Vision Rescue

Handwriting lessons

2010-01-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

Wednesday and Thursday were fairly quiet days as I was not on the buses. On Wednesday I had to go to the Vision Rescue office first thing to type up my notes for the teacher training session later on in the day. I was preparing a session on handwriting and specifically helping those children who cannot form letters and number. I felt this was also important for the those working with the under 5's so I invited them along also. I wanted to make the session practical so when the afternoon came I grabbed the paints, crayons, chalks and pens that had been recently purchased. I really wanted the teachers to develop ways to help the children from letters rather that making them struggle to write on their own. We talked about fine motor skills, coordination and muscle development so got the teachers trying out different techniques using the paints, crayons and chalks. We also had some modelling clay so a couple of them decided to get their hands dirty. We also looked at support children who's handwriting was more advanced and looked at techniques to help them.

In the evening, my mum and I had dinner at Meena's house. Meena is one of the teachers and she cooks great chapatis. We were also joined by Rajesh and his wife so it was a great evening, despite the fact my mum and I broke one of the beds when we sat down on it - Oops!! I felt even worse when I found out it was hand made about 18 years ago!

On Thursday I was invited to a meeting with Biju and Dr Pinto. Dr Pinto runs about 200 Ryan International Schools in India. He wanted to hear about the phonics I was teaching to the teachers. He is a really nice guy and he donated the first bus to Vision Rescue when they started 5 years ago. He was obviously interested in what I had to say about phonics as I now have to meet up with all the curriculum managers from his schools and talk to them about the work I have been doing. Hope it will come across well. My mum went of the second bus today so she could see the other locations the bus goes to. She got to visit Deonar 'The dumping Ground' where the rubbish tip is home for so many people. This is a place which really makes you think about how fortunate we are in life but also gets you asking how can a government allow people to live like this. The only positive thing about the way they live is that it helps the recycling process as so many of them trawl through the garbage looking for plastic, metal, paper etc that they can sell to the recycling companies.

Vision Rescue

2010-01-12T09:55:00.000-08:00

It has been great this week to have my Mum with me. She arrived in Mumbai on Sunday and yesterday was her first experience of life in the slums. It is always great to start the day visiting the Vision Rescue street kids in Mahim as they are such a friendly bunch. I played some football with the older boys whilst the younger children were having an English reading lesson on the bus. Manoj is now teaching all the English and he is doing a fab job considering the only training he has is with Vision Rescue. We also have Neethi back on the bus project full time and she is so enthusiastic and keen to learn. After an exhausting football session the kids they had their food and the bus then moved onto Bandra. I am a bit concerned over the hygiene levels of the kids at Mahim as many of them do not appeared to be washing. We will discuss this a one of the staff meetings and see if more can be done to promote this. At Bandra, I had the opportunity to introduce my mum to Salman, the boy in the wheelchair, and the little boy with Cerebral Palsy. I think she found this slum emotionally moving. It does almost have you in tears when you start to see the true reality of how these people and children are living. It was great to hear that the hospital has agreed to look at the two boys and decide what help and rehabilitation they can offer. I will keep you posted about this!

The under 5s have now been taken off the bus and are taught on carpets outside. They have simple drawing, painting, modelling and play activities that help them with their fine motor skills. It is so interesting to see the sheer lack of imagination and basic skills they have. Many of the children do not no what to do with a crayon and a piece of paper. They will sit there and just look at the paper. Once you interact with them they begin to pick up on what they need to do and they start to draw. As Salman can not get on the bus he joins this group and you can see his arm and leg movements starting to improve just by simple involvement in play activities. I am convinced that here will walk again after treatment from the hospital. It will be great to see if it happens. At the second Bandra stop we quickly learnt that the police had visited some of the slum houses and started to demolish them. Most of the slum housing is illegal and they always risk the police coming and sending them packing. Monday was one of those days. Of course if you pay the police then they might just be persuaded to let you stay. I decided to spend some time with Jaywanth at this location. He has the role of Community Coordinator which means he goes around talking to the people in the slums, finding out specific problem they may have and finding children who are not going to school. He was talking to one family who have a son who used to go to school but has stopped because he was always getting into trouble. The parents want to send him off to a boarding school but the boy does not want to go. The father was also saying that e is struggling to find work and so money is very tight. They have had to rent out their small slum house so they can buy food. This means the family now have no home and live outside on the ground. There is the possibility of Vision Rescue helping the father get onto a driving course which will allow him to start earning some money. Hopefully the family will then be able to get back in their house or into a better place. After establishing that the boy wants to be a doctor, we persuaded him to come on the bus and I sat with him and helped with his English. He seemed happy with this! The attitude of these people is often the hardest thing to change!
Wadola was the last stop where again Manoj was teaching English. The children here are brighter than some of the others so they are really starting to pick up the phonics and are able to read and write English words. It is so encouraging to see!

I will try and keep you updated on the hospital situation and we have arranged a new location for the Mahim boys to play football and get some coaching to help move their football on.

Emotional Day!

2010-01-08T07:21:00.000-08:00

Salman in his wheelchair

On Friday, I made a horrific discovery! At one of the slums in Bandra where the bus goes, there is a young boy in a wheelchair. Salman, is 11 years old and he sits with his legs up in the chair rather than dangling down. I was curious to know what his condition was as he could move his legs,feet and upper body. I got one of the team to ask and translate for me. It turns out that he slipped on some steps about three years ago. He injured his leg and so his parents put him in a wheelchair but never took him to hospital to see a doctor. He has been in that wheelchair for THREE YEARS and never been examined. He can't walk as his legs are now too weak and it looks like there may be permanent damaged to his stomach from being hunched up in the wheelchair. He said he hopes he will walk again someday and wants to get rid of the wheelchair. Unfortunately, Salman's parents wont take him to a doctor, probably because they know it will cost lots of money to make him better. This neglect is abuse and so many people in the slums just wont seek medical help for fear of costs. It is excellent timing that a doctor has come to run the Vision Rescue medical bus for one month so I asked him to come and have a look at the boy to try and make a diagnosis.

On Saturday, I got on the bus as usual and met up with the kids in Mahim. Whilst I was there I met Karthik, who works as one of the main fundraisers for Greenpeace India. We had a good chat about India and the work I was doing. He was so encouraged and will hopefully try and help out with future ideas. We then moved onto Bandra. The doctor was not available till later but on of the other staff members, Louisa, had come along to find out more information about Salman. She established some more facts and we were able to speak to the mother. We told her about the doctor and she agreed to bring Salman back later for the doctor to look at him. Around 3pm we travelled back to Bandra and the doctor was able have a look at Salman's condition. The legs have basically deteriorated through lack of use but he thought there might also be a small amount of paralysis. The condition of his stomach was due to sitting in the wheelchair for three years. The good news is that the doctor says treatment is available that will help Salman to walk again but it may not be 100%. He needs injections and electronic stimulation of the muscles to get them working again. This treatment will cost money but it will change Salman's life as he will be able to walk again. I thought Salman's condition was bad but I then saw another boy which almost reduced me to tears. In another area of the same slum lives a family with lots of children when we visited them they produced this boy from a sack like hammock - Oh my!! This child had Cerebral Palsy and looked awful. There was no muscle on his arms and legs, very little moment, no control over his facial muscles and obvious in severe pain. He was tiny and I guessed he was about 4 years old. The shock came when they told me he was 12 years old. For 12 years he has been kept in this hammock with no medical care or treatment. He is so handicapped that the doctor was at a loss for what to suggest. At this point the parents were in tears. After long discussions we established that there was a hospital about 30 mins away specifically for physically handicapped children and adults. We decided to go and visit and it look in good condition and the patients seemed to be well cared for. This would be an ideal place for us to try and get both boys the help they need. On Monday we will go back to the Bandra and try to discuss the treatment available with the parents. It is so good to know that there is hope yet for these kids but I can't stop thinking about why this is allowed to happen. If medical help and support is available free of charge to these people then lives can be changed and these children would not need to suffer. I pray that the funding can be found for the two boys and that they can be give a future! I have added a picture of Salman but did not feel it appropriate to photograph the other boy without permission.

2010-01-08T05:52:00.000-08:00

Being back in Mumbai again has certainly turned up the pace. New years day was a great day! About 15 of the Vision Rescue team (including myself) travel by boat to Elephanta Island. The boat journey takes about 1 hour and it was a beautiful day which made it more enjoyable. We reached the Island at about 1.00 there is one path that leads up to a museum and a set of caves. All the way along the path are people selling lots of food, jewellery, clothes, wooden boxes, pots etc. Being a tourist means that their attention is very much drawn towards you. We stopped half way for lunch at one of the cafes and then continue on till we reached the museum and the caves. The Island became inhabited around AD 600 and huge carvings can been found on the walls of the caves. Apart from the tourists and visited, you will also find lots of monkeys. They live on the food of the visitors and have developed the ability to unscrew the lids off bottles. Unfortunately, they do other things in public which it is probably best not to mention. Let just say it spoils the view some what! After admiring the amazing carvings in the caves it was time for a well earn cup of Indian Tea. Indian Tea is made milk rather than water and has ginger in it. I have really developed the taste for it since being out in Indian and it will be difficult to go back to regular Tetley Tea. It was then back down the path and a very restful boat journey back to Mumbai.

After the weekend, it was back to the teacher training on Monday. I spent the day in the office preparing on body language and voice control. I am trying to develop the teachers confidence and this was a great way to get them experimenting with voice and thinking about gaining control through their body language. They all seemed very positive at the end of the session so I hope it helped! In the evening, Pradeep, Manoj, Nick, Mang and myself visited the cinema to see 'Avatar - 3D'. WOW! What a film! It is the first time I have watched a movie in 3D and the effects were amazing. There are three small differences to a cinema visit in India to a cinema visit in UK. Every film plays the Indian National Anthem at the beginning, you get an interval half way through, and people bring their babies with them (Highly annoying when it starts crying!)

Tuesday and Wednesday was back on the bus and then on Thursday a small group of us visited a school in the middle of a slum in Mankhurd. The school is run by OM (an international charity) and they have 300 children who attend. It is run just for the slum children and has changed the lives of so many kids. All the lessons are taught in English and they have full time qualified teachers. It would be great if more schools like this could be set up in other slum areas. It has been a busy week and I am back on the buses this weekend.

More from Goa!

2010-01-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

After the Christmas festivities, I had four more days in Goa, and as the school was shut for the holidays I was able to spend some time with the children in the homes. It was great being able to spend some quality time with them, helping them with their studies and playing games with them. I decided to buy some games equipment for the homes as there is little equipment. They are now stocked with cricket bats, balls, frisbees, carom boards and chess sets. One of the older boys, shivraj, is great at chess as I discovered when I allowed him to play the chess game on my computer after school one day. I also found out that he has an amazing talent for climbing trees. When I was at the boy's home one day, they asked me if I would like some coconut. I said 'Yes' but did not realise that one of them would have to go up the tree and get it. There are about 4 coconut trees in the garden and Shivraj chose the tallest one to climb up - no safety ropes!
I am hoping that the equipment that I have bought will be put to good use and that the children will learn to look after it properly. The Older boys are getting to be expert four square players. We have played it most days since I introduced it to them and they are getting much quicker. For those of you who do not know about four square it is a great ball game. I have taken a video of the boys playing it so I will try posting it on the blog.
On Monday, I met up with the Robjohn family from Weybridge who were in Goa on holiday. They were staying at the Hyatt hotel about 30mins from where I was staying. The hotel was stunning and was right on the beach. We walked along the beach to one of the small restaurants and had a lovely meal. We almost ended up in the sea as we were sat on a table very close to the water and the tide was coming in. The waiter decided to move us which was probably a good decision. I have really enjoyed my time in Goa and although the circumstances are very different to that of Mumbai, there is still a lot need. I want to come back and spend more time with the teachers developing the school curriculum. It would also be great to try and help support and fund vocational training for some of the older girls and boys in the homes.

Christmas in Goa

2009-12-26T19:38:00.000-08:00

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!

Baga Beach!

2009-12-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

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.

In Goa

2009-12-22T18:23:00.000-08:00

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.

Monday and Tuesday on the bus!

2009-12-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

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.

Back to the football

2009-12-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

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.

Back in Mumbai!!

2009-12-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

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!

Monday 24th August

2009-08-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

A child at Bandra

The slum at Bandra

A man sleeping off drugs while his children are on the bus

The man's son

...and his daughter

Having purchased some more footballs (Hopefully these will last) I was hopeful about having a good football session with the street kids this morning, despite the fact it was pouring with rain when I left home. Unfortunately, it was not to be. They had chosen this morning to do maintenance work on the park and so it was closed. Instead, Ramesh and some of the other boys decided to try and teach me some more Hindi with one of the Vision Rescue staff as a translator. It is always good to know the meaning to the words they are trying to get you to say. I was again offered lots of food by the kids, especially banana, and if you don't accept it is considered rude. I also had to do some more repairs on Manor's foot which he keeps cutting on stones. I think it will be easier to buy him a pair of shoes as he is rapidly getting through the plasters. During the rest of the morning, I was able to watch Manoj and Neethi teaching English reading (Phonics!) to the children. They are slowly getting there with the teaching and the children are starting to pick up on the sounds. After lunch, I travelled with the bus to MMRDA where I was informed about on family's current situation. They live in a slum house right in front of where the bus stops and today there was a man asleep outside the house. He is the father of the family and his two children, who are about 6 and 4, come on the bus every morning. They are lovely children and were the first ones to give me friendship bands back on friendship day . The mother is also there in the house. You can see the two children and the father in the photos above and it won't surprise you to know that the reason the father is asleep is because he is on drugs. He does not work and takes all the money that the mother earns and spends it on drugs. If she refuses to give him the money then he causes huge problems and can get violent. For this reason she gives him what he wants. Unfortunately, these people can never see a way out of the situation and so they just put up with it. There are no signs of abuse to the children which is a good thing but this could happen in the future and there is a fear that the son goes down the same route as his father. There may be a way that Vision Rescue can help by offering support to the family and rehabilitation to the father. Unfortunately, not all men are willing to be rehabilitated. I will try and get an update on the family later this week. I ran another teacher training session today where we put together some bus rules and talked about how the phonics and reward system was going. All the teachers seem more confident and they interact much more in the sessions than they did when I started back in May. I only have to more sessions left so I have asked them to think about how I can be of most use to them during the next week. Tomorrow I will be in the office first thing discussing work books and Christmas card printing so not sure whether there will be much to report.

Friday 21st August

2009-08-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

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.

Back in Mumbai

2009-08-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the delay of this post but I have been experiencing internet difficulties. Hopefuuly all sorted now.
I have return to Mumbai after my week in Goa. I landed at 8.00am on Monday morning and was met at the airport by Rajesh. After a brief visit to the office, I travelled to Mahim where I noticed that a lot of children were not at school. I found out that nearly all the schools in Mumbai have been closed because of 'Swine Flu' and that children have got the whole week off. A bit drastic but then that's Indian people for you! Whilst I had been in Goa, most of the children and some of the adults had been calling me 'Uncle Andy'. This is a mark of respect towards an adult man and nothing to do with your mum or dad's brother. Now I am back in Mumbai, I have to get used to being called 'Andy, Sir!' again. In the afternoon, on Monday, I did a teacher training session and in the evening Biju invited me to join him and his children for a Chinese meal cooked by some friends. Unfortunately, Secu (who is expecting a baby!) was not feeling up to going out so I took her place. Biju's friends are from England and have been out in Mumbai for 2 years. Before Mumbai, they were working in the slums in China. They have devoted their lives to helping the poor. They have two Chinese men staying with them who cooked the meal and it was fantastic! Probably the best Chinese I have tasted, especially the sweet and sour chicken! We also had a lesson in how to use chop sticks correctly and our names were translated into Cantonese. It was a great evening. Tuesday morning started well as all the street children from Mahim have returned! It was good to see them again especially Ramesh, Vikram and Monor who always make me laugh. They were desperate to get back into the football so on Wednesday morning the football started. Unfortunately, the ball only lasted one game so I will now be going shopping for some Mitre footballs. At least they will stay in one piece. The street children all seemed to have come back with cuts and injuries so I decided to have a small first aid session where I cleaned and dressed some wounds. One boy I came across, had a bleeding leg. I noticed that his leg was slightly deformed. When asked if he had had an injury, he said that about three years ago he fell very awkwardly down a hole in the road. The injury has now healed but there is obviously leg tissue missing and I suspect he broke a bone as his foot is oddly shaped. I'm guessing that the injury was just left to heal by itself. Unfortunately, the parents don't always care for their children in the right way. If he had seen a doctor when it happened then his leg would have healed properly. Whilst treating some of the injuries, I decided that the first aid kits were out of date and very low on stock, so Jose and I went to the chemist that evening to buy some more first aid supplies. First aid kits in India are still way behind those in England and many of the common items like plasters, anti-septic wipes and plaster tape we had to buy separately. Tomorrow, I will spend some time sorting out the first aid kits so each bus has sufficient supplies. On Saturday, we are running a drawing competition for the children which will be great as there are some budding artists among the children. No daoubt you will be seeing some of the designs on merchandise in the near future. Tomorrow is Biju's birthday so I will be heading to the office first thing for an Indian rendition of 'Happy Birthday' and some bithday cake!

Independence Day in India

2009-08-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

The 'Rising Star' School

Beena

Saturday was Independence Day in India so it was a public holiday. Normally the children would have lessons in the morning but instead there was a short celebration during which the children sang some songs including the National Anthem. Beena, spoke to the whole school and then I was invited to say a few words to the children. I managed to capture some footage of them singing and we had a whole school photo at the end. As the week has gone on I have grown very close to the school, its staff and the kids. Even though these are the children who have been rescued from their family situations, there is still need. The staff here are great but as there are so many children many of them still seek individual love and attention. Some of the children do not know much about their past life and some of them find it difficult talk about it. Some children do still have parents but are in the home due to AIDS being in the family or parents not able to cope. They do have the opportunity to see them in the summer as some of the children return home. After the celebration, I then ran a final teachers training session where we recapped over all we'd looked at and went through some visual aids to help teach English.
I left them with copies of all the materials I had and I hope to see them being used to the full when I am in Goa next. A few years ago, Biju set up a Bible College in Goa and he asked me if I would go and visit the students and help them with their English. So on Saturday afternoon I was picked up and taken to the College. It was about a 45 min drive and it is situated in the middle of a very quiet wooded area. I was shown around by Manoj who is the Principal and spoke to the students for about 30 mins telling them about the work I been doing with Biju in Mumbai and giving them some help with their English. There are currently about 25 students at the college and they come from all different areas of India. Most were from Kerla which is in the south of India. After the tour around and the talk, I stayed for a chat and a cup of tea and then was taken back to my accommodation. Tomorrow will be my last day in Goa so I will be spending the day at the beach and then saying bye to the kids. It will be sad leaving here but it will be great to return back to Mumbai to be with the Vision Rescue team and the street children.

2009-08-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

Me with Abi and Bharti

I was treated to a fantastic breakfast this morning at a lovely restaurant in Panjim. I went there with Martin and Beena and had fried eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, breakfast tea and a bowl of fruit. It was great! It also gave me a good opportunity to chat to them about the future of the school and what their vision is. They are really keen to get the standard of the school above that of the government school to ensure good funding. After breakfast they dropped me off at the school where I was able to watch the children rehearsing for their Independence Day celebration, and view a couple of the lessons going on. I managed to find Abi and Bharti and took some photos of them for the father back in Mumbai. Unfortunately I did not have a photo to show them. At 11.30am, I took another teacher session, this time talking about lesson structure, Brain Gym and (yes you've guessed it) PHONICS! Once you start telling them about it they don't want to stop learning more. Tomorrow will be the last session as I will be going back to Mumbai on Monday morning. In the afternoon, I visited the boys homes and got to sample fresh coconut which the boys expertly broke open. I am getting better at Carrom and managed to pocket a few counters today - I was partnering with 13 year old Raj who is a bit of an expert!!
I noticed at the younger boys home that they have very little to do and there seems to be no real decent equipment for them to play with. I have ask one of the wardens, Lucki, to write a list of some equipment the boys would like and see if I can get my hands on anything. If anyone has any fairly new equipment or toys that they don't need or would like to donate money towards some toys and games then please let me know. They would really appreciate some help in this department. At 6.30pm I was picked up by Jinil (The Indian version of The Stig!) and he took me to a Chinese restaurant where I pick up a take away - and very nice it was. Tomorrow we have the Independence Day celebration at 9.00am so it is another early start.

Thursday 13th August

2009-08-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

'Carrom'

Boys from the homes

Me with Abi

More activities in the school

The last couple of days have been amazing. I have had the chance to spend a good couple of hour each day with the teacher staff at the school in Goa. We have put together a behaviour system and decided on 6 main school rules. I have been designing posters for the rules and badges to use as rewards. The staff seem to be responding very well to the sessions and they seem very passionate about changing the school for the better. We have also been talking about the structure of the school day and maximise the time in lessons. India is not well known for it's time keeping but I explained to the teachers that keeping the pace of lessons and the school day going can often reduce behavioural problems. It is so good being able to have an impact on a school in it's very early stages. They have a lot of respect for the educational system in England and so they are so willing to learn the strategies we use. In the afternoons, I have been spending time with the children in the homes. It has been great getting to know them and improving my abilities in playing 'Carrom'. They don't have a huge amount of entertainment at the home and most of the time is taken up sleeping, doing chores, playing carrom or learning to play musical instruments. They have specific times when they do their homework, eat and pray. One of the staff members at Vision Rescue has two children in the homes and he asked me if I could get some photos of them. Today I met with his son Abi and tomorrow I will meet with his daughter Bharti. They were put into the home as their was an alcoholic. He has gradually been rehabilitated by Vision Rescue and is now helping with the teaching on the buses. Tomorrow will probably be the last training session I will have with the teachers in Goa, and I have been ask to spend a few minutes in each class talking to them about the importance of their learning.

Tuesday 11th August

2009-08-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

Dinner at the home

Raj (top) and his friend

Boys from the home

Lessons at the school

Assembly time

Another morning at the school in Goa and today I arrived in time to see the assembly. I was very impressed with the way that the children behaved. The all sat neatly in lines and there was very little fidgeting. They sang a couple of songs very well and after about 20 mins they then went to their first lessons. I then took the time to print out information to give the teachers on behaviour management and reward systems. I managed to catch the end of some of the lessons and then at 12.00 I got together with the teachers to talk through behaviour strategies and get some feedback from them about how they think school is doing and what are its current strengths and weakness. It was obvious that behaviour was their main concern. Tomorrow we are going to decide on some school rules and plan out a behaviour system that they can start using in the school. I really feel this school has great potential and that eventually, with good systems in place, the students will make excellent progress. In the afternoon I got the chance to spend some time with the kids at the homes. One of the kids I met was 8 year old Raj, who some of you may have seen on the Vision Rescue You tube video I told you about back on 12th May. Raj was born in Mumbai but when he was just a baby, his father killed his mother. He was living on the streets when his father then died from drugs. Raj was then alone on the streets until Biju and Vision Rescue got him to the rescue home in Goa. He is now living a safe and happy life at the home and is doing well in his studies. Later on at the older boys home, I was invited to play the local board game, Carrom. This is like Subbuteo, pool and draughts all rolled into one. I am still not entirely sure of the rules but you have to flick the draughts counters in holes at the corners of the board. Here is a web address for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrom. The boys are so good. Their flicking technique is brilliant and their aim is excellent. I, in comparison, was poor. I could not rekindle those quality moments of playing subbuteo as a child. Unfortunately, I didn't have any time for another guitar lesson but maybe Wednesday or Thursday.
Tomorrow I am having breakfast at Matin and Beena's house and will then run the teacher session in the afternoon. I have uploaded some pictures of the school and kids. Hope you like them.

Monday 10th August

2009-08-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

I am now in Goa and it is definately different to Mumbai. It is much quieter, less crowded and much cleaner. Amazingly, a group from Woking have been out here working in the school and the children's homes - small world! They leave tomorrow. Today I spent the morning at the school which is run by Beena (Biju's sister) and her husband Martin. The school was only started 3 months ago and they are very keen for me to advise them on really getting it up and running. I watched most of the teachers this morning and made some notes on the good points and things that could be improved. Tomorrow, I will have the chance to sit down with the teachers and talk through what I have observed. There is no behaviour strategy in place or rules and I know that is something the teacher really want to talk about so we will try and work on that. The content of the lessons I saw was generally ok but the English is still heavily waited towards capital letters and they are just starting to look into phonics.

I sat down with a few of the older children and work with them on som maths and I notice that many of them have poor mental maths skills. They struggle to work out very simple additions in their head but if you write it down they can do it. The children are split into age groups for lessons and each class has about 12 pupils in it. The school is set up just for the children in the homes however there are a few of the children that go to the local governement school. In the afternoon I got to spend some time in one of the boys homes. They children in this home range from 11 - 16. Many of children have parents who are HIV + or drug addicts, some have no parents, some have been rescued from the streets and some have suffered abuse and neglect. They are such great kids. They are very welcoming and friendly and some of them speak good English. I stayed and played some games with them during their free time and one of the boys even gave me guitar lessons. He taught me three chords so we will continue the lesson next time I visit them. I am hoping over the next few day to get the life stories of some of the children to give you an idea of the life they have been rescued from. I did not take many photos today and I want to just settle and meet the staff and children. I've included a couple of photos from the boys home I visited. One is a group photo with the team from Woking.

Friday 7th August

2009-08-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

Today, I got to see an area of Vision Rescue that I have not yet seen, in fact they do not normally take white people to see it. They have rented out a room in the middle of the Red Light District which is used as a day care centre for children who mothers work as prostitutes. Some of the children themselves have been abused by clients who have paid additional money for the child. One boy, aged 9, was allowed to be abused for payment of 20 rupees (thats 25p!!). That just shows you how desperate some of these mothers are. Once they are caught up in prostitution, it is very difficult to get out of because it is largely run by mafia. The day care centre runs from 10am - 4pm and the children range from 2 - 10yr old. They are fed and taught in the centre and also have time to sleep and play. Ideally, they would like to keep the centre going during the night as that can often be the time when the children are most vunerable to abuse. At present there are no staff who are able to make an all night commitment but hopefully soon they will be able to put this in place. The centre has lots of potential educationally as the same kids are there each day and they have wall space and space for resources. Some of the children are too small for more structured teaching and it would be good to have a member of staff to work specifically with the toddlers. The children there are very friendly and like all the other children, they are fascinated by the camera. It saddens you when you know that only meters away, these children's mothers are selling themselves. Through this facility, Vision Rescue is giving these children hope for the future so that they do not end up going down the same road!

Wed 5th August

2009-08-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today was a public holiday in India because of the Hidu festival Raksha Bandhan, which celebrates the sacred bond between brothers and sisters. The tradition on this day is for the sister to give her brother a decorative wristband. I knew nothing about this festival until I reach Reay Road on the evening bus. I was suddenly approach by lots of the girls who wanted to give me one of their decorative wristbands, some even went back to their homes just to get me a wristband. To cut a long story short I ended up with about 20 sisters to go with the 5 best friends I acquired the other day. It made a very decorative collection of wristbands on my arm as you can see from the photos. I think I will be removing them before I go out in the morning but will certainly keep them as souvenirs. This was my second experience of a Hindu ritual as earlier on in the day I saw a Hindu funeral procession. It was for a 13 year old girl who had died from ill health. The body is carried with the face uncovered to the place of cremation. Interestingly, it is only men who are allowed to walk in the procession.
In the afternoon, I ran another teacher training session where I continue with the phonics training and also did a self evaluation form with the teachers. This is a new experience for some of them and it was very interesting to see how they answered the questions. The day before one of the teachers, Ishwa had to step down from his teaching post due to other commitments. This was a slight concern as there were no other teachers available, so Rajech ask Punkage to cover for the time being. Punkage is about 19 and was rescue from the streets as a kid. He is very keen to learn English and for the last year he has been working at the teaching place in Juhu. He has been paying close attention in the teacher training sessions and tonight he decided to try teaching a phonics lessons. I decided to go on the bus to see how he got on and I was amazed to see how good he was. He worked so hard with the children in their pronouncing of the letters and they picked it up very quickly. There were a couple of errors that I correct but he was very close to being spot on with his delivery. He got the children to copy the letters onto their boards and practice sounding them out. This is when I got the chance to help the children. They were so enthusiastic and kept trying the sounds until they got it correct. I even gave some of the children some words to sound out which they did and we actually had some of the children reading - A major breakthrough!!!!! There is still a long way to go but I was so encouraged by what I had seen. The hard work is starting to show through. Today has been such a great day and I am now even more excited about seeing the next English lesson but you will have to wait till I return from Goa before that happens!

Tuesday 4th August

2009-08-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

Mahim street children

Pukka finishing off his food!

Kids at MMRDA playing on a mini ferris wheel

I 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.

Monday 3rd August

2009-08-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

This morning, I was still feeling full up from the wonderful Spaghetti Bolognaise that I had at Simon's house last night. Simon is the chef that cooks all the food for the children. I got a rickshaw over to the office for 10.00am. My first task was to print out my paperwork for the teachers training session this afternoon. The office was having a few technical problems and Ajesh's computer (which I was using) decided to die!! Evetually, I was able to use another computer and get the printouts I needed. I then joined Biju and Rajesh who were having a meeting with Vision Rescue's newest employee, Jidesh. He will be Vision Rescue's CEO. After the meeting, I travelled with Rajesh and Jidesh to Mahim, where we had lunch and then went on to the teacher training session. Today, I discussed the teachers about the good things I had seen on the bus since I had been back in India and talk to them about the sessions we would be having over the next four weeks. The main focus is going to be on the teaching of English as this is the area that the teachers are less confident in and do not teach correctly. This is where I will be using the phonics scheme. I am also keen for them to start evaluating there own lessons and having targets to improve their teaching. They all seem very keen to learn more and I am confident that we will have better teachers and learners by the time I leave. Tomorrow, Manoj is picking me up at 8.00am so I can see the first teaching session. I noticed that some of the street families are starting to return to Mahim so it maybe only a few more days before we can get the football going again.

Friday 31st July

2009-07-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Slum at Wadala

Albaz inventing his own game of badminton

The new location - Majid Bunda

Today has been a very long day! I set of at 8.30am and travelled by taxi to Mahim with Mang. Lots of the children at Mahim are still out the city so the first main stop for the bus was Bandra. Here, Rajesh and I met with an English lady who was currently in Mumbai with her family and she wanted to come and see the work of Vision Rescue. Today was maths and Manoj was teaching the children to count up in twos. This was a good opportunity to use my newest skill of counting from 1-10 in Hindi. I sat with one lad who was Ok up to 12 but then struggled. I tried helping him every so often but as I did not know the Hindi for numbers above ten, I had talk to him about the order of the digits. From here he could work out the next number. Eventually, he managed to write in twos up to 50 - a great achievement!! There was a similar situation at MMRDA and again I used the same strategy as I did at Bandra to help a couple of children who were struggling. One child was not able to write the numbers one to ten so he needed some help forming the number shapes. Eventually, he wrote 1-5 on his own.
Lunch was taken, as usual, at the Mahim kitchen where I had the opportunity to partake in some badminton with the local kids. The racquets were small plastic racquets but we did use a shuttlecock, even though it was very old and tatty. Despite the equipment, it was very enjoyable and soon some of the other Vision Rescue staff were joining in. I wasn't totally sure of the rules, which Albaz had made up, but I just accepted it when I was told my shot was in or out. I did have a few problems with overhanging trees but seemed to be let off every time I hit them.
After a great badminton session I boarded the bus for the evening shift. The first location is Wadala. Ishwa, who teaches on the evening shift, was teaching the numbers 1 - 20 but getting the children to fill in missing numbers. Here, I experienced both extremes of children. Again, one child was unable to write any numbers, so by holding the chalk with her I helped her to form the numbers correctly. One boy, who attends an English speaking school, had already completed the task before Ishwa had finished explaining it. I observed while Ishwa gave him an extension exercise. He then completed this very quickly. He is obviously much brighter than all the other pupils who come on the bus but he is so enthusiastic to learn that they allow him to stay. I stepped in and went through some times tables questions with him. We got onto the 9 times table which he completed but it needed much more thinking power, so he was being challenged. I then showed him how to work out the nine times table using only your fingers. This was only possible because his English is quite good otherwise I would not have been able to explain it to him. I am not sure he totally understood the first time but eventually he followed the method and was then able to give me the answers by using his fingers. Another mathematical success!!
Onto Reay Road where I met up with Ommo. She is working for a few days in India but used to live in England and came along to see the work on the buses. It was great to see the children still wearing their red t-shirts, although some of them have lost them already I told Ishwa that I thought it was still important that they were allowed on the bus. I noticed that there were a lot more older children around than usual and perhaps this is a potential area to start some sports coaching. As this was Ommo's first experience of the slums, the cameras were out and Ommo even tried her hand at serving the food. After Reay Road, I was expecting to go onto VT station but this location has stop because the drug addicts have moved from this area. Instead, they now have another teaching location at Majid Bundar. I have not met these kids yet so it was a new experience. There were only about 20 children on the bus but they were very active children. These children are much harder to teach and are not as well behaved or as focused as the others. I also noticed that they were more physical towards each other. I think this is one location I will need to visit a few times and see what strategies we can put in place to help improve their concentration and behaviour. After the feeding at Majid Bundar, we headed back to the kitchen at Mahim where we had dinner and I got caught up in the middle of a game of tag which the kids were playing. This version of tag involved throwing a home-made ball at each other to tag them. On a number of occasions, I was used as a hiding place and had to avoid being hit. Today was very tiring but extremely rewarding and very enjoyable. Over the weekend I will be preparing for the first of the teacher training sessions on Monday.

Thursday 30th July

2009-07-31T10:55:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I took a break from the buses and after a lazy start to the day, I headed over to the office for an 11.30 meeting with Secu. He we discuss the whole education program and the next series of teacher training sessions that I would be running. We also talked about the new workbooks that we are having printed for the children on the buses. We are hoping to get these printed in the next couple of weeks once the final design has been discussed with the printer. I will be running 3 teacher training sessions a week until the end of August and most of these will be training the teachers in the new phonics programme.

Tuesday 28th July

2009-07-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

A group of Students

Arif - he is blind in one eye

The day started at 8.30am. I caught a taxi from Goregaon to Mahim and arrived at the kitchen in time to join the 2nd bus. Today was English teaching so I was particularly interested to see if phonics was being taught. Sonita was teaching on this bus and I am glad to say that she didn't disappoint me. At Kurla (location 1 ),the children have been practicing the letters a-p so today she wanted them to practise writing them. She recapped over the names of the letters and the sounds and then the children wrote the letters on their boards. I was hoping she would go on to write some words but she didn't - maybe a lesson for next time! Again, it was so good to see the children really trying hard to write the letters correctly and to sound out each letter. They are lovely children at Kurla and you may remember this is where I helped little Manoj with his foot injury. Unfortunately, he was not on the bus today so I will try and catch up with him another day. We then moved on to Vision Rescue's newest location, which is on the other side of Kurla. This new site was recommended to Rajesh by Cathy, who is an English mission worker out in Mumbai. She lives right next door to the slum and spends most of her days with the families, helping to look after the children and attending to their needs. She arrived with some of the children at the bus so I spent some time chatting to her about her work. She was telling me about one of the boys, Arif, who is pictured above. Arif is six years old and when he was two, he got acid put in his eyes and he is now blind is one eye and partially blind in the other. Cathy said that he is often sent out by his parents to beg. Unfortunately, the doctors have said that they cannot do anything to help his sight and if they did then there may be a risk of him losing the little sight that he has left. He is a lovely little kid and even though he couldn't see the picture, he loved having his photo taken. I also treated him to a Murray Mint! There is a lot of need in this area and Cathy says that some of the parents are quite violent towards their children and beat them. It still happens a lot in Mumbai the children are often helpless to do anything about it. As this is a new location the children were still working on learning the beginning of the alphabet but they were so enthusiastic to learn. They love being on the bus and I guess for some of them it is a welcome relief from the normal activities in the slum. I also met a group of students who insisted on taking my picture. I returned the favour and you can see the result above. They were on their way to distribute advertising boards for 'Loop' mobile phones.
After Kurla, the bus continued onto Deonar but I returned back to Mahim to meet Rajesh. We needed to go and by resources for the children to do their Christmas artwork. I had already brought over some donated colouring pencils but we were specifically on the hunt for felt tip pens and art paper. The hassle we went through to find some coloured pens! We did eventually find some and managed to get the paper we wanted as well. We headed back to the kitchen for some lunch and met some of the usual kitchen children. I decided to give them a lesson on balancing sticks on their noses but I think they will need a bit more practice. Hopefully a couple of the teachers will be returning next week so tomorrow I will start preparing the next few teacher training sessions.

Tuesday 28th July

2009-07-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Monday 27th July

2009-07-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit down with Biju and and Secu and talk about my next stint in India and my ideas for developing the teaching. Biju outlined his vision and there are lots of exciting ideas in the pipeline. Improving the teaching of English is one of my main objective whilst I am here and I have the support of Debbie Hepplewhite ( Creator of Phonics international) back in England who has kindly agreed to help me out with ideas and resources for teaching phonics. She has also put me in touch with Don from 'Ray of Hope' who provides new resources and equipment for projects in third world countries. He is kindly sending me over £1000 worth of new teaching resources. Also, we are going to get new workbook printed for the children to use on the buses. These will have pages for English, Maths and Hindi. Once these arrive I will be able to take the staff through how they should be used. Chelsea FC kindly gave me one of last year's academy kits whilst I was in England so I will be hoping to give this out to the street kids who have been part of the football we have started. Unfortunately, many of them are out of Mumbai currently because of the rain. They should be returning shortly.

Some of you will remember the cards that were designed by the children that I was selling back in England. We are looking into producing cards and gifts for Christmas, all design but the street children. I will keep you posted on this, so if you are thinking of buying your Christmas cards, wrapping paper and new calendars please wait!!!

Today I was in Mahim with the bus. There were a few technical problems at the start of the day as the bus developed a gas leak. The teaching had to be put on hold for the day but a van was hired so that the feeding could still take place at each of the locations. Fortunately a mechanic was able to come out and fix the problem so the bus will be back up and running tomorrow. After lunch at the kitchen, I then met up with my friend Amin in Bandra. He was able to meet Rajesh and learn more about the work of Vision Rescue. He is going to arrange for me to look around the orphanage where he grew up and for me to see the good work that is going on there. The rest of the day was spent at the office discussing the printing of the workbooks and the possible Christmas card range. Tomorrow I will be on bus number two giving me a chance to visit the new location. The photos are of children from MMRDA which I took on Saturday.

Back in India

2009-07-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

After a 9 hour fairly bumpy flight, I arrived back in yesterday morning. The flight was made fairly amusing by the funny Indian man from Leeds that was sitting next to me. He was listening to an Indian radio station for most of the journey an couldn't resist singing along every so often.
Rajesh picked me up from the airport and we headed to the college, where I am staying, to drop my bags off. The rest of the day was spent at the office saying hi to everyone and then a bit of shopping for food and toiletries. Just as we left the office for the shopping centre, the skies opened and I got the first taste of the Indian rain season and out came the waterproof coat. The rain causes lots of flooding and ruins the roads as it washes away all the stones and creates loads of pot holes. I've been reliably informed that in August the rain is not as frequent and becomes lighter - we will wait and see!

This morning myself and Rajesh headed of to Mahim to meet the teaching and kitchen staff. He informed me that 4 of the teachers are not available at the moment due to illnesses. Hopefully they will return shortly and we can crack on with the teacher training. The heavy rain means that some of the street children and their families move out of the city for better shelter but they return when it is drier. For this reason, there were not as many children on the bus as usual so the feeding is a lot quicker. No football today due to the wet weather and only a few street children were around. When we moved on to Mahim Creek, Rajesh informed me that they are not able to feed the drug addicts at the moment because the Police have stopped them thinking that it is encouraging more drug addicts to the area. Vision Rescue have been giving permission by the Indian Charities Council but they have to give proof to the police before they will allow Vision Rescue to start feeding again. I was hoping that the morning would be more successful when we reached Bandra, and it was. The bus was full and Manoj taught a good maths lesson. I was observing some children at the back of the bus and quickly became aware that they were unable to write the numbers 1 - 10. A few of them needed help forming the letters and some just couldn't rememeber the order. With one boy, I initially held the piece of chalk with him and helped him form the letters. We did this twice and then he had a go himself and eventually he was able to write all ten numbers. He was so pleased!! He got a sticker for his effort and we will practice again next maths lesson. It also helped me because I can now can to ten in Hindi! After Bandra, we headed for lunch at the kitchen. I then travelled with the bus to the final afternoon location, MMRA, for another maths lesson. The children are slightly brighter and many know the numbers up to 100. It was a very quite day but with a very rewarding maths lesson. Tomorrow is games / DVD day on the buses and myself and Rajesh will also be viewing a few properties that could be used as a new kitchen.

Back in England for a holiday!

2009-06-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

Just to let you know that I have stop my blog whilst I am back in England for a few weeks. I will be returning to India in July so will start up again then! I am already missing the buzz of India so am looking forward to going back.

Thursday 11th June - A very rewarding day!

2009-06-11T05:29:00.000-07:00

How to Climb a tree!

In order to see all the Vision Rescue teachers, I needed to go on the 2nd bus rote today which unfortunately meant no football but I am very glad I went. As many of the teachers seem to miss some of the injuries that the children have, I been keeping an extra eye out and this morning I spotted yet another septic wound at the first location, Kurla. An 8 yr old boy (called Manoj) had a large gash on the side on his foot which had not been treated and was going septic. When I asked one of the teachers (also called Manoj) to find out how he had got the wound, he said that he had caught his foot in his bicycle chain about two weeks ago. Manoj (teacher) and I decided to take Manoj to his home in the slum and speak to his parents. His parents said they wanted him to go to the doctor to get it looked at but he refused to go because he was scared they were going to cut his foot off (this is what most children think). Big Manoj reassured little Manoj that this would not happen and that we would go with him to the clinic, as it was close by. Another helper, Sanjeet, also came with us. We walked for about 10 mins to get to the clinic and when we arrived there was a small queue. Sanjeet and little Manoj sat and waited in the queue whilst Big Manoj and I waited outside. Whilst we were waiting, Big Manoj got chatting to a boy (Rahul) who he used to teach on the bus. He was washing one of the moterbikes outside the clinic. Rahul is 12 years old and now attends school but neither of his parents are able to work. This means that he has to earn his own money to pay for his schooling. He does this by washing motorbikes. He is trying to save up to buy himself a school uniform, his school books, a bag and a geometry set. All of that costs about 750 rupees. I then found out that he earns 300 rupees (4 pounds) a month for washing motorbikes. 4 pounds a month - I was shocked! It would take him 3 months just to earn enough to buy all the things he needed for school. This would result in him missing some of school (which will start on Monday ) so he can earn more money. Here was a situation where a simple need could be met! I asked Manoj if I could pay for Rahul's school uniform and equipment. He agreed that it would really help Rahul and his family out. I gave Manoj enough money to cover all the equipemnt and 2 school uniforms and he took Rahul and Rahul's mother to the shops to buy all the stuff! I will never forget the look of delight on Rahul's face!! It is amazing how something so small to us can mean the world to some of these children!

Meanwhile, little manoj had been given a tetnus injection and his wound had been cleaned and bandaged. Sanjeet had also been given some other pills that little Manoj had to take each morning and evening. We paid the doctor and then headed back to the bus. We dropped little Manoj back at his home and Sanjeet explained about the pills. He will need to go back to the clinic in two days time to have the dressing changed!
When I returned to the bus, I was given a demonstartion on how to climb a tree by two boys. They made it look so easy and there were no branches to use.
We then headed off to the next two stops, Deonar (the rubbish dumping ground) and Mankhurd where I was able to watch the teaching. Deonar was yet again an investation of flies but I tried hard to ignore them rather than doing my Jackie Chan karate impression in order to get rid of them. At Mankhurd, the children were again very nicely in two lines when we arrived, and there were loads of them. Unfortunately, there was not enough room on the bus so quite a few of them had to wait outside while the teaching was going on. I was very impressed with today's lessons. The children were very attentive and work hard during the 45 mins. I made some notes during the lesson and fed back to the teacher what I had observed and where she could improve. After the feeding at Mankhurd, we headed back to the kitchen for lunch and then went for a cup of tea and banana fritters at a cafe in Mahim.
I then got a taxi back to my accomodation where I started to type up the days events.
A tiring but very rewarding day. Tomorrow it will be back to the football and the last teacher training session of first visit.

Wednesday 10th June

2009-06-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

Rahul (The middle boy wearing orange and grey)

Mukesh

It was a pretty standard day today! I got to Mahim at 10.00am to play football with the street kids. They are now getting the hang of passing the ball and are even practicing their goal celebrations. One lad, Mukesh (see picture), was showing off his hand spring today. Very impressive!! Another 12 year old lad, Manoor, school two great goals - one with his head and one with his backside (One of the funniest things I've seen!!). The rest of the morning I spent observing and feeding back to teachers. It is great to see them trying new things. The kids are picking up on the phonics and I know they will see great results by the end of the year! At Bandra, the teachers had to talk to a few children about begging as they had been seen out on the streets. When they come to the bus for food they are told that the begging stops because Vision Rescue is feeding them. If they continue to beg then they will not be fed. One 6 year old boy, Rahul (see picture), does not have any parents and lives with his aunt. When she was spoken to about his begging she did not seem interested. This is the attitude that Vision Rescue sometimes has to battle against. Other times thay will have to persuade the parents not to beat or hit their children for begging. Rahul has got a place in a christian boarding school so his aunt will not have to look after him from next week.

I had the afternoon / evening off and spent it with some of the Vision Rescue team at Biju and Secu's house. You will be glad to hear that we took the boy with the swollen eye into hospital today where they released the fluid from his eyelid. They put some lotion on it and patch his eye up. He has to go back next monday to have the patched removed.

Tuesday 9th June - Indian school!

2009-06-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

Some of the local schools went back after their summer holidays yesterday and this morning I went into Ryan International School which is an Indian fee paying school. Some of the Vision Rescue team do an assembly in the school and today they were working on some drama and music with some of the children. The children were excellent. They were immaculately dressed in their school uniform, were very attentive and worked so well together. The fact they wofked so well was made even more impressive because there was a roller-skating lesson go on in the same room. We were in the basement and every child in the school is taught how to roller-skate to improve their balance and coordination. It was very interesting to watch. The behaviour of all the children were fantastic and the school sets very high standards. I will be going back into the same school on Thursday morning. I had some free time this afternoon and then went with the bus on the late shift. This meant I got to visit Reay Road and see how the children were getting on with their new school uniform. As we arrived I was delighted to find lots of children running towards the bus with their red t-shirts on. They all looked so smart!! I was amazed that so many of them were clean which means they are looking after them which is great. Some of the smaller children who come just for the feeding still look very dirty and so we gave them some water to wash themselves. One 10 year old boy's eye was closed up and very swollen. I asked Joshi (one of the teachers) to investigate and the boy has boils under the eyelid. The boy said he had seen a doctor but nothing had happened. When we found his mother she told us that it was the local medicine man, from the slum, they had seen but the medicine he gave the boy had no effect. Knowing that he needed to be seen by a proper doctor, Joshi made some calls. The mother was very keen that we help her son so one of the Vision Rescue team is going to pick them up in the morning and take them to the hospital - I will update you with how he gets on! A lot of the kids at Reay Road are quite small and some live with other relatives in the slum because both their parents have died. One of these children is Dongu, who is the little girl in the picture above. She is only 4 and has very wild hair. Despite her situation she was so cheeful whilst waiting for her food.

Monday 8th June

2009-06-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

Water has been restored back to normal working order. No more burgers! First stop today was Mahim Gardens but not after sitting in a huge traffic jam. It is bad enough in England but with India you get the added heat. We were in a taxi so there was no A/C. Got through two litres of water. We eventually arrived at 10.20am so unfortunately it was too late for me to play football. The twenty boys who turned up played their own game with Jaywanth which was great. They were all very keen to try and tell me about it and how many goals they had scored - shame I couldn't understand most of what they said! I went with the bus to Mahim Creek to meet the drug addicts and we had a shocking discovery. One of the men had died from an over dose in the middle of the night. He was still lying in the same position as all the other addicts will just ignore the body. Hopefully it will make some of them see the need to get themselves of the drugs. We told the police and they very reluctantly came and dealt with the situation. The police have the attitude that if these men decide to take drugs then it is not the responibility of the police if they die so they wont normally deal with it. After feeding about 70 addicts, we moved onto Bandra. Today, I was observing the hygiene levels of the children and the response from the teaching staff. It is so important that the children are encouraged to be as hygienic as possible and the teachers are acting as good role model through there own hygiene and actions.
At three o'clock, I was running a training session for the teachers so I had some time to get luch at the Vision Rescue kitchen. Simon, the main chef, is a wonderful cook. The children can actually tell when someone else has cooked the food other than Simon - that is how good he is! He had made some wonderful fish cooked in Indian spices. Due to finances, the fish was not de-boned but you can't have everything! As usual, there were kids playing in the street and I introduced a couple of them (Albaz and Ani), to the ipod touch. They loved listening to the music and they played one of the games. Even though they enjoyed the novelty of it, I would say that the marbles game they play and the spinning tops they use are much move interesting and sociable!
At the teachers session, I introduced then to some extension activities for quick finishers, went through Health and safety, and hygiene, talked about spotting abuse and taught them 'The Wheels on the Bus'. No doubt I will be seeing that on the bus this week!
Tomorrow I am going into one of the local schools to see the headteacher and to meet some of the children. This will be the first time I have been inside an Indian School!

Water difficulties!

2009-06-06T01:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, was another day in the office as I had a couple of meetings to attend about the education program and micro-finance. I wont bore you with the details - It was a very uneventful day.

Today I was up early for another football sessions - and what a great one was! The kids are getting very enthusiastic about the football and I can see real improvement. We have about 14 regular kids and some of them are ready for coaching. Next week I will try more coaching drills with them. The feeding for the last few days has been different. The Vision Rescue kitchen was informed on Thursday evening that they may not be any water available for four days due to pipe work. I asked Radjesh what they were going to do and he said that there would be know feeding on those days. I suggested that we buy in some water but he said it would be too difficult to organise. The other option was to buy in some food and when we did the calculations I was amazed at how cheap it was to feed 700 children for the day so I gave Rajesh enough money to cover the four days of water shortage. They bought vegetable samosas that they placed in bread rolls to make veggie burgers. Each child also had a banana. At one location (Bandra), as soon as the word got out that there were veggie burgers being given out, there was a huge flock of kids and mothers who wouldn't normally come to the bus. Unfortunately, due to having to supply food at other locations, we had to turn so of them away - sad!
Being Saturday, there was no teaching today as they show the children a DVD. Today was Ali Ba-Ba and the forty thieves - The kids loved it! Their faces are always a picture when they are watching a DVD. They are so engrossed in the story.
Lunch as usual was at the Vision Rescue kitchen and with a small amount of water they made a different lunch for the staff. In the evening I arranged to meet up with a chat called Amin who is a Mumbai Tour Guide. He has friends in England who gave me his details. He was born in Mumbai but at the aged of 5 he found himself out on the streets. He suffered on the streets for 3 years until he was rescued and taken to an orphange when he was 8 where he stayed till he was 18. He is a really nice guy and speaks very good English. When I return to Mumbai in July, he has agreed to take me to the orphage where he grew up and to some of the other homes run by the same people. He was also interested in the Vision Rescue project so I will arrange for him to spend a day on the bus with me. After coffee with Amin, myself and Ranjeet (who had come with me) got a taxi back home. On the way I saw a very interesting site. One of the main roads that we were travelling along was lined with parked up motorbikes with couples sitting on them. Apparently, Bandra is the romantic area of Mumbai and men bring their girlfriends to that road on a bike. I wish had my camera. It looked like a scene out of Grease!
The weather was cooler today so I think the rain will start soon!

Thursday 4th June

2009-06-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent all day in the office, priniting out some resources for the buses, preparing teaching notes and creating proposals for some news areas of Vision Rescue. As it was not that exciting I will leave it to your imagination and skip to today! Unfortunately, I have developed a sore throat so I have gone out and bought some strepsils - I just hope they work!

This morning, we dropped Elizabeth at the airport as she is flying on to Goa. From there we went to Mahim Garden. As my throat is still sore, I decided not to play football this morning but watched and gave tips from the sidelines. I stayed around and chatted to the kids whilst they were having their food. They are teaching me Hindi and I am teaching them some English!

From Mahim, we travelled to Juhu to watch the teaching. The lesson was Hindi so it was difficult for me to understand but I got general outline of what was being taught. The teaching at Juhu takes place in a sheltered area at the YMCA centre so there is no bus. This means they have more time for the teaching. Lots of the children here are street children so they are quite chatty and they have a big age range. The youngest child is about 2 and the oldest is about 14. This does put added pressure on the teacher to keep control. You may remember that last time I was at Juhu, there was a child with a septic foot. He travels on the railway alot and he is currently somewhere on the outskirts of Mumbai. His cousin was in the teaching session today and she is going to let us know if he returns to the city centre. We took a quick stroll along the beach before heading back to Mahim for lunch. I was due to go to Raey Road today to see the children in their uniforms again but there is a bit of political unrest due to the attacks on Indian students in Australia. For that reason, I have been advised not to go till next week by which time it will have died down. It has been very hot today with temperatures reaching up to 38 degrees. Biju has flown of to Sydney so I will catch up with him when I return to India in July / August. He was due to fly on to London but will now be staying in Sydney to have his back properly treated.

Tuesday 2nd June

2009-06-03T02:23:00.000-07:00

Today I was joined by another Brit! Elizabeth from Birmingham is in Mumbai for a couple of days before she goed to Goa. She wanted to see the work of Vision Rescue so she joined Rajesh and me at Mahim Gardens. This morning was another exhausting football session with the boys but very enjoyable. I introduced them to the 'throw on' today and it took a while for them to get the hang of it. Rajesh did not play today but Jaywanth joined in as usual. I am hoping to train up some of the staff next week by showing them some of the football drills they can do with the boys. After the football we took a trip to the dumping ground for Elizabeth to see but as the bus was not there we did not stay. We had lunch at the Vision Rescue kitchen and I had a bit of time to teach Albaz and his friends how to balance sticks on their hands - it was most entertaining.
We then went with th bus to the first location of the evening bus, Wadala. Here I was able to watch Ishwa, who is one of the teachers. He was teaching some English Greetings and it was a good job I was there because there were a few errors which I very quietly informed him about. English is the subject that the teachers find the toughest to teach and so it is important that I give them as much input as possible. After Wadala, we headed home as Elizabeth needed to get back to her accomodation. I was hoping to carry on to Reay Road but I will leave that till Thurday. Tomorrow I will be in the office all day, preparing teaching sessions and printing out resources.

Lazy dog!

2009-06-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

Now here is something you don't see everyday!!

Monday 1st June

2009-06-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Today I started off in the Vision Rescue office printing out resource for my teacher training session this afternoon. I was treated to coffee by one of the Vision Rescue staff and then was picked up by Rajesh and we headed for Mahim. We stopped off at Mahim Gardens first but were too late for football today. Jaywanth had got there earlier and played a game with them. However, they were all there to greet me and I promised them a game tomorrow. I am getting to know the street kids in this area really well and will occasionally see them when in Mahim eating or driving along. From here we went onto Mahim Creek to see the drug addicts and then onto Bandra to watch the teaching. It was only a short lesson today as the bus had been held up at Mahim Creek. We grabbed lunck at the Vision Rescue kitchen and it was great to see my friends Albaz, Imran and Anni. I have been entertaining them by balancing a cricket bat on my nose - they love it! Rajesh and I then drove to some shoe shops to look for some trainers for the street kids when they play football. I thing we managed to sort out a deal with one of the shop owners so we will go back in the next few days and buy some. It was then onto the church hall for the next teacher training session on phonics. I am really keen for the teachers to use phonics to help the children to read and write as they currently use capital letters and the letter names. Some of them struggled with the sounds but will be fine with practice. It was a really good session and I know it will have an impact on the teaching of English on the buses. In the evening I visited Biju in hospital and also and met his mother. What a lovely lady! She kept offering me cashew nuts to eat and also banana chips. Banana chips are like potato crisps but are made of banana and they are nicer. Biju has a couple more days in hospital and then he is off to Australia. Here he will get his back sorted properly by Steve the physio.
Tomorrow is more football and then I will be visiting Reay Road to see the kids again in their smart t-shirts.

Reay Road and The T-shirts!

2009-05-31T08:11:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-05-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

More Football

2009-05-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-05-26T05:27:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-19T05:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-05-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Well the time has come for Caron and myself to travel off to Mumbai India. I will be using this blog to keep you posted on our travels.