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Posted 08/11/2008
Group3 Jenni Blog12 / India
Jo and I got up at 6.30 much to Jo's surprise. We did our own stretched and suchlike and Donald appeared at about 7 o'clock. He lazed about for a bit whilst I tried teaching Jo how to do interior hip circles – a bellydance move - and then Donald went through some more Jujitsu.
We had pancakes at breakfast and I managed to scrounge some sugar and lemon. Happy days!
Only daycare was open today and I swapped with Amber so I could do more physical work. Donald had swapped with Joe for the day as well to get a taste of something different. Firstly I was branch hacking but then Rakesh took over thinking I needed a rest! In the end I had to ask if I could do something useful. So I ended up digging holes with a L shaped spade and a pick axe. By the time we got back to camp I was pretty tired and achey.
After the Saturday meeting many volunteers went to Kangra, I stayed behind and played Risk with Kris, Donald and Katy.
Posted 07/11/2008
Group3 Jenni Blog11 / India
Debi, Jo and I got up at 7am. It was meant to be 6.30 but I'd set my alarm in English time but luckily woke up naturally at 7. Donald had been waiting for us bless him. First I taught some yoga then Donald taught us some Jujitsu which was brilliant. I really want to learn some form of martial arts when I get home.
Daycare was OK, the same 3 kids were in and the afternoon was spent getting spiked again. At one point I semi blacked out as well. I think I was still getting acclimatised to the heat, height and set meal times. I was feeling a bit more settled emotionally though. At the end of the school day some of the girls were talking to me. They're so adorable, and there's one girl called Usha who just sparks off something deep inside me. I just want to give her a huge hug!
Posted 06/11/2008
Group3 Jenni Blog10 / India
Again I was up at 7am and I bumped into Anna. I did a small amount of yoga but not much. I was aching a lot by then. No children were there for daycare today so Kris and I watered trees. Easy, I hear you say. Well yes, technically. However, the water tank fills up buckets at a rate of about and inch every 45 seconds so it was a pretty slow process.
In the afternoon Lizi, Kris and I were in charge of goat deterrents. This means enclosing tree saplings with thorny branches so that goats don't eat them. Again I got to use the sickle thing, but this time I got to grapple with thick menacing thorns as well.
That evening I went to Palampur town for the first time, Debi and Donald were my accomplices. As a treat I bought myself pistachios, almonds and green tea.
Posted 05/11/2008
Group3 Jenni Blog9 / India
At 7am I got up with Debi and Jo and we did some yoga downstairs. Anna joined in too. At 9 o'clock I left the house with the other appropriate volunteers – Jo, Segen, Janelle, Kris, Michelle, Lizi, Charlotte, Amber and Katy – and our Project Executive Rakesh. Sukeri is gorgeous with beautiful views from the school looking across miles of tree covered hills that fade into the distance.
Daycare consisted of 3 children today; Aarpit, Swastic and Kanu. Swastic is very smiley despite being paralysed from the waist down. Aarpit doesn't seem so carefree and Kanu is the most distracted although she seemed pretty good. Kris did say it's the best she's been so far.
The afternoon session saw us split into 2 groups: teaching and 'manual labour'. Thankfully I got my first choice, 'manual labour'. This consisted of watching Rakesh hack off tree branches with some kind of heavy sickle type tool and then us lugging the branches away. After he'd finished with the first tree we tried locating another that was suitable. I found one that I figured would be OK if it was climbed up again and thus volunteered to do the climbing. The tree wasn't hard to scramble into and once perched I began the hacking process. This was to be the highlight of my day, it was great fun.
That evening I spent mooching about fairly unproductively, although I was taught how to play Carram. Ian rang at about 10.20pm India time. It was great to hear his voice but it made me yearn to be with him. Needless to say it wasn't our most constructive conversation. An already quiet line is hard enough, but when one of you is crying and incoherent it makes it all the more difficult! I just hoped I'd sort my head out sooner rather than later.