Chan...Chan...

Yesterday I spent a few hours at our "joyful learning" preschool. With some funding we just built a new bigger building. The school is meant for the poorest of the poor kids, many from the slum across the street. We provide transportation to encourage attendance. Learning is facilitated through creative small group play involving building blocks, painting, puzzles as well as other group activities. As a group, children learn Marathi and English songs, nursery rhymes, alphabets and numbers. The school also provides two nutritious meals and one snack each day.

There is one teacher and one assistant for about 40 children...this woman is a saint. These kids are adorable but A HANDFUL. In fact, I am sure this is universal and any preschool teacher around the world must have an abundance of patience to do this job. It was fun to just hang for a day. While I couldn't really communicate too much, all the kids would come up to me and show their projects, play-do, lego buildings, etc. and I would say "chan" meaning "nice." I helped some of them do counting and alphabet games, I can count to five in Marathi after all :) They are all so high spirited despite the hardships they have, several did not have a house until we built it this year. These might be the only meals they get all day. The fact that they have toys to play with is an anomaly in itself. And yet, lots of smiles on those faces!

Tomorrow we have the equivalent of two "senators" visiting, ministers of the state. Along with them come about 1,000 people...its been a busy week!

HOT

I hung a shirt out to dry today...it was dry in about 20 minutes...its HOT. 97 degrees hot. But apparently, this is "not that hot...just wait a few days." Ha! Where am I? OH RIGHT. India. Its hot here :)

Holi!

Holi, also called the Festival of Colors, is a spring festival celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and others. Where I am in the south/central part of India, they celebrate Rangapanchami, which occurs five days later. Basically you just throw colored powder/water on each other :) Below are some pics. Tomorrow morning, off to Hyderabad for a few days of sightseeing!