ISPIICE

Back at Ispiice, I spent the rest of the week going with the volunteers to the day care centre & helping out at the community class in the afternoons. At the day care centre we are currently painting the walls, putting ABC< pics & hindi writing on the walls to bring some life to the small room where young children come to play. This is a state day care centre & it seems that the teachers have little or no interest in playing with the kids, shocking really. One teacher seems to read her register & do calculations all morning! So the volunteers come & interact with the kids & give them drawing & games to do. Otherwise they often just sit, with very little life or anything to stimulate them. On Friday one of the kids wet herself & there was a puddle on the floor, the teachers were just going to leave it & they do just walk through it & let the kids, but then i passed some newspaper to them & they cleaned it up! It is amazing to watch, but i have to say these kids hardly cry, that is something i have noticed of all indian kids, even on very long, bumpy, uncomfortable bus journeys they dont cry or if they do its for a v.short time!

On a positive note, the kids of the local community where Ispiice is are so wonderful & keen to come to class after their school day ends, to have english & computer classes. The kids are so cute, they run upto Ispiice building which is next door to the house we go to, so that they can carry our things across. Everyone of them comes upto you & shakes your hand & says "hello Mam".

The house we go to is a family house however they have no money which is obvious as there are no windows in the frames & no paint or plaster on the walls. The whole family live in one room, sleep & cook. It is getting to winter here so it is so cold on a night & they all sleep without windows, i dont know how they do it. Yet the woman is one of the most loving people i have ever met, every day smiling & she always gives you a hug. Apparently Ispiice said to her that maybe they should move to another community as they had spent a lot of time with the kids in Sidhpur but she pleaded for them not to leave. She is so grateful to the help Ispiice gives the kids, its really moving. I have said that I will use some of the cake money that I raised back in the UK to paint the room where the kids learn, we are still working out how the rest of the money can be used most effectively.

Ispiice is a v.small charity which Varun set up, he is a lovely warm hearted guy that will run around looking after the volunteers making sure they are happy. Aoife is my friend from home & since coming as a volunteer she loved what Ispiice was doing & is now helping run the charity, getting volunteers & looking at ways they can get Ispiice involved in helping other areas of the community. It is very honorable dedicating all her time without pay to the charity. She is always working, even on Saturdays!

I have been teaching yoga to the volunteers on top of the roof where we stay! I do my own practice at 7.30 & then teach at 8.30. I feel privileged to be teaching with the beautiful mountains in the background & with the sun coming up & every day beautiful blue skies!