Started the day by buying vegetables, rice, and chicken for the picnic at the Indrapur school, where it all began for us, and where we now also have a kindergarten. We then visited the Shree Sharwan Janta school, a high school where the second group of students will soon be enrolled. Here, we saw clean, filtered water and a nice toilet group, which could be better maintained, by the way. The library is also located on this campus.
PARTYTIME
In the afternoon, we headed to Indrapur, where we were warmly welcomed. The kids already know it's PARTY TIME!! Balloons (biodegradable!), dancing, drawing with chalk, and lunch with chicken, which they only get to eat about 2 weeks out of the 52 weeks in a year. We had to give a teacher a stern talking to after he decided to hit a few students with a straw. It's remarkable, and a bit sad, to see girls with whom we were dancing just 5 years ago now becoming mothers at the age of 15-16.
Ovation to the teacher
Despite the fatigue, we also visited the Brickschool. I won't bore you with another story about the dire conditions there. But it's clear that we need to invest more there soon. Ovation to the teacher who keeps 35 Dalit kids busy in a small building for a meager salary. It was great to share the usual Dutch treats and create a bit of an Oeteldonk feeling with red-white-yellow balloons. You're either a Bosschenaar or you're not.
Good conversations with the mayor
I almost forgot that we're actually working in addition to all these parties. We had various good conversations, including with the mayor, about our plans, issues that still need to be resolved, and successes we've achieved. I'll be writing a longer blog about this soon
