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?)

New kids on the block:

After just 2 hours Sushmita is very happy to be here.

Jyoti (the very little one) getting the hang of "Very Big God O"

In the Saturday 12:30 staff meeting, the school teaching staff happily sing "happy birthday" to Nitin, a staff member in charge of the SEEMA women's refuge here - a place of safety and industry where women's broken lives are being put back together. At the end of this tragic, memorable, miraculous week it's finally got to the stage where we can raise our heads and sing "Open the eyes of my heart Lord" (a good choice by Priyanka, who is still reeling emotionally, more than the rest of us, from the events of the week); we start to move on ...
The staff stand when Jenny (Principal) or Roy Ramble (manager) enter the room. I remember teaching at St Helena Chesterfield in 1980 where they did that. Nice.
Two new girls have arrived this week - two lives saved. Miraculous, but as the result of Jenny & Roy's long term efforts here to build a place of repair, education and life change.
We thought Sushmita was 6; her parents are both dead. She is obviously older but under developed - we have found out she is used to hard labour in the fields: she asked for a spade when we said we are doing some gardening. She knows how to cook, and has looked after other family members herself. Here she will get her childhood back. She arrived yesterday from the hills of Nepal, brought by her grandmother.
Jyoti is 6, she also comes from Nepal. Her father died of cancer and her family are in a very poor condition. She has one younger sister. To bring her here to Mahima Niwas means she will be brought up in a loving, safe and healthy place with a free school education and a chance to lift herself and her family out of poverty...

Gill & I spent last night cutting little 50" bed sheets from rolls of cotton (80 Rupees per metre!) so the SEEMA ladies can hem them. 50 sheets needed!
Another 23 children to arrive soon ...

(Next day) - little Kalpana spent 5 days on a bus to get here from Jumla (a very poor, undeveloped mountainous area of Nepal) with a family friend - she has no family still alive. You can't tell whether she's laughing or crying as she creases up her tiny face. She has made a friend in Gill, who was the one to wash off the stink and the grime. Here she will have a new family and will quickly learn English.

:-)