Another day at SNEHA commenced as we arrived in the playground after a bumpy journey by Vikram. We were again made to feel most welcome in the staff room, where we relax between classes.

Our classes today ranged from the usual Maths and Geography, and for the first time, 2/3 of our group took part in Conversation classes with the Upper Sixth students whilst the others had the challenge of controlling a class of about 50 kindergarten children, trying to teach them music!

The conversation classes went extremely well, with all topics from marriage and Indian traditions to henna tattoos and modern Bollywood being discussed. Anna and Amy felt that by the end of the session they had really connected with the girls, hearing from one girl about how her parents are dead and so she has to look after her younger brothers and sisters – we are so impressed that she still manages to come to school! We also realised one conversation group had 3 head boys –Paoirse, Suresh and Andrew – so photos had to be taken. We are all really looking forward to getting to chat to them again tomorrow.

Whilst most of us enjoyed the calm of 17 year olds, the rest of the group were teaching over 50 hyper 4 year olds, and amazingly enough, had them hanging on their every word and being fully involved in the many renditions of “The Wheels on The Bus” and “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”.  We finished our teaching day with a Geography lesson, with the task of explaining the formation of a cyclone to 40 13-14 year olds after recess!

We were all more than ready for our daily lunch at McDonalds and after we were all fed and watered we made our way quickly across the road to a cafe. While the girls visited a Sari shop where we saw the most beautiful materials and Orlagh, Amy, Rachel, Chloe and even Linda tried one on, the boys headed to the Tommy Hilfiger shop to search out some bargains.  “You can trust me, my name is Hari” was parked up ready with his friends ready to take us back to our Hotel in true Indian style; TukTuks!

Now we are off to Pizza Hut to enjoy some more nutritious fast food….

Lots of love Orlagh, Rachel M, Anna, Amy, Ellen and Andrew xx

Today we had our first experience with SNEHA School and the children from the marginalised community. We found the children’s English was much better than in Kaplani. However the increased class numbers meant that teaching was every bit as challenging as expected. We must pay tribute to Dr. Susanna and all the staff at SNEHA (which is aptly named as it translates to love in Hindi) for their extremely warm welcome and hospitality.

After our highly spirited music lessons, we made the short journey (some of the boys braving the back of the motorcycles) to the marginalised community (the more usual term – slum probably gives you a better idea of what we saw).  We witnessed indescribable levels of poverty, and found the journey extremely emotional, seeing young children in terrible conditions being so overjoyed to see our group.

Whilst an exceptionally tough thing to witness, our tour of the slums was also inspirational as the people living in such poor conditions are so full of joy and happiness when they see us. It really motivated us to make the most of our time here teaching and trying to help give these children the skills to improve their style of life.

We had our second encounter with the large blue Tuk-tuks or Vikrams today and apparently we are to be getting them to and from school every day, and we couldn’t be happier! Everyday our journey is full of excitement and exhilaration and we get to see more of the real India and its people and culture. After another McDonalds, we are back at Hotel Relax, waiting for dinner and dreading another early start tomorrow. It’s incredible that we only have one week left in India and then we will be home with all of you.

Love Alice, Richard and Sean x

We woke this morning with mixed feelings about our last day in Mussoorie. We have all had an amazing time in the Himalayan foothills, with very special memories of our time in Kaplani and Donk and we will be very sad to leave. But, the end of this stage of our adventure also signifies the beginning of the next, as we travel down to Dehradun to begin our teaching in SNEHA School tomorrow.

We spent our last morning in the Mussoorie Gateway hotel gathered together for ‘The Happening’. This was an opportunity for each of us to share a little about what the Saphara trip has meant to us so far through the medium of quotes, songs, poems and scripture readings. It was a very spiritual and moving event during which everyone gave a little of themselves in sharing their thoughts and feelings about their Indian experiences.

After ‘The Happening’ we began our journey back down the mountain side towards Dehradun, feeling the gradual increase in temperature as we went. With plenty of monkey sightings en route, we were soon back in the crazy city traffic. Lunch at McDonalds, followed by a little shopping, after which we were soon settled in our new base – ‘Hotel Relax’. Aptly named, we all feel right at home with lovely rooms and even lovelier staff! Planning complete tomorrow we’re off to bed for a good night’s sleep before our first day in SNEHA.

We are both exceptionally proud of the work of our young people, how they are supporting each other (and us… Donk mountain…). They are superb ambassadors for their schools and of course for Saphara.

Big Hugs to all at home, Catherine and Linda x

Firstly we would like to update you that our omelette count has found a new joint leader with Orlagh now joining Ben with an impressive 5 omelettes each this morning.

Our morning was a lot more relaxed after our half an hour lie in, well deserved after the tough trek yesterday. The second day of the Global Awareness Weekend began with a workshop that Surender, the director of MGVS which runs Kaplani High school and Donk Primary school, had so kindly given up his time to do with us. Through this we learned the importance of the empowerment of women in rural communities and how to prioritise development in the local villages such as Donk. Helping people to help themselves really is the only way to bring about long-term change. (We’re also really excited about the chance to sponsor a child from Donk!)

After this intense but eye opening discussion we warily moved on to a short play which we were assured by the teachers had a relevant meaning to the workshop; however initial doubts were raised once Richard started “swimming” around the yard and Alice saving babies (newspapers)… Mrs O’Brien would’ve been proud of their dramatics. But it did help us to see understand the saying ‘if you give someone a fish you feed them for a day, if you teach someone to fish you feed them for a lifetime’.

After forewarnings from Christine of the mayhem to follow we set off on another short trek to the local bazaar for a much awaited bit of retail therapy, which was made all the sweeter with a taste of sizzling chocolate brownies with ice-cream and succulent strawberry milkshakes (YUM!!) There were many weird and wacky purchases, not least a cane bought by Andrew to keep the Rainey students in line (perhaps taking his new role as head boy a little too seriously).

Once again the locals were infatuated with the girls taking a lot of photos; Alice was even mistaken as Paoirse’s wife as he was consulted for permission to take her photo.

We now eagerly await our pizza and movie night (the very appropriate Slumdog Millionaire) and, with anticipation, look forward to returning to the city of Dehradun tomorrow evening and back to the sweltering heat.

Missing everyone at home, but having an incredible trip!

Love Sean, Alice, Niamh and Rachel xxxx

Starting off today’s blog with a mention of this morning’s omelettes at breakfast. AMAZING. Ben had 5, Paoirse had 3 – stocking up for the day ahead…

Today was the infamous trek to Donk which had been looming over us for the past few days just like the monsoon!

In spite of the miserable weather we set off with high spirits relishing the challenge that lay ahead. So we started the downhill trek with a lot of caution for the leeches due to the sensationalized stories shared between team members. We were using the umbrellas we would give to the Donk children as walking sticks and sang a variety of songs from Queen to the Wicked soundtrack. Eventually after only one stumble we reached Donk Primary School, a small, two roomed building, not much larger than some of our own garages. After a very thorough leech inspection, whilst enjoying the breathtaking views, the teams split up into new teaching groups.

We took turns to teach whilst the other group visited the village of Donk where we saw the one roomed houses where a family of 7 would have lived and these were considered the best houses in the area. After the team swapped about, everyone could agree that the kids were the smallest, cutest and most adorable 3-5 year old children we had ever seen! We distributed balloons, school bags, handmade woolly hats and umbrellas to each of the children who truly appreciated them. It is fantastic to know that it is only because of Saphara that these children are getting an education.

After a substantial amount of photos we started the ascent… We split into three groups according to Catherine it was the tigers, the bears and the sloths.  Some of us had some company along the way with the children from the school who are a lot more accustomed to the journey than us. Although Ross insisted on carrying one wee child the whole distance home. What a gentleman! We were pretty emotional at the fact we were complaining and the small children were walking in flip flops with no heels and had next to nothing to eat all day so when they were asking for food we gave them everything we had! We passed some of our students from Kaplani – they greeted us so excitedly which was tough since now we had seen where they lived.

Meanwhile 30 mins behind everyone else in the sloth team, Catherine found the Journey quite difficult and had to stop after every hill (not that the rest of them minded!) Ben “The Tank” Montgomery was another gentleman and carried Catherine and Chloe’s rucksack for the whole trek, much to their appreciation.

Several hours later, everyone arrived back at the hotel to take full advantage of the showers and eat a lot of Indian cuisine after a long hard day.  This time last week we met at Belfast airport. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Love Rebecca, Paoirse, Chloe and Ben xxxx

P.S. from Christine. Thanks so much to all the ladies who knitted hats for the children – as you can see they look great on them. And thanks to all who are praying for our NW team – we’ve had wonderful first week and all are happy and healthy.