The site of the project after the monsoon rain.
We arrived there on a Sunday afternoon and were welcomed by Laurie, a lovely American woman who has been volunteering at the project for nearly a year now. We were introduced to all of the 40+ children ranging from 3 to about 17 years. The children gave us such a warm welcome! We were Harriet Auntie and Sylvia Auntie as the adults on the projects are referred to. The project is run as a big family and we are all Aunties and Uncles whilst the kids are sisters and brothers to each others. In fact some of the kids are actually brothers or sisters from the same family.
The 'Uncles and Aunties' team - left to right: David Uncle, Sylvia Auntie, Laurie Auntie, Peter Uncle and Will Uncle.
The project is run by a loving American couple, Michael and Aleli who gave everything up to dedicate their life to help these children. Some were street children, came from violent/poor families or have spent their early years begging on the streets. More info on the project's website: http://www.childrensproject.org/
The project is about 20 mins drive from Madikeri (the main town in the Coorg region) and based on a coffee plantation. Everything is on site: the school, accommodation for the kids, the kitchen, the office, etc. We shared the teacher's cottage, 100m up from the main site, with Laurie. Right in the middle of the forest and the coffee plantations with only the sound of the wind in trees and insects/birds at night. So nice!!!
The teacher's cottage in the middle of the coffee plantations where we stayed with Laurie.
All was well in our lovely little house until the rains came... and the buckets came out! Unfortunately it was a new roof and the builder explained that all new roofs leak... so nothing surprising there! We moved our beds around to avoid the leaks and slept in high level of humidity ;-) All this was fast overcome by the joy of being with the kids in the day.
The new school year started the day after we arrived and we were put straight to work and became teachers in an hour ;-) I taught Science, English grammar and reading, Environmental Science and Climate Change and sustainability to 5 classes, from 1st standard to 11th standard while Harriet taught French and English to lots of classes. A challenge to get our brains into gear after so long, but great to be working in a place with such a nice approach to learning - very laid back and emphasis firmly on the kids' development rather than getting through the books!
The kids were split in classes by standards and each class was no more than 7-8 children. We taught everywhere we could: outside, in the dorms, in front of our house.
Harriet teaching French in the office.
We learned so much about being flexible and adaptable through teaching and being with the kids. And we loved it! I have to confess that I now have a great respect for teachers as it is exhausting to be teaching all day!!!! I would have never thought how exhausting! In the afternoons we often had to pop by our cottage to get a sugar fix to help us stay awake in the afternoon. The chocolate bars were snuck in by Will Uncle who made essential trips into Madikeri to stock up on treats ;-)
Thanks Will!!!! unfortunately Nestle also made a mint out of us that week, all for a good cause though!
The survival kit for teachers.
The philosophy of the project is a spiritual one. Much of their activity is led by the teachings and following of Swami Sathya Sai Baba, the actual incarnation of Shiva (you can learn more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba and http://www.sathyasai.org/). The many pictures, prayers, bhajans singing and altars to Sai Baba were a surprise, but we were very keen to understand more and Laurie was great at explaining more about spirituality to us in such a clear way! What we could feel was very positive: love. Love from the adults at the project towards the kids and in return love from the kids towards us. So many smiles, kind words and hugs! And it meant that the teaching and day to day chores went smoothly and with respect for each other, creating such a lovely environment and reflecting a lot of our beliefs about people and the world. How often do kids in French or British schools thank the teacher for the class before leaving ??? And the kids were so polite, always addressing you by so-and-so Auntie and not interrupting and showing you respect... well 99% of the time! they are kids after all!!!
As it is a big family, the children all help out with the chores, from cooking, cleaning and washing the dishes to making fires for the hot water or looking after the cows. We took part in these too: Harriet took on the challenge to make Couscous for 60 people! With the help of the children we made it and we had so much fun with our little helpers and showing them the magic of Couscous (in this case Rava) absorbing water.
Harriet and the team preparing dinner for 60 people?! And Sylv and her team of helpers doing the 'magic' for the rava.
Meals are eaten in the main hall and kids take turn in serving from big pots in the stainless steel plates. Then they all close their eyes for the prayer before eating.
Dinner time. Serving food from the big pots.
Prayer time before lunch.
We loved our time at the project and it was really hard to leave last Friday. We were very sad to leave the kids, the aunties and uncles, and even the dogs! We're missing the smiles and the laughter thinking about how to get back and teach more some time soon...
For now we're back in Pondicherry for 10 days of Yoga, meditation, reading and eating croissants. We're flying to Sri Lanka on the 26th... ready for the next adventure!
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