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Experiencing India and Volunteering in India | Home |
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Alice Correia stayed in the project at Amarpurkashi in 2001. This is an extract from her diary.
Today is APK day! And we arrived! I’m here! It feels really strange after all that build up, and the preparation and interviews and orientation, and I’m here! And it’s fine! I want to say that after the chaos of Delhi it’s really peaceful here, but with about 1000 school children from primary to tertiary level, its not that quiet. But it’s exciting and different. I think APK will be very different from anything I have ever experienced before. When we arrived we were met by a school function. There were visitors from Jaipur giving a concert for the school children. Everyone is really friendly, and Pushpa, the PV co-ordinator has fantastic English, but I want to learn some Hindi so that I can speak to other people too.
They say that first impressions matter, and I have to say that the project campus is immaculate. No rubbish, no stress, everything is neat and clean. They are whitewashing the buildings in preparation for the Science Fair and Diwali in a few weeks time. Today we also met with Mukat Singh and discussed our aims, and what we wanted to do at APK. I think I would like to do a mural of some sort, and get involved with the English literature classes. By all accounts, the students have good reading and comprehension, but poor spoken English, because of lack of practice. Maybe I’ll do some speaking classes…
Today I met the degree college English class. Everyone took
turns to say their name and what their hobby is. I discovered that of
course everyone play’s cricket and likes watching films. One
boy’s hobby was singing, so we had a short rendition that was
pretty cool. He just got up and sang! After lunch we went over to the
primary school and I have been put to work making posters. I have to
draw a picture of the Hindu God of Education! I’m not sure how
that will go! Then it was off the library to see what needed doing.
All the books were piled in the middle of the floor, in no apparent
order because the room had just been re-painted. We have to re-shelve
and sort out all the books and journals, which looks like a mega
task. And I had my first Hindi lesson today. I can say “My name
is Alice, What is your name?”
I’ve been sick and feeling sorry for myself. I’ve had a runny nose, sore throat headache and been feeling generally miserable. I did go to the doctors in Bilari though and have got some medicine and cough syrup, so I am on the mend. I think the combination of heat and pollution in Delhi, and dust from the library has taken their toll! Anyway, I’ll get over it and everyone has been really kind. Did yoga half-heartedly this morning, had breakfast and then did my washing. There I was scrubbing my chuni in my bucket when I nearly got involved in a monkey fight. I was minding my own business and these monkeys decide to run after each other, getting more and more aggressive, and in the end I had to make a quick dash out of the way to avoid being caught in the middle as they went for each other. It’s not something that usually happens when I’m doing my laundry!
I woke up at 6am this morning and went for a walk with the other ladies to the Healing Pole. The pole is a large concrete pole, and apparently if you walk around it 9 times saying a prayer you will be healed of all your ills. It was really nice to go for the walk, even if I didn’t go in for the healing pole stuff. It was very foggy on the way there, but on the way back the sunrise was beautiful. After breakfast and laundry, it was over to the Library. There are books on the shelves now, and having figured out the classifying system, things are moving along. I have agreed to give regular English conversation classes everyday at 2pm. Not everyone can come everyday, but there are a few familiar faces. About 6 lads came to the first class, and we spent an hour going through phrases like “I am…”, “I have…”, “I like…”. I think it went really well. I feel really enthusiastic about it, and although I know the work in the Library is necessary, with the English classes, I really feel like I am making a difference.
Everything has been geared towards the Science Fair for the last week and now its over. The men had been putting up the marquee since the early hours and things were really busy. There were visitors and guests to attend to and hanging bunting, posters and the paper chains that we had made the day before at the primary school. Each class had a stand to show what they had been doing in school. There were songs, dances, science experiments that I didn’t understand. One class had made a smoking model of Mount Etna! I was on the computer stand for much of the afternoon. I was drawing pictures of elephants and houses on paintbox, showing how a computer works. At about 3pm, we started getting ready for the Annual Function. We put on our fancy clothes and drew bindi on ourselves. Then it started raining, and for a while it looked like the whole function might be cancelled. The rain was dripping through the canvas marquee and all the dignitaries from the surrounding towns were getting wet. There were two enormous puddles on the stage, and we were supposed to be dancing in front of all those people later! We had been practising our dandia (dance with sticks) for the past week, dancing by candlelight sometimes, and we had the routine etched on our brains! After speeches and songs and dances, we eventually got on stage, by which time I don’t think we were nervous, just really eagar to do it. And it was great! The tape player didn’t chew the tape, the lights didn’t go out, no one fell over and we did the dance to perfection. Later, after a special dinner and after I washed my new shawl because I got food all over it (eating with hands is still a bit tricky!), it was a beautiful night, the stars were out, and the moon in APK was incredible. A fantastic day!