I spent time in the Sri Narayani School classrooms over several days, sharing the letters, talking about Australian schools and culture, and helping the students to write letters back. The students were excited in learning about Australia and to read their pen pal letters. Some of the students shared comments, dances, songs and even amazing yoga skills on video. It will be wonderful to now share all these connections with the students in our schools.
Project: Desks for Village Schools
With many thanks to Paulraj and Sundar, I was given permission to visit a number of village schools in Vellore and in Pondicherry. This was truly an amazing and heart opening experience. I visited schools in the villages of Senur and Edayanchavady. The schools have students from grade 1 to 5 and consists of classrooms, a toilet block and playground area. The children were extremely shy, shaking my hand and smiling when I asked their names. English is taught as part of the curriculum, so the older students were able to introduce themselves.
When I spoke to the teachers, they said the school’s greatest need were desks for all the students. The Government of India only provides desks for students in grades 6 and older.
The purchase of desks for the village schools will be a significant focus for the next few years for Help-A-School Foundation in these two locations in Vellore and Pondicherry. Through preliminary discussions it seems that long desks with bench seats can cater for about 3-4 children and cost about $80 each. A great investment for improved education facilities for these beautiful children. See more about this project here.
I was so blessed to enjoy a beautiful day with an amazing family who started the Karunalaya Children's Home in Vellore, India, home to 32 orphan children. The boys dormitory home was built and finished last year, with 20 boys now living in a caring family environment on a 2 acre property at Gandhi Nagar, Vellore.
The 12 girls who are under the care of Karanalaya Home currently live in very basic accommodation in another part of the town as they are waiting for enough funds to be raised so that a girls dormitory can be built on the property where the boys live.
Helping to 'Build the Girls Home' will be the second project for Help-A-School Foundation fundraising. Such a worthwhile project for such beautiful children in need. See more about this project here.