A Children's Assembly

Children sit at an assembly to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Many religions are practiced here such as the Christian, Hindu and Moslem religions.

A Festival

A festival on the highway in Kollam

Our Houseboat

The outside of our houseboat

The Shore

The shore of the backwaters from the houseboat

On a House Boat

In Allepey on a house boat

The Milk Market

Men at the morning milk market in Jaipur.

Animals in Agra

  

Animals on the side of the road in Agra

The Taj Mahal at 6:00 A.M.

 

My friend Stacy and I are touring India.  Lots of animals, people, garbage and crazy driving.  This morning we got up at 6:00 a.m. to see the Taj Mahal.  Very impressive even in cloudy weather.

Cafeteria Evening

Children watching their friends taking part in the festivities.

Cafeteria Evening

Cafeteria Evening for the boarder school children.  Events included dancing, snacks and a showing of the movie G-Force.

Library

 
Reading in the library with eight and nine year olds.

Tuck Tucks

People use tuck tucks (seen here), bicycles and motorbikes to get around.

Weekend Day Trip

August 14, 2011
Today I went on a weekend day trip with many of the orphan girls who live at the Trust.  We drove about an hour to the Indian Ocean.  The girls who were over the age of nine wore their long blue-flowered night dresses in the water.  Their dresses reached almost to the floor and covered their shoulders.  We were the only people on the beach.  The girls swam in the water, played in the sand and walked along the beach.  A man came by on an ice cream bike truck and the girls got vanilla ice cream pops.  After a few hours the house mother got out three large containers of food for lunch.  Each girl got out her own plate.  The women served spiced rice, a hard-boiled egg and a little spicy humus to each girl.  The bus stopped on the way back and each girl got a small soda.  The soda came in small glass bottles with a blue or red thin straw.  The choice was between Sprite and Orange Miranda.

Kovalam, Kerla

My room. There are five beds in total some are not included in the picture.

Playing cards with boys from the orphanage. The game's loser is the donkey and puts his cards on his head.

Parents watching their children during Kindergarten Sports Day.

Children participating in sports day.

Parents watching their children.

In Valliyor, the nearby town

Main Street

The main street, lots of animals, and two and three wheel vehicles.

Founder's Day

On Saturday the Trust celebrated Founder's Day. All of the women were dressed in saris and the men wore western clothes which might have been popular in the States in the early 1980's. There were dances and awards and then a big dinner catered outside. Everyone ate off of banana leaves. There were three seatings and people came and waited behind you for your seat. Boys from the Trust served all of the food from buckets and there were many dishes. Like all of the other meals I have had in South India, everyone eats with his/her right hand. No utensils are used. This took some getting used to and I have taken to sitting on my left hand so that I am sure not to use it. Now I kind of like eating with my hand.

I arrived at Travandrum in southern India, was met by a representative of the Kings School and taken on a three hour drive to the school. The drive was quite eye-opening - everything in India seems to be happening right in front of you. People buying things, selling things, raising animals, collecting parts and not wearing shoes. I am surprised by all of the garbage that is around. In the South, it feels like the infrastructure has not been developed.

Indian driving is so crazy! There was a two lane road with bi-directional traffic. People freely pass each other, alerting the other drivers who were coming directly at them, that they are passing in their lane. The horn has a whole new meaning!