In Goa

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

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

Monday and Tuesday on the bus!

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

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

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

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

Back to the football

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

Back in Mumbai!!

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

Monday 24th August

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

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

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!