Giving Thanks

Good Morning to everyone at home!

We just got back from an all day long tour of Kolkata! Samson from the Blue Sky Cafe guided us from stop to stop throughout the city wearing our matching "God Bless You," on the front and "Blue Sky Cafe, Kolkata," on the back, T-Shirts. We cruised around in two TaTa (an Indian Car Company) SUV vehicles - thank goodness they were air conditioned! We went to the flower market, saw the famous Ganges River, Sir Ramakrishna's Temple, Kali's Temple, a Jain Temple..and SO much more. Ask your loved ones to show you pictures when we get home because we took many! True confessions, though.... after sweating through our pants and "God Bless You" matching T-Shirts...we did end our trip with a cold ice cream treat from the one McDonald's in Kolkata.

About a week ago I started volunteering at Shanti Dan, the home for women that both Anne and Rachael have blogged about. Right next to the large home for the 300+ women that live at Shanti Dan is a smaller home for some of the women's children and/or children that have been saved from the streets. These children range from a week old malnourished infant that is only skin and bones to 11 year olds that are taking this first sewing classes. I have taken on the role of teaching the children English. This class is filled with children that are 3 - 10 years old. There are about 20 children. Everyday they greet me with their huge smiles and a hug saying "Auntie, Auntie is here!" Their faces bring me such joy, but internally, my heart hurts for the children. I have received what feels like endless amounts of education on teaching. It is at a time like this I almost wish I was an ignorant volunteer spending time with the children and playing with them. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and in front of my eyes I see 20 children that are not receiving developmentally appropriate education. Along with all of the other complications of India, the lack of public education is certainly one of them.

In my make-shift classroom, which is a large room, however most of it is filled with rows and rows of empty off-white paint chipped baby cribs, we have a space that is no larger than a single room found in Canterbury Hall back at SMC. The children pull up small chairs to oversized benches that are used for their desks. Now, they are ready. They are ready for me to teach them English. But, none of them understand English, except the sing-a-long ABC, Twinkle Little Star, and Old McDonald songs that one of the Massi's always sings with them when a volunteer is not there. There are no rules set except if one of the children does not behave it is a cultural norm to hit the children and send them to the Sister to get in trouble. I have tried to set "classroom rules and expectation" but they cannot understand me and while doing so I have 3-5 year old children that cannot sit still and are not meant to sit in a classroom yet. Almost all of the children are under the age of 5 and most of them just need to PLAY and use their imagination, but the Sister insists that they must study. Back in Vermont, I work part-time at a preschool, and all I can think of are all the resources we have at our school for our students to learn by using manipulatives, dramatic play, sensory activities, visuals and so much more! The children at Shanti Dan have no visuals, no manipulatives and barely enough pencils and paper to last a week. Thankfully we received tons of donations items from everyone back home so I have been putting them to good use! The children's favorite is the play-doh! Little do they know what a great sensory activity it is for them :) Everyday I am making small steps trying to give the children one-on-one mini lessons to help them learn their English letters, words and numbers. There are so many actions I wish I could take. I wish I could create individual cubbies for the children so there is a place for them to put their daily work, or even folders with their names on them. I wish I could stay there for way longer than 3 weeks so the children for once can have a permanent teacher that loves and cares for them. I wish I could teach them classroom rules and manners that do no include hitting and yelling. I wish I could throw the rows and rows a cribs out the windows to give the children space to dance, stretch, move and LEARN. With all of that being said, while I'm thinking all of these frustrating thoughts... I look over my shoulder and I am so thankful for the Sisters and Massis (the women that work at the homes and care for the children) of the Missionaries of Charity. I see the one week old infant that was saved from the streets of Kolkata... she is smallest person I have ever seen...her little legs are only skin and bone and as the Sister is hold her and feeding her I told the Sister that she has saved that child's life and she smiled at me, shook her head"no" and pointed up to the sky.

It will be hard to say good-bye in a few days....

I feel like I just rambled...and hope I was coherent... but these are my thoughts I wanted to share with you.

Love,
Katie