Day Ten Our final day in Mussoorie began by packing before an eventful and emotional reflection named ‘the Happening’ in which we all shared out thoughts and highlights of India so far. This included various poems or quotes, researched thoroughly via the internet and bible with the exception of a slightly more light hearted poem, about all team members. Then we began our winding descent down to Dehradun while being awestruck by the spectacular views of the Himalayas yet again. Once settled in the President Hotel we returned to FabIndia, whilst the girls were picking out more clothes, we were shocked to hear the boys had ventured out of the shop in search of Indian Cricket shirts. On their return, the girls were so jealous to hear that the boys had traveled in the famous Rickshaws. To finish yet another great day in India, we had a fantastic meal, some would say the best.

Katie and Peter. M

Christine here.

We’re now over halfway through our Indian adventure and all the young people have been amazing during our journey. The highlight so far has been our four days at Kaplani High School – where our team has been teaching children from the poorest of rural backgrounds. In spite of this the children are keen to learn and our young people have been really pleased with the enthusiastic response to all their lessons. All in the team have been so committed to planning lessons spending hours each evening in preparation – and seeing the great progress the children have made in their spoken English is so rewarding.

Yesterday’s trek to Donk which took a total of four hours was a real challenge but everyone agreed it was worth every effort to spend time with the wonderful children at the primary school. It was great to see how the generosity of Northern Irish people through Saphara is impacting the lives of these children by providing them with an education.

Today was a day of reflecting on all we have experienced so far – we spent a wonderful morning thinking through development issues with Surender Singh, director of MGVS, which runs both schools. This afternoon was a chance to shop and drink cappuccinos at Mussoorie bazaar – well deserved relaxation!

We want to thank the many people at home who are praying for us. We’ve had relatively little sickness and we ask you to continue to pray for us as we return to the heat of Dehradun tomorrow for our week at SNEHA. Pray that as we prepare our lessons that we will be a real blessing to the children and that all our young people will be well and cope with all the challenges we face. Thanks!