India Update # 4

1/23/05

Hello all,

I am past due for my update # 4, and I know that you’ve all been waiting with baited breath, so here it is!

Directly after I sent my last update, I traveled to Bangalore to attend a nine-day International Training on Nonviolent Communication. I had no idea what to expect from this training, but I went with an open mind and left completely inspired and perhaps in a way, transformed. The training was sponsored by the Center for Nonviolent Communication. The concepts we learned (NVC - Nonviolent Communication), were developed by a man named Marshall Rosenberg. NVC is essentially about connecting compassionately with others, and being in tune with your feelings and needs, as well as the feelings and needs of others. The concepts themselves are very simple, but when one actually applies them to one’s own life it is a radically new way of thinking and interacting with people. The results can be dramatic, and I think, particularly useful in conflict situations.

There were about 120 participants from all corners of the world—which in itself was exciting for me. In my “home group” alone, there was a woman from the former Yugoslavia, who now spends her time traveling between Germany, the US and India (where she is establishing an orphanage); a man from Scotland who runs a Buddhist meditation center outside of Pune; a recent French masters grad from New York; a woman from Bombay who travels between the UK and India working for a software development company, a man from Iran who works as a therapist/counselor and is translating the first book on NVC in Farsi. And me! Pretty diverse, I’d say.

I hadn’t realized that I had become so attached to “my kids.” After being away from the school for 10 days, I returned a few hours before the school closed for “half yearly” (winter) holidays. As they crowded around me to welcome me back, it suddenly hit me how much I had missed my kids. They competed amongst one another to ask me about my trip and eagerly showed me the work that they had done in the past week, and the drawings they had made.

While I was in Bangalore, the students were taking their half-yearly exams—which lasted about 10 days in total. I had quite a bit of work to do before the school could close for the holidays—recording the exam results, writing progress cards for the students (and signing all 93 of them), debriefing with the teachers and planning for the next term, paying rent and utilities for the school building, collecting and recording monthly tuition fees.

The next day, I had a meeting with the teachers in the morning, and then we took an excursion to one of the teacher’s houses for lunch. Mani lives with his mother and father in a small village about 9 km outside of Periyapalayam. So all the teachers and Ayama and I took a local bus down the main road, and then took a hatchback jeep another 4km west (as there are only two buses a day that service this remote village). Mani is an only child (quite a rare thing in villages) but his entire family—aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, neighbors came to greet us…actually it felt like a good portion of the village was there to meet us. His mom of course, cooked a huge multi course lunch—coconut rice (which she discovered from Mani, is my favorite), lemon rice, tomato rice, sambaar, rassam, appalam and plenty of sweets.

After an incredibly filling lunch, Mani took us for a tour of his village. There is one large temple (actually quite out of proportion size-wise, considering how small this village is) that we visited. I whispered my troubles into Nandi’s ear (Lord Shiva’s vehicle), who is then supposed to pass along the word to Shiva himself. We also visited Mani’s church, which is literally the smallest church I have ever visited. It is a small, unremarkable (you wouldn’t realize that it was a church if you walked by it) thatched roof, one-room building, that you have bend slightly to stand semi-upright in.

The village (the name of which I can’t seem to recall at the moment) was very peaceful and quiet—in the middle of miles of green rice fields (take a peek at my pictures—you can see one of me in a rice field. A shot that my friend likens to a scene in ‘Swades’, a new Bollywood film). Our tour continued with a visit to a near-by lake. By this time of the day, the sun was quite hot, so some of the more adventurous teachers and I hiked up our salwar kameez pant-legs and waded into the water. The teachers who were more concerned about darkening their complexion, stayed under the shade of a nearby tree.

On our way back to Mani’s house for tea, (and more sweets!) we passed the public TV room—what a genius idea! It is literally a one-room cement structure with a TV that the village shares. During big cricket matches, they place the TV outside and folks gather around in the courtyard to cheer for the Indian team.

By the time we had finished our tea, and I visited a good number of Mani’s neighbors who wanted to meet me, we missed the evening bus. So, we had to walk the 4 km back to the main road. I didn’t mind at all, because it is such a beautiful area, and I love to walk. Besides, after such an enormous lunch, I figured we could use some exercise! Several km into our walk, a young man from Mani’s village drove by us on his motorcycle. Mani stopped him, and ended up borrowing the bike to ferry all of the teachers in several trips, to the main road. Amazingly, without more than a few words, this guy willingly gave up his bike and walked from there to where ever he was going. I guess that’s just how things work in villages. A similar example: last week, I was walking to school in the morning with some of the teachers. A man rode by on a bicycle with his daughter who he was dropping at a neighboring school. Just as they passed us, the little girl’s foot caught in the bicycle wheel spokes…and made a horrible cracking noise. No sooner had the girl started wailing and the father had gotten off of the bike, did some other random guy on his motorcycle stop and the three of them rode off together towards the hospital. It all happened in a matter of seconds. It doesn’t matter if you know the person in trouble, if you’re from the same village, you just look out for one another.

December 24^th, Ebi and I took an early morning bus into Chennai. Ebi’s family is Christian, so he went to his parent’s house to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I spent a few hours at the PAM office, meeting with Ekambaram and Nathan before going to Ekambaram’s house for Christmas lunch—another incredibly filling and delicious meal. After lunch, Ekambaram and his wife insisted on taking me to buy a sari as a Christmas present. No amount of refusal on my part could dissuade them. So now I have a new beautiful purple embroidered sari.

Speaking of saris, I decided that for 2005, I would wear a sari everyday at school. This is a significant decision, because previously, I had only worn salwar kameez. Although both are standard dresses for Indian women, saris are worn by married or slightly older women—particularly for a woman of my position (a school principal, a “ma’am”) it is expected that one would wear a sari. (These rules are slightly different in urban areas, where women tend to wear salwar kameez more often, but in the village saris are by far the dress of choice). Salwar kameez are quite a bit easier to wear than saris, so despite the fact that I stand out when I wear one (because all the women around me in the village and the teachers all wear saris), I figured, “well, I’m going to stand out no matter what I do or wear, so I might as well be comfortable.” But after several months of doing this, I felt a shift in my role as school principal. I guess you could say I’ve become more comfortable identifying myself in that role, and thus wearing a sari is a symbolic indication of my coming to a new level of comfort in this role and in the village.

In theory, I know how to tie a sari, but when I am left to my own devices to do so, I end up looking like a huge ball of sari material—wrapping 6 yards of material around oneself in an attractive manner is truly an art. But because the teachers are so excited that I have decided to wear a sari daily, they agreed (two of them) to come to my house every morning before school to help me tie it properly.

I wish I had a video camera to record the reaction I got from the village the first day I showed up at the school in a sari. As soon as I left my house in the morning with Saritha and Deepa, my neighbors took notice of my new choice of outfit. “Vaaa! Suuuper!” my neighbor called after me. As we walked down the road to the school, people came out of their houses to watch me pass, and exchange commentary amongst one another. The students were thrilled, “Wow! Ma’am, beautiful!” it took a while to calm them down and coax them into lines to begin the morning assembly. I think Ayama was the most excited, she literally screamed with delight when she saw me, and proceeded to pinch and kiss my cheeks and crack her knuckles against my temples.

As the day went on, word spread through the village about me and my sari and people began arriving at the school to see for themselves. This actually became quite disruptive, to have random people from the village wandering into my classroom to have a peek at me in a sari. Ayama threatened to start charging people 10 rupees to see me! So, in short, my decision was taken with great approval in Periyapalayam.

I think I am slowly beginning to become accustomed to life in a village—where news and information spreads quicker than any form of electronic communication. Although it never ceases to amaze me that my neighbors (or even the people down the street) know what time I left the house for the market to buy vegetables, and what vegetables I bought, and then by the night’s end, what dinner I prepared. I am grateful though, that I can come to Abha’s house on the weekends, to escape into the relative anonymity of a larger city. However, my friend Mridula is quick to point out that Chennai has its own village-like dynamics when it comes to the spread of gossip and information.

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On December 25^th, Abha (my good friend from Conn. College) arrived in Chennai from Arizona. She will be in India for a little over a month (which is fast coming to an end). It has been fun to spend time with her, and since she arrived, the house seems awakened with energy and activity. This coupled by the fact that her other grandmother (Hema auntie’s mother) who lives in Bombay, has come to the house to live for a few months. Several large family events have also since taken place, bringing large numbers of the Rao family into the house. So, now there are two ajis (grandmothers) in the house—“Madras Aji” and “Bombay Aji,” auntie, uncle, Abha, myself and at any given time, a cousin, an in law, or an uncle or two.

Coming from a relatively small family myself (no aunts, uncles or cousins), I find myself attracted to large families and have thoroughly enjoyed being welcomed into the Rao family to participate in the delightful chaos of large family gatherings and social events. We held a birthday celebration and puja for Madras Aji, who turned 80 in 2004. In India apparently, this is an important age, as previously (as with many countries) the life span was much shorter. For the occasion, the house was PACKED with relatives, friends and neighbors who came to participate in the puja and pay their respects and offer their birthday wishes to Aji. Aashish (Abha’s brother) surprised everyone by flying to Chennai from San Francisco to attend the event, and spend some time with both Ajis. (Please see the pictures I posted online for more visual description of the event).

****

The morning of December 26^th, the 9.0 earthquake was strong enough to wake me from my sleep. Perhaps because I’m from San Francisco, I am particularly sensitive to earthquakes. This quake was persistent and seemed to last a very long time—almost like the rocking of a boat, rather than the quick jerky feeling of earthquakes that I have experienced in California. Little did we all know what an enormous impact this earthquake had. I came downstairs later that morning, where auntie and uncle were watching news reports on TV describing the initial death and destruction. Abha’s family lives close to the ocean, but not close enough to be affected by the tsunami. It is sobering to realize how easily things could have been different, and makes me even more aware of how precious our time in this life is.

I think I was in a state of shock for a good two weeks about how much destruction was caused in such a short amount of time. I was touched by the number of emails I received from people checking in to make sure I was ok, and sending their support. I am also heartened by the number of people worldwide who have been touched by the devastation of the tsunami, and the subsequent wave of global support for those who have been affected. I’ve been working with PAM to support some of the fishing communities along the coast that were hard hit by the tsunami. PAM is working in an area called Pulicat, and partnering with some local NGOs in Chennai to bring emergency relief materials to this area.

I went to visit this area last week—about a 2-hour journey north of Chennai. Ekambram and I traveled by motorcycle and arrived at 9:30am. The plan was to meet the rest of the PAM team and members of our partnering organizations and local volunteers, at 9:00am. But in true IST fashion (Indian Standard Time) people didn’t show up until about 1:00pm. Granted there were some delays getting the relief materials loaded onto the trucks, but as with many things in India, Ekambaram and I ended up spending a good amount of time…waiting. Since neither of us likes to waste our time in an unproductive manner, we went to visit some of the specific villages.

In this area, there are about 14 different islands with small villages (mainly fishing communities) that can only be reached by motor boat. This means that all provisions, including drinking water, have to be bought in Pulicat (or other inland areas) and then transported by boat to the islands. PAM is working mainly in 5 of the 14 villages that were hardest hit, so we took a motor boat to the village of Korakuppam (about a 1/2 boat ride from the main “port” in Palicut (port makes it sound like it’s a developed port area….but its really just a clearing along the water where the motor boats ferry people across to the various islands).

In Korakuppam, there are approximately 1,500 people who live in the village. The tsunami completely washed away the huts closest to the water—the remains of some of these huts still scatter the beach. Six people died as a result of the tsunami—two children who were crushed when their house collapsed from the force of the waves, two children who drowned and two women who were swept away into the ocean while trying to save their fishing nets. I met with some of the families and some of the mothers who had lost their children. One woman (Uma) lost all three of her children. The people I spoke with seemed quite willing to tell their stories. One woman told me about saving the life of her neighbor’s toddler—when the wave enveloped the lower laying areas of the island, the baby was buoyed up by the water, and ended up clinging to a tree. This woman made her way out to the tree to save the baby before the water receded back into the ocean.

Although sad about the loss of their children and fellow villagers, most of the people I spoke with seemed to be looking for ways to move forward from the disaster. The major concern now, relates to a decision the local government has made that all the people who live in these small coastal villages should move off the island to inland areas, to avoid any possible future tsunami disasters. However, the villagers don’t want to leave because they depend on the ocean for their livelihood. “Where would we go? How would we live?” They ask. Removed from the ocean, they would be forced to find a new means of sustaining themselves. So, most of the villagers have made up their mind to stay put, even if that means the government won’t recognize them for any relief aid.

It seemed to me that the people I spoke with were living in a state of conflicting duality. While terrified of the ocean and the unknown possibility of another tsunami, they were simultaneously dependent on the ocean as the source of their livelihood.

Around 1:00pm, Ekambaram and I headed back to the Pulicat port, by which time most of our team members, as well as three big trucks filled with “relief kits” (big plastic bags filled with relief materials) had arrived. CASA (Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action) one of our partner organizations, purchased the materials and the PAM team with help from SIGA (a local humanitarian aid group) packed the kits and loaded them onto the trucks—which I guess took 4 hours longer than expected! In total, we distributed 500 kits (to 500 families) which included non perishable food items (rice, cooking oil, spices, lentils), cooking utensils (pots, dishes etc) mats, bed sheets and blankets, soap, 2 pairs of men’s pants and shirts and two saris.

Once the trucks arrived, a large group of local volunteers (all men) crowded around to take the bags onto 8 boats docked at the water. Once the boats were loaded, the team split up to take the materials to the different islands. I went back to Korakuppam with several of the CASA representatives, a small team of female counselors and a camera crew. Concerned about the emotional trauma of the tsunami disaster, a group of about six women counselors decided to gather together and make a film that they could use in working with tsunami victims. So they contacted CASA to join us in our relief efforts and film their counseling session with the villagers. Once we arrived on the island, the boats with the relief kits following shortly behind, most of the villagers came out to the shore to carry bags from the boats to the center of the village—the temple. As you can see from my pictures, they carried all the bags on their heads. It was quite a site to see the line of village residents with huge plastic bags balanced on their heads heading up and down the island from the shore to the temple—teamwork! The village had set up a large cloth canopy stretched between the village school and the temple, that offered some shade for the large group of visitors. Slowly, a large pile of bags accumulated on the temple platform.

Meanwhile, the female counselors swung into action. They organized (and quite efficiently I must add) the villagers into groups (women, men, children and adolescents) and facilitated counseling sessions with each group—getting each to share stories and talk about the effects of the tsunami and plans for the future. The filming crew documenting as they went along. So there was quite a bit of activity and commotion taking place on this small island.

Members of our team had visited the islands the previous day to distribute cards to families that the local panchayats (village council) had identified as needing the most help. As the village gathered together, these families bringing with them their yellow cards, we organized them into a line. Ekambaram and the head representative of CASA spoke about their commitment to supporting the village—well beyond the immediate relief materials. The local panchayat leader said a few words of thanks, they called for a moment of silence to remember those who were lost and then there were plenty of posed photos as Ekambaram and CASA members handed out the first of the relief kits. The entire village worked together to pass out the materials to the appropriate families—men forming a chain to pass the materials from the temple and hand them to the women representatives for each family to take. This series of events was repeated on five islands—so it ended up being a very, very long day.

I am glad to know that there are local NGOs like PAM and CASA working together to support communities hard hit by the tsunami. I was also glad to be involved in relief efforts at the ground level. Yet, I am still concerned about what will happen several weeks from now when the public’s attention shifts elsewhere. I continue to encourage PAM to think about the longer-term support and sustainability of these villages—beyond the immediate need for food and clothes. We’re working now to develop a plan for supporting these communities in the long term—rebuilding fishing boats and getting children back into school—as well as the overall development of the islands (building a bridge to the mainland, setting up health centers and schools).

*****

I spent New Years in Bombay with my friend Priyanka (another Conn. College student). Bombay was quite a change of pace from my life in the village, but it was a lot of fun to spend time with Priyanka and take advantage of the plethora of things to do in this happening city. For New Year’s eve, we went to a party sponsored by Gay Bombay—an organization that sponsors social events, discussions and parties for the growing gay community in Bombay. All of the New Years parties in Chennai were canceled, in light of the tsunami. Many in Bombay were considering canceling their plans as well, but I think Gay Bombay found a good solution to this moral dilemma, but committing all of the revenue from the party towards relief efforts. Priyanaka and I ended up being two of only four women in the entire club of about 600 gay men. It was great fun!

While I was in Bombay, I was able to visit several friends who I met during the NVC training in Bangalore, (my favorite Bombay couple) which was fun. Caught a Bollywood film, ate some delicious meals and plenty of Bombay chaat (snacks), did some shopping and visited Hajiali (a mosque built on a small island) and the Hare Krishna temple. I also took a day trip to Pune, by bus, to visit several more folks from the training. I was met in Lanovala (a hill station an hour outside of Pune) by Suvajra, (the guy from Scottland who runs the Buddhist meditation center). From the bus stop, we took an old jeep for another hour to reach the meditation center—which required traversing dirt roads (actually, I wouldn’t call them roads…more like paths) that become river beds during monsoon season when several waterfalls in the surrounding hills empty into the valley below where the center is located. Needless to say, the center is located in a gorgeous area (most meditation centers that I know have a knack for being located in extremely peaceful and beautiful settings). The oldest Buddhist cave temples in India are located in this same valley. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to visit them—I’ll leave that for another trip. Suvajra and I spent the afternoon at the center, and then took a train into Pune where I visited another Buddhist meditation center and social service office (run by Friends of the Western Buddhist Order - FWBO). I also visited a girl’s hostel, (a project supported by FWBO) where girls, ages 7 – 16 can live and be supported while they attend school. I had a quick visit with two other members from the NVC training and then jumped back on a bus to Bombay—quite a whirlwind trip!

*****

Although I have cut back on the number of classes that I teach, (as I try to focus more on my duties as Principal) I am still teaching 6^th/7^th standard English and Geography, and a Spoken English class for each standard. I think I’ve mentioned that I have long since thrown out the English and Geography books for both classes (I find them completely irrelevant and un-engaging). Instead, I create my own lesson plans that I hope the students find much more interesting and in tune with their academic needs. This of course, means more time/work for me, in actually creating lesson plans. But I am happy to say that each member of the 6^th and 7^th standard class is now able (among many other things) to identify all seven continents, locate most major countries on a globe and identify the country’s capital, fold a paper crane from memory, identify definite and indefinite articles and use them appropriately in a sentence, alphabatize and ask questions in English using complete sentences (none of which they were able to do even one month ago).

I try to use innovative methods in my Spoken English classes, not only to get the students excited about learning, but also to inspire the teachers to break out of the well-trodden standards of wrote memorization and hands-off learning. At least from the student’s perspective, I am accomplishing this goal. They are incredibly excited about Spoken English class and ask me after each period, “ma’am! Spoken class?” with hopeful and expectant eyes, even though they well know the schedule and when they have Spoken English class with me.

A very popular activity with 2^nd and 3^rd standard, are flashcards. I go through a large stack of cards (I picked up from a Chennai-based educational trust) with the class—some known and some new vocabulary words—both pictures and text of the word. You should see the students as they nearly fall off their benches in their eagerness to learn the new words. Then I break the students into two groups, and have them sit in a circle, or a “round” as they call it. I mix two sets of cards (one for each team) and lay them backside-up on the floor at the center of the circle. When I give the signal, the teams have to turn over the cards, and match the picture with the corresponding word and make one long line of cards. This activity not only teaches them new English vocabulary words, but they also learn to work as a team. They LOVE it.

I continue to lead students in arts and crafts projects, with the wonderful materials that we have received from generous individuals and organizations in the U.S. Recently, I’ve been working with students on various projects to decorate the school. 6^th and 7^th standard made a banner that says “VICTORIA MATRICULATION SCHOOL” using a collage method. 4^th and 5^th standard each designed a card (the old principal of the previous school left several boxes of his business cards in the school office, so I’m trying to think of creative ways of reusing the cards) one card for each letter of the school’s name. If any of you have other good ideas for arts and crafts projects, or fun activities (academic or non-academic) especially for 1^st – 3^rd grade level, and 4^th – 7^th grade level, please let me know!

I had a meeting with Ekambaram towards the beginning of January, where he made it quite clear that the school is in an emergency situation in terms of funds. Perhaps there was some miscommunication earlier, as I seemed to think that Ekambaram had a plan for sustaining the school financially in the long term. But I was mistaken…there is none. The entire financial responsibility of the school is pretty much on my shoulders…which has been stressing me out recently. Although PAM and Ekambaram are essentially the ones responsible for sustaining the school, they are quite busy with other PAM projects (like the tsunami relief efforts).

I have spent the majority of this month in Chennai, where I have access to a phone and to the internet, to work on fundraising efforts. Thanks to some key brainstorming sessions with mom, I’m working on developing a more sustainable financial model for the school and have plans to implement a completely new funding structure for this coming academic year. But for now, I am focused on finding funds to cover our operating costs for the end of the academic year (April).

As always, I am continually updating the photos I post online—either I’ll create a new folder of pictures, or add pictures to the already established folders. Take a peek at some of the new photos: http://photos.yahoo.com/ellinagairothe

Congratulations! You have reached the end of Elli’s update # 4!

Take care and be well.

Love,

Elli

India Update # 3

12/13/04

Hello all!

I heard from several people that my last update was “the longest email they had ever received.” Sorry for their lengthiness, but there is simply so much to share and I don’t have much opportunity to email—so everything comes out in one massive update.

As can be expected, a lot has happened in the past month.

The weather has cooled down a bit, and my neighbors in the village are wrapping themselves in shawls and caps complaining about it being too cold. (Keep in mind, the temperature is still well in the 70s and 80s). It’s hard for me to believe that December has arrived already and even harder for me to imagine how cold it actually must be where you all are in the states. I hope you all had an enjoyable thanksgiving. I can honestly say, I completely forgot about thanksgiving this year. I am so far removed from all things American at this point, that it didn’t really occur to me that it was November, and that thanksgiving is celebrated in the month of November. A friend from Conn. who is in Mysore at the moment, reminded me the day before thanksgiving, so I did manage to call home to wish mom and dad.

For the moment, I am still teaching a full course load, which is taking its toll. Being a full time teacher and a principal at the same time just doesn’t work. I’ll be in the middle of explaining the difference between the comparative and the superlative in my English grammar class, or having my 4^th standard students role play the story from their “moral” books when a parent will arrive at the school to pay their child’s monthly fees, and I have to leave the class to take the money, write a bill, and record the balance. Or, the PAM director will make a visit to the school and I’ll have to sit with him and discuss school finances or repairing our school benches, and have to leave my class to carry on by themselves.

So, my priority for the past few weeks has been to find one (preferably two) new teachers, so I can focus my attention on my responsibilities as principal—as well as jump into some massive fundraising efforts (more on this later). We did hire a new teacher this week, to work with the little ones (lower and upper kindergarten primarily)—Subha. We’ve commandeered her from a neighboring school. She is sweet and has a decent amount of experience in working with younger students. She barely speaks any English, which is a bit of a problem as I am working to make VMS an actual English medium school as we claim to be. Currently, most of the teachers conduct their classes primarily or exclusively in Tamil. I’m still looking for a teacher with higher qualifications (a college degree and or a teaching certificate) to teacher some of the upper standards (particularly in math and science), and I’m hoping to find someone with some proficiency in English, which in turn would be beneficial in improving the student’s English proficiency. If any of you are interested (and I have already spoken to a few of you about this) in coming to VMS to teach, please get in touch with me! Or if anyone knows of someone who would be interested, please pass along the word.

I recently started an activity room at the school. I cleaned out a small room behind the school office which has now been designated for arts and crafts projects and activities. It is a small room, and we don’t have any furniture, so students sit on the floor. Thanks to the generous donation of several individuals and the American Friends Service Committee, the school now has a modest collection of school supplies and arts and crafts materials. Prior to this, there was absolutely nothing in the way of school supplies. The students absolutely LOVE doing arts and crafts projects, many of whom have never used a crayon or a pair of scissors. Most recently, I had them use old scraps of recycled paper and candy wrappers to make collages and mosaics of the sun, moon, stars and their names. The idea is to get them to reuse old waste and use it to create something beautiful. Arts and crafts projects are completely new for these students, so my hope is to develop individual thought and creativity. I wish you could see how excited the kids are to be doing these projects. “M’aam, can we have arts and crafts period now?” They’ll ask me at every period.

I’ve also taught the students origami—which has been a big hit, especially with the older students. My 6^th and 7^th standard students in particular, love to fold paper cranes. Since I had them read “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” (as I mentioned in my last email), folding cranes has been a nice complimentary activity and a great way of decorating the activity room (making paper crane chains). Origami is truly an activity that brings people together—transcending all cultural, geographic or linguistic boundaries.

One of my friends from Conn., Dave, who is studying in Mysore on the SATA India program came to Periyapalayam last weekend. Originally, he was just going to come to visit the village and the school. But then generously offered his video/film expertise (he is a film studies major) to make a video about the school. What started out as a cheesy 2 minute publicity video has quickly developed into a much larger documentary style project. We ended up doing six recorded interviews—four with students and their families in their homes, one with Ekambaram, and one with me. I think Dave got lots of good footage of the school, the kids, classes as well as life in Periyapalayam and the surrounding villages. My hope is to use the video for fundraising purposes, and to highlight the good work of PAM in their support of this school project, and the unique vision of the school.

As can be imagined, the kids were thoroughly excited to be the center of camera attention. we (our camera team) were also the center of attention—ok, mainly just dave and I. our team—Dave, Ebi, Mani (VMS teacher) and I caused quite a commotion as we walked through the village, camera and tripod in hand, visiting various students in their homes. Everyone stopped what they were doing, and came out of their houses to watch us pass by. Most folks have never seen a foreigner in the village (besides me of course!) and definitely not a camera team (as make shift as we were).

Now that the filming is finished, the difficult part begins—editing and putting together all the footage into a cohesive and compelling video. Add to this the fact that the cameraman and editor is in the US (or will be in about a week) and the director is in a village with no internet access. A challenge indeed!

Making the video actually helped me clarify and articulate what the vision of the school is and why VMS is different from any of the other schools in the area. in fact, that is the question we decided to focus on in the film: “what makes Victoria Matriculation School different?” we got various answers from the students and families—a focus on spoken English, quality education at a minimal cost, innovative teaching methods, van transportation service, development of both academic and non academic talents in students, arts and crafts etc.

One conversation in particular, that Ekambaram and I had with a parent sums up pretty well what I see as the main difference: in talking about a few of the schools in the area, the father said, “running a school is like running a business.” Ekambaram and I were quick to disagree. “We see running a school as a service, not as a business” we told him. VMS’s vision is to provide education for rural students, particularly those from marginalized and economically disadvantaged communities—genuinely providing opportunities for these children, without the aim of making money. Additionally, Ekambaram’s vision for the school is to develop a learning environment that fosters mutual respect and highlights equality among all communities, in place of religious, or caste divisions and discrimination.

Unfortunately, many school management teams in Indian matriculation schools rake in loads of money that ends up padding their own pockets, without putting that money towards the developing the school or the educational opportunities of the students. a challenge for us (for me in particular) as I go out to seek funders to support the long term objectives of the school, will be to set VMS apart from the school money-making racket that takes place.

So, this brings me to the massive fundraising efforts that I am about to jump headlong into. We’re in a bit of a financial crisis at the moment—I’m not sure where the money for the teacher’s salaries (and my salary) will come from for next month. Thus far, all the money for our monthly operating costs (teacher salaries, rent for the school building, electricity bill etc) has been put on loans that PAM has gotten from a bank and from a fellow NGO. Apparently, the loan runs out by December 31^st. So I need to work quickly to find a more sustainable means of covering our monthly costs. If you put things into dollar terms, it doesn’t actually add up to all that much. I regret to inform you, that our teacher’s salaries are dismally low—not even minimum wage. The highest paid teacher gets Rs. 800 per month (about $17 a month). No wonder we’re not able to find a replacement teacher, with a salary range that low. Our basic monthly costs add up to about Rs. 12,500 (roughly $270 per month). One of my top priorities is to raise our teacher’s salaries—but at the moment, that isn’t possible, as we’re not even able to cover the meager amount that they are getting. I think this is definitely do-able. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to connect willing supporters to our specific needs.

I’m also working on some of our longer term objectives: gaining government recognition for the school, buying land and constructing a new school building. At the moment, we rent the land (about an acre and a half) and two small school buildings. The space that we have is entirely too small to accommodate all of our 103 students. During recess and lunch time, the meager school yard (more like a corridor) are extremely crowded. Ideally, we would like to have at least five acres of land for the students to have plenty of space to play. We’d also like to have proper classrooms—rather than one large classroom that holds six to seven different classes at any one time. Running water and additional toilets are also on our wish list.

One key element for the school is gaining government recognition. This is a lengthy, bureaucratic process, but something that is ultimately of great importance for any school. Presently in Periyapalayam, none of the schools have recognition (even the government sponsored school across the street from us). Having recognition means that the school passes an acceptable standard of academic quality, sanitary needs, building stability and the like. It also means that the school is eligible for government grants and various programs (like the provision of mid-day meals). And more importantly, recognition is essential for any student who wants to continue into higher education. Only recognized schools are allowed to give a student an academic transcript—which is obviously needed for college and beyond. If you attended a non-recognized school, its as though you have no academic record. and thus aren’t able to attend any institution of higher education, which in turn limits one’s ability to access a competitive job market. The reality in many villages like Periyapalayam is that most students do not continue past 10^th or 12^th standard—if they even get that far. I’m hoping we can change that at VMS, but we need recognition in order to do so. If we are able to get recognition, then it would fill a great need in this area—where there are no recognized schools within 20 km of Periyapalayam.

Also, if we do get recognition, we’ll have the support of several local organizations in India. The Rotary Club of Madras, for example, is ready to support the school by purchasing new classroom furniture, but only if the school is recognized. The likelihood of finding additional organizations to support us increases exponentially with recognition.

PAM has already submitted our application for recognition, but the major factor hindering us from moving forward is our lack of land. One major criteria is having sufficient land space that is proportional to the number of students attending the school. We don’t have sufficient land at this time. Once we purchase a larger area of land and show our intent of developing a proper school building, my understanding is that we’ll be able to get approval for recognition. So, essentially, although this is one massive project—the pieces of which are all connected—finding funds for land is the key factor in moving the school forward.

If any of you are interested in supporting the school in anyway—whether contributing towards the fund to purchase new land, or sponsoring a teacher’s monthly salary, sponsoring a classroom in our yet-to-be-built school building, or sending any used books, or a pencil—we would be extremely grateful to have your support. Please don’t feel in any way obligated, only if you feel moved to do so—I thought I would put it out there.

Even passing along information to me about organizations or individuals who you think might be able to help, would be very helpful. I’ve copied our wish list (which I am continually updating) below.

Victoria Matriculation School Wish List

12/13/04

1.) * Sponsor a teacher ($20 per month) Cover the monthly salary of a teacher.

2.) * Cover our school rent ($65 per month) At the moment, we are located in a rented school building, that was built in the early 70’s. It hasn’t been well maintained, and is slowly beginning to fall apart. For the moment however, in order for us not to be kicked out of the building, we need to cover our monthly rent.

3.) * New Land—($6,500 per acre) given the above mentioned conditions of the school, our long term goal is to purchase our own land and construct a new school building. Presently, we rent a total of about an acre and a half worth of land. There is no play space for the students, so during lunch or recess the small yard we have is extremely crowded and most students end up staying indoors. Our goal is to have at least 5 acres of land, with plenty of open space for the students to run and play.

4.) * New School Building—On the new land, we hope to construct a new school building with proper classroom facilities (presently all the upper classes are in one large, noisy classroom), a library (none exists at the school), toilets (we have one outdoor squat toilet for 103 students) science laboratory, auditorium and playground.

5.) * School Van—($3,130 left on the loan) PAM recently purchased a school van that picks up the students from their homes in surrounding villages in the morning, and drops them back home in the afternoon. The cost of the van has been put on a loan that we don’t have the funds to pay back. Without this van, more than 60% of our students would have no way of coming to school everyday.

6.) School benches—the benches that we are using for 2^nd-7^th standard are falling apart.

7.) Chairs for LKG, UKG and 1^st standard students. There are no chairs for these three standards, so they sit on a mat on the floor. (A mat, I might add, that is quickly disintegrating).

8.) Desks and chairs for the teachers. The few desks that we have for the teachers are rusted, the drawers broken or non-existent. The UKG and 1^st standard class teachers do not have chairs to sit in, so they stand during their classes, or sit on the floor with the children.

9.) Computer(s)—We have one desktop computer that was donated by an electronics company in Chennai. During the recent monsoons, the computer was damaged by rain (due to our leaky school roofs) and no longer works. VMS offers computer classes for 2^nd-7^th standard classes, but presently their learning is completely theory based (from books) without any hands-on learning on an actual computer. Our dream would be to have a computer lab—with several computers (with internet access) for students to use.

10.) School supplies—pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, glue sticks, scissors, scotch tape, markers, paints, paper clips, chalk etc. Recently three boxes of school supplies and arts and crafts materials arrived from several generous donors and the American Friends Service Committee. Prior to these materials, the school had literally nothing in the way of school supplies. We’re still grateful for any additional supplies that we can get our hands on.

11.) Arts and craft materials—As I recently started an Activity Room where I’m having the kids do all sorts of arts and crafts projects, any supplies for arts projects would be very useful.

12.) Books—I am trying to begin a small, modest library at the school, for the students to have access to books (story books, picture books and short novels) in English. We have about 30 books in our collection at the moment. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias or reference books are especially helpful.

* Indicates top priority level

Now to continue with some non-finance related updates. Last weekend, Hema auntie came to Periyapalayam to conduct a two day teacher’s training workshop. As Hema has recently started her own organization, conducting workshops in local schools in Chennai to develop their educational goals, it was a great honor to have her come to Periyapalayam to work with our teachers. We ended up co-facilitating the workshop, which focused on teamwork, effective communication, clarifying the role of the teacher and improving teaching strategies and methodologies. We also worked on clarifying our shared vision for the school and identified our short and long term goals. I put my facilitation and graphic recording skills to work, creating wall charts of our discussion as we went along.

I was very happy with the workshop—I think it went extremely well, especially given the fact that none of the teachers had ever participated in a workshop before. Hema has a lovely way of weaving tons of stories into the workshop to use as examples to highlight her points and we worked very well together. We did plenty of activities and games, all of which served a larger purpose of course (team building, understanding group dynamics and effective communication). I think the teachers learned a lot—and I hope gained some new perspectives/ideas on introducing some innovative teaching methods into their classes—getting away from the rote memorization style that is rampant here.

We’ve finally developed a school logo, and finalized our school motto: Education, Equality, Empowerment. I reviewed the final proof for our school diary, which will be printed next week. It is about 5 months behind schedule, but better late than never, I guess. I picked up my visiting/business cards today—so I’ll feel a tad more professional when I meet folks and talk about our school.

Half yearly exams begin on Monday the 13^th, and go until December 22^nd. I still think this is an excessive amount of time to be in exam-mode, but I can’t change the new laws put in place by the Indian government that requires only one exam be taken per day. I’ll be heading to Bangalore on Monday morning to attend an international workshop on Non Violent Communication, which I am looking forward to. Half yearly (winter) holidays begin on December 23^rd and go until January 3^rd. I’ll be heading to Bombay to visit a Conn. camel and her family for new years, which I am also looking forward to.

I think that’s about it. I could probably go on for several more pages with all sorts of things to tell you, but I’ll stop for now and give you the web address for my online pictures again, which I’ve updated with all sorts of new pictures (check out the VMS folder, as well as the Periyapalayam folder).

http://photos.yahoo.com/ellinagairothe

I hope you are all well. I wish you happy holidays.

Love,

Elli

India Update # 2

11/11/04

Hello all!

Firstly, Happy Diwali! and Eid Mubarak!

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote, so prepare yourselves for a long and detailed update!

For those of you who would prefer to just look through my pictures, click here for a whole new set of updated pictures: http://photos.yahoo.com/ellinagairothe

I arrived in Periyapalayam by taxi on Monday morning October 25^th, with my luggage. Nathan, the PAM communications director, accompanied me, as Ekambaram was out of town. We stopped first at the school, to pick up Ebi (Ebenezer) who had the keys to our new house. I spent some time sitting in on a few of the classes and then had lunch (ordered from a nearby hole in the wall hotel/restaurant) with Nathan in the school office. The hotel sends your lunch to go wrapped in a banana leaf and twine.

After lunch, Ebi, Nathan and I arrived at the house (or what I now lovingly call my concrete box) and surveyed what was in place….pretty much nothing. Despite reassurance from Ekambaram that everything would be finished and in place (lights, fans, bed, dresser, running water, a new paint job) absolutely nothing was finished. But I wasn’t surprised. In fact it was all rather amusing. Nathan and Ebi went around the house, trying to figure out why our water tank wasn’t working. There is a well in front of our house, (please refer to the pictures I posted online for visual aids) which is supposed to pump water in from the community well. From there, a motor pumps water into a water tank on the roof—meaning we would then have running water in the house. In theory, this is all supposed to work. But Ebi and Nathan had no luck with it.

Slowly, people were called to the house to bring and/or fix things. A neighbor boy was sent to get a fan, a local electrician arrived to install the lights. The school van was sent to pick up a dresser from the school and transport it to the house. Another guy came to look at the water tank (still no luck). By the time things got rolling, school had finished and all the teachers came over to the house to help me get settled. I was sent to Shanthi’s house (one of the teachers and also my next door neighbor) to have tea with Shanthi and her family. Meanwhile, someone went to buy a kerosene stove, a pot and some milk. I found out later, that there is a tradition of boiling sweet milk when one moves into a new house and sharing the milk with one’s neighbors. So soon I was back at the house, now filled with more neighbors. It was a zoo, Aiyama (school maid) was cleaning, people were running around trying to fix the water tank, more items were being purchased for the house (a broom, cleaning materials for the toilet, more fuel for the stove) curious neighbors and passer-bys poked their heads in to see what the commotion was all about. Several of the teachers were wrestling with the cumbersome kerosene stove and fuel without the aid of a funnel…somewhat of a pungent mess. Finally the stove was working, (after being pumped) and soon the milk was boiled, sugar added and several stainless steel tumblers were passed around. I was amazed we fit so many people into that small little kitchen. But it was all very sweet. I felt quite welcomed into my new home and into the village by the teachers and my new neighbors.

The next task was dinner. Seeing as we had no food in the house, Shanthi offered to make chapattis for Ebi and me. So someone was sent to fetch a mixing bowl, flour, salt, oil, her chapatti board and rolling pin. She sat on the kitchen floor and rolled chapattis for us. Sharfun and Saritha (two other teachers) also stayed as the sun set and darkness set in. Ebi was running around doing all sorts of errands, and the teachers refused to let me stay in the house alone. Sharfun helped me to lay newspaper (as lining) on the cement shelves in the kitchen and my bedroom, so I could unpack some of my things. Someone brought a vegetable “side dish” that Shanthi’s mom had prepared for Ebi and I to eat with our freshly made chapattis. Aiyama fussed over me, pinching my cheeks, kissing my hands and cracking her knuckles against her temples (to take away the evil eye). It turns out that Ekambaram arranged to have her come to the house every morning and evening to help with the chores and food preparation.

I soon discovered that the power (or “current” as they say here) is never a given. It goes on and off at regular intervals whenever it feels like it, for no apparent reason. But especially when it rains. And the first few days that I spent in the village were quite rainy. I’m glad I thought to buy candles in Chennai before I came to PP. I sat many a night in bed, writing in my journal by candle light.

So my housing accommodations are very basic. But pretty much everything I need is there, minus the running water. But hey, who really needs running water anyway? Aiyama fills several plastic jugs from either the community well, or our personal well every morning when she comes at 6:00 or 6:30am—carrying them on her hip or her head. We use these jugs for our daily water needs—cooking and bathing mostly. It took me a few days to get used to things, but now I’d say I’m pretty well adjusted. My level of tolerance for dirt has raised significantly. It’s just impossible to stay clean for very long in a village, so you just accept that and move on with your life. Getting used to using a bucket of water and a plastic mug in place of toilet paper was probably the thing that took the longest to get used to…but its amazing, out of necessity, how quickly one adapts.

I am so thankful that I brought a mosquito net with me! I think my room is a breeding ground for mosquitoes or something…I swear they wait, hiding in the corners and fly out to attack when I come into the room. Now geckos are my best friends—nice big ones that defy gravity to catch mosquitoes (and other winged creatures) as they fly towards the ceiling.

Aiyama is a funny woman—she has great facial expressions, particularly when she knows she is doing something wrong, (like throwing garbage into the neighbor’s yard) she looks like a mischievous child. She comes early, fills the water jugs, sweeps, does the dishes from the night before, runs errands (like getting milk for early morning tea), keeps me company while I cook breakfast and lunch and then leaves around 8:00am to clean the school. She carries on in Tamil, having full length conversations with me, and I don’t have a clue what she is talking about. So i talk back in English, and sometimes we manage to get our points across. As previously mentioned, she’ll crack her knuckles for me at least twice a day. Last week, she insisted on brushing and braiding my hair as I sat drinking my morning tea. Yet she has taken to calling me “maaa!” and Ebi “appaa!” (mom and dad) which I think is a rather funny title to give us.

So, I jumped right in as principal, without an orientation. It went quite a bit smoother than I thought it would—in fact, all things considered, I think my first week at VMS went extremely well. The teachers were not helpful in providing much orientation, so it was up to me to ask tons of questions, specific questions that is, to get a better sense of how things run and what needs to be done. The teachers have however, been very sweet and welcoming and open to my ideas and suggestions.

I learned the morning of my first day at school that I would be teaching several classes, in addition to my duties as principal. I am now the class teacher for 6^th and 7^th standard English, Social/History and Geography. Seeing as I wasn’t aware of this fact until that very morning, I didn’t have time to prepare a proper lesson plan. So i winged it—which I can be good at sometimes. It went well.

I soon learned that popular Indian teaching methodology puts the text book as THE final word. Teachers follow it without fail, and don’t infuse much outside creativity into their lesson plans. (Please note, I am not making a generalization about all Indian teachers, but simply making an observation about the majority that I have met and interacted with) Actually, I haven’t really noticed any sort of lesson planning, as the text book already has everything laid out.

Another issue I quickly discovered is the “questionanswer” methodology that guides all learning. Judging from its name, you can imagine what this involves: at the end of each lesson, there are chapter questions. The teacher writes the question on the board, followed by the answer. The student copies down both question and answer and is expected to memorize the information. An oral test on these sets of questionanswers will be given either the next day or the following day. So essentially, the student is not actually learning anything. They memorize words they don’t even know the meaning of, let alone are able to pronounce.

Clearly, I wasn’t going to follow this same methodology. The 6^th and 7^th standard English books were boring, outdated and far too advanced for my student’s level of English comprehension. So i threw them out, and started my students on a new book—“Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.” I’m sure many of you have read it, or know the story. It’s about a young girl who is diagnosed with leukemia as a result of the Hiroshima bombing. So far they’re making good progress. By the end of the week, I taught them how to fold a paper crane, which was a huge hit. Word spread and soon all the students were asking me to teach them—even some of the teachers. Yesterday, I held a larger crane folding class, with 4^th and 5^th standard and a few teachers. I have a feeling more origami classes will follow.

After a few days of a combination of teaching, observing, talking with the teachers and the director, and partaking in my principal duties, I made a few changes. Change number one was teaching methodology. I tried to explain to the teachers that in using the questionanswer format, students were not actually learning or understanding the material. They were more open to the idea than I thought they would be, agreeing that my suggestion was correct. So, I told them that they could give the students the questions from the lesson, but they should have the students find the answer, and then have a class discussion about what was correct and what wasn’t. It’s taken some time, but I think the teachers are finally starting to do this. This is going to require some additional support for them, in terms of training on how to lead class discussions and ask questions of the students that are not included in the text book lessons. I’m working on that….

My 2^nd day in PP, Ekambaram and his wife came to stay with us. There is an extra room in the unit directly above our house, which Ekambaram has decided to rent out as well, in case any “guests” come to stay. Ekambaram and his wife made sure that I had all the materials and house supplies that I needed. I had already gone shopping with Hemma auntie in Chennai for a pressure cooker, a cooking pot, stainless steel plates, spices and a few other kitchen items. But I went shopping again with Ebi, Ekambaram and his wife Victoria (yes, the school is named after her) and Aiyama. We bought all kinds of things—more plastic buckets, more stainless steel items, a mat, a lunch tiffin box set, ladles, food items, a big sack of rice, containers to hold oil, salt and sugar and a bunch of village-style kitchen items I have no idea how to use.

Ekambaram’s wife cooked dinner for us that night, so we all ate very well. They stayed the night and Ekambaram spent the next day arranging things like getting us a gas stove instead of our kerosene one, trying to figure out the water situation etc.Victoria even made us lunch for that next day, which was nice.

At lunch time, the students eat first, saying a lunchtime prayer and then eating in two lines—the lower and upper standards in different buildings. Some of the local moms come during lunch to bring their child’s lunch and feed them. The teachers eat once the students are finished and are outside playing (what little yard area there is on the school grounds). We all bring our lunches in tiffin boxes, rinsing our hands before we eat, and everyone shares whatever they have brought. It’s actually a very communal and social kind of activity, teachers serving one another with their hand from their own tiffin box. Commenting on the quality (or lack thereof) of the food next ensures, with much joking and laughing. I think its during these lunch periods that I managed to bond so quickly with the teachers.

Before I arrived at the school, I was nervous that the teachers would be very resentful of me. As I am young, foreign, don’t speak Tamil and don’t really have experience in a school administrator role. But to my pleasant surprise, the teachers were more than happy to accept me in this new role and acted as if I had always been there as the principal. They address me with respect, “m’am or miss” but simultaneously have a friendly relationship with me (particularly after school hours), as they are all about the same age as I am. Actually, only shanthi is older than I am. Ebi is the same age and everyone else is younger.

Over the next few days, I was able to make some minor adjustments in the class schedule (“time table”). I cleaned out and organized the school office, sorting old files and designating more efficient use of current files. Took stock of what was needed (materials, supplies and items like a first aid kit) and bought what few things I could find in the village stores. I created an attendance policy, outlined some basic rules and regulations, created a school mission statement, set the school holidays and exam schedule for the rest of the year and drafted what they call here a “school diary” (a small book with all the basic school info, rules, class timetables, the school calendar and pages for homework assignments and permission to leave letters) which I need to finalize this weekend.

I held a staff meeting on Wednesday, to go over all the new rules and policies and get feedback from the teachers. I banned peeing outside of the bathroom (a bad habit in India) as well as corporal punishment. Instead, if the teachers believe that a student needs punishment, I insist that teachers find “more creative punishments” like having the students pick up garbage in the school yard, or punishment that in more in line with the student’s behavior. For example, if a student does not complete their homework, instead of hitting them, having them stay in the classroom during lunch until they finish their homework.

My other main daily duties include collecting monthly school fees, writing receipts, monitoring the meager school finances, and keeping track of the daily school van trips.

So far I’ve found the students to be very well behaved for the most part, and extremely cute. They enthusiastically greet me every morning “good morning M’aam” with a salute. And again in the afternoon, “good afternoon M’aam” or anytime I enter a classroom to teach a class. I don’t think its necessary to stand and say good morning each time a student sees me, but old habits die hard, so I go along with it.

So far, the only punishments I’ve had to give are for students who come to school without shoes (as all students are expected to wear their uniform, including shoes and socks). I am a bit torn about this, because often students aren’t wearing shoes because they can’t afford them. I think the reasons for this uniform rule need to be reviewed if this is the main reason that students come to school without shoes.

About mid week, I discovered that one of our teachers was moving to Chennai that weekend and taking another job. So much for 2 weeks notice. She actually ended up staying a week longer than she thought, but at the present moment, we are one teacher short. So I am in search of new teachers. If any of you are interested in coming to Periyapalayam to teach, or know anyone who is, please let me know. I can cover your housing and food expenses and a modest monthly salary. Plus, the kids are adorable!

So for the time being, I am taking on a full teaching load, teaching all 7 periods, sometimes two classes simultaneously. We’ve had to adjust the schedule a bit to accommodate for one less teacher, which usually means at least one or two teachers end up with two classes during one period. so in addition to my 6^th and 7^th standard classes, I teach the spoken English classes for 4^th and 5^th standard, the moral and science class for 4^th standard and the math class for the UKG students. This leaves me with very little time for my principal duties, or to even think about longer term sustainability planning for the school. I’m meeting with Ekambaram this weekend to make a plan for hiring a new teacher, pronto.

By the end of the week, I felt as if I had been there a month—since I was able to accomplish quite a bit and jump right into things. On Saturday, I called the teachers to the office to collect their monthly salary. Ekambaram was supposed to arrive from Chennai with the money for their salaries. So we planned to meet at 10:00am. I should have taken Indian standard time (IST) into account….because Ekambaram arrived at 1:00pm. So, the teachers and I sat in the office waiting. But of course we’re all used to IST, so we made a game of it and took bets on when Ekambaram would actually arrive. We also gave Sudha (the teacher that is leaving) a going away present. It was a rainy day, and the office roof leaks. But everyone was in good spirits, so we played charades, and sang songs for 3 hours. An unexpected bonding opportunity for all of us. Mani borrowed a bit pot from the landlady to use as a tabla, and Sudha and Deepa sang all sorts of Tamil songs. Sharfun and Shanthi and I sang Hindi songs. It was great.

Once Ekambaram arrived, the mood became serious again, as I counted and recounted each teacher’s pay, making note in our accounts book. Ekambaram brought one of the Victoria Educational Trust members with him, so we all went to the house for lunch—teachers included. It was a full house—we ordered from that same hotel and ate on banana leaves on the floor.

I left for Chennai later that afternoon—taking a incredibly bumpy bus ride to the main Chennai bus terminal and then an auto rickshaw to Abha’s house. I had made arrangements several weeks prior, to meet up with the Conn. College SATA India 2004 (the same program I did in India in 2000) folks during the end of their temple architecture tour to Goa. So, I took a 5 hour train ride from Chennai to Bangalore, where I met Raju (the India correspondent/program director)’s wife, Vidya, who was also meeting the group in Goa. From Bangalore, we took a 14 hour overnight train ride to Goa. Left the station Sunday late afternoon and arrived in Goa at 5am Monday morning. We checked into the Kenilworth beach resort, where we met the SATA group several hours later as they came in from Bombay. I went through a mini culture shock once I arrived at the resort…having come directly from village life, I was suddenly in a huge luxurious beach resort that catered to European tourists and rich Indians on holiday. I hadn’t seen so many white people in one place since I left the US! The facilities were expansive...three pools, tennis courts, a gym, huge scrumptious buffets and of course, just a pleasant walk away from the beach. So it was a bit of a shock at first, but I must admit, it was nice to have a hot shower (as opposed to my cold water bucket baths), western style toilets and be able to walk around the beach in a bikini top (probably the only time I’ll be able to do that while I’m in India). My week with the SATA kids was the only time I’ve worn western clothes since I arrived in India. It was also really nice to see some of my Conn. friends—Kaye and Dave being the two Conn. folks I am closest with of the group. It was also nice to exchange stories about India and my experiences here with Americans in India, as opposed to Indians.

Most of the time in Goa was spent on the beach, or in the hotel, glued to the TV as we followed the US presidential elections…this quickly became depressing. And by Wednesday night, we were all thoroughly depressed. I don’t have much to comment on present state of affairs with the prospect of four more years…but take slight reprieve in the fact that I am presently living outside of the US.

One of our days in Goa, we took a bus to visit an old Portuguese house, built in the 15^th century. For those who aren’t familiar with Goa, it was once colonized by the Portuguese, so there is a strong Christian influence in this area. For every numerous Hindu temple or shrine that may be in another locality, there is a church or a shrine to the virgin Mary in Goa. After lunch, and during a rather long bus ride to Panjim, our bus decided to break down…on some small Goan countryside back road. Typical. It took about 2 hours for another bus to come—Raju on the phone yelling at the travel agency the entire time. I was reminded again about the level of comfort and convenience that one experiences on a SATA program. The program is quite comfortable—no meal is had in any non-AC restaurant likewise, likewise with the hotels. You’re driven around in an AC bus, all transportation is taken care of—its all very convenient. Americans tend to be very conspicuous in India—but a group of 18 Americans together in one place at one time is terribly conspicuous. I try my best when I travel, to blend in as much as possible (minus the fact that my face usually makes me an “other” or an outsider in most places). Despite these American group dynamics, I enjoyed myself, because I was reminded that I was only part of this group as a guest for a few days (and Conn. paid the bill! :0)

So where was I? Oh, so a new bus finally came and took us to Panjim, where a boat was waiting to take us on a tour of the river. In 2000, we did a similar trip…but it was an extremely crowded boat, the majority of the passengers being male and drunk and there was quite a bit of groping going on. So this year, they hired an entire boat, so we had the boat and the dance floor to ourselves. Which I thought was very excessive, but definitely eliminated the grop-fest. Oh, did I mention that there are DJs and a bar and a few evening entertainment pieces included on these boat tours? It made for a memorable evening. Dave and I made sure the DJ played plenty of Hindi songs, and plenty of bhangra.

On Thursday, we took an overnight train from Goa to Bangalore. The SATA folks sat in AC 1^st class and I sat in non-AC 2^nd class (there weren’t enough tickets available)--quite a different experience in terms of seating and sleeping arrangements. But I didn’t mind in the least, as I much prefer any form of travel without AC. In my compartment, I had the freedom of hanging out the side of the train (sure, not the safest thing to do you may think, but such a fun way to ride a train!) I was able to witness our voyage through the mountains as the sun set, with the wind in my hair…can’t get much better than that.

We arrived in Bangalore early in the morning on Friday, and took 3 hour bus ride to Mysore. So in summary, my week break involved a lot of traveling! I stayed with the SATA folks in their dorm rooms at the JC women’s college guest house in Mysore. Tons of changes to SATA India program have been made since I participated in the program in 2000—all for the better. After subsequent years of trial and error, I think they have a lot of things ironed out that were a problem in 2000. This year’s housing accommodations alone are 10x better than what my group had—with internet connection in their rooms! That’s unheard of! There isn’t even an internet connection in my entire village!

It was fun to be in Mysore again, after 4 years, to rediscover our old “stomping grounds.” It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 4 years since I was first in India. But there is no doubt that that experience changed my life and that I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t spent that semester in Mysore.

On Sunday, I took a 7 hour train ride from Mysore to Chennai. On the train, I sat next to a Punjabi guy who thought I was an Indian from the northeastern province. I guess that’s a good thing—means I’m doing a semi decent job of blending, right?

I took a very early morning bus from Chennai to PP on Monday and arrived 10 minutes before morning assembly. So I walked briskly to my house, dropped off my bag and then headed to school. The main street where the bus stand is located is quite close to my house, and the school is about a 2 min walk away.

Upon returning to school, I noticed quickly that I need to be at the school physically in order for the policies that I suggest or enact to actually work. Small things like the class schedule slipped back into old habits and some teachers pulled out rulers to slap the kids with on their palms. But if I am there to monitor things, they go pretty well.

Ebi started taking "tutorials" after school which means that students come to the house for tutoring sessions for help with homework etc. Even though Ebi is technically the one in charge, I end up getting pulled in to help, since they take the tutorials at the house. There are two sets of students that come, so essentially tutorials are from about 4:45pm until about 7:45pm. Which means I work an average of 12 hours a day.

My morning routine: wake up at 6:30am, cook breakfast and lunch to take to school (although lately I’ve been skipping breakfast), bathing (gotta love those bucket showers), dress and pull together school materials and then run to school by 8:30am. I arrive early to open the school and the office and get things going for the day.

School runs from 9:15am -3:30pm. I stay at school until the 2nd van trip leaves, around 4:15/4:30pm. (There is one school van that takes 2 trips to pick up the kids from their homes in the morning and drop them off in the evening. Most of the students live in even smaller villages outside of PP)

My night routine--once the tutorials are over, Ebi and I head to the market to buy veggies for dinner, we cook (usually he'll make one dish and I make another---team cooking!), eat (sitting on the floor, using our fingers and our stainless steel plates and tumblers) and then I have about an hour before bed to prepare my lesson plan for the next day. Then it starts all over again! So, it’s pretty busy, but you folks know me, I always prefer being overly busy as opposed to having nothing to do at all.

On Monday, I went with the 2nd van trip after school to take the kids home and meet some of their parents. It’s amazing how far some of these kids come every day just to go to school. The parents were very curious and friendly, inviting me to coffee. But as there was a van full of kids we had to drop off, I couldn't accept any of their invitations to drink coffee and chat. But I promised to come back another day. Some of the kids live in huts and shacks in super small villages, with no electricity. It is amazing that they'd be able to do their homework at all, as they get home right before it gets dark outside.

I was only in PP for three days, as there is now a 5 day school holiday for Diwali and Ramzan (Eid) celebrations. I’m spending the break in Chennai, attending to my email withdrawal.

It is a tradition during Diwali to light fireworks and firecrackers. I think Chennai has taken this tradition out of control—the noise begins Wednesday night, with extremely LOUD firecrackers exploding well into the night and starting again at around 4:00am. It is not just one or two houses that light crackers (and other sorts of exploding devices), it’s nearly every house! So it’s incredibly noisy, and sounds like what I would imagine a war zone would sound like. But everyone is in a festive mood, there is lots of good food and yummy sweets to eat and tons of relatives to meet.

So, that’s the update from here. Sorry it ended up being so long. I’m proud of all of you who actually managed to make it to the end of this email!

Please browse through my updated photo folders and enjoy at your leisure:

http://photos.yahoo.com/ellinagairothe

And send me letters! I like mail.

More to come!

Elli

India Update # 1

10/22/04

Hello all!

Greetings from Chennai! Because there are so many of you who’d like to know what I’m up to in India, I’ll be using a group email list to send my updates. Apologies for the non-personalized mass email, but if you email me, I’ll be sure to write back to you directly...even if it takes me a little while.

I arrived late on Thursday night (Oct. 14^th) after several LONG flights from SFO-Frankfurt-Madras (Chennai). 20 + hours on a plane is never fun, but Lufthansa does their best to keep you distracted by feeding you mass quantities of food.

Presently, I am staying with my friend Abha’s family in Chennai. (Connecticut College connections) they are extremely sweet and have welcomed me into their home as a second daughter of sorts.

Monsoon season has begun, and I wake up every morning to the sound of rain and sometimes thunder.

This being my third visit to India, crowded streets of auto rickshaws, cars, cows and motorbikes, warm dosas and coconut chutney and bucket showers, geckos peering at me from the ceiling and drinking water from stainless steel tumblers are all familiar and somewhat comforting aspects of daily life.

I met with the director and communications director of PAM (People’s Action Movement) the morning after I arrived. Ekambaram (director) and Nathan (comm. director) seem to be cheerful fellows who are genuinely dedicated to their social justice cause—uplifting oppressed and marginalized communities. “PAM strives to ensure the basic rights and sustainable development of the downtrodden—especially women, children and dalits” (members of the untouchable caste) says their mission statement.

I’m happy to be involved in PAM, as their vision aligns closely with my own beliefs and career aspirations.

Ekambaram is himself from the dalit community, and grew up in Periyapalam. He founded PAM in 1999 and works in a number of areas, including HIV/AIDS education, awareness of urban slum issues and rights, youth leadership development and community action.

Nathan (Meekashinathan) a young and energetic recent grad with an masters in NGO management is Ekambaram’s valued “right hand man.” He’s been very supportive in making sure that I have a good transition into the organization.

Here is some background on the school project:

The school is located in the small town of Periyapalayam—about an hour drive by motorbike (two hour bus ride) north of Chennai. The school was originally founded in 1990 by a local panchayat president (community leader). After his death, the school underwent financial crisis and mismanagement and enrollment decreased significantly. PAM accepted management of the school in April 2004 and renamed the school “Victoria Matriculation School.”

At present, there are 93 students enrolled, K-7^th standard. There are eight teachers—six female and two male. The school site consists of three buildings: one classroom for pre-KG, lower and upper KG and 1^st standard. A second classroom houses 2^nd- 7^th standard. There is a small school office, and a computer room/store room which is located in the same building as the landlady’s house.

The more I talk with Ekambaram, the more apparent it becomes how much work I have ahead of me. I appear to have quite a bit of influence over the day-to-day running as well as in the long term vision of the school. They have waited on a lot of things until "the principal" arrived (setting a school calendar/schedule, printing stationary/notebooks for the students, rewriting the curriculum and setting the focus of the syllabi.

I’ve had several meetings with the “school management team”, trying to pick their brains and come to a better understanding about their plans and vision for the school. It has been made very clear to me that they are quite busy running other PAM projects, and that they want to hand full responsibility of the school over to me. They will be on hand to offer support, directly or indirectly, but they want me to take full authority. This is no small task...keeping track of the school fees is a feat in itself.

Every family has to pay a small admissions fee each month, in addition to a very small fee for the van service to take the kids to and from school. Some families can afford this and some can't, depending on the month. So, I’ll have to keep track of who has paid, how much they were able to pay, etc. in addition, I have to keep track of the van service--when its being used for the school pick up/drop off service, but also during non-school hours, as it is used by the public for local transport for a small fee.

PAM is in the process of getting government recognition for the school--a lengthy and complicated process. Simultaneously, I need to locate a funding source(s) to purchase new land for a new school site. Currently, PAM is renting the present buildings from the wife of the man who originally founded the school.

The plan is to develop a new site--much larger than the present site--and build a new school building with more resources--science laboratory, playground, separate classrooms etc. not to mention basic facilities, like toilets and running water. So, I have to oversee this process.

Another priority is curriculum development. I’ll have to do research on the best way to include curriculum that highlights human rights and dalit rights. Ekambaram's vision is to have school children un-learn caste discrimination from a young age. Thereby going on in life to be active members of society advocating equality for all community members.

Phew...thinking about all the various responsibilities i have is extremely daunting! It makes my head spin. for a lot of this, I'm going to have to learn on the job and be quick on my feet!

Hemma auntie (Abha’s mom) has been extremely supportive, offering sage advice and guidance—as she is in the same field of work. She recently founded a small nonprofit (exclusively run by volunteers) that is working to bridge the gap between school and “the real world,” developing students educational experience to have greater relevance to their day to day life.

One evening last week, I went with Hemma auntie to a school in the neighborhood that she visits once a week. I became the center of the class discussion, as the students practiced their spoken English on me, and asked my name ("Kelly." more in this later) where I'm from, what my age is, and why I have such high eye-brows. Most of the students seemed quite fascinated by this, and took turns pulling at the corner of their eyes (I'm assuming to imitate my Asian eyes) and giggling. I'm not sure they understand when I try to explain my mixed ethnic heritage and reassure them that I am indeed from the US and not china. I have a strong feeling that this won't be the last time I have this kind of conversation... but that's the interesting part of looking different, and being “the other” isn't it?

“Kelly” is my new name. As many of you already know, “Elli” in Tamil means mouse. So it was wisely suggested to me by Ms. Mridula Swamy that I alter my name if I don’t want the students giggling every time they address me. Shelly, Nelly, Ella and Elizabeth were all suggestions…but in the end mom picked “Kelly” as the best fitting.

Yesterday was my first visit to the school. I woke up at 5am (still nice and dark at that time) to a ridiculous amount of pouring rain. I left the house by 6am with auntie, who walked me to the bus terminus. from there, I took a local bus all the way to the very end of the line. At that time of the morning, its exactly a 1 hour trip. From the bus station, I took a short rickshaw ride to the PAM office, where I met the director by 7:30am. The plan was to take his motorbike to Periyapalayam (PP), but because it was still raining by then, we ended up taking a taxi instead.

We arrived in PP around 10:45am or so. The village is surrounded by plenty of green fields, and some palm tree groves. The roads were quite muddy since it had been raining since the night before.

I had a brief tour of the school site—it’s all rather small and compact, with no real boundaries, or school compound area. The neighbor's houses are just next door to the school buildings. The students are all very sweet, and well behaved. Standing to say "good morning sir and madam" in unison when Ekambram and I arrived in the classroom.

The ayha took charge of the younger students, and class monitors were appointed for the older classes, while the teachers and Ekambaram and I had a "staff meeting" in the school office. Ekambaram introduced me to them (speaking in Tamil) saying that I was a "very experienced American woman, who came to the village on an honorary basis" etc etc. Basically, making it sound like I had all the answers as an educated foreigner. This made me feel a bit uncomfortable, because I want to develop more of an equitable team setting, where the teachers run the show rather than some foreigner coming in (with very little formal knowledge about how a school runs!). But I guess I'll work on shifting that dynamic in the weeks to come.

Language communication is going to be a bit of an issue. Ekambaram served as a translator yesterday, but when he's not there, we'll have to make due somehow with my next to nothing Tamil vocab and the teacher's timid English.

Ekambaram's brother-in-law (Ebenezer--nice name, huh?) was hired by Ekambaram to teach at the school, and has also been appointed as "my bodyguard." He is responsible for my safety and well being while in the village in Ekambaram's stead. Apparently, this means that he will also be living with me.

Speaking of housing accommodations...I was given two options: either live in the house of the landlady (who PAM is renting the school buildings from), or live in a separate apartment unit. I was fine with either of the options--both being extremely basic. Ebenezer apparently didn't have a choice in the matter--he has to live where I live. I don't really think this is fair for him, but that this what Ekambaram has decided, which is final.

The rented room in the landlady's house is directly attached to the school office. which then connects to a sitting room with cable TV and a fridge (both luxury items in that area). The house itself is super basic--cement walls, floors and ceilings and dark inside. Sitting room, landlady's room which she shares with her son, kitchen (no running water), some sort of washing room and a separate squat toilet towards the back of the house by the backyard.

In the end, it was decided that Ebenezer and I would live in a separate unit. Mainly because the landlady is often away from the house and is spotty in her food preparation--usually going to friend's or neighbor's houses for meals. (If I stayed with her she would be preparing my meals). Ekambaram thought it would be better for me to be self-sufficient in this regard, to come and go as I please whether a landlady is home or not.

So, we went to visit the rented unit--just a 2 min walk from the school. A family recently moved out. It is another cement building, two units (we have the downstairs unit). one bedroom (for me), one common room and a kitchen. Behind the unit is a squat toilet, and what appeared to be a washing room (i think! although it had another squat toilet inside....) the unit needs new lights and ceiling fans installed, and will be painted. Supposedly with running water supplied from a water tank nearby. The unit will be ready by Wednesday and I am supposed to move in on Thursday. PAM is going to supply me with a bed, and they have already purchased an armoire/dresser type item. I'm positive the bed and the dresser are the only things you'd be able to fit into that tiny room!

I will stay in the village during the week, and then come back to Chennai for the weekends (and stay with Abha's family). How sweet of them to offer me a place in their home--it wasn't even a question, they want me to stay here full time in fact, but going back and forth to PP everyday is definitely not feasible.

So that’s a lengthy update from me. I could go on, but I think I’ll stop for now and leave more for update # 2.

I’ve uploaded some pictures of the school for your viewing pleasure:

http://photos.yahoo.com/ellinagairothe

I hope you are all well. I’ll be in touch again soon.

Love, Elli