Sports Day photos!

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Team Auntie Sports Day

What an amazing day we have had today!!

I was asked to take a group of six ‘precocious’ boys for I.T. lessons twice a week after school. They were mixed ages – 2 each from classes 5, 6 and 7. I decided that it might be a nice idea to organise a Mini Sports Day with them – their role being to publicise the event (Publisher), record scores (Excel), present what they had done in assembly (PowerPoint) and finally to report the event (Publisher). The boys suggested and agreed on 6 events and offered the chance to enter to children from Kindergarten to class 4.

We christened the group ‘Team Auntie’ as Alison and I were their teachers.

The boys have been absolutely incredible; 2 of the boys missed the first 2 sessions as they were poorly with malaria. They each came and found me to ask if it would still be ok to come along – the 4 other boys made sure that they caught up with what they had missed in earlier sessions and were extremely generous with their time. I’ve remarked before at how patient the children here are – Team Auntie are no exception – no complaints when computers didn’t work, or when work couldn’t be printed out, or when computers froze for no apparent reason.

Today was THE day. Riou, one of the volunteers had organised all the equipment needed for the races and along with Felix and Tony was responsible for running the teams and explaining rules etc – not many of them were familiar with the intricacies of the 3-legged race and Welly Throwing (or willy as they insisted on calling it) was a complete mystery!

All 4 teams entered into the spirit of the morning and hopped, threw, ran and skipped fit to burst. Team Auntie collated results, were able to give a continual update on team positions and after the event was over, begged to be allowed into the IT Suite so that they could record the results on their spreadsheets and produce their charts.

The reward for Team Auntie was to be taken for lunch by Alison and myself – the school driver took us all and dropped us in a street that we were completely unfamiliar with – good job they seemed to know which restaurant we were going to! We had a real slap up meal with unlimited fizzy drinks – and ice cream for pud (I was relieved that the ice cream came in individual tubs – wouldn’t like a repeat of Alison’s recent experience.) The boys were great company and shared with us some of their hopes and dreams for the future.

We caught 2 taxis back to school – it’s amazing how many kids you can cram into the back of a taxi in Calcutta – and seeing small children begging outside the restaurant made us reflect that the Future Hope children are in fact the lucky ones – most of them will actually have a future!

I don’t want to end this blog on such a sombre note, so will just ask you to look at the photos from today – just try to imagine the fun we had – and the noise level of all the kids as they cheered like crazy for their teams.

A really GREAT day!!

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Aunty – open your shoes!

The day started hot and humid. Toni and I are getting used to the heat now and although everyone says that it will get cooler soon we are not so sure. We had lunch with the ‘Upstairs Boys’ – which includes Bijoy, who acted as our host. He took us up and proudly showed us their little beds - all beside each other in a large room. Walking into one room there were two tiny boys changing – Bijoy was mortified – cries of ‘Don’t look, Aunty’ ensued and lots of giggling! We sat on the floor with the boys and ate with them. There was one new little boy who had entered the school and the home two days previously – he clung to the houseparent’s hand and ate a huge amount! The boys love to encourage us to eat the green chillies – ‘They are only beans, Aunty!’ We know better!

Despite everyone saying that it never rains in November, we know that to be untrue and so we hoped for a shower later in the day to relieve the humidity. What we got was a deluge of Biblical proportions! We had been invited to hear Mark Tulley speak at the British Council and as we left the house the rain had been pouring down for about 20 minutes. Toni and I had made a bit of an effort with our appearance but within seconds were soaked to the skin! Tim’s Jeep is no match for this kind of rain and it seemed to be coming in from the floor, the windows and the roof! His single windscreen wiper on the driver’s side is certainly not man enough for the job but that doesn’t seem to faze him – the occasional arm out of the window for a quick wipe of the screen seems to do the job. The roads were several feet deep in water and as we were late (!) Tim took mostly to the pavements sending huge waves in every direction. It is surprising how something that would have had us screaming in England seems almost commonplace over here. We finally got to the British Council, clambered unsteadily out of the Jeep – put very attractive striped towels over our heads and ran in! There is obviously something about Kolkata and headwear that seems to haunt me!

We returned home later and although the streets had dried slightly there was a huge puddle straddling the pathway between our gate and our front door. The gate man kindly said ‘Aunty – you will have to open your shoes.’ Stifling our giggles and hoisting our skirts aloft we did just that!

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Two smug ladies, be careful what you wish for

We had a nice leisurely start to our Saturday morning – bit of a lie in, breakfast, then packed and got a taxi to the Oberoi Grand. The weekend we had so been looking forward to was about to begin.

We arrived at the hotel, checked in, and were shown to our room by a lovely young lady who probably thought we were a bit odd – not tourists, yet we were babbling on about this being our holiday – yet we were only staying for 1 night. The room was lovely, everything was clean and fresh, the bed was sumptuous – so much so that we were afraid to put our feet on it – and the shower had such good pressure that it could take your head off!

Look at those beds... look at those feet...

We had no trouble in finding the swimming pool – this is where we were planning to spend most of our time - and we soon made ourselves comfortable. That’s pretty much when things started to go pear shaped.

I have been developing a bit of a rash since about Thursday – nothing of any great note, but linked possibly to a slight temperature now and again. I lay in the sun for about 30 minutes and realised that my whole body - and for some reason my knees and elbows in particular – had turned Bright Red. I could see the people beside me looking at me in a rather peculiar fashion and who can blame them – I wouldn’t have wanted to lie beside me. Alison is made of stronger stuff, doesn’t mind how unsightly I am, and lay on the next sun bed quite happily – the only problem was that she wasn’t always there. A couple of nights ago, we had had dinner in the place where Cliff Richards first started his singing career and her tummy hadn’t been the same since the chick pea dhal. Things were not going according to plan!

We soon decided to move into a sheltered area out of the sun, and as we did so, the overcast sky opened and we had a torrential downpour for the next 20 minutes – very soothing on the rash I might add, but not conducive to the rest and relaxation we had planned.

Look at that rain... look at those knees!!

We had decided on our mini break for a number of reasons – to do some shopping, sightseeing, bit of a swim, bit of a sunbathe, a nice meal with a nice glass of wine (neither of us has had wine since we arrived) and even maybe a massage. In the event, neither of us felt up to eating or doing anything at all so we spent the evening in our room watching repeats of Ab Fab and Blackadder.

We had a good night’s sleep with only one or two nocturnal bathroom visits, then packed and left for home. We were given a very warm welcome back by Kokon and Minnie and I can’t tell you how good it felt to get back into our little apartment. It was great to be back in the Ballygunge area where we live and leave behind the beggars and other things which grow up around a large international hotel. The hotel itself had been full of business people and such a huge contrast to what Alison and I have been experiencing so far.

As I sit on my bed writing this blog, I think of the kids who tease us and joke with us and often make us weep at their sheer generosity of spirit and I know where I would rather be!

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Children’s Day

We had a fun morning this morning as the School was celebrating Children's Day - this means that Staff provide special Tiffin and entertain the children. The volunteers (that’s us!) performed a rendition of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. We were ably led by Felix who had choreographed the whole thing - you will notice that Toni and I need to see the words though - and I still managed to get them wrong!

Thankfully it was a short day for us today as we are both exhausted! Yesterday was very long - neither of us are used to being at work for 8 in the morning and then not stopping until 7pm. Although lessons finish at 1.30 if either of us are in the computer room then youngsters come in for guidance. This is followed by Team 'Aunty', as we have re-christened the Sports Day team, as Roger can't help much anymore. These are the most polite and most beautiful and brightest children you could ever hope to meet.

One thing I have learned is that if you do tell them off you have to seek them out at the end of the lesson and hug and reassure them. They have to know that their behaviour was unacceptable but that they are still loved. They arrive with such low self esteem. Obviously Toni and I spend moments of the day in tears - and I think looking at the smiles on the faces of the recent album you will understand why! Bijoy - the little boy in the red T shirt smiles all the time - he was so excited - as this photo was taken as he was being invited to take part in a magic trick by the Head, Paul Carling. He was beside himself with excitement!

As Toni walked home tonight she met one of the boys who had won a prize on Monday. They had received book tokens and she saw that he was carrying a big bag with a globe in it – she told him that she thought it was a great idea to have a globe. He replied that he had bought it for his class because he thought they would like it! Their generosity is incredible – these are kids that have nothing and yet are still prepared to give to others – in fact it is their first thought.

The children could come in ‘home clothes’ today – they were immaculately turned out. One family of day children who come to school in a battered rickshaw which their father pulls looked incredible. As Tim said – they all would have slept under tarpaulin the night before and yet were beautifully kitted out in dresses and hair clips.

No wonder we are feeling emotional!

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A few observations - Toni

Alison and I came to Calcutta with 2 enormous great big suitcases full, for the most part, with resources for Future Hope.  This meant that there was little or no room for clothes - which in turn meant that we would HAVE to go shopping - hurrah!

We were taken to a lovely clothes shop which specialises in 'westernised' Indian clothes and it will come as no surprise to learn that we were easily able to find many things which we just couldn't do without.  The clothes are very comfortable and cool to wear, and fascinating in terms of what goes where - see below.  I have never before worn such tall trousers or looked more like Nora Batty in the ankle area.

The diet seems to be working...

These are BIG girls' trousers

The finished look - note wrinkly ankles.

The school day starts with assembly at 8.00 am - there are 6 x 45 minute lessons until 1.30 pm punctuated with a break for Tiffin at 10.45.  We take in our mugs and are served hot, strong, sweet tea by the Cha Wallah - he makes it in a great big aluminium kettle rather than a teapot of any description.  Those of you that know me well will realise that this is a far cry from the weak and wishy washy Earl Grey that I favour made with lots of skimmed milk - am so in need of a cuppa by then that I actually don't mind too much, but will revert to normal when I am back!

I think I have already mentioned that it is a fairly common sight to see men relieving themselves at the side of the road - even in the most built up areas?  Had a bit of a crisis of confidence today re. what is the correct etiquette when you know the person who is doing the relieving...  One of the little Future Hope boys was peeing at the roadside as I walked by (actually had to step into the road to avoid him) - he was with his little sister and 2 other younger siblings and his Mum. I had my sunglasses on so thought it best just to feign ignorance - I heard shouts of 'Auntie, auntie..' so turned back to be given a big hug by the little girl, but narrowly managed to sidestep shaking the hand of the young gentleman in question... there are limits!

We watched the last episode of Pride & Prejudice last night and decided that a stiff G & T was required to soften the blow of its finishing.  We had forgotten that we still have no bottle opener (where are screw tops when you need them?) Alison remembered being told that you can get a bottle top off by wrapping it in a tea towel and going at it with a spoon.  we were so desperate that we gave it a go - I managed to get a tantalising little shh out of the bottle but that was about all - Alison however was far more determined/desperate and could be heard threatening the cap - 'come on, you're going to come off, so  you may as well come quietly...'

Needless to say the cap was no match for my lovely friend and we were able to enjoy 2 very strong G & Ts - a lot of the tonic ending up on the kitchen floor.  It was worth it!!

That's it for today - tried to upload the most moving video of the kids singing Abba's 'I have a Dream' but sadly it's too big to upload :-(

Please feel free to comment - we love to hear from you xxx

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Teaching

Alison - The Fast Track pupils are certainly a challenge!  There are about 10 of them - but that number seems to change on a daily basis.  Our classroom is an open plan in the proper sense of the word!  There are only two walls and the rest is open to the elements.  There are fans in the ceilings and as the room is up 4 flights of stairs I am exhausted and sweating by the time I arrive.  The boys say 'Come here Aunty - sit under the fan"!! 

I have now worked out names which is a help - I can tell them off by name!  I am trying to help those with real difficulties - one boy Azad who is 19 has very little reading and writing .  He works at a hotel after break so our lessons are only in the morning before 'tiffin'.  He is happy to do simple sentence work and loves to play games with flash cards - me hiding them behind my back and then seeiing if he can read them quickly when I bring them out.

The others can be a real challenge - often just geting up in the middle of a lesson when they have had enough.  I suppose the fact that many spent  years living on the streets it is hardly surprising.  It has been good bringing an element of fun into the lessons.  They get little chance to play while they learn so when I made them all stand up and race to point to parts of their bodies as fast as possible- they loved it!  When I asked one of them to come up and pretend to be the teacher they loved it even more!  It has been nice spending some time in Toni's lesson with her bright boys who are running the mini sports as they are very bright and achieve a lot in a short time.  I get frustrated because I worry that they will achieve very little before I  leave - but I suppose anything will make some difference.  I will certainly never forget having 2 little hot bodies pressed up either side of me while they are writing out some sentences!  They want to get as close as possible which is lovely but it would be even better if it wasn't 30 degrees!

Toni - I think we both feel as if we have been here for ages - the teaching is great - the main frustration for me being that there aren't enough computers for each child to have one - and the computers that are there  seem to work as and when they feel like it. The kids are incredibly patient and most of them are just great - there are some more challenging ones, but given the fact that many of them lived on the railways for many years it is hardly surprising - you just have to accept that what you thought might take 15 mins will take several lessons - my aim with one particular troubled group is to get tham to sign in, email and send/receive an attachment before I leave!  This group are known as Fast Track and are the group that Alison talks about above.

Today I had the Fast Track group in 2 lessons - with 1:1 attention this morning, we succeeded in sending and replying to an email - later, with only myself and Alison it was more like a damage limitation exercise and we achieved very little.  Am going to have a bit of a re-think regarding what I do with them - they will never make any progress at this rate.  One of the boys is actually excellent at emailing and sees his computer period as a time when he can email his sisters who live away from Calcutta - it's  obvious that he misses them very much.  Who am I to insist that he sends simplistic messages to his classmates instead?  He takes great pride in showing us the pictures that they send him.

As a complete contrast, I have my 'Team' twice a week and they are very bright boys - aged around 14/15.  We are doing a project which aims to show them how I.T. is used in different areas.  We are going to run a Mini Sports Day and the boys will be responsible for choosing the events, producing the publicity, recording the results, designing a website, creating a newsleter etc etc.  I think the concentration on each of their faces when I was explaining 'the Plan' says it all!

We thought we would let you hear a little bit of the teaching side of things - just in case you thought we were just here to enjoy ourselves....  which we are doing of course.

Must wind up now - Tim Grandage - the incredibly charismatic  founder of Future Hope - is coming to take us to have dinner with the boys in one of the homes this evening - yummy!!

Do comment on our blog - we love to hear from you - Alison has the record number of comments for her last blog about the pantie hat - hardly surprising - the thought of it still makes us crease up!  xxxx

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A day of rest (and laughter)

After being invited by the “gappers” to their housewarming party and drinking lots of Planters Punch we had a lie in.  We were really tired and pleased to have a chance of relaxing.  We managed to get to some shops though this afternoon and we had the usual experience which always makes Toni laugh - the shop assistants - usually men - are very helpful and try to point you in the right direction for sizes etc.,  They look at Toni and go ' small over there madam' and then look at me and say 'extra large this way this madam'. We fall about laughing but they dont know why!

However to top that we decided to treat ourselves to a massage this afternoon -there is a lovely spa just across the road from us.  We arrived and were shown to our rooms and the girl gave me a towel and a paper hat for my hair and told me to change.  I walked back into the massage room wrapped in towel and with 'hat' on  to be told 'no madam - these are panties for you to wear.  Quick about turn for a change and then had a lovely massage!

Tomorrow we are going to the Remembrance service at the Cathedral and then Tim is taking us to Barrackpore - so will give all the news and photos later. 

Just couldn't resist sharing this with you though - don't want you all to think we are not having a giggle as well as working hard.

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Getting better all the time

I did sit and post a nice long blog last night but it seems to have disappeared into thin air so let's try again.

Every day passes more quickly than the last and gets busier as we become known around the school.  Today (Weds) started with assembly as usual - the difference being that there was singing.  This involves a dusty old keyboard being brought out and placed on a table at the front of the room and is played by the former head.  The songs this morning were Blowin' in the Wind and From the tiny Ant - no hymns as such as it has all faiths.  The children sing their hearts out - hardly a dry in amongst the gappers young or not so young.

The ex head was given Cathy's keyboard to open and you can see from the photos how delighted he was - promptly gave us a lovely tune and the old keyboard has been relegated to no. 2 keyboard with little or no ceremony.  It will get its first airing in assembly on friday - watch ths space.

I spent the morning with the Kindergarten class - ages range from roughly 4 - 6 depending on ability.  Took the opportunity to introduce them to Winnie the Blenheim Bear - they were fascinated - and loved having their photos taken - they have 5 mins meditation after break and the photos were taken in order of which table sat the most quietly - the green table had so many cheeky little chaps on it that they had NO chance!  My favourite remark of the day came from the exasperated teacher who said to a little boy in beautifully accented English,

"You decide who you want to be like - Osama bin Laden or Obama or Ghandi... they are both in the history books..."

No PC here...

We walked all the way home from school today - probably for the first time - have tried on numerous other occasions but always managed to get lost - a pleasant walk punctuated by stops for Lime soda and a quick capuccino - this braced us for the sight of gentlemen weeing at the side of a particular stretch of road - will definitely be walking on the other side of that road in future.

Another first - we found a cockroach - it was no match for a deftly wielded waste paper basket!

One of the lovely ladies at Future Hope took us shopping for cool, (as in not warm) baggy clothes - found lots of stuff - made a slight faux pas by coming out of the changing rooms wearing - literally - the wrong sort of trousers - it transpired that the trousers I was wearing should be worn under a knee length tunic - not the short mid thigh version I had on!  i think it was the equivalent of walking around in my underwear.

Looking forward very much to what tomorrow will bring.

Blog back xxxxxxx

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Day Four and Five

We have had a couple of days of getting lost - seeing the other side of Kolkata and beginning to teach! We have also experienced amazing contrasts.  Yesterday we spent the day at Rajahut - the site of the new school and had a marvellous picnic; not picnic in the same way as we picnic at home - but with huge gas hobs and curry and rice cooked under a large awning!  Sitting cross legged on the floor and eating with our hands is geting second nature to us now.

We are so lucky to have such wonderful hosts in Minni and Kokon.  They have taken us for drinks and dinner at the Calcutta Club and introduced us to their lovely friends and then insisted that we go with them to a 70th birthday party at the CCFC which is only about a five minute walk from our house and is the oldest cricket club outside of the UK.

It has been good to get in and see the children at school today.  They are an amazing group - some so bright it breaks your heart.  They soak up anything that you tell them - mind you some are as cheeky as the boys at home!  I spentsome time in Kindergarten with the little ones and one much older boy who was working at their level - so I was able to help him a bit.

The staff have such incredible dedication and I got quite emotional telling them how much both Toni and I admired them - they do so much without any resources at all - it put us to shame!

Our afternoon plans have been scuppered by a almost monsoon like rain storm!  We therefore have very little to wear still  (Toni and I looked far too casula at school today in our grubby tops and pyjama trousers) and now very little to drink! - we will have to resort to gin!  Still we will brave the weather later and go across to the supermarket - where I was very pleased to see sells Kit Kats.

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The Early Days - Toni

We are now on Day 3 of our great adventure and all is well.  Currently sitting in the IT room at Future Hope - the only place we can access the internet.

Our lodgings are great - we live in part of a wonderful old house and our hosts Minnie & Kokon are incredibly friendly and welcoming.  We have a large, high ceilinged bed-sit room with 2 single beds, a 3 piece suite a dodgy electrics... we also have our own bathroom (with tempramental geyser for hot water) a kitchen and a spooky spiral staircase which leads up to the roof - haven't explored that yet, but got the shock of our lives when Monica, Minnie's maid came scuttling down it after hanging up the washing.

The house is on Sunny Park which is amazingly quiet given the chaos which is the adjoining Ballygunge Road.  The driving here is like nothing I've ever seen and every trip in the back of Tim's snot green jeep is an adventure.

We have been into Future Hope a couple of times but no teaching as yet as it is the weekend.  Yesterday, I  had lunch as a guest of the Upstairs Boys - anything from 10 - 15 years old - it was grand.  We had rice, a concoction of aubergine and a fish stew thing with whitebait type fish - I gamely ate the whole thing until I realised the boys were leaving the heads and looking at me in the most peculiar fashion... 

The system they have is that each person takes a dish, is served his food and then the dishes are laid out together on the floor until everyone has a plate of food.  When this is done, the dishes are all handed back - goodness knows how they know whose is whose.  Meals are eaten sitting cross legged on the floor - bit of an ask for someone of my decrepitude but it was fine - I almost had to have help getting up but managed. I was looked after by a lovely young man called Sundip who took my plate and washed it up for me and generally chatted and asked questions throughout the meal.

Alison and I went shopping after lunch - the most exciting thing being the purchase of an electric kettle - the gas ring still not being functional.  Went to the flower market with the Carlings after that - bought some flowers for Minnie who is always there to ply us with tea.  We were probably the only Europeans there and so the vendors were very interested in selling their wares.  I took photos of them which they enjoyed and then I was offered a rose by one of them - which probably means we are engaged - should have held out for the 4 camels Geoff.

Anyway, that's all for now - time to find some lunch.

It is incredible here and so familiar in a strange way - reminds me a lot of visits to Southern Italy as a child.

Would love to hear from you so do blog back xx

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