The first week ...

VANAKAM (*) !

Here I am. Finally.
Where to start: so much happened in the past 7 days ! It has been so rich in emotions.
Let's start by the beginning: After 24 hours of travelling with 42 kilos of luggage and without sleep, I arrived in Pondy, more than exhausted - but really happy to be here.On my way from the airport, I had this strange but nice feeling of being back home.

My appartment is really great: about 125 square meters: 25 by 5: I should have brought my roller blades with me ;-)
It is made of one living room/office/hall, 1 veeery long corridor, 1 large bedroom, 1 dinning-room, one guest room, one bathroom and one kitchen. All furnished, pretty basically but very clean.

What I didn't tell you yet is that is is very hot over here ... I mean like: really bloody hot !!! The absolutely great thing is that I have the luxury to have air conditionning in my bedroom, but when I go in the corridor, I have the impression to get into a a sauna combined with turkish bath. I let you imagine ...
They say it is 40 degrees outside BUT that the temperature will be higher in May and June ..................

Actually, I can manage quite ok with the heat (more than what I thought) since it is quite windy outside. You are actually sweating like hell all over your body all day long. For those who worry for my health and know my tendancy not to absorb enough water, don't worry: I drink a lot of water !!! Not yet dehydrated ... ;-)
(By the way, my left ankle is still pretty much hurting and walking all day doesn't help ... hope it will get better within a few weeks)

So After my arrival, I went straight to bed, but of course could not sleep very well: extreme tiredness, and the ongoing choice between the heavy heath, OR the air/co AND the huge noise of the A/C system ... I kind of resolve it by using ear plugs ... ;-)

Rajkala, the director of the SHARANA association, came to pick me up at my wake up to offer me a breakfast out and tell what what was expected from me and when.
Actually, the children summer camp was starting while we were talking, so she said she would pick me up the following day on Monday at 8h30 (understand 5AM with the jet lag ...) to give me a lift to the inauguration of the camp. Regarding my responsibilities, I thought I would have the task to help out and conduct some activities with the children. Well, she said she thought of me to lead the camp ! .......

So here I am, on Monday morning, in front of 54 tamil kids from 8 to 14 years all wisely waiting for us in the camp hall with WELCOME signs and jasmine necklaces for us. Then they ask me to make a speech as director of the camp ...

Gosh !!! I felt so TERRIBLY not at ease ... !!!!

But at the same time it is so nice. I am absolutely amazed how these kids are disciplined and smiling. They all come from poor family. They have been chosen on criteria such as a missing father, or an alcoholic father (Pondicherry is known for his great number of alcohol factories. Alcohol is sold here for only a few rupees, and too many men spend their entire salary on drinking and don't bring back any money home for food or children education. Even some very young children become alcoholic as there is no restriction on alcohol sale).

SHARANA organization organized this year (for the second year in a row) 3 camps with half of their sponsored children (300 in total) . They didn't manage to convince the parents of other half to send them to this camp, as the parents wanted their children to work during their month of holidays, as maid for instance for 150 rupees a month ...

I had a wonderful week with all these kids. You should see their smile on their face. They are all so lovable.
Despite their poverty, it is amazing to see how the girls are so caring about their appearance: beautiful shining punjabis, tons of jewelery and hair always nicely arranged.
We had a very well organized schedule for the entire week, with lots activities for the children (clay work by a famous clay master, Yoga lessons by a professional teacher and many conferences given by University teachers on leadership, behavior improvement, importance of a sanitary way of life ...)

The day was starting at 5h30 (no, it is not a typo ...). Actually, children were even up at 5AM .... I must admit that I couldn't extract myself from the bed before 6AM, so I was ready to join the Hata Yoga class which was starting at 6h30 in the veranda. At 8AM, we were serving the breakfast to the kids and at 9AM we were starting the activities. Regarding the food: morning, lunch and dinner: rice with different spicy sauces. No sweet taste for one week ... !!!
For the snack in the afternoon, it was most of the time green peas or biscuits.
At 1 PM, we had lunch, 5PM snack, 8 PM dinner and 9PM was bed time. The girls wanted to sleep with the neon light switched on as they were afraid. They are not used to sleep without their mother and sisters until they get married and leave the familial house.
I had my own bedroom: eventhough the matresses are hard, they are still softer that the floor where the girls were sleeping ... ;-)

Before I arrived, I had the intention of learning a bit of tamil... my priority has now switched to understanding the english spoken with an indian accent which is not always as easy as it could seem ... ;-) Children's english is really poor and tamil language extremely difficult to speak and understand. So it will be hard but I really believe in the efficiency of body language: we managed quite well to understand each other for the basics, and for the rest, my peers (we were a team of 6) were happy to translate some things for me.
However, getting the rules of a new game understood by everybody (including my colleagues) was sometimes really challenging ! ;-) Good communication exercice though ...




F I R E C A M P



So yesterday evening, we went back with the children in a little van (18 seats - 30 people), tamil music as loud as we could, and 2 girls dancing traditionnal indian dance between the seats with all the other children screaming and clapping: quite a memorable atmosphere, I can tell you !

So when I arrived back in my sauna, with the perspective of a week-end on my own, I suddenly realize that I would be all alone - far away from my family and friends quite a few times - which was quite a tough moment ... I can't give phone calls outside the province from my home, have to go out to find a phone shop in the street. I will try to install the Skype software to be able to call through the internet from home.

Today Saturday I went out in the city. I first walked along the Bay of Bengal (300 meters from my home) and then sat for 2 hours in the central park of the city in front of the Governor palace, where many indians spend the hot hours of the day under the trees. As it was first of May, also labor day in India, lots of families were there for picnic. Several indian families asked me if I would like to stand on the group photo with them, I felt suddenly really like a curious animal ... Then after a (spicy) chicken curry, I went to the city center: Nehru street, Gandhi street. Despite the fact that it was labor day, most of the shops were open so I did a few hours shopping ... very good for the morale ! ;-))

On my way back, I discover a very large hindi temple a bit further down my street. The atmosphere was really cosy: I'll send you some pictures later. And I fnally met HER ! She is the female elephant from the Manukala Vinayagar Koil Street ! Beautiful, with her white paintings on the forehead and gorgious leg- and necklaces. I gave her a banana and she blessed me on the head. ;-)

I am leaving again on Sunday afternoon for the next camp and will be back on Friday the 7th of April at the end of the afternoon. After that, I will have one week where I will visit the kids at their home and prepare the third camp which will be in the mountains ( understands cooler temperature !) from the 16th to the 21st.
I will give you some other news when I am back !

Lots of love,
I hope to hear from you soon and to receive your latest news !

@Lex&rÂ

(*) Salutations in tamil