Nagpur - Tuesday morning update
Hi All!
Hope you are all well.
We’re headed to a village on the outskirts of Nagpur this morning. We’re visiting a ministry and looking for photo opportunities to document the conditions some of the school’s students come from. The roads aren’t great, so we’re taking motorcycles. This should be interesting.
The villages are extremely poor. The people are just surviving so there’s little to no education. Some of the students here come from these villages. They are really starting from square one. A couple of teachers told me that the biggest challenge they have with the students when they first arrive has to do with simple things like hygiene and manors.
In one year, they are able to teach them enough English to take the government exams (written) for their trades. All exams are in English, since there are so many different languages in India...English serves as the common language. Most are able to pass! Their conversational English is not very good (I’ve had a hard time communicating with them), but they can understand some of what I say (just not respond) and write enough to answer test questions - Indians are very sharp. I can’t imagine learning a trade and enough Hindi to pass a written exam in only one year.
Loren and I had a question and answer session with 9 students yesterday afternoon. It was awesome. For 30 minutes they asked any question they wanted. Then we spent 30 minutes asking them questions. The answers were extremely enlightening. When asked what they thought their biggest challenge would be when leaving Prakash (the school), one student said he didn’t know how he would be able to get enough money to pay the bribes required to get a job (I’m learning that a lot in this part of India revolves around bribes). Another student asked how he would be able to continue being a Christian when he went back to his village where there were no Christians.
There are so many hurdles for these kids. Some have no family. Despite being against the law, the caste system is still an issue (all the students are lower caste). Christians are often ostracized in rural areas. Some don’t speak Hindi, English or even the local dialect (they speak tribal languages).
But there are plenty of success stories here. One of the teachers told me about students he as kept in touch with who now make more money then he does (he said that with great pride).
The people are all so friendly. Just as I experienced during last year’s trip to India, everyone is willing to say hello and smile. And if given a chance, they love to ask you where you are from. If they can speak any English, they want to talk. They ask how you like India, if you have ever been here before, where is your family :). It’s easy to feel at home here.
My health is great. I do have some allergy issues, but that’s pretty normal for me. I had an amazing Indian meal last night...one of those meals that Loren said we shouldn’t tell the folks at home about...it would make it sound like we were living the good life here (which we actually are :)).
Loren (and the rest of the staff) is taking exceptional care of me.
Talk to you soon.
Jason
Hope you are all well.
We’re headed to a village on the outskirts of Nagpur this morning. We’re visiting a ministry and looking for photo opportunities to document the conditions some of the school’s students come from. The roads aren’t great, so we’re taking motorcycles. This should be interesting.
The villages are extremely poor. The people are just surviving so there’s little to no education. Some of the students here come from these villages. They are really starting from square one. A couple of teachers told me that the biggest challenge they have with the students when they first arrive has to do with simple things like hygiene and manors.
In one year, they are able to teach them enough English to take the government exams (written) for their trades. All exams are in English, since there are so many different languages in India...English serves as the common language. Most are able to pass! Their conversational English is not very good (I’ve had a hard time communicating with them), but they can understand some of what I say (just not respond) and write enough to answer test questions - Indians are very sharp. I can’t imagine learning a trade and enough Hindi to pass a written exam in only one year.
Loren and I had a question and answer session with 9 students yesterday afternoon. It was awesome. For 30 minutes they asked any question they wanted. Then we spent 30 minutes asking them questions. The answers were extremely enlightening. When asked what they thought their biggest challenge would be when leaving Prakash (the school), one student said he didn’t know how he would be able to get enough money to pay the bribes required to get a job (I’m learning that a lot in this part of India revolves around bribes). Another student asked how he would be able to continue being a Christian when he went back to his village where there were no Christians.
There are so many hurdles for these kids. Some have no family. Despite being against the law, the caste system is still an issue (all the students are lower caste). Christians are often ostracized in rural areas. Some don’t speak Hindi, English or even the local dialect (they speak tribal languages).
But there are plenty of success stories here. One of the teachers told me about students he as kept in touch with who now make more money then he does (he said that with great pride).
The people are all so friendly. Just as I experienced during last year’s trip to India, everyone is willing to say hello and smile. And if given a chance, they love to ask you where you are from. If they can speak any English, they want to talk. They ask how you like India, if you have ever been here before, where is your family :). It’s easy to feel at home here.
My health is great. I do have some allergy issues, but that’s pretty normal for me. I had an amazing Indian meal last night...one of those meals that Loren said we shouldn’t tell the folks at home about...it would make it sound like we were living the good life here (which we actually are :)).
Loren (and the rest of the staff) is taking exceptional care of me.
Talk to you soon.
Jason
posted by atlantaclimber at 11:49 PM
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