Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Train Ride to Everywhere

This week I needed a gentle reminder on why I'm here 
And yesterday, I got it.
Me, Lindsey, Lexie, and Ashlee took a train out to Shankarpalli 


It was our first train ride in India
and to be completely honest it was the dirtiest train I've ever seen


Lets just say that people never ride their bikes under train bridges because sewage falls straight to the tracks 


Along the way we saw parts of the city


Some people got some shut-eye



And then we arrived to this:


It's so nice to get out of the city



We went to the MVF office to meet with volunteers and teachers who have dedicated their lives to getting kids out of work environments and into schools.
We needed to interview them for the manuel we are writing for MVF.
The manuel will outline the processes and techniques volunteers use in villages to get parents motivated to educate their children.
Eventually, the manuel will be used by other nonprofit organizations to get kids in schools in other countries as well.
This is one of the first signs they used to raise awareness about the child workforce issue


After meeting with the volunteers we traveled out to a government school in the district
School just started this week here so we got to see a one actually in session.



All the kids were 1st through 6th graders


They sit all day on a stone floor and do their school work on their school bags


They wanted to sing a song for us...but they were pretty nervous
So, we sang a song for them first
We sang a rip-roaring version of "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree"
Actions and all
That got them laughing at us...so they sang a song and even danced for us as well.

 



These boys kept looking through the window at us...and thought we were pretty funny



After visiting the classroom we talked to the headmaster


and the boys could not help but watch...it was pretty cute


Then we headed back to the bus station 
It wasn't easy fitting into that auto
I think we had a total of 8 people in that one little car


The kids sent us off with a great goodbye
They didn't speak English but they copied our accents to say goodbye and shake hands



They were just so happy to meet us and it's amazing to see how dedicated they are to school.
As a kid I think I would have had a hard time going to school and sitting on a hard, dirty floor all day to learn.
They need it though...this is the first step in having a generation of people educated.
As the generations grow up educated, not only does their quality of life have the potential to go up, but they will also teach their kids to go to school and get an education.

I needed to remember that.

With love,
A


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