After spending a few days in McLeod Ganj, we decided to move to Dharamkot, which is a smaller village located just a mile up the mountain above McLeod Ganj. Dharamkot was a lot quieter, and it was also close to Triund Pass – a popular Himalayan trek.
The best restaurant in Mcleod Ganj
Main Street Dharamkot - very small village
The trail hike to and from Dharamkot
Monkeys treating this car like an amusement park
Pic from the hike to Triund - below is Dharamkot
We found an opportunity on www.workaway.info, which is a site dedicated to travelers looking for cultural emersion through volunteer work. It’s a fantastic Web site with hundreds of opportunities all over the world. I strongly recommend it to any long-term traveler looking for a new experience through work exchange. We found Pooja! Pooja is the founder and director of a small private school that is located in a very small farming village nestled within the foothills of the Himalayas. We had been in touch with her for a couple of months, and had planned to eventually make our way to her school. We emailed her letting her know we were headed in the general direction of her school. She got back with us within 24-hours, and basically told us that she could use our help. We told her we would be there by November 1. We booked an overnight bus to Rishikesh, and we set off for our new adventure…teaching English, math, computers, art and games to children between the ages of 4 and 10 in the middle of the Himalayas.
We boarded our bus from Dharamsala around 7 pm on October 31 (Happy Halloween!). We were happy to discover the seats generously reclined, and figured we would be able to sleep through the night.
Kale was certain this bus had jack-hammer's for shocks :)
Unfortunately we were wrong. The trip ended up being a 14-hour hell ride through bumpy, winding mountain roads. I could only compare our bus ride to a very rough off-roading adventure through un-established roads. We felt like victims of “shaken baby syndrome” by the time it was all over. Our spines had been jarred loose and we had headaches from our brains rattling around in our heads for 14 hours. Needless to say, we didn’t get any sleep, and as the sun came up all we could do to pass the time was observe the surroundings outside the bus. I noticed some makeshift tents made of blankets and tarps next to the road, and saw people (children included) covered with blankets lying down in and around these tents. I also noticed a few people squatting in the grass. At first I thought they might be picking some kind of vegetable, and then I realized they were all bare-assed. They were taking their morning crap:) Sorry. I don’t know how else to put it! I was shocked. Thank you again, India, for showing me how spoiled I am!!
We reached Rishikesh around 9 am, and started walking across the bridge toward the main part of town. We had lunch, saw the Beetle’s ashram and tried some street food. I have a love affair with Indian street food by the way, which is probably the reason for my occasional gastro intestinal distress:)
The holy river Ganges
We came upon an ungodly huge Grapefruit...yum!
An ashram we could have checked into for 250 rupees ($5.00) per night.
It would have included food as well as yoga and meditation classes.
The Beatles Ashram - now abandoned
At this point our main goal was to make it to Pooja’s place. We were both anxious to settle in somewhere for a while. When we got in touch with Pooja, we got directions to her home, and set off for another bus ride. We took a bus to Dehradun, which is a non-tourist city next to Rishikesh. Once we made it to Dehradun, we saw some guys in a small street-side shed making vegetable noodles in a wok. We decided to have some. They were only 25 rupees each, and we figured we wouldn’t be eating dinner since it was getting late. After we finished our amazing street-side noodles, we hailed a rickshaw and headed for Pooja’s house.
Once we made it to Pooja’s home, we were greeted by her daughter, Chakori. She was very sweet, and immediately invited us to sit down to some green tea. After a few minutes Manish, Pooja’s husband, joined us. We sat for a while and got to know each other, looked at pictures of the school, which we found out was another two-and-a-half-hour journey into the foothills of the Himalayas. We would be sleeping in the spare bedroom that evening, and venturing out to the school with Manish the following afternoon. We were wondering where Pooja was until it was explained to us that she spends her weeks at the school and comes home on the weekends. After showing us to our guest room, we showered, and then met downstairs for some whiskey and a late dinner. We were not hungry from the noodles, but decided to still enjoy the vegan meal their servants had prepared especially for us. We ate an amazing dinner of potatoes, pumpkin, dal, chapatti and eggplant (my favorite) and promptly went to bed. The bed was extremely comfortable, and as soon as our heads hit the pillows, we were asleep. By the time we finally took rest for the evening we had been awake for almost 36 hours. Unfortunately, my body disagreed with my overindulgence of food that day, and I woke up in the middle of the night with diarrhea and stomach pains. I ended up throwing up my lovely vegan dinner as well as my street-side noodles…it was just wonderful!! HAHA!
Pooja and Manish's House...
The next day we hung out at Manish and Pooja’s place until 1 pm, and then set out for the school. Manish came with us, thank goodness! A large jeep packed full of 13 people set off for our two-hour-ish journey up the mountain. The views were amazing! We stopped for a break about three quarters of the way, and when we got out of the jeep we were met with stares and giggles from some of the local village kids. They were from the government school, and were very intrigued by their sighting of white people. Wherever we walked, they followed, and whenever we said, “Namaste,” they laughed at us. It was very funny! After stretching our legs for a bit, we all piled back into the jeep and set off for our destination…Satyon is the name of the village, and you will not find it on Google maps:)
Pics from the drive up to Satyon
Here is the stop half way for a break, where the kids were all staring and laughing at us.
Near the village, pretty high up now.
When we got there Pooja greeted us with a warm hug. She and Manish are amazingly generous and caring people. We feel lucky to have crossed paths with them. Our first day wasn’t too eventful. We got to know the other volunteers (Alison and Pauline) and moved into our room. We unpacked and then headed back to Manish and Pooja’s place with the other volunteers for a bond fire, cocktails, and another amazing vegan dinner. Manish and Pooja serve us three multi-course vegan meals per day, which is amazing, but it is WAY too much food for us. Pooja is the Indian mother I never had, constantly striving to keep my belly full! On the other hand, my dear American mother and best friend in the world (Judy of course) has taught me to: 1.) Skip breakfast because “why break the fast;” 2.) “The whiter the bread, the quicker you’re dead;” and 3.) Always go to bed with an empty stomach. This advice from my real mummy has kept her (and me) very healthy for many years. Trying to maintain the advice I literally live by from my American mummy, has been my biggest challenge, but I think they are starting to see a pattern with me…the more food I eat, the more GI distress I have, and the less food I eat, the less GI distress I have!
Town School
At Town School the day starts at 0900 with greeting the kids outside at the playground. They all line up and we lead them in some morning exercises, not that they need more energy! At 0930 we move to the first class of the day. I have been teaching English classes to pre-nursery (three to five-year-olds), and upper and lower Kindergarten (five to seven-year-olds). Kale has been teaching math and science to grades one through four (if only his high school math teacher, Mrs. Burnham, could see him now…she would be SHOCKED!). :)
Village main street where school is located
Heidi with lower kindergarten class - learning terms for nature in English
Carpooling - Indian style; This man is a doctor by the way...hmmm where is the Escalade?
Heidi with upper kindergarten class - body parts in English
Here are Kale's oldest Math students - learning division, fractions and decimals
More pics from Math later :)
The school bus which provides transport to and from school - Govt school does not provide transport.
The bus was donated by Pooja's sister, her nickname is "Sweety."
Morning line up
Hokey Pokey
The students of Town School are all from very poor rural families who can hardly afford to send them to the government school, let alone a private non-profit school, like Town School. Most of the children at Town School have been “educationally adopted” by someone outside the school who is sponsoring their education. Town School costs around 800 rupees per month to attend (16 USD), and that includes EVERYTHING (tuition, books, pencils, paper, erasers, private tutoring sessions, summer and winter uniforms, transportation to and from school as well as lunch).
The government schools in this area (and other areas) do not provide a proper learning environment for Indian students. The teachers are ill-equipped to take on the very large classes (35 to 40 kids in a classroom); government teachers also lack the ability to properly teach children of all different ages and learning ability that are packed into the same classes. The government teachers have no ability to teach proper English to their students, and the students of these government schools in turn grow up with a very poor education that will not offer any opportunities for higher education in India or other parts of the world, thus keeping them rooted within their “class,” from generation to generation. Students of the government schools have no opportunity to experience cultural exchanges like the kids at Town School, and other private schools in India.
Town School is the first private school in this rural area that is offering the children of these local families’ opportunities that would otherwise be impossible. India’s large cities offer several private schools, but rural villages do not unless someone like Pooja takes on the task of opening one. She opened the school a year and a half ago with two students, and now she has 85 students between the ages of three and nine. There are five regular teachers, making the teacher to student ratio 1:17. However, with the volunteers (there are currently four) the teacher to student ratio is one teacher to about 10 students.
The government school only provides a notepad and pencil, a basic uniform which is horribly insufficient for winter months, and no consideration of student age or ability-based classes. For example there could be a four-year-old in the same class as a 10-year-old at the government school.
See this image below; They are brother and sister going to different schools.
The boy attends Town School, paid for by his grandfather. The young girl in the photograph is his grand-daughter who attends the local government school. Unfortunately the grandfather cannot afford to send both of his grandchildren to Town School, and since he is a boy, he gets the better education, and since she is a girl, she must settle for the poor education. Don’t get me started on the issues of inequality of the sexes here…:)
Looking at the photo, which was taken November 3 (I was wearing two shirts, a fleece, a scarf, two pairs of socks and jeans), you can see a major difference in the two different schools abilities to provide for the children. She has very light cloths, and no proper shoes for winter, whereas the boy has a warm sweater, proper shoes, a stocking cap, and nice pants. The girl only receives a notepad and pencil for her classes, while the boy at Town School receives books for each subject and notepads, pencils, as well as everything I mentioned above. The cost for Town School is 10,000 rupees per year per student, that’s 200 USD. This amount pays for all the supplies, the uniforms, and tuition costs. If anyone you know is looking for a worthy cause to support, this would be it. Go to their website http://nayidishayein.com and click on the donate link, or you can email Pooja directly at pooja@nayidishayein.com for more information.
This experience makes me think of how fortunate our kids in America and other western societies as a whole are.
The kids here got extremely excited when we brought out a basketball during playtime. Even though there was no hoop, just the chance at kicking or throwing a ball around was pure happiness to them. Playing duck-duck-goose and doing the hokey-pokey was a pure rush of excitement. They are so grateful for such simple offerings…for every drawing we make, for every game we play, for every song we sing and for every word we teach them. Their confidence, happy smiles and genuine laughter is proof that the Town School is changing these children’s lives for the better, and expanding their opportunities by providing an excellent education. I absolutely love being here!
School’s out for the weekend. Saturday morning we got up at 0600 and got ready to take the jeep down the mountain back to Dehradun. This is also a holiday weekend so we will have a couple days to spend in the city with Pooja and family. So far we have a couple things planned we want to do in the city; buy some tools for the school, visit a Royal Enfield dealer, and find a large bag of brown rice:) We hope to be able to eat more raw fruits and veggies, along with brown rice since we both are a having a few digestive issues. Our GI tract just isn’t accustomed to having so much oil, white rice, and about 90% cooked food. I wish Indian food wasn't so damn good!
Saturday afternoon Chakori was having a sports day event at her school. We both decided to go watch the event and capture some pics and videos. Manish let us borrow his motorcycle to get to and from the school. I was at the controls of course and Heidi on back. Once again, like in Edinburgh Scotland, I was learning to control a different type of vehicle, and driving on the left side of the road. It was a bit of a challenge for sure, Indian traffic is insane as there seems to be no rules of the road. We rode in between buses and cars (lane splitting), had cars drive head on toward us as motorcycles are expected to take the shoulder or edge of the road…No problem. Finally we arrived to the school, parked the bike and walked in for a seat at the outdoor arena. Unfortunately during the event we had a hard time finding her in the crowd of 100’s of girls, all dressed the same, with the same color of hair, all in a ponytail. Finally we were able to spot her during one of the competitions, and captured a short video of the race. Around 1700 the camera battery was out and we headed back to the house. Everyone sat around and chatted for a while, had another fantastic Indian meal and went to bed…nite.
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