to sum up...
pics for now, I will develop later :-)
https://picasaweb.google.com/105502181518684720389/JHCWorkshops
pics for now, I will develop later :-)
https://picasaweb.google.com/105502181518684720389/JHCWorkshops
Monday, 10 December 2012
Madurai
Just some photos from this beautiful temple
https://picasaweb.google.com/105502181518684720389/Madurai
https://picasaweb.google.com/105502181518684720389/Madurai
We've got toys!!!
These children don’t have toys, neither at school nor in their
communities. They are brainwashed with the method of teaching that I call
rather indoctrination than education.
But they are children! And children’s job is to play! They love to
colour and draw but have no possibilities because crayons are locked in
teachers’ locker and taken out on special occasions. That’s criminal! I wrote a
proposal.
The very next day, it happen that a General Secretary came to have a mid
time chat with me. He already heard about my observations and remarks
concerning the school from other staff members (in India a word spreads fast).
Apparently they much valued my opinion. It wasn’t hard then to convince GS
about my proposal to establish some play stations. We were granted a nice sum
of money and encouraged to go immediately to buy all the toys. I needed to
“convince” (train rather) the teachers to use it… I have one week only.
It was great fun to go with the whole committee shopping for toys and
games in Madurai. Even the teachers were excited! I tired them out but we got
everything I needed. I created 4 stations: blocks, imaginative play (dolls, all
kinds of cars, doctor set, kitchen set, etc), games and puzzles and drawing and
books. For the lunchbreak we’ve got for them balls, skipping ropes, freesbeys
and hoola-hops.
I introduced a system of setting /tiding it up by 4 responsible
children.
You can imagine overjoy when the children saw all these toys!!! These
big sparkling eyes and a boy showing me a car that he hold in his hand maybe
for the first time in his life... In complete disbelieve of his happiness he said
“sister, car!”.
I must say that for the first 3 days they were like 2year olds – each
playing individually with not much of interaction. They have very little notion
of waiting, taking turns, sharing, imagining things, that a box can be a
garage.
They kept asking me every day if they could play again with cars.
By the end of the week they were calmer and knew that tomorrow they can
play again. The toys stay here. They were better in sharing and choosing the
play, asking for things (colouring page). Play became more interactive and they
were able to play a board game in a nice agreement, building blocks and puzzles
together.
It was such a joy for me :-)
Little Rajkumar
After about
2 weeks, I’ve decided to sponsor a child myself.
Sponsoring
is the system of financing single child by a person or institution. It ensures
continuity of the education of this child. It makes it more personal and
precious when you take care of one little being, rather than giving the money
to an institution. Besides it makes it more feasible – 30 euro per month is
something that I can afford. I will not go to a resto or a party once and in
return I know that here in Thirumangalam little Rajkumar can have shoes,
clothes, food and conditions to learn and can go to school.
I have
notices Rajkumar at school because he is very very weak. He was sitting and doing
nothing. The teacher complained that he never speaks and refuses to write. Instead
of asking him to write apple, I dotted a picture of one and he needed only to
trace it. We did a couple of those and every time he came back with a bigger
smile and sparkles in his eyes asking for more!!!
It turned
out that he is not sponsored yet so I happily took the task on :-)
He comes
from a little village nearby. His parents are from “the poor community” and are
genitors (untouchable). He has 3 brothers (one with him in RSV). His house
still deosn’t have electricity and water need to be fetched at the end of the
village.
He is very
very little and has incredibly big and alert eyes and a cute smile.
Because of
my attention to him, he became a mascot of the school and ch's village. He is
carried, dressed and powdered by his brother, kids take his hand and run with
him, call him and pull into the game. The children know that being in a
surrounding of Rajkumar means my attention. It doesn’t matter ‘cause it boosted
Rajkumar’s esteem and confidence!!! The foster mothers told me that he has
transformed. He used to sit in the room completely passively. But now he is
active and runs with other children. I even saw him dancing with the boys!!! He
goes to a teacher to tell her that so and so pinched him!!!
It happened
not because it was me – any adult would have this influence. It just shows how
crucial is an attitude of an adult in influencing child’s life, positively or
negatively.
Rajkumar has
important learning difficulties and I hope the teacher will now keep it in
mind.
I made a
doll for him – I think every child should have something to cuddle with.
Children are adorable!!!
I’m having
so much fun with the kids!!!
I’m not a
teacher but I can teach them some basic English in some funny way, making up
stories and letting them draw – the most fundamental activity for children. If
only I didn’t have to improvise on the spot filling in for an absent teacher.
Instead of having the teachers observing prepared and planned lesson conducted
in more “western” way, I need their help to put the children in line ‘cause I
can’t handle these little buggers J Now I know that I couldn’t be a
teacher.
These “new
methods” are too new for the teachers. I underestimated how shockingly
different is must have been for them and how hard it is for them to think out
of the box.
I enjoy very
much spending an hour or 2 with the kidos. Boys are just next to me. They come
back from school after 5pm and often time they would go play volleyball,
football, cricket or some of their games like Cabbody (no clue how to spell
it). I’d join them or sit with the others who don’t play and “talk”. I don’t
know how we manage to communicate but yet again, we are having good time and
laugh together. One time when I was there, their care taker (also an “old boy”,
a chap of 28) sang, played drams
and the boys dances like med :-)
We had a great laugh, they showed me their plantation.
When I go to
the children's village I have so much fun playing with the little ones. They
have playground so we were running and getting wild there. I must admit I got a
soft spot for two little sisters: Sathia (8) and Uverani (6). You will probably
see them a lot in the pictures, especially that they are dynamic and jumpy and
know how to get some attention J
The kidos
feel that I adore them. And they take it with a great joy which makes me happy
in return :-)
One Sunday I
was doing yoga on the rooftop of my guesthouse when some boys came to spot
birds and draw them. They were curious what I was doing and asked me to show
them some yoga. I did and right away they tried themselves. I helped them a bit
and they were so thrilled! They were very interested and we did some more.
Viknesh did even the pose that I’ve been working on for 2 years…
I take on a
project with girls in the Girls Town to make little pillows for the children’s
dolls play. It turned out that they have a sawing machine there.
They kindly
got it fixed for this purpose. It is beautiful old Singer machine J
The girls
were so keen to learn! They were delighted to try and some of them managed
right away to create these little pillows. The next time I came, the girls
brought their clothes to be mended!!! Now I was delighted J Firstly
because it shows how they care about their look and clothes (the holes in their
uniforms were not little…). Secondly because they right away use the machine in
very practical and concrete way. We spend loooong hours stitching their trousers
and nighties.
That’s what
I can conclude about those youngsters after a month of being among them: they
are incredibly trustful, open and welcoming (or maybe simply tolerant). They
were always very respectful and polite toward me, always “good morning, sister”
J Quite confidently they would start speaking
to me although we have no common language. They are curious and enthusiastic,
ready to learn or at least to have a go whatever you present to them.
Compare to
village children that I saw up in the mountains, I see that “our” youngsters
have more confidence, curiosity and are more outgoing. They are more exposed to
different values (basic hygiene, importance of education, etc) and activities
of all kinds (sports, bird watching, contact with foreigners due to the
sponsoring etc). Of course, it does not counterbalance growing up with their
parents and siblings. But for those children who don’t have this option, they
have great one in JHC/BTS.
Meeting Joe Homan
He’s came
down for Divali.
I thought I
would see an English gentlemen who, doing whole a lot of good for the Indian
society, would however present this attitude of a white executor on undeveloped
land.
How wrong I
was! Instead I met a gentle-men, soft in his manners and his words. A person
whose goal was and still is to help the children get better future for
themselves and their families.
Let me tell
you a story about Joe Homan.
As a young
chap he was send (a missionary) to one of the poorest countries to work with
children. I don’t remember if it was India or somewhere in Africa. The place
turned out to be a sort of a boarding school for children of rather rich
families and stressing very much Christian religion.
That was not
what Joe wanted. He wanted to help poor children and in secular conditions.
He resigned
and came to India. Some Indian friends offered him a land to use and do whatever
project he wanted for as long as he wanted. Joe got into something he likes very
much – farming. He was going to Madurai train station and talked to homeless
boys who were hanging out there. He invited them to come to this village near
Thiramangalam. They can stay there, learn farming, help with the work and leave
whenever they are ready. The boys were reluctant at first. But there was one
who came, then another and the word has spread. Starting from a farm with 5
young adults, he had no clue about farming rice, bananas and coconuts or tea
and coffee. Nor he had an idea about poultry and yet they run a farm with
chicken. Learning from his neighbours within 3 years they have reached some
capital.
The boys
learnt farming but what is more important they learnt that they can do sth
constructive with their lives.
In 1964 Joe
has started the first Boys Town. They build simple buildings on the land that
could accommodate about 70 children. He was going to surrounding villages,
talking to the olders of a village about the families in need and what he could
offer. By then he was already doing fund rising in UK to sponsor the children.
It was a
revolution! You must think of India back then. There were very few schools, for
most villages not accessible. The obligation for schooling didn’t exist (came
in only in 1990) and kids were supposed to work. Houses were made of clay, no
floors, forget about electricity, running water or decent roads. Most of the
families would have one vegetarian meal a day.
Joe
impressed me with his sense of enterprising and taking any opportunity to
enhance the living. Simple example: they dig a huge well (or rather exploded it
‘cause there was a bit bolder) for irrigation water. There was some fish in it.
Joe hang the light above the middle part of the well in the way that insects
would fly around the light, fell into the water and feed the fish. This way
every week there would be fresh fish for dinner in the Boys Town.
Every time I
spoke with Joe (he is a great story teller) he would tell me about yet another
way of making business and earning the money for the Boys Town. They would grow
chicken, pigs, cows, having plantation of this or that, whatever paid better at
the period. He started a factory of coconut powder and exported it even to
Holland. He had a project of making banners for Rotary Clubs all over the
world. Etc, etc, etc. He would start a project, train people and move on to sth
else.
The charity
grew and grew. They had 6 Boys Towns, 2 Girls Towns and 2 Children Villages.
Joe was coming to UK and Belgium at least twice a year and was doing a thorough
fund rising that would keep them going. I’m saying Joe but of course I mean a
lot of people who were supporting his ideas and actions.
Alongside
the Boys/Girls Town, the JHC/BTS carries out other schemes of social projects.
For example back in 70ties and 80ties they developed a scheme "Children in
labour". They had chosen to aim only girls (in about 50 villages) in order
to get them into the education system. They would go to the olders of a village
and ask “how much a girl earns per day?”. Usually it would be 5-7 rps.
The next
question followed:” would they be ready to send the girl to school if they get
this money?” They were suspicious but finally one village agreed and then came
the others. Of course, JHC monitored it closely and checked the attendance of
the girls at school. For a presence close to 100% the family would get a bonus
- a cow!!! That was a big motivator! Soon in the villages, one by one the cows
started to appear.
Back then there
was a government scheme: if in a certain perimeter there would be gathered 100
cows, they would send a truck to pick up the milk every day. At the end of a
month a family would get the money they earned on milk. The goal was easy to
reach: in a village of 50 families, if they send 2children to school or had
good attendance over a few years, they quickly get to the required number in a
horde.
“Children in
labour” would be limited to 5 years. By then the villagers saw and learnt all
the benefits they could possibly withdraw from this situation (like the fact
that cows eat weed, so no weeding was necessary; they produce good manure so
the crop grew better, etc, etc... ). The scheme would move on to other 50
villages in another region. Over 20 years JHC covered the vast region. At some
point no talking was needed – the older were coming to Joe and ask to take them
into the scheme.
I find it
such a brilliant project!
Just getting
the kids to school created a chain of economical changes that raise the
standard of living not only for those girls but for the whole families. The
girls started to be valuable and not only a burden for a family.
The cost of
sponsoring a girl off the labour was incomparably cheaper than doing so for the
boys living out of their families in Boys Town, covering costs of food,
logging, person to supervise, etc.
There was
and there is numerous similar projects in JHC. Many of, so called “old boys”
(the boys who finished their education and are into professional adult life),
find the employment in this various projects.
Joe is now
82 years old. He comes across as a calm, serene, peaceful man, with a strong
will but not imposing. He is very tolerant and open-minded. He must have been
very dynamic. The “old boys”, who I’ve met, told me that he was hard working and
always busy man. The boys needed to be able to follow him.
Joe himself
speaks about these young men, who he raised, with a lot of respect and
recognition for their will to learn and try. He said the best way to teach them
anything was to just do it by himself. Then one after another the boys would
come and asked him if they could have a go and try.
Such a power
of action!!! Great intelligence, great relational skills cause he has done all
this thanks to people next to him. And after all that, he is a humble man in a
dirty polo shirt, telling the stories and sharing his new fascinations: butterflies.
He has
always lived with the boys. In 2008 they closed one of them, up in the
mountains. Joe stayed there ‘cause the cool air serves him better than the heat
of the plains. They turned this Boys Town into an Environmental Centre :-)
There are
facilities to loge school groups over a weekend and do nature activities with
them. They go bird watching and having eco classes to bring awareness
concerning global warming and other environmental issues.
2 or 3 of
the boys rooms are made into guest cottages with tiled floors and a bathroom,
big bed, nice ambiance. The area is transformed in a very friendly, green web
of alleys and flowerbeds. Around tall tall trees, birds and frogs. In the echo
of the forest you can hear cheerful kids who came for a weekend or those from
the village, who came to have a swim. Charming, charming place...
Joe, of
course, hasn’t given up on farming. They grow coffee and pepper there. Recently
they’ve started a pig stale. The farm brings a good couple of laks a year…that
goes to support the children…always the children…
That is my
story of Joe Homan, an English gentle man.
More photos:
The school
Wow! Their teaching
methods are pure example of anti-pedagogy! The children are sitting and
repeating what is written on a blackboard… Reciting by heart a list of words
that, besides belonging to one category, e.g. fruits or colours, have no
meaningful connection, no context to it.
But the kids do repeat it and… seem to be very
motivated! They want to learn and show you that they can say/spell this or that
word!
Those kids are adorable! They are so little in
their too big uniforms and shoesies. They are very eager to communicate, get in
touch with me, all being very open, curious, daring and excited. What a bunch
of happy kids I have in front of me!!! From every direction I hear “sister,
sister, sister!!” and I need to look there or answer their questions, the only
one they can ask: “your name? your father name? your mother/brother/sister
name? England?”.
The school is meant to be English means, as
they call it here. But the teachers are not very strong on English themselves.
They translate a lot into Tamil so the children are not really challenged with
the English.
I’ve jumped very quickly into showing the
teachers what other way they could teach the same but with much more fun and
actually checking that each kid got it right or at least practiced. It is not a
rocket science. Needless to say that the kids were delighted J Of course I was very positive and full of prises. With my non-existing
Tamil and their very little English, I needed to use my face, hands and any
kind of means of communication. It resulted in the kids running around with two
thumbs up and screaming “very good!”.
The boys, girls and children come from
difficult situations - not having one or both parents, being brought up by a
grandma or aunt or older brother... Even worse if a farther or a mother has a
lover, leaves the family - the shame is more a burden than a hardship of making
a daily life sustainable. Or like my little Rajkumar, whose parents are...from
"this community"- meaning lowest cast of untouchable but we don't use
this word anymore...
These children are so happy! So willing! They
have such a sparkle! Having only
the basics they appreciate anything else. They fill up their time without TV
and this western "I'm bored"...
Lunchtime – the only
time when the children are quiet :-)
Some more photos at: https://picasaweb.google.com/105502181518684720389/School
Madurai JHC project
That’s my new home for
another month. It’s countryside (45 min from Madurai, Tamilnadu) with Boys Town
and a project school 5 min away from me.
I arrived in
Thiramangalam for my voluntary project at Joe Homan Charity JHC.
The charity was
established some time after Joe Homan started Boys Town in 1964! Imagine the
poverty he was facing back then with those youngsters and their families.
The aim of the JHC/Boys
Town Society (association necessary for the administrative reasons) is to offer
to children from disadvantaged background an opportunity to go through the
cycle of education until the end – getting a profession, that would assure a
decent job and steady incomes. Many of the children from poor families need to
work at early age. They might go up to 3rd or 4th
standard (grade) but then providing for the family would become a priority.
Especially when one of the parents passed away, left the family, is imprisoned
or physically/mentally incapable of supporting the family. 
So a children from
such family, with the agreement of a care taker (sometimes it would be a
grandmother ‘cause the parents are no longer there), would be placed in one of
the Childrens Village (little ones) or in the Boys / Girls Town (if above 9
years old). These are communities where children live, have their daily
responsibilities (sweeping around, gardening, washing their clothes, etc),
doing their homework and having other after school activities (sport, stamp
club). They have meals 3 times a day, simple but nutritious which they would
not get back home. Children go to local schools, spend here the months when the
school is on and go home for any holidays.
JHC/BTS carries on
many more projects alongside. One of them is Francois Mayer Nursery and Primary
School (an outcome of a Belgian family’s donation in honour of their dead son).
So what am I to do here?
I arrived to the
office and was greeted by administrators, introduced to everybody (10 members
of the staff) and presented with quite full schedule for the next 4 weeks (from
9am till 7pm… :-). Nothing special, you would say. Well, to my knowledge about
some experiences of voluntary work in the underdeveloped countries, that
welcoming was mega organised!
Usually volunteers
feel lost, not knowing who to refer to, sometimes bored as the work is not very
challenging or given enough importance and… frustrated ‘cause the effort they
put is not reflected in actions of the staff and organisation. Indians are very
proud to have a white person on board (and in the picture) but not necessarily
would they put in practice given advice/experience. I think cultural
differences have an enormous impact on this volunteer-organisation
relationship.
Here the expectations
were high and vast but quite accurate with my professional background. I didn’t
feel like I have to fulfil it but rather tell them what is possible for me and
in restricted time that I’m here.
So I was to look into:
-
the
functioning of the school as it is at an experiment stage,
-
learning
difficulties,
-
behavioural
and emotional difficulties in children’s village and boys/girls town,
-
psychological
difficulties of some of the children.
So I get to work :-)
Photos via Picasa
Here you are
some more photos via Picasa. That will be easier than loading on the
blog.
Bangalore
Mysore
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