-cream. It was amazing to start to see the transformation from begging desperate children to happy children. It only seemed right that as we were at the beach we should get them to go for a swim in the sea so Charlie and I took it in turns to take the kids into the sea whilst the other stayed to guard the bags and valuables. It only took a few splashes in the sea for the laughter to erupt and for words to start flowing. They were now looking and acting more like children and they had seemed to have forgotten what they came onto the beach for in the first place. They spent the next hour with us building a sandcastle, drawing and one British lady next to us asked them if they wanted their nails painted. Unfortunately these children have been brainwashed into begging and eventually the requests for money started up again. It was then that they had to leave and return back to their home. It was a shame to see them leave the same way they started the day but at least they had a few hours of being real children.

Tuesday 22 December 2009

In Goa

Apologies but once again I am having internet troubles which has slowed down my blogging. On Thursday Charlie and I arrived in Goa after a very long and delayed train journey. We were picked up and taken to the house of Martin and Beena who run the orphanages here in Goa. After a welcomed cup of tea and a chatch we were dropped to the YMCA in Panjim where we were staying. In the evening we walked to one of the local restaurants which I remembered, from my last visit to Goa, did excellent food.

The following morning we were collected by Terrence and taken to the 'Rising Star' school where most of the children from the orphanages are educated. I was very interested to see what improvements had been made since I was lat here in August. It was good to see that a basic school uniform had been introduced. This is black trousers and a light blue polo shirt with the school moto ' Learning together to build our future' written on it. I was so pleased to see the school rules we had developed were displayed at the front of the school and each of the classes had a star chart in them. The teachers have found that this reward system works well and they are also continuing to use the star of the week certificates and reward badges that I designed for them. They have included phonics teaching in their weekly timetable and they will need to be given more training to help them develop this area of the English teaching. Charlie and I met with them for an hour after school just to discuss how they thought the school was going and what they felt they needed more help with. They suggested speaking and listening activities, and group work as areas they wanted to develop. One of the areas we noticed needed improving was their support and extension work for children in the class. It was very obvious that some children were not being challenged. Unfortunately they have a weeks break over Christmas which I was not aware of. This means the training time available to me is very limited. I now have many ideas in my head as to ways the school can now move forward but they need lots of resources such as reading books, information books, and maths resources and literacy resources.
After school on Friday we visited each of the homes and spent some time with the kids. Most of them remembered me from my last visit but I could not remember all there names. Once again I felt that the children still need more guidance in the activities that they do at homes. The smaller boys, especially, spend most of their time just wandering around and playing with sticks and stones etc. There was a big Christmas card production line going on but it would be great to help some of these children develop more creative, musical and sporting skills while they are at the homes. There would have to be much training on looking after equipment as many of the children are lacking ability in this department. The girls are much more easily occupied and they are more resources available to them. Most of them enjoy sitting and drawing or writing in their school books. This is where Charlie and I discovered that some of these children are more able in their studies than is currently recognised. Some of the older boys attend a local high school so they have lots of homework each day. Many of them spend their time making things and one boy, Roschan, should excellent creative talent. If he had access to wood and tools then he could be learning carpentry in his spare time. I have introduced two new games to the older boys - four square and wall boys. So far they have been playing them every day that I have visited. They do get a bit competitive and even lining up causes arguments. Later on I will post some pictures from the homes in Goa and explain some more activities in Goa including our trip to Baga Beach on Saturday.

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Monday and Tuesday on the bus!












Monday and Tuesday are English teaching days so I am always keen to get on the buses for these two days. My friend Charlie arrived in Mumbai on Saturday so it was good for her to see the teaching program. I wasn't feeling great when I awoke on Monday morning but I still travelled to Mahim with Charlie and met with the street kids to play a quick game of football. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the bus this morning so we had to leave sooner than expected. At Bandra we met up with the Medical Van which is up and running this week. So far, Vision Rescue have struggled to employ full time doctors and so the Medical Van has not been running as much as they would like. This week there is a doctor over from Australia so Biju was very keen to use her on the Van. There were not many serious casualties or injuries to deal with so they spent the majority of the time giving medical check ups to the children. It was great to see the Van in action and the children were given treatment depending on their condition. Later on during the day, we ran a meeting for all the bus staff to talk through some additional jobs that needed to be covered by the bus team. Plus, we outlined the other training that will be taking place over the next four weeks. In the evening Charlie, Meena and I visited the market in Bandra. This is always great fun because we get to haggle with the sellers. Most of the market stalls are for women so Charlie and Meena were more involved in the haggling than me. I can specifically remember one group of children who were begging on the streets when I was last in Bandra and they are still there. I was able to give them some food and a drink but they are not well like by many of the shoppers and locals so were quickly chased off. It would be good to go back one day and see if we can get them to visit the bus when it come Bandra. They may have to walk a small distance but they would then be able to receive the food and education.






On Tuesday we spend the morning on the second bus watching Manoj teach. Manoj will be the main English teacher from January and will teach the English on both buses. This will allow me to work specifically with him in developing more English lessons and activities.






Some of you may remember me telling you about the boy, Manoj, at Kurla who had an infected foot and we took him to the local doctor to get it treated. He came onto the bus on Tuesday and it was great to see his foot nicely healed up. There is a large scar there but I would expect that with such an infected foot. I help him with his phonics and he was able to read an write several words made from the first 12 letters sounds. Some of the children are progressing really well with the phonics and are sounding out the letters better. They are successfully reading some three letter words and writing these down. They now need to start progressing onto sentence work with these words and that will be a main focus of the phonics training that I will be doing.






After spending the morning on the bus, we return to the office to do some preparation for the Wednesdays teachers meeting.






Sunday 13 December 2009

Back to the football

On Wed and Thurs morning I was able to start up the football again with the street kids in Mahim. We are still looking for a better ground for them to use for more permanent training but for the time being it is still the dusty park in Mahim that we are using. This seems to be getting more and more crowded with other groups using it for cricket and football. When the kids turn up at the park they put on their Chelsea kits, and I have now given some England kits to some younger boys(Thanks to kit donations from Cleves School). They all look very smart and they love wearing the kit and their shoes ( I will upload some photos of them tomorrow). I can start to see some real improvement in their playing and some of them were able to attend a football camp during November at the Mumbai football club. It will be great if we can work towards entering the Street Kids World Cup in 2014. We played for almost an hour and a half on both Wed and Thursday which is great for the fitness levels. After the football session and once the kids had had their food we then moved on to the two Bandra locations. It was difficult for me to watch the teaching as both of these days are Hindi but I was still able to get an idea of how the teachers are doing with their teaching methods and styles.Just from some brief observations, a bit of re-capping on the reward system might help.
Friday was an opportunity for me to get together with Biju, Secu and Jitesh to discuss the teaching program and the ways forward. We are looking at having some of the teachers move around the different buses (soon there will be three!!) teaching a specific subject. Those that are more confident with the English and Maths will be assigned to teach those subjects. We are also looking to set up a community coordinator in each slum area to keep more in touch with the families and identify the children who are not attending school and not coming on the bus. We are hoping to have some more teachers starting very soon and this will be a big help once the third bus come along.
Next week the medical van will be up and running as Biju has called in a doctor for a couple of hours each day. This will be the first time that I will have seen this up and running. Hopefully I will be able to offer some of my first aid services!
On Saturday my friend Charlie arrived and she will be spending a few days in Mumbai before we travel to Goa. Today we went on a trip to South Mumbai to see the Gateway to India and the Tahj Hotel. It was pretty crowded but not as many foreigners as I expected. We took a nice 30 boat trip and visited some of the art galleries. Whilst at the Gateway, I was approached by a 14 year old boy, called Ganesh, trying to sell me flowers. I chatted to him whilst we walked along and discovered that he is a street kid from Delhi who came to Mumbai to earn some money. He does not attend school but has managed to pick up lots of the English language. I introduced him to Manoj who was waiting in the car for us and he gave him the vision rescue details. I am hoping he will travel to Mahim and join the bus teaching program. That way he can continue on with his education and we can maybe get him some vocational training. We had a lovely Indian meal in the evening and now I am ready for the new week ahead. We have teacher training sessions starting and on Wed we will leave for Goa.

Friday 11 December 2009

Back in Mumbai!!

I have finally managed to secure internet connection and now the blog is up and running again.
I arrive back in Mumbai in the early hours of Monday morning after an amazing flight. At the check-in desk at Heathrow I nearly had a panic when they told me there were no more seats left. Luckily for me they had some spares in the Premier section so I got an upgrade. The 'Jet Airways' service was magnificent. Great food and a very comfortable journey. I was also able to watch the first 6 episodes of Season 1 of my favorite TV show '24'.
There was a slight delay on the flight but we finally touched down in Mumbai at 00.50 Monday morning. I was met at Mumbai airport by Pradeep and we headed off to the medical college where I am staying, not before stopping briefly at the roadside for a cup of fine Indian tea.
I haven't seen changes to Mumbai since I was last here but I have noticed an increase in people sleeping on the streets. When I was here last it was the end of the rain season and many people go back to the villages for better shelter. They have now all returned so the street are looking more crowded.
After a good nights sleep, I got up on Monday ready to get back to work with the Vision Rescue team. Firstly, I wanted to visit the new office, so I was picked up by Rajesh and he showed me around the new Vision Rescue Office. It is much bigger than the old one and a lot more head room. After greeting all the team members and having some lunch, I sat down with Rajesh and Ajesh to get an update on what has been happening at Vision Rescue. Unfortunately they have had to stop feeding at a couple of the locations due to the area were the bus parks being blocked off. With these two locations they have not been able to find other suitable parking areas. Sadly, one of these locations was Reay Road which is where we had introduced the t-shirts. Another location has been stopped due to low number of kids one new location has been added on. Very shortly a third bus will be arriving and new areas are being investigated for the third bus to visit.
My first night entertainment was to go and watch a good old Hollywood blockbuster so Pradeep, Manoj, Selvin and myself went to the cinema to watch '2012' - action packed but very predictable!!
Tuesday morning I was picked up by Rajesh and we headed off to meet the bus at Mahim. Unfortunately, Rajesh had some sad news to share with me. One of the street girls from Mahim, who is only 4years old, went missing on Monday. After a long search her parents found her almost dead behind some bushes. She had been taken by a man, raped and her body slashed four times with a knife. He then dumped her in amongst some bushes. She is still in hospital and has only just regained consciousness from her horrific attack. I couldn't believe it when I heard it and it brought a lump to my throat. How can someone attack an innocent 4yr old girl like that? Thank you God for keeping her alive! The Vision Rescue team have given there full support to the family and have been into the hospital every other day to visit her.
I was a bit choked after hearing that news and Mahim was where we were headed. On the way we picked up an American Pastor who has been in India for the last three years working in the slums in Juhu. He wanted to see the work of Vision Rescue so joined us for the morning. When we arrived at Mahim I was greeted by the kids who I have been training to play football. It was great to see them and they were desperate to know when the next football session was going to be. I told them I would be back on Wed so we would play then. Next we went on to the new location in Bandra. I have seen this slum many times when driving past and always thought it would be good for the bus to stop there so I was pleased to see it as Vision Rescue's new location. There is one old man who has been in this slum for a long time and is always lying in the same place. A couple of months ago, the Vision Rescue team discovered him with a incredibly infected foot. It was so infected that almost all of his toes had rotted away - not nice! After being treated, his foot is now still bandaged but is much better and he is is a lot less pain. He has lost most of his toes but is now able to walk. There are about 25 kids who come onto the bus at this location and although there are many more around quite a few do already attend school. I did watch some of the teaching during the morning but as it was Hindi it was hard for me to get involved. The next two locations were the original Bandra slum and Wadala, which was on the evening bus but has now moved to the day. It was great to be back on the bus again and I was looking forward to starting up the football again on Wednesday morning. Well that is enough blogging today. I will pick up from Wednesday tomorrow!