Day 8 Saturday rest day

Saturday

Got up late -toilet (Had Delhi Belly bad numerous times and so did all the others.)
Alex left for the airport.
Toilet - Typed up blog -toilet
Took Immodium - which worked slowly.
Toilet
Monsoon rain
Lunchtime

After lunch when we all felt slight more alive and the rain stopped we jumped on an auto to the Metro Station and went into the city centre. We headed for Parjang Market which is opposite Delhi railway station. We walked through the market and Mrs G bought some Indian clothes I bought a tiffin box and a toy auto. I hear you ask what is a tiffin box well its a metal round tin made up of three parts to carry your Dal and rice to work. Cost the handsome price of £1.50
Had a nice time in the market and bought a few gifts.

We then went into the station to the International tourist office to see about trains to Amritsar. Well it was easy peasy and within 20 mins had booked travel there and back. Total cost £30 inculding food on the train. Brilliant. The station staff we so helpful. We have reserved seats and air conditioning.

Once done jumped back on the Metro and came home for veg omelettes and an early night. No more Delhi Belly tonight hopefully, however did stop and buy some bog roll on the way home.


Good night blog fans.

New Delhi Railway Station

Tiffin box

Tiffin box - open

Day 7 Slum School

Friday - We have now got into a routine in Delhi. Jumped on a auto and spent the usual 45 minutes to East Delhi, as usual had to show the driver exactly where we needed to go. Started to get to know South Delhi quite well. (available for hire if anybody needs a tour guide).

Today was a lesson about body parts and the children had to label a body drawn on the board. They were good, some spelling was a bit off but was impressed. One child even told us we had 32 teeth. I didn't even know that!

We then went outside with chalk and the children drew around each other and labelled the body parts. They had great fun. Farzana from yesterday was in the class and she can't speak english but knew 5 and 5 were 10 when drawing on toes. Her little face was a picture joining in with the class especially the sing along (Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle).
We ended the lesson with emotional bingo (happy, sad etc).

The girls and the younglings class was cancelled due to the womens empowerment meeting (Indian WI).

The people turned up at the centre during lunch to talk to Farzana about returning her home. She had her belongings wrapped up in a cloth with her. The people took Farzana to a safe childrens home and would be producung her to a court so she can be returned home to Bihar. When she left it was a little bit emotional (and choked up) she looked so scared but she was not safe at the slum and the best place for her was home. We managed to snatch a photo and a cuddle before she left.

Following lunch we were taken into the slum and shown around. Its very compact with tiny alleyways between buildings. The slum houses were small, we went into one house and had Chai and cake which was about the size of my garden shed: it slept 6 people. Everybody was very welcoming and everybody invited us in to their houses we met loads of the children and we had a Pied Pipier moment with all them tagging along. They had an open sewer but all the pathways were concrete. It was colourful and seemed a pleasant place to live.

In the afternoon we were the star guests at the womens meeting. They asked us loads of questions about us, our life and our reasons for being in India. They have a very British view of us and the best question was "How many servants and maids do you have?" "One me" I replied. I think they still believe that the stereotypical British Raj still exists. Although we are not rich by any means we are compared to their lives.
At the end of the meeting the ladies sung some songs and had both me and Mrs G up dancing Indian style.

At the end of the day we travelled back to the apartment and met with Polly and Alex. Friday was Alex's last night so we went out for dinner. We went to a local Punjab restaurant in a local mall. Very posh but reasonable prices. The food was fantastic. We all ate veg and had a Kingfisher beer (or 3) with the meal. Great laugh with good company. We then went into the sports bar next door and had as couple more beers before retiring home exhausted in an auto.

A very hot sweaty night and complicated by Delhi Belly. We had decided before the trip we would go out to Agra to see the Taj Mahal but what with the heat, late nights and early mornings we abandoned the idea to stay in Delhi. We are still going to Amritsar next weekend by train.

Weekend off to relax catch up on sleep and plan for next week. Going to see the Lotus Temple today and possibly a market tomorrow. A new volunteer arrives tomorrow as Alex flew home today.

Bye for now Blog fans weekend update coming soon - Need some soft toilet tissue.

                                            Delhi Auto

Drawing for the body parts lesson

End result

Boys class in height order

Farzana just before she left

Slum house

Narrow slum streets

At Sunils house with him and his sister

Anjali outside her house

Bianca's house - Parents and brothers family also live there.

Me and Mrs G India dancing

Punjab Restaurant - things were going so well 

Day 6 Delhi - My Birthday

Morning Blog fans....

Its Saturday here and finding some time to catch on the blog.
Thursday morning 31st July jumped on the bike with Alison to ride to the slum but a few miles down the road it was clear the bike was happy. A misfire probably from the crap in carb, so as we had to go all the way across Delhi decided to go back and get an auto. That made us about 10 minutes late getting to the slum. On our arrival the children were waiting at the gate with a large banner saying 'Happy Birthday Geaff' (haven't told them its spelt wrong) they presented me with flowers and hand made cards.
Everybody wanted to shake hands and wish me happy birthday. Overwhelmed. The whole centre was decorated with posters and balloons.

Into class and we did. Played bingo and matching pairs with word cards. Making the children describe the colours and items. The centre leader Anita had bought crisps and sweets for all the children which I had to give out. It was a great days teaching and it was a simple lesson plan which the children really enjoyed.

At lunch the ladies cooked Dal and rice with chapatis for me as a birthday treat followed by a birthday cake with my name on it. I had to cut the cake and blow out the candles whilst they sang happy birthday then.....Mrs G had to force feed me a slice of the cake, good job it was a small slice whilst the ladies then smeared cake frosting over my face. In return I then had to force feed Mrs G cake. Everybody laughed. So grateful to all the staff.

Last two lessons of the day went well with variations on the morning pair cards. Sweets and crisps given out. Both classes sang happy birthday to me. In the older girls class some of the girls gave me presents. It was so sweet and so generous from children who have nothing. I got 3 biros, a mini dairy milk, wafer bar and a packet of masala munch crisps. Just incredible.......touched. One of University lads popped by (Sunil) and gave me a card with a message written inside. Such a intelligent and kind man.

In the afternoon we we introduced to a 13 year old girl called Farzana. Some of the children had found her lost and wandering close to the slum and had taken her to the centre. She comes from Bihar about 700 miles away and was working in Delhi as a maid but was being beaten by her employer so ran away. She had since been taken in by a lady pickpocket and two alcoholics who live near the slum. The centre contacted a womens helpline to get her reunited with her parents.

So at the end of the day we left with another round of high fives and hand shaking with the children to get an auto home. I opened my cards from home, skyped the kids and had a Dominios pizza which was quite difficult to organise having it delivered.

Early to bed as completely exhausted from such an emotional day.

                                           Birthday welcome
                               

                                           Flowers

                                            Birthday poster

                                          Cake and candles

                                             Cake on the face

                                               Farzana the lost girl

Slum School days 4-5

Day 4 - Arrived at the slum school for 10am and met with supervisor Anita. We had a prayer reading and the ladies sung a psalm. A weird experience as this was all done in Hindi. So off we went to class, Alison taking the lead. We have 3 classes a day 10am to 12 the older boys, 2-3 the older girls and 3-4 the younger boys and girls. Each can range from 10 - 17 children. We are in a very small room and the children sit on the floor, we have two plastic patio chairs. The children's spoken english ranges from nil to not bad. Written english needs a lot more work.
Basically we have a lesson plan and then do it 3 times through the day getting simpler as the day goes on. The girl's english is not as good as the boys. We started with songs and are teaching the Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle song. (SPT do not worry I am going to teach you on my return). We have tried out numerous other songs 'wheels on the bus' etc. I don't really know any of them so I am blagging it.
We read the class a story about a fish called Titch and then had a discussion about the story and the values contained in it. We then did cutting out and coloring on a fish. We then did sticking onto it. They seemed to enjoy it but all wanted sharpen pencils and continually shouting 'mam' or 'Sir'. I definitely could not be a primary school teacher.
Following on from the boys we have a two hour break where we have been talking with the college and university students to give them our thoughts and opinions and allowing them to practice english. Sunil is one of those students who we have become very friendly with, he wants to study Psychology at UCL.
Take two was with the girls but a simpler version.
Take three was with younglings - They were a hard bunch very little language skills and all squabbled over the pencils, glue and sticking. Continually shouting.....arrragh.
During the day we had a visitor to the slum from America. That all went on outside whilst we were teaching. We did meet her afterwards she was delivering medicine and called by the slum to see the good work of ASHA.
We took an auto home costing about 200 rupees £2. I spent the evening working on the motorbike trying to get it running...hurrah the bike is running a quick clean out of the carb did the trick.. Tea was an omelette and we planned for the next day 'the water cycle'

Oh and by the way today is EID.

Day 5 - I taught the water cycle followed by the children drawing it and naming the parts. I was very impressed with the standard. Loads of songs and a very sweaty version of duck duck goose in the yard. Its too hot to be running around.
Take two was with the girls again a simpler version
Take three with the younglings which was coloring in in paper plate umbrellas.

After school had her hands painted with henna and we jumped onto the Metro and went into the city. We ended up in Karol Bagh where we stayed last year. We bought motorcycle helmets (mine is a open union jack helmet, Alison has a pink open face with visor Total cost with gloves £30. We also bought a lock. We had dinner in a veg restaurant where mistakenly ordered a sharing meal twice. Oh what a lot of food. But they were good enough to package the spare food for to take home. A long trip back to south Delhi on the Metro and a 20 minute auto ride. By the time we have planned for the following day and watch Alex and Polly finish off our sharing meal it was late and close to midnight by the time went to bed.

                                            Making Fish
                                         

                                             Jeevan Nagar Slum Centre

                                             Some of the younglings

                                             Teaching the water cycle

                                                         The results of the lesson

                                             Henna hands

                                             New motorcycle helmets

Slum school - Delhi day 3

Early morning excitement and apprehension of the day ahead. We were collected at 0915 and taken to the charity headquarters where we were given an orientation. We met the slum centre representative 'Kulvinder' and then we were off to the slum. Our appointed slum centre is in South East Delhi on the main Mahatma Gandi Ring Road. (Named Jeevan Nagar)

When we arrived we were greeted by a crowd of young children and a couple of adults and as we walked into the school we were showered with rose petals......everybody wanted to shake hands. OMG

So we entered the school or slum centre as it is known. Its a place where the doctor sees patients, the community use the computers and a small room about the size of average kitchen which is the classroom. In the morning the boys attend between 10-12 and the girls between 2-3. They age from about 7 to 14 years.

We had two chairs at the front of the class and the children sat in rows facing us. It was at this point it dawned on me (and Alison) we were now in the hot seats. I was just about the most scared I have ever been facing these children all with the look of 'teach me something now'. So we went with the introductions by us all then some questions and answers. We were making it up as we went along, we weren't told that this afternoon was our big debut and no planning was done of resources. So in stepped Mrs G with the primary sing along me blagging I knew the words to 'wheels on the bus' or '5 little monkeys jumping on the bed'.

Give me a pub fight or other grieve rather than this, please. We invented the write on the board game and draw smiley faces game and Alison then came in with the Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle song (with Actions) I stood at the back blagging it again.

At 1200 the class up and left....just like that all off to primary school across the road. We had lunch (a banana). A long chat with a number of older college and university students about their education and life in India. They were very interested in life in England.

At 1400, enter the girls class, we were feeling very confident now and went through the introductions and a few songs. At 1430 we were taken back to the charity and big high fives with all the students. Everybody was out saying goodbye.

In summary I am now scared shitless. Tomorrow we have planned a fishy story and arts and crafts around the story and Mrs G has been inventing fishy songs. I have been cutting up paper fish. I am sure by the end of this experience I will have calmed down a bit.

On another note I have a India SIM card and I now able to text and phone and extremely cheap rates. If you want the number let me know.

I had another look at the bike tonight but still cant get it running so spoke to Paul at the charity who is going to help with a mechanic. Went searching with Polly tonight and in a couple of shack shops close to the apartment we found a phone charger for Polly's phone, found a stitching shop to mend my torn trousers, had Chai and bought eggs,veg, bread and Maggi noodles (all those Global Enduro friends will appreciate this). Fried egg sandwich for tea and stir fry noodle and veg. Less than 50p each.

2230 and catching up on the blog whilst is still planning, just like being at home except warmer. Oh and the monsoons arrived today but hasn't made much of an impact on the heat.

Goodnight all sleep tight, the mosquitoes are biting, bloody things.

Delhi day 2

Its still hot so got up early and went out to try and get the Honda Hero Impulse started, well that ended up in failure and it took a while to dig it out of the garage. See below
For some reason it has new fuel and a spark at the plug but won't fire up. Gonna have to get a Indian Mechanic.

Anyway showered again (as it takes five minutes to be soaked in sweat) we jumped in an auto (Tuk Tuk) and went to the Metro station. Then took the train into the center of the city. Got talking to a student engineer on the train who was on his way to take his Delhi Metro entrance test to become an engineer on the metro system. WE wished him luck as he got off at Kashmere Gate.
We ended up at Connaught Place a large circular shopping complex with a large park. A mecca for tourists, beggars and cheats. We were constantly badgered for this bazaar and that bazaar and was a bit rude to a couple of people. Then a shoe cleaner came up to me "shoes sir" "no" I said and naturally looked down and low and behold was what appeared to be a large dollop of bird shit on my open toed shoe. Strange as there are no birds and certainly none that could shit that big. (Would have made a seagull look like a sparrow) but he immediately jumped to the ground cleaning my shoe. (suspicious already) so he cleaned it up and then asked for 15000 rupees (£15) and then another man came up saying I know this man how much is he charging don't pay over 600 rupees. Meet the accomplice in this little charade. I saw red cussing and swearing threw 100 rupees (£1) at the man and stormed off. I was livid........

We went for a walk across the road flagged down and auto and asked him for an hours tour of the city centre - with no bazaars or shops. So for an hour we saw the sights of the Parliament district, India Gate, Presidents house, Main Hindu Temple, Gudwara and many other sights and no bazaars. extra tip for that. Went for a walk in the park and then into Mcdonalds. Its a tradition that we always go into one when we travel, I had a McVeggie, Alison had a McTikka. Back onto the Metro another 19 pence ride back to south Delhi and the auto back to the apartment.

We spend the rest of the day sorting stuff out and went out for dinner to the 'Monkey Bar' a glass pyramid with some excellent food and my first beer. Not cheap but worth it. When we came out the place was packed and what I thought was a patch of unused ground was in fact the valet parking. India what a place.

Bed and ready for the first day in the slums.

2014 the adventure with a difference

Well the 2014 adventure has come around so quick this year. For those who don't know Me and Mrs G have flown to Delhi arriving today. We have volunteered to spend a couple of weeks volunteering in a school in the Delhi slums. Mrs G likes to do this kind of work I have accompanied her for two reasons 1. I love India and 2. all the recent sex attacks on foreign tourists.
The third week of the trip will be to spend some time in Amritsar at the Golden Temple and relax at the guesthouse we found last year.

Arrived all in good time in Delhi on a Virgin flight, M25 to Heathrow was a nightmare 2.5 hours , but were surprised when my oldest and best friend turned up at the airport with the family to see us off. (Thanks Mate)

Following the arrival we got a taxi to the charity and met up with Freddy a co-founder and he sorted out a few things including keys to a motorbike (cant not ride for three weeks). A while later we went to the apartment we are staying in and met up with another volunteer Polly. There is another volunteer here to but he is at Agra this weekend.

Following a sleep we went out for dinner and a bit of shopping to the local Mall. Mrs G bought some Indian clothes. Early night tonight and a trip to old Delhi tomorrow, tomorrow afternoon will try to get the bike started.

Monday morning is the start of the volunteering.

Update and pics will hopefully follow on a daily basis.

Geoff