Friday, November 13, 2009

13/11/09

I can't believe it but its time for me to leave Sangam, I went to the creche for the last time today and had to wave goodbye to Katsuko this afternoon :( The time has flown by and it doesn't feel right that I have to leave. Of course my adventure isn't over as I'm off traveling!!! If I don't get a chance to blog again I just want to say thank you to everyone for all your help and I'll see you in December.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

10/10/09

Kylie wasn't well again this morning so it was just me again, there were more teachers at the creche again today as the children were still being tested. All the children were rapped up in their wolly hats and thick winter cardigans as it has become rather chilly, it even started to rain which really reminded me of England. In the morning I 1st got the children to fill an A4 sheet of paper with picture, this then became the cover of a maraca. They loved them, some were a bit to over excited and I had to do some repair work so they could go home with a musical maraca, rather than a tube of cardboard and some rice. Got a surprise at lunchtime when Kylie walked through the door, she was feeling a bit better and was eager to be back at the creche. In the afternoon we did English and Maths. I had a one to one with a boy who usually doesn't like to take part in educational activities which was really good, I think as he doesn't go to school he's not as confident about such things so I was really pleased he was so into doing some Maths work :) For dinner we went out to Hard Rock Cafe as a kind of leaving do, when we eventually got there we were all soaked through as the rain had persisted. It was a nice evening out with all the volunteers and Ezster and Einar even met us there which was lovely. Catching a rickshaw back was a bit tricky but we eventually found one. Only problem was that the roads had started to become flooded so it we had to maneuver around all the massive puddles - we even broke down on an empty stretch of road but thankfully the rickshaw started up again, few.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

9/11/09 Last Monday at the creche

It was just me at the creche today as Kylie wasn't feeling well. We made houses to put into the creches project area, which was fun - I was amazed that it didn't seem to hectic and crazy with just me running things. This could have been because there were more teachers there as the children were being tested, only a few at a time but this meant there were fewer for me to deal with. In the afternoon each child had a chalk board on which I wrote out some sums according to their ability, a boy who has just recently joined the creche is extremely good at maths and I just hope that he will get the opportunity to go to school. 3.30-4.00pm has become a bit of a play time so we played some ball games and Carrom (which the children love and kept on nagging me about wanting to play it so I thought we might as well) I also taught them a bit of yoga which was rather fun, only problem is the teacher now wants me to teach the morning exercise :S and he older boys want me to teach them Kung Fu so they can be like Jackie Chan - I was very sorry to disappoint them but I know nothing about Kung Fu :( I decided to walk home so that I could collect some balls we had ordered (we are giving each child at the creche a goody bag on our last day which will contain a ball, biscuits, sweets and a few other bits and bobs)

Saturday, November 7, 2009

6/11/09 Our last full Friday at the creche :(

We made kaleidoscopes today which was fab, the children loved running around, seeing everything in different colours. The whole morning flew by, it was probably because I was constantly putting the kaleidoscopes together, which is made more difficult with the constant harassment of 'Madame, Madame, me Madame me' but everyone got one so they were happy. On our way to the toliet we found that the whole has become even bigger and we had to very carfully edge around it :S In the afternoon we did some maths work, one boy I was working with liked to have the sums in English and then every so often answered them in Hindi or got confused when I wrote 9 and thought it was a 1 (in Hindi one is written like 9) - I understood what he meant and he got the correct answer and that all that matters :) We also played some games; mainly billi, billi, kuutaa which means cat, cat, dog and its the same as duck, duck, goose - its always fun to play even if we do get chosen rather a lot but a little exercise never hurt anybody.

5/11/09

We made boxes today which the children loved as they were able to decorate them and even take them home :) most of the time they don't get to take what they make home so it was fantastic seeing their faces light up when they realised. The area around the creche is becoming more and more hazardous by the looks of things, on our wak to the toilet we have to pass a huge hole which if you fell you'd be in some serious trouble. There are now also nets above the entrance to the creche which catch the falling rubble, I just hope that they are strong enough to stand the weight. The creche was closed in the afternoon for the monthly staff meeting, so I went to the train station to buy tickets to go to Amritsar, Chandigarh and Jaipur unfortunately one of the trains I found on the net doesn't exist so I'm going to have to sort something else out.

4/11/09

We made crazy cats this morning and did some dot to dot colouring in with the older boys who go to school. After we had eaten lunch we went to get some rickshaw to take the children to Sangam, thankfully a teacher came with us so it was sorted out relatively easily. So we all piled into a rickshaw Kylie somehow ended up with only 3 children in hers, I on the other hand had the teacher and 7 children - odd thing was it felt as if we still had space. In total we had 30 children; 10 from my mobile creche site, 10 from Katsuko's mobile creche site and 10 from Door Step. Even though Door Step also offer education for underprivileged children you could tell they were better of than the children from our site. The children from Door Step arrived in nice sparkly outfits which looked rather new, this was rather different from the children from my site some of whom didn't even have any shoes to wear. The CVP funday was fantastic we started with a tour of the grounds and then split the children into 2 groups - boys and girls. One group swam whilst the other went on a round robin, which included games, a craft and playing on the playground. I was 1st stationed at the playground and then when the groups changed over I went swimming. The children seemed to enjoy all the activities, some were a bit timid about getting into the pool but once they got in they didn't want to get out :) At the end of the day we got everyone together and played a big game of musical chairs and finished the afternoon of with mango ice-cream by the pool. Eventful rickshaw ride back to the creche as my rickshaw broke down, I have to say when we finally got the creche the teacher and Kylie looked rather relieved - they must have been wondering were on earth is Mollie with all those children (I somehow ended up with 7 children in my rickshaw again - I don't quite know how it happened)

3/11/09

We had today off so we could plan for the CVP funday tomorrow - I think its going to be rather hectic and crazy but great fun. Once we were all sorted I went to Lazmi road to do a last bit of shopping before I go, it was really nice to have a bit of time out strolling around line bazar getting bits and bobs that I wanted :)