Serious Stuff!

As some of you will have seen on the charity’s website: www.vfrtrust.org , the charity was started in 1992 when Sandhya took in an abandoned little girl.  This was the start of what has since grown into an orphanage & school.  Sandhya is a former University Lecturer of English & she’s now President & Director of the charity.  She has gathered around her other retired professional women here, who also give their time to work voluntarily for the charity.  In everything they do, they bring the problem of the ‘Girl Child’ in India to the fore.  They are desperately trying to educate, not just children, but also society, so that one day girls will not be aborted, killed or abandoned any more.  

Sandhya is a wonderful, gentle lady, who works tirelessly for the children & she also travels to advertise & to try to gain sponsorship & support.  I’ve also discovered (from other sources!) that these caring ladies give a lot of their own money to this cause.  Sandhya also welcomes the children into her own home regularly.  She treats them all as family.  Her husband seems a lovely man too & is a doctor - an eye specialist, so the children get good glasses too!  Sandhya is a relentless campaigner.  She says that girls are not only abandoned physically here, but emotionally & intellectually as well.  Women are really not valued in India & she takes every opportunity to campaign for women’s rights.  I’ve learned that the charity not only supports children, but also underprivileged women, often in local rural communities where there’s great poverty & also prejudice.  “Women in Kadapa district have a very low social status – often victims of abuse, lacking basic human rights, dignity and independence. In an effort to change this, VFT helps women become independent by training them” eg. in tailoring etc., so that they can become self-supporting & keep their children.  It’s such a worthwhile cause!

                                                                                                 

Training in the TailoringClass

I’ve been very moved, as most of the children have a tragic story to their past & some women turn up here, desperate for help, as they are victims of abuse etc. & can’t feed their children.  From what I can gather, Sandhya & the others never turn anyone away.  They always try to help or at least start them off on a path to recovery.  This is also how Aarti Home began to take boys too – how can you turn away people, who are desperate for help?  That’s also how the school began to take external children, in addition to the orphanage children – the charity supports & subsidises where the need is great, & lots of underprivileged people here desperately want education for their children. 

Sandhya is not only a truly lovely person, but she’s quite inspiring too.  The plight of the ‘girl child’ in India is her focus & she is fascinating to listen to.  She also runs conferences & workshops & I’m very glad that I’ve come here, as it’s a cause that really does need help.  They are providing a loving, caring home for the children but obviously funds are never enough, hence the place does look quite run-down & in need of refurbishment.  However, the children are learning wonderful values.  Despite their sad backgrounds, thanks to what they are being offered here, they are delightful, happy & confident youngsters with high aspirations for the future.  They study hard, as they are all aware that this is their way to a better future.

I mentioned prejudice above, so I need to explain a little.  They are working here to try to help, educate & train underprivileged people in rural areas but I’ve learned that it’s far harder than it would seem.  The mindset has been established for generations & that’s the problem: girls are undervalued to such an extent that eg. they are given less food than boys, aren’t educated as the boys are etc.  When health workers go out into these areas to try to educate re. nutrition & pregnancy etc., they distribute vitamins, medicines etc.  Young girls & mothers are receptive to the training but the vitamins are often taken away by the families & rather than giving them to the pregnant woman, they sell them for money, whether they need it or not.  A woman is expected to cope without support in any way.  Ultrasound scans are only valued as a way of determining the sex of the baby, so that a female foetus may be aborted.  Please see the extract below:

“Being orphaned is unfortunate, being abandoned is devastating” – Soubhagya, 19, Aarti Home

“Devastating it is, there is a girl abandoned, killed – either before or after birth, or abused every minute in India. According to a recent UNICEF report, it is estimated that there are 40 million girls missing from Indian population. In most countries in the world, there are approximately 105 female births for every 100 males. In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population.”

The extracts above are from a report, which the charity submitted, in an effort to obtain funding.

This has all really brought home to me how important this work is!

Food for thought!

Having initially been taken on a tour of the school, I’ve now got to know the orphanage.  One thing that’s made an impact on me is the lack of furniture.  We’re so used to furniture that it seems strange to see that everything is carried out on the floor, not just lessons in school, but eating & sleeping, preparing food, washing up etc.  It was one thing, seeing the children sitting & eating their meals from their metal dishes on the floor, but it tugs at the heart strings to see them simply lying on the ceramic floor, to sleep.  As it’s hot in Summer, they don’t even lie on a blanket & they have no covering. There are a few beds for older children but the majority sleep on the floor of the same room, which serves also as their dining hall.



The few beds for older girls



The kitchen is very tiny at the moment, as renovation work is in progress.  The ladies, who prepare the food, do a wonderful job but have very little space at the moment. However, I’ve noticed that even the neighbours in the houses next door, squat on the ground to prepare the vegetables etc.  In the orphanage they manage very well in catering for so many children and they’re very aware of nutrition. 

The food is vegetarian, healthy and very tasty.  I’ve found it spicy but not overly so.  Every day there is some sort of curry or spicy dish plus one of a variety of rice dishes, or chapattis and usually served with curd.  There is also fresh fruit & I’m adhering to the rule that so many friends quoted to me: “Peel it, cook it or leave it!”  The only meal that I’ve found quite hard to take is the curry for breakfast!  Although I love savoury food, I simply find curry hard to stomach first thing in the morning!  I’m managing very well though with oats, milk & fruit, which was very thoughtfully bought for me.  The people here really are very considerate & anxious that I should feel comfortable.

The orphanage has specially filtered water for drinking, which I’ve only tentatively tried, as I felt more confident with bottled water.  I’m taking food & drink carefully, hoping that my system will adapt without any unpleasant repercussions! 

Whilst touching on that delicate subject, I’ll tell you that yesterday I realised that my loo paper was running low.  I asked if there was some more available & discovered that they don’t have it here! I had read in the guide book that it’s not used much in India & sure enough, in the loos at the airport I’d noticed the little hose pipes that are fixed to the wall beside the loos!  Now I understand!  So, yesterday I was very kindly taken to a little supermarket, where the assistants looked blankly when asked in their own language for loo paper.  I hunted round the shop but couldn’t see any!  Finally a man found a pack on a top shelf – obviously not a common request!  So that’s something else I’ve learned & I hope I now have enough to last the month!

Hygiene is also being highlighted in the orphanage & school, & the staff are also keen to teach the underprivileged people, with whom they work in the outlying areas, of the necessity of good hygiene.

More about that work later.  The internet is available in only one office here, so I don’t always have access, time is therefore limited & then there are the daily power cuts!

Long days!

Ok, I think I’m getting the hang of this daily routine now.  India doesn’t go to bed, as we do in the UK, due to the heat.  So it’s not unusual for there to be things happening through the night, when it’s cooler.  However, I was awoken today at 3.00am by singing from the temple next door! Apparently, Thursday is this particular temple’s Sabbath & the devotions continue for 24 hours!!  I’m told that lots of the temples have different days of devotion, depending on which god they are devoted to. 

The children in Aarti Home get up at 5.30am.  The early morning is when a lot of the more strenuous jobs are carried out before the intense heat of the day. So the girls & house mother at the orphanage are busy outside doing the laundry – ie. from buckets, & scrubbing on flat stone slabs.  This seems to involve a lot of slapping the clothes as hard as possible, apparently the dirtier the clothes, the greater the slaps! 

All the children accept the fact that they are expected to do chores & they each have their own jobs to do. So this is how they start the day.  Those up to 8 years old are given a drink of milk & the rest are given ragi, which is apparently rich in iron.  They are then prepared for the school day.  Despite having no shoes, the children are immaculately turned out.  They line up for their ablutions & to have their hair combed & tied up. There’s complete order, no complaining!  The house mother is assisted by some of the older girls in checking that the children are all clean & tidy before they walk across the courtyard to the school, where lessons start at 7.30am.

At 9.00am there is a break for breakfast & then back to work.  The classrooms are small & lessons seem to be as we used to know them in the UK.  There is little evidence of equipment or much interaction but the children are keen to learn & manage with their very well used books.  There is another break at 11.00am &, in the Summer, school finishes at 12.30pm, due to the heat.  (In Winter, school is from 9.45am until 5.00pm.)

After lunch everything quietens down from 2.00pm until about 5.00pm & people seem to rest their way through the greatest heat of the day.  The children are occupied with peaceful activities until they have a snack at 5.00pm & do a few more chores. Then I see the younger ones, lining up beneath my window for their baths, hair washing & sprinkling of talcum powder.  The older children shower in a large bathroom.  There is study time throughout the year from 6.00 – 8.00pm & the children are back at their books, supervised by adults, older students & volunteers.  Supper is from about 8.00pm, although the older girls don’t eat until about 10.00pm.  So it’s a very long day for children, yet they cope well & are laughing & happy.

I am amazed by the amount of work these youngsters undertake.  The older girls are expected to assist with the running of the home & they help in every way – from looking after the little ones, bathing them etc. to cleaning & cooking, in addition to their studies.  One particular girl is looking after me constantly.  She’s 17 & awaiting her exam results, hoping to go to college, after which she wants to return to the orphanage & work as a teacher in the school.  So, she cooks, cleans, goes to the market, works in the office until all hours (sometimes until midnight!) & is then up at 6.30pm, cooking, filling the water dispensers, doing laundry & making sure I’m ok!  Today she’s cleaning the whole orphanage, as she decided the constant dust had got too much to bear & the only cleaner is away at the moment.  The cleaning involves mainly sweeping, as there is incessant dust, which I’m learning is a permanent characteristic of India.  By the afternoons, despite a morning shower & moisturiser, my skin feels as though there is a layer of chalk all over it!

The Beginning.

After my night of fitful sleep in what seemed sweltering heat, despite the air conditioning unit & the whirring ceiling fan above my bed, I awoke again at 5.30am to the sounds of children stirring.  To my delight, I found that, despite the basin tap not working, there was luke warm water from the shower, so I enjoyed that before I suddenly had visitors at 7.00am!  The older girls are very helpful & seem to be looking after me – keen to provide hot drinks & breakfast.  I decided to try this Indian style & for the first time in my life I had curried vegetables for breakfast!  This was lovely but I had to eat it while trying to dress etc., as I suddenly discovered that I was to be taken to meet the School Head. 

After a chat about the school, I was taken on a guided tour & into each class, where the children leapt to their feet to say “Good morning!”  They are delightful – bare-footed with happy, smiling faces in their red & brown uniforms.  There are 70 pupils from the home & 150 external students, whose families are struggling financially, but are keen for their children to learn.  The classes are small by English standards, about a dozen on average I think, and the children sit on the floor with their school bags in front of them, which are all they have to use, as desks.  No interactive white boards here, just blackboards & chalk for the teachers.

I saw the room, which is having wooden shelves installed & which will be a library.  The books are visibly second hand and have mostly been donated by volunteers.  This is an area in definite need of help!  There will also be a computer room in the future; so far, it contains only the sockets!

Aarti School

The children are happy and quite self-sufficient.  They are all keen to speak English & my main difficulty so far is in understanding the strong accents.  It’s so embarrassing to have to keep asking them to repeat phrases!

I’m rapidly learning that all meals seem to consist of curry, so thank goodness I like it!  I’ve also learned today that the electricity goes off every afternoon from about 2.00 to 4.00pm – no-one thought to mention that to me!  In fact today it was off ubtil 5.00pm!  Luckily, I’d almost finished the report, which I was tweaking on the computer for the Head!  Everything becomes quiet for the afternoon, as the heat is so intense.  In fact, the Director told me that they don’t usually take visitors in May or June, as the heat is so unbearable.  I’ve already found that the guide book misled me – informing me that the average temperatures in March & April are in the mid-thirties, whereas the Deputy Director tells me that it’s mid-forties!  Hence, when I intended walking to the bank today, I was suddenly given an escort & a driver to protect me from the heat as well as from any untoward experience!

Although I normally enjoy hot temperatures, the lack of water here, let alone a pool, changes things dramatically.  I’m drinking copious amounts of filtered water & learning that my usual speed of doing things simply isn’t possible!  Slowly, slowly now!  My clothes seem to be permanently wet & that’s not from the shower!  However, I’ll get used to it.  It’s been a first day of learning to adapt & I think I need to try to sleep as much as possible to adjust to the time difference & to feel energised for the projects, which Sandhya has in mind for me!

India: First Impressions

Ok, I’m aware that others are quite used to India & all that it offers in the rich tapestry of life & obviously films & TV reveal a lot but nevertheless, bear with me if I record my own first impressions as I left the airport at Chennai & was driven for 6 hours to the children’s home in Kadapa.

Overwhelming heat / traffic / noise / tooting / dust / rubbish strewn on the ground in every direction!  The mass of cars & motor scooters seem to drive in a general direction but with little or no regard for lanes!  The constant drone of tooting horns is apparently used as a signal of approach in every direction & at every opportunity – most of the time they seem to be saying, “Move over!  I’m 2 inches to your right or left!”   Or simply, “Get out of the way!”  It’s obviously a good natured norm, as it’s even written on the back of most vans & lorries: “Sound your horn!”  I counted only two helmets – most riders seem happy to embrace the whole traffic mêlée as a routine experience & the addition of scrawny cattle, dogs, goats, pigs & even a monkey using the road didn’t phase the locals at all.  Even the beautiful ladies, riding side saddle in their saris on the back of motor scooters took it all in their stride, well ride anyway!

The contrast between new / modern & old / dilapidated is striking.  I remember the same impression last year in Bangkok but here there appears to be far more of the latter & the little towns & hamlets, which we passed through after Chennai, were predominantly in need of more than a coat of paint!  I was struck by a lot of old structures, literally crumbling away but with new parts of building attached.  The mixture of temples, mosques & Christian churches, just as at home, reveals the multicultural norm.  The trees, which my escort kindly pointed out to me, were emphasised by the piles or plates of fruit on offer at the roadside: bananas, coconuts, mangoes, melons & figs, & about two hours away from the airport, the flat scrubland began to become more interesting & we encountered both man-made mounds from mining & also gradual hills & an increase in vegetation.

Lunch was my first experience of eating truly authentically.  We stopped at a “family restaurant” which was something of a misnomer, as only men were eating there & I was the only female & white too!  I learned that “meals” is an expression denoting as much as you can eat from a set menu of rice & a selection of little curry dishes, pickles & curd.  Served on a large banana leaf, the curries are then tipped on to the rice & mixed & eaten with the right hand.  My two hosts, the escort & the taxi driver, instructed me well but despite washing my hands both before & after eating, I still couldn’t get rid of the yellow stains on my right hand!  However, it was a tasty meal & in no time, we were back on the slow, potholed road, which for some strange reason, had multiple speed bumps at frequent intervals!

The clear deprivation & poverty around me are in stark contrast to the kindness of the people.  I have been warmly welcomed & looked after since my arrival in India.  25 hours after leaving home & having seen the opulence of Dubai airport en route, I arrived at the orphanage & school in Kadapa. 

My first blog post!

Thanks to my son, I have now entered the technological age! You're welcome to follow my blog (if I can get the hang of this!), as I embark on a trip to India to work for Aarti Home, of the Vijay Foundation Trust.