Drenched at Donk

The day began dramatically as we woke to the sound of torrential monsoon rain and thunder followed by the regular fight for the Baltic shower. Initially delayed by an hour, our trek to Donk began at 11am sharp, (well that’s what my 49 rupee (60p) watch said!) The trek began with high spirits and song despite the unseasonal Himalayan weather’s attempt to thwart our enthusiasm. It seemed easy as our accompanying guide was Surender, the director of the charity which runs Donk and Kaplani schools, who is arguably the most inspirational man we have ever met. Although the beautiful landscape was at times distracting it realised the severity and reality of many of the children’s daily trek to school, and we think Translink buses are bad!

As wet and miserable as we were, the near sight of Donk Primary School returned our previous enthusiasm and reminded us all of the reason of what we were doing and for what purpose. Entering the school was as if we had arrived in 1935 via a De Lorean. Thomas Edison’s works played no part in Donk as electricity was nonexistent. The roof was plagued with holes, the floor was rough concrete and no glass was present in the windows. Literally the school consisted of two rooms, two teachers and no more than twenty pupils. However the teachers’ enthusiasm and love for the children demonstrated that it is not material, but mind that matters in life. The children found it difficult to hear us over the torrential rain banging on the corrugated iron roof but they were so keen to learn that the lesson went well anyway.

On our trek back we trudged through the heavy rain accompanied by small children – some as young as four years old – who unlike us had no coats and in spite of having had no lunch were far more capable of the walk than us. Not to forget their lack of shoes.

As we trekked back Stephen noticed a boy struggling to walk home. Noticing this he lifted him and nobly offered to carry him the remaining 4km home. This feat was made even more impressive by the fact that this was done up hill, whilst carrying teaching resources upon his back and cradling a young Indian child in his arms. Clark Kent watch out! During the homeward journey we came upon some familiar faces, shouts of greetings from the Kaplani pupils was the final motivation required for the final push.

The trek ended with lots of blood stains upon our trousers – leeches! The Indian children casually dealt with these blood suckers with stones, merely flicking them aside. Everyone except the mighty David Burch was “leeched” and let’s just say we definitely didn’t “merely flick them aside”!

Goodbye from Matthew and Stephen

The last day at Kaplani High School; and what a day to draw an end to what has been a fantastic four days!  We were woken up by intense rain and of course Thomas aka ‘the alarm’. However, when we left Mussoorie Gateway the sun erupted through the clouds and lit up our faces!

All our classes seemed to grow in confidence as the week progressed (this was as a result of our extreme and intense enthusiasm, even if we say so ourselves). From making wall displays to playing rounders and football, it was great to see the relationships grow throughout the week and this was epitomised through today’s lessons. As a final farewell to Kaplani, we took part in a “cultural exchange” which saw a group of pupils doing a traditional Himalayan dance. And in sharp contrast, us auld folk from our wee country delivered a raucous rendition of “I’ll tell me ma”, which went down like a storm (quite literally). Following this, we shared friendship bracelets (shout out to Erin!) with our new found pals, even a few tears were shed during our emotional goodbye.

After Tuesday’s night success, the lads made a team decision to order ourselves a truck load of BBQ chicken pizzas for lunch instead of the usual peanut and jelly sandwiches which often led to Hilary bursting into song. Unfortunately, after filling ourselves to the brim we had to venture up into Mussoorie’s bazaar where we absorbed the sights, smells and sounds of India at 7,000 feet.

After dinner, consisting of spuds and fried chicken, we are going to have our nightly reflection and prayer, where we have the opportunity to share our thoughts on the day. Last night, we did our reflection outside in the dark under the light of fireflies. Magical!

David and Stuart

More monsoon! Today started misty in the mountains and at times we could hardly see the Kaplani school playground but the PE lessons went ahead and at lunchtime our boys even played football in the pouring rain! The girls were more sensible and watched from the shelter of the balcony.

We all taught enthusiastically today, so enthusiastically that we ran out of material and had to get creative – there were a lot of charades!  At lunchtime we girls barricaded ourselves into Class 10’s room and were treated to some Indian dancing. We joined in, Irish and Indian girls together waving our arms and wiggling our hips. Bollywood stars watch out! Some of us even danced in the centre of the circle.  One lone male managed to force his way into the room and a certain Methody games teacher showed us his moves, much to the amusement of the Kaplani girls.

We are starting to feel that the children are gaining confidence and really enjoying participating in our lessons as it makes us feel that what we are doing is worthwhile.  We hope to sustain this bond with the children for the rest of our time at the school.

Tonight we have been all busy planning a memorable last day for the children of Kaplani even with all the power cuts and having to work with only our torches – adding to the whole Indian experience!

Tonight ended with a group debate on whether to sing; ‘I’ll tell my ma’ or ‘The Mighty Jungle’ to entertain the children- giving the other hotel residents a night’s entertainment.

Jenny and Chloe

Today was our first full day of teaching in Kaplani High School. Lessons consisted of Drama, RE and PE all of which were a new experience for the children. We were all encouraged by the enthusiastic manner in which we were greeted and this was the highlight of our day. The classes consisted of around12 pupils aged between 11 and 16. The children were so excited about learning new rhymes and dramas and this encouraged all of us to try our best and enable them to understand our English. PE classes were the most enjoyable as all the children were able to interact with each other and us, enabling us to build our relationships with them.

At lunch time, the girls made friendships bracelets during which time we were able to have a one on one conversation with the Indian girls.  The boys were of course playing football and the pupils gave our boys a run for their money. One little boy even held Stephen’s hand – his new best friend.

In the afternoon we went on a short trek with Titu a local guide to get acclimatized to walking at 7000 feet. We’ve got our 4 hour round trek to Donk on Friday so we all need to get in shape – some more than others!

We were all surprised and excited when we saw pizza coke and garlic bread being carried into the room for dinner instead of curry and rice. It was a delicious home comfort and disappeared quickly. The night ended with a Bollywood movie, Bride and Prejudice which give us an insight into arranged marriages in India.

Kerry and Amy

After yesterday’s exhausting journey, morning came far too quickly as we woke to the sound of Thomas banging on our door – what a shock! After breakfast we loaded up the taxis to head into the foothills of the Himalayas to Mussoorie. As we travelled up the winding mountain roads we saw monkeys and had a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains and Dehradun below.

After arriving safely at our lovely hotel we made the final leg of our journey to begin our teaching at Kaplani High School. Meeting the pupils was invigorating and exciting and it felt like our Saphara experience was really beginning. All of the children were so keen to learn – even in the short time we spent with them today. We are looking forward to getting to know them better and teaching them for the rest of the week.

We spent a relaxing afternoon in the hotel gardens looking out over the Himalayan hills then had another great dinner.

Eve and Rachael