Sitting under the Crow tree as usual at 10 to 10 at night. Dr Rita from RUHSA comes by and laughs at the image of internet access and emailing in rural India. I explain that we are situated just the correct number of feet from the offices and internet server. Only hazards are vicious mosquitoes and shitting crows.(Don’t bother to come to India if you can’t handle excrement of all varieties. )All around us are local people, mostly we assume the relatives of people who are in the RUHSA hospital, who are settling down for the night.
Yesterday - Saturday 17th was a great day with the meeting of self help group women about the playcentre, but before the meeting began we went out into our coconut grove to observe the local water man - who has the 'power'- who had been asked by RUHSA engineers to divine us a place to dig our tube well.
Cue much rolling of coconut on the palm of his hand, whilst carrying a forked stick. Chief sceptical scientist of the party, Andy, tolerates what he considers to be an elaborate charade, for only so long. At the end of the water man's performance he has found what he considers a good water source, where 5 streams meet. He is also able to tell the engineer how far down they will have to dig and what the ground will be like- ie not too hard rock. Poor RUHSA engineer still in a quandary as they prefer the geologist and the diviner to be in agreement. I think how much I would like them to dig the well whilst we are here so that I could watch Andy’s face when the water came gushing forth....
The meeting with the women from the Self help groups goes really well. Sekar explains what the playcentre will be ie a model playcentre with teacher training resource centre. The women agree to find names of possible children from their villages, and to spread the word about needing a teacher and a night-time caretaker. Applicants are to fill in a form with basic facts about themselves and their education level and to be told to come for interview on Wednesday. Generally there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for the project.
Sekar then asks the women to tell us how we should decide in future about who should receive money from the One Candle Fund. There have been some mutterings about a few recipients who are now known to have finished their education and to be working, so should have ceased to be funded. The women are very helpful and we tell them that in future all decisions will be taken with reference to these criteria. It is difficult of course in a country like India where so many could benefit and where there is no welfare state to cushion the impact of tragedies and illness in families.
Afterwards they approach us separately, some to remind us that we have met them on previous visits, some to tell us awful stories of family hardship, some to invite us to come and ‘sapida sapida’, eat at their homes. We all agree that the playcentre is a really good building in a lovely situation. At the back of the building we watch through the ironwork grill as a man herds his goats? sheep?- difficult to tell apart out here- into the field.
Just before ending this blog my battery died, so Pam and I left the internet tree and picked our way through the darkness and the sleeping bodies. Where is that loud snoring coming from? No problems with insomnia here apparently, where people just put their heads on the hard concrete, bring their covers over their heads, and go to sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment