My placement here in Delhi is at a place called Earth Saviours Foundation, it was started by Ravi Kalra who is just the nicest and most ambitious man ever. I believe he's wishing to save as much of the world as he possibly can. Visit the website if you are interested in learning more- http://www.savethearth.in/home
This is a list of the services he provides and missions he undertakes: (direct wording from the website in case you're wondering)
School for poor children
Old age home
Do Not Honk
Help destitute women
Help street people
Help stray animals
Safe Diwali (Safe use of fireworks)
Save Earth
Protect environment
Save Forest
Help for mentally sick people
Electric crematorium promotion
Uff traffic (avoiding traffic jams)
Auto sting operation (misbehaving rickshaw drivers)
Orphanage and adoption
Whew! Think he has his work cut out for him? Oh yeah and he does all of this free of charge for the people he helps. He personally goes out weekly and looks for people he can bring back to his site to feed, give a bed, education, job training, and anything else he can do to help. The world needs him and more people like him. He sees a problem and rather than thinking "gosh, isn't that sad/unfortunate/tragic" he literally tries to make a change right then and there.
I learned today that he's a Taekwando black belt; this is surprising because he's amazingly gentle and adorable. He doesn't seem to have a forceful or agressive bit in him. It seems he must show the children some of his skills because I've seen several of the little ones doing their "karate" on each other or the air.
The site of Earth Saviours Foundation is basically a field with tents. He has leased the land from someone under the condition that he doesn't put up any permanent structures, so he's made the best of it.
There are several classrooms, a room for the elderly women and one for the men. They also have beds outside in the (relatively) fresh air. There are 2 offices, and a small zoo, for lack of a more accurate term. They have cows, goats, mice, ducks, and a few dogs. They get fresh milk from the cows, and I suppose possibly from the goats as well? The baby goats are almost as cute as the children. As is the 3-legged puppy.
The first day we visited the site we were greeted by the most beautiful little woman whose name I don't remember. Everything on her little face is perfect. She's one of the regular staff members. She took us in to the classroom where the 1st-2nd graders are. They put the children in classes based on their learning level and these kids come from all over and various different backgrounds so you can have kids from a rather large age range. They all immediately stood up from their chairs and said "GOOD MORNING MA'AM" to us (me, Daisy, Jamie, and Marianne.) They do this every time a teacher or visitor enters the tent. It's very cute, though disturbingly automatic. They will also stay standing until you tell them to sit down. Most have uniforms of little green jumpers but some do not. Some are tidy, some are not. Some know a little english, some do not. It's a grab bag of children overall.
We quickly made a few friends...little faces appear at your side staring, grinning, or waving. Sometimes saying "hello ma'am" and taking your hand. One of the notables is Karin (he's a boy, and I'm not sure if that's spelled correctly) who is a tiny fella, maybe 4 years old at most. I suspect he's slightly developmentally challenged, if that's still a PC term. He mostly wants to hold your hand, sit on your lap, or be held. He doesn't seem to stay in his classroom so well. He wanders here and there, going where he pleases.
Another memorable character I just call Candy Man. He comes up to you and gives you a big smile a few times....takes your hand....charms you....then says..."chocolate." I don't know if that tactic has worked before but I haven't had any chocolate with me so he'll have to keep trying I guess.
Also on our visit we met weeeee baby Angel. She was 8 days old and her mother had run away. The older people help to take care of the very small ones and are responsible for the orphaned children when the staff leaves at night. She was so very tiny and cute and slightly grumpy at the time but soon quieted down. We also met Kushi, who was napping when we got there; she is 11 months, has a head full of curly hair, and was also left by her mother who I believe was very young and ran away.
We met a charming character in the office who had a bit of a British accent and said he was a former barista, went to Cambridge to study English literature, and was born in London. However....I believe that he was a resident at their facilities and though it's certainly not impossible it had us wondering how he might have gotten to where he is from those beginnings. He had a lovely smile and vocabulary, and seemed quite pleased to be speaking with a lovely bunch of ladies such as ourselves.
After our visit everyone was feeling very excited about their placement (Marianne was only visiting with us as the person she was to see at her placement was sick, but Daisy, Jamie, and I are all assigned there.) It's a very lively place where you can feel the optimism of Ravi Kalra in everything.
Today was the first day teaching and exactly what I thought would happen is what happened...
When we went the day before Jaggi asked if Daisy and I (we're assigned to the same age group) could observe the lessons for a day before taking on some students of our own. But as soon as we get there they put us in the classroom and ask us what we'd like to teach. The teacher there at the time figured out that I didn't have anything so she had them working on spelling out numbers so I went around and helped with that. After their break I worked with 2 students who were not quite as advanced as the others, that was much easier other than the little boy trying to take the pictures I was showing him. He was distraught that he could not have my photographs. He kept trying to take them saying "me?....me." I said, "no these are mine." But even if he could have understood I don't think he would have cared. The little girl working with us turned to him at one point and said "Me, me, me, me something-in-Hindi" which based on her tone I translated to "it's not all about you!" I wonder if they were related since they were very comfortable annoying each other.
There was a number written in the little notebook I had and the little boy kept asking if it was "mobile number?" so I guess he's the youngest boy to ever ask for my number...
It was slightly stressful but overall it was fun and I had hugs and chai.
An exciting thing for me was that Ravi came over to ask if I would look over something he had typed up to make sure the language was good. Naturally I said "yes!" I love the children and all but I will be MORE than happy to take time to edit for him! I very much like it. I told him to please let me know if there's anything else I could look at, so I had 2 more people come over to me before I left to have me check things. It doesn't always matter how educated someone is, you can often tell when something is written by someone for whom english is a second language. If I can make a document sound as professional as possible then I am happy to do that in hopes that it will help in the slightest bit in gaining support from overseas for all his honorable efforts.
This is a list of the services he provides and missions he undertakes: (direct wording from the website in case you're wondering)
School for poor children
Old age home
Do Not Honk
Help destitute women
Help street people
Help stray animals
Safe Diwali (Safe use of fireworks)
Save Earth
Protect environment
Save Forest
Help for mentally sick people
Electric crematorium promotion
Uff traffic (avoiding traffic jams)
Auto sting operation (misbehaving rickshaw drivers)
Orphanage and adoption
Whew! Think he has his work cut out for him? Oh yeah and he does all of this free of charge for the people he helps. He personally goes out weekly and looks for people he can bring back to his site to feed, give a bed, education, job training, and anything else he can do to help. The world needs him and more people like him. He sees a problem and rather than thinking "gosh, isn't that sad/unfortunate/tragic" he literally tries to make a change right then and there.
I learned today that he's a Taekwando black belt; this is surprising because he's amazingly gentle and adorable. He doesn't seem to have a forceful or agressive bit in him. It seems he must show the children some of his skills because I've seen several of the little ones doing their "karate" on each other or the air.
The site of Earth Saviours Foundation is basically a field with tents. He has leased the land from someone under the condition that he doesn't put up any permanent structures, so he's made the best of it.
There are several classrooms, a room for the elderly women and one for the men. They also have beds outside in the (relatively) fresh air. There are 2 offices, and a small zoo, for lack of a more accurate term. They have cows, goats, mice, ducks, and a few dogs. They get fresh milk from the cows, and I suppose possibly from the goats as well? The baby goats are almost as cute as the children. As is the 3-legged puppy.
The first day we visited the site we were greeted by the most beautiful little woman whose name I don't remember. Everything on her little face is perfect. She's one of the regular staff members. She took us in to the classroom where the 1st-2nd graders are. They put the children in classes based on their learning level and these kids come from all over and various different backgrounds so you can have kids from a rather large age range. They all immediately stood up from their chairs and said "GOOD MORNING MA'AM" to us (me, Daisy, Jamie, and Marianne.) They do this every time a teacher or visitor enters the tent. It's very cute, though disturbingly automatic. They will also stay standing until you tell them to sit down. Most have uniforms of little green jumpers but some do not. Some are tidy, some are not. Some know a little english, some do not. It's a grab bag of children overall.
We quickly made a few friends...little faces appear at your side staring, grinning, or waving. Sometimes saying "hello ma'am" and taking your hand. One of the notables is Karin (he's a boy, and I'm not sure if that's spelled correctly) who is a tiny fella, maybe 4 years old at most. I suspect he's slightly developmentally challenged, if that's still a PC term. He mostly wants to hold your hand, sit on your lap, or be held. He doesn't seem to stay in his classroom so well. He wanders here and there, going where he pleases.
Another memorable character I just call Candy Man. He comes up to you and gives you a big smile a few times....takes your hand....charms you....then says..."chocolate." I don't know if that tactic has worked before but I haven't had any chocolate with me so he'll have to keep trying I guess.
Also on our visit we met weeeee baby Angel. She was 8 days old and her mother had run away. The older people help to take care of the very small ones and are responsible for the orphaned children when the staff leaves at night. She was so very tiny and cute and slightly grumpy at the time but soon quieted down. We also met Kushi, who was napping when we got there; she is 11 months, has a head full of curly hair, and was also left by her mother who I believe was very young and ran away.
We met a charming character in the office who had a bit of a British accent and said he was a former barista, went to Cambridge to study English literature, and was born in London. However....I believe that he was a resident at their facilities and though it's certainly not impossible it had us wondering how he might have gotten to where he is from those beginnings. He had a lovely smile and vocabulary, and seemed quite pleased to be speaking with a lovely bunch of ladies such as ourselves.
After our visit everyone was feeling very excited about their placement (Marianne was only visiting with us as the person she was to see at her placement was sick, but Daisy, Jamie, and I are all assigned there.) It's a very lively place where you can feel the optimism of Ravi Kalra in everything.
Today was the first day teaching and exactly what I thought would happen is what happened...
When we went the day before Jaggi asked if Daisy and I (we're assigned to the same age group) could observe the lessons for a day before taking on some students of our own. But as soon as we get there they put us in the classroom and ask us what we'd like to teach. The teacher there at the time figured out that I didn't have anything so she had them working on spelling out numbers so I went around and helped with that. After their break I worked with 2 students who were not quite as advanced as the others, that was much easier other than the little boy trying to take the pictures I was showing him. He was distraught that he could not have my photographs. He kept trying to take them saying "me?....me." I said, "no these are mine." But even if he could have understood I don't think he would have cared. The little girl working with us turned to him at one point and said "Me, me, me, me something-in-Hindi" which based on her tone I translated to "it's not all about you!" I wonder if they were related since they were very comfortable annoying each other.
There was a number written in the little notebook I had and the little boy kept asking if it was "mobile number?" so I guess he's the youngest boy to ever ask for my number...
It was slightly stressful but overall it was fun and I had hugs and chai.
An exciting thing for me was that Ravi came over to ask if I would look over something he had typed up to make sure the language was good. Naturally I said "yes!" I love the children and all but I will be MORE than happy to take time to edit for him! I very much like it. I told him to please let me know if there's anything else I could look at, so I had 2 more people come over to me before I left to have me check things. It doesn't always matter how educated someone is, you can often tell when something is written by someone for whom english is a second language. If I can make a document sound as professional as possible then I am happy to do that in hopes that it will help in the slightest bit in gaining support from overseas for all his honorable efforts.
I am thoroughly enjoying your posts!! You really write well. You need to compile these in to a book!
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