UPDATE ON FUNDRAISING FOR KIDS IN INDIA

I bought a blackboard, a whiteboard and some essentials today for our growing school!

Okay since I've surpassed the original goal of $400 due to wonderful people, I am doing the impossible, or what I once thought was close to impossible - I am going to try and rebuild the school here! We just need to refurbish it and reconstruct the first floor to have it up and functioning again.

Of course we'll have to hire a couple of more teachers and get some more supplies but the main thing is to get the building up and running again and slowly build from there. I'm estimating I'll need about $4000 or at least that much to get the main work done. For the time being we have been using the playroom and art room as makeshift classrooms. Would be really nice to give these children the feeling of having a proper school to go to and hopefully encouraging older children in the surrounding village to get a free education in a supportive atmosphere.  You can donate to my paypal account or by bank transfer to the ashram (details below).

Thanks.




For bank transfer:
All donations are exempt from income tax under section 80G of the Income Tax Act, and can be made by cash, money order, check, or deposited in favor of Aurovalley Ashram Society:

SWIFT No.: CNRBINBBKFD
Intermediary bank of NY: ABA 021000018
Corresponding Bank: Bank of New York, New
York (BONY)
Account Details: Aurovalley Ashram Society
SB A/C No. 2225101004969
Canara Bank (Hardwar Code 2225)
Railway Road, Hardwar - Uttrakhand - INDIA
Beneficiary Bank: Canara Bank of Kanpur

The old school building

This used to be the playground - needs fixing up as well



This is the old 'office' - and now you know why it needs a make-over

We brought over the little chairs and desks from the old school building to put inside the playroom so the kids can sit in chairs and do their work as oppose to the floor. Sarah helped me with the set-up.

 

FUNDRAISING FOR THE KIDS OF INDIA

As most of you know, I've been living at an ashram  (Aurovalley Ashram) in India for the past while and I've been volunteering here in many different ways. One of the ways is teaching and organizing at the ashram's school.

About 30 children, between the ages of 4-8, come to Aurovalley six days a week from the surrounding village of Raiwala to learn, grow and play. Our three young teachers, Rakhi, Ritu and Ujita, do their best to establish a loving and supportive environment for these children. Occasionally guests of the ashram will volunteer their time at the school and that's always a nice treat for the kids.

Recently I have established a routine of getting the teachers to teach the children three new English words each week followed by an art workshop incorporating the words so they don't forget them. This past week was our first try. One of the words was pig so I decided we would make pig snouts for the kids to paint and take home. So with the help of a fellow Canadian, we made pig snouts (she did most of the hard labour) and got the kids to paint them any colour they wished. It was a fun afternoon, although a little messy, but the kids seemed to enjoy getting their hands dirty and doing something different. [Pictures below]

I have also established a 'reward program' to get the kids motivated and excited about learning. Everday the teachers will give a checkmark to those students who were well behaved, tried hard with their school work and made improvements from the day before. At the end of the week, the top three students will get a prize from the 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place bag, respectively.

This past Saturday was our first prize giveaway and it worked well. We explained to all the students that everyone will eventually get a prize but that the three who got a prize this week did so because they tried really hard all week. I have already bought enough prizes for the next four weeks but to sustain this program for the next year I will need your help!

The list of things I still need to buy to improve the classrooms is growing. I need things like a blackboard, erasers and chalk, cardboard paper, markers, glue, sticky tack.....the list is endless.

I am also raising funds to rebuild the school building. At the moment, the kids are crammed into a small playroom which we've made into a makeshift classroom until the old school building is fixed up and functioning again. To do this I will need to raise at least $3000. Any additional funds will go towards paying a very modest salary to the teachers and petrol for the school bus which picks and drops off the children ever day (it aslo provides free trips to local men and women up and down the one main road in this village).

All you need to do to contribute is click on the button below which will take you directly to paypal.

Thank you to all in advance!  

Lily and teacher Rakhi help the kids paint their snouts

Rakhi helps one of the girls put on her snout

 



Little pigs



Group picture

THINKING OUT LOUD

What is it with expectations? Why do we hold ourselves up to this idea of a 'perfect' being? Can humans even be perfect? I don't think so. So long as we're in these bodies we'll continue to grow, evolve and change to be 'better' but perfection won't ever be reached until we literally become humanless. So why is it that we're so hard on ourselves yet so gentle and kind to others and sometimes to people we don't even know that well? Strange. But I guess that defines the human race. Strange. We're a strange bunch. We can build up a life we swear suits us perfectly only to be so unsatisfied by this life in a matter of a few months. I did this. I know people who did this and do this. But this is just us I guess. Humans. We're all just trying, I guess....What do I know;)