January 22nd Deep breath, here we go- some tricky times to recount. Will try to be as brief as possible and just to give a flavour. Let us start with the positive. Thursday morning in school- and more loveliness seen in terms of the children playing and the teachers interacting with them. Lunch them with Indira, who is a leader of the HLF for Seetaramanpet, with Pam, Brian and Andy, and that was delicious if somewhat huge, as usual. Following this we had a meeting with the HLF ( habitation level forum) who will be the management group for the centre for the elderly, if we decide to go ahead with it.
We found them to be a very lively and seemingly intelligent group of women who were clear that we must start modestly and not raise expectations too high and set ourselves up to fail. Exactly what we've been thinking! They were very practical women too who were able to give us a clear estimate of cost of snacks, milk, gas, oil etc. They also seemed to be saying that they would ask for donations to help support the group from more wealthy local people, and would be willing to help out with making snacks themselves and donating for this. This meeting had us quite cheery and feeling less anxious and stressed about the viability of this project. Things were, however, about to get worse..
Sekar had facilitated the meeting and helped translate, with Joseph who has recently been appointed RCO ( rural community officer) for this area. Pam and Brian worked with him years ago and really found him helpful and effective. We then had a discussion with Sekar and Joseph about what we were going to discuss at the next meeting. This was with the other village HLF, in Kamanchemanpet, which manages the playcentre. Sekar was again fairly robust in his criticism of the teachers and ayah, though he did agree that we would reinstate the money docked from their wages by the committee. We agreed we must reiterate to the committee that children have to be minimum of 3 years old, and that we should limit the number on roll to 20 (currently there are 27, several of them 2year olds)
When we arrived at Kamanchemanpet- an hour late by now, Indian time- the women began their feedback to us with lots of positives about how much the children enjoyed the playcentre and all that they were learning. Then, however, something I asked opened the floodgates, and there was a torrent of accusations against the staff, whom they accused of laziness, not working properly with the children, not showing due care to them, unpunctuality, not cleaning their lunch boxes properly (the ayah) etc etc The accusations were almost exclusively directed against Padmini and Sarida, both of whom are Seetaramanpet people, whilst Rani is from their village. Sekar plainly believes these accusations to be well grounded and also has experienced Padmini as being very rude.
It begins to seem that serious harm has been done because this committee did not come into operation until 6 months after we trained and appointed the teachers, and long after we had gone. No one thought to bring the committee and the teachers together to make introductions and explain how things would be run, and even less did they think to spell out the roles and responsibilities of the staff, and of the committee. Sekar has not been much of a presence on any kind of regular basis, so has not been available to mediate, explain, or to develop the teachers at all. Joseph was the one flicker of light in this meeting, which I did find seriously upsetting and dispiriting. He was clear about what would need to happen now in terms of bridge building, and that it would be his responsibility to help do this.
We ended the meeting as quickly as we could, given that a bridegroom was being paraded through the room ( the mariage hall) to loudspeaker blaring music, and more importantly, it was getting dark and we had the twin terrors of the insane main road and the mosquito to negotiate. I was chased from the village by Pushparvathy with canisters of payasam (sort of special milk pudding thing, much in evidence at Pongal) and with wadai. (Oh but you must just stuff one more bit of my especially lovely food into your already over-stuffed face, please, please, just one...)
Went home and were not killed, surprisingly, on the road, though the mozzies were vicious. Head in hands time, very dejected all of us, especially Pam and I. Pam had also received a bit of a rap over knuckles from Sekar, connected with the distribution of Candle fund bursaries. It seems she had mentionned that the cheques had arrived in a phone call or email to Balaji, which had unleashed a flood of demands from students parents. Meanwhile RUHSA ( Sekar, being cautious and meticulous as ever) was waiting to see if the students passed their exams and were therefore going on with their education.
We have a general problem emerging here, which has to do with our friendship and close communication with lots of Seetaramanpet people. It seems to cause misunderstanding and even some confict with RUHSA people , and it does seem that Padmini especially has taken the attitude that she is purely accountable to us, having been selected by us, and not to the committee. Custom, rumba rumba custom, as they say out here, problem, big problem.
We found them to be a very lively and seemingly intelligent group of women who were clear that we must start modestly and not raise expectations too high and set ourselves up to fail. Exactly what we've been thinking! They were very practical women too who were able to give us a clear estimate of cost of snacks, milk, gas, oil etc. They also seemed to be saying that they would ask for donations to help support the group from more wealthy local people, and would be willing to help out with making snacks themselves and donating for this. This meeting had us quite cheery and feeling less anxious and stressed about the viability of this project. Things were, however, about to get worse..
Sekar had facilitated the meeting and helped translate, with Joseph who has recently been appointed RCO ( rural community officer) for this area. Pam and Brian worked with him years ago and really found him helpful and effective. We then had a discussion with Sekar and Joseph about what we were going to discuss at the next meeting. This was with the other village HLF, in Kamanchemanpet, which manages the playcentre. Sekar was again fairly robust in his criticism of the teachers and ayah, though he did agree that we would reinstate the money docked from their wages by the committee. We agreed we must reiterate to the committee that children have to be minimum of 3 years old, and that we should limit the number on roll to 20 (currently there are 27, several of them 2year olds)
When we arrived at Kamanchemanpet- an hour late by now, Indian time- the women began their feedback to us with lots of positives about how much the children enjoyed the playcentre and all that they were learning. Then, however, something I asked opened the floodgates, and there was a torrent of accusations against the staff, whom they accused of laziness, not working properly with the children, not showing due care to them, unpunctuality, not cleaning their lunch boxes properly (the ayah) etc etc The accusations were almost exclusively directed against Padmini and Sarida, both of whom are Seetaramanpet people, whilst Rani is from their village. Sekar plainly believes these accusations to be well grounded and also has experienced Padmini as being very rude.
It begins to seem that serious harm has been done because this committee did not come into operation until 6 months after we trained and appointed the teachers, and long after we had gone. No one thought to bring the committee and the teachers together to make introductions and explain how things would be run, and even less did they think to spell out the roles and responsibilities of the staff, and of the committee. Sekar has not been much of a presence on any kind of regular basis, so has not been available to mediate, explain, or to develop the teachers at all. Joseph was the one flicker of light in this meeting, which I did find seriously upsetting and dispiriting. He was clear about what would need to happen now in terms of bridge building, and that it would be his responsibility to help do this.
We ended the meeting as quickly as we could, given that a bridegroom was being paraded through the room ( the mariage hall) to loudspeaker blaring music, and more importantly, it was getting dark and we had the twin terrors of the insane main road and the mosquito to negotiate. I was chased from the village by Pushparvathy with canisters of payasam (sort of special milk pudding thing, much in evidence at Pongal) and with wadai. (Oh but you must just stuff one more bit of my especially lovely food into your already over-stuffed face, please, please, just one...)
Went home and were not killed, surprisingly, on the road, though the mozzies were vicious. Head in hands time, very dejected all of us, especially Pam and I. Pam had also received a bit of a rap over knuckles from Sekar, connected with the distribution of Candle fund bursaries. It seems she had mentionned that the cheques had arrived in a phone call or email to Balaji, which had unleashed a flood of demands from students parents. Meanwhile RUHSA ( Sekar, being cautious and meticulous as ever) was waiting to see if the students passed their exams and were therefore going on with their education.
We have a general problem emerging here, which has to do with our friendship and close communication with lots of Seetaramanpet people. It seems to cause misunderstanding and even some confict with RUHSA people , and it does seem that Padmini especially has taken the attitude that she is purely accountable to us, having been selected by us, and not to the committee. Custom, rumba rumba custom, as they say out here, problem, big problem.
Wow I love that construction, always the area I wanted to be in. Were the children talking as they built and can any of the staff tell you what they say.Did the boy build and girl watch? Found myself wondering were they representing or exploring balance, shape, space or going up, layering? XX
ReplyDeleteI agree about the construction Jude - especially the Community Playthings wooden bricks upon which these were based- so good for free range with the imagination. Can't be sure about who built what in this pair as wasn't there as it was happening. I think the girls do in general enjoy construction and lots of them are really bold and inventive and confident. They haven't yet learned what lies ahead for women in their culture...
ReplyDeleteForgot to say, I took the water play photo because those two little dots- undoubtedly some of the under age children- played so intently and with such interest for a really long time - at least half an hour.
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