Walkabout WEST ...

 AND NOW ... ROYAL ASCOT ...

.

Like the art work outside my gate, man?

... this is not just artwork with buffalo poo, it's "surface to volume ratio" for maximum drying efficiency!

King cobra skeleton we found right on the border. The guards caught it sneaking into Nepal.

Sports day " Shouldn't be allowed!" ...

 hands up if you think we've gone H & S mad in the UK...

 

 Back to the border ...

I'll have a Rs2 return to Rupaidiha please...

Arjun just stopped his bike & asked me to take his photo. Brick factory in the background.

This Muslim funeral of a tiny person was a complete surprise. I wonder whose child...

This smaller Rupaidiha Hindu temple is dedicated to Vishnu. (The main one in the town centre is to Hanoman the monkey god.)

And here they are ...(& some H & S ...) ... & some people just like to say "hi" (Namaste!)

... all smartened up & presentable! Our "literacy children" with new clothes, achieving and being included in the life of the school. The very first prize presented on Junior Sports day was to the "literacy girls" 50m runners ... great applause.

Working on the drill ...

 

... WALKABOUT ...

Technology & Hinduism in the outlying Villages

Winter fuel drying in the sun. Bit smelly.

A bit of Health & Safety (only a bit!) -

Plug? Uh?

What's a hod?

Who needs an angle grinder?

SOME PEOPLE JUST WANT TO SAY "Namaste"!

A Sadur (A Hindu Priest let me take his photo ... unusual)

Village shop. Seriously!

"Rupaidiha 3"

SO tempting to nip into Nepal!

If you take a photo & show them, they'll follow you round the village!

the magnificent seventeen! (New Mahima Niwas children)

... watching their first Sports day.

... Only in India ... Someone is going to miss their train ...

ENTER THE MENTOR - right - let's have a bit of discipline in here!

Hemanti is looking out for Anita

Dolly is teaching her infectious smile

Sarita is helping

Uphaar is looking after Deborah

There is a strong mentoring policy here (thank goodness!) - each new girl will have a mentor. The mentor takes over when Gill & I fall over with exhaustion ... & only 12 new ones have come so far!! A posse of 4 arrived in the night last night. This meant the generator had to be switched on (loud tractor sound) and Jenny had to trek across to Mahima Niwas to take some photos and welcome the new arrivals.
Gill & I spent the morning dealing with emotional & behavioural issues, getting a bit of written work done to assess where the new girls are with literacy and numeracy (the Santhali language is known by only a few children and no staff here; apart from that we had good help from some Hindi & Nepali speaking AGCS students & staff), then playing "what time is it Mr Tiger" (I don't think wolves are a major issue here; mind you they weren't a problem in the UK when I was a kid ... hmmm ... makes you think.).
... The AG students really enjoyed it anyway. I don't do nursery / primary ...
When it was childrens' siesta time later they kept Gill awake. How rude. I went back to bed in the big house away from them all. You see I needed to go & get Gill some water & then she told me to go & eat lunch (she is a good wife) & so I did & after that then my bed rose up & chased me & caught me.
Earplugs. Sleep ...... dream of being young & full of energy ....

LOOK OUT - the literacy kids are here!

The Literacy Centre kids are being taught to march in time & present themselves well. Many will be cheered and supported in races (their own league), and some will stand on a podium & get a prize on Sports day next week.

These are the kids from the on - site literacy centre (Well, actually it's a thatched hut to shield them from the sun ... this was opened in January this year (see "Tata" to your left - the video made just before we left last time). These kids are usually found hanging around their villages or smuggling goods from India to Nepal ...

These kids are slowly learning to read & write in English.

India gives 000s of tonnes of grain (rice, wheat etc) to Nepal each year for free. This is because of the good natured relationship between the two countries. It is airlifted to the hilly areas. But this is not enough - the arid regions of Nepal simply do not produce enough grain to feed the population.
So many take it upon themselves to smuggle small quantities of grain into Nepal for a higher price than it gets in India. Rupaidiha is a main staging point for this activity, and though we have border guards and a Police checkpoint, everyone knows about the daily clandestine wanderers across the open border. This motivates the locals - it's a job! So the children are trained & are very useful at this, providing lookout duty, helping to carry etc.

....... So why study?  You have a job for life here.

This is the paradigm to break.

Look at the photos of the kids from this background who are now with us on site, sticking with the literacy programme provided by the AG School.
(Some of them have awful skin problems - can any medics suggest what to say or do (or ask) here?)