"well...the last thing that i left up in the air was the blood donation camp, sonja!,...college, my aids awareness camp..yeah thats about it...
Perfect time to be blogging actually right now....close to midnight...raining outside..that nip in the air...excellent...
Well...first things first....the aids awareness camp....10 days in (i finally got the name..Thirunanravur..i think) a school called Sevalaya for orphaned and abandoned children...based entirely on donations...so anyway, we went there to teach the 8th and 9th graders what we know on aids...and a lot of other things actually...It was 8 students (me included) from my college and 15 students from an university called the Johns Hopkins University in the states..extremely varied backgrounds..as appealing as that sounds, trust me, it does have its own set of problems..
not meaning to sound square, hey, i can get along fairly well with anyone...but not everyone can...the language barrier, the cultural difference,...led to a few problems actually...
The camp as such was quite a cartload of fun, kids can be really receptive at times..although the lack of proper education and the background of the families did make them highly rambunctious at times...man, that was tough to control!...And not only did we teach, but we also had to play 'simultaneous translator' to the other students...not as easy as one might think it is...
The horrible parts were of course, the lack of proper hygiene, food, water..accomodation...things which can really get to you after a point..so much so that when i came back home, a bath for more than 5 minutes in warm water was such a luxury..!!...
Anyway.. there were things to be appreciated about the camp..we did really learn a lot..its fulfilling to have to teach and spread valuable information to kids..10 days is a lot of time to bond with them and connect..so much so that they cried when we left..ok, i admit, i'm not the type comfortable with public display of emotions and affection but that moment floored me..
But all things said and done, it was a good time, despite the problems...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Thiruninravur, actually.
What did you guys teach the kids?
read marc read!...we taught them about AIDS and stuff...(and i didnt ask what the village was, magellan!)
well done, i love the part where the children shed happy tears that the devils tbat haunted them for 10 days were finally leaving...
very touching...
Post a Comment