An urgent appeal from Sarah which I thought that I'd share. What a wonderful experience and CV inclusion this would be:
Sarah's Covenant Homes, India
'I need a tutor for my middle girls--can anyone help for 3 months? I will cover your food & lodging expenses if you can help my 5th & 6th grade daughters with their schoolwork for about five hours/day and take them to a sport 5 days a week. Need help in March, April, & May. Need good knowledge of English grammar and sixth grade math. If interested in working with SCH as well, some preschoolers need some help with spoken English & other skills for about an hour or two a day.'
These 2 girls are an absolute delight - great fun and very mature for their age, you certainly would have a wonderful time with them and a unique opportunity.
As for mine - no - I said that I AM appealing.Well I'm certainly being made to feel that way and it really is very humbling and I'm really not worthy.
I left Ongole today with a heavy heart and that surprised me. When I arrived about 3 weeks ago, I also had a heavy heart - at arriving! I had sort of found my niche (just about) at Hyderabad and had been dropped off in a totally depressing place to my mind and would have to start all over again.
HOWEVER
This was the beginning of the beginning for me. Ongole, although a seemingly endless town - had an intimacy about it. It is smellier, dirtier and noisier than where I was in Hyderabad BUT the people that I was working with were great, the people on the street and in the stores are accepting and friendly and certainly very helpful - often without understanding each other - we understood each other (I understood that a shaking wobble of the head means OK - not 'No' - 'Sari' (?) means OK to and not sorry - I thought everybody was being very apologetic!).
It's so much easier to locate what you need - the carpenters are all in one area, the paint supplies, the tools, the mechanics &c &c all likewise - so you have a choice of zillions when you are looking for something.
The World Racers that I worked with are beautiful, wonderful new daughters, the Foster Moms likewise - and the kids - well there's a whole herd of them across the various homes - each one catering for different ages. Whenever I'd go into the homes, there were always smiling faces (OK - I did scare a few who let it be known if they weren't able to escape).
All I had to do was sort a few screws out, knock some walls down, paint some stuff and plant a few things - or something like that and I was 'so wonderful'. At the end of it all, when it was time to go - I genuinely felt sad. When I next turned on my laptop and opened my emails - this was waiting for me:
Sukumar has been trying very hard over the last few days to persuade me to come back very soon - and I genuinely think that he means it and isn't just being polite. I really haven't done anything out of the ordinary - but because of the Indian way of thinking and doing (or not doing) things - apparently I have seemed to be a bit of a whirlwind relatively speaking - I eventually managed to get Sukumar to understand the concept of 'I want it yesterday!'
So why am I appealing? Well isn't it obvious? Take a look at my photo
Perhaps not then - Could it be my personality?
Oh alright, I give in - I am appealing for other men to follow my lead and do an even better job than me. If you're not appreciated at home - you will be here - give it some thought - the weather is lovely - how many of you have gotten a suntan this Jan/Feb? How many people have you made happy in the last 5 weeks? How often have you been able to eat out for £1.50?
SARAH'S COVENANT HOMES NEEDS YOU!
To further inflate my ego - after a 350-400 mile return trip to Hyderabad - I was met by and jumped on with huge hugs from Sarah's daughters, a hug from Sarah and Sudahakar (!!!) Even Jeffrey seemed pleased to see me. I certainly felt like I'd come home and had been missed. Can't wait to get back to England for the real thing (please take note England!).
We travelled back a different route from the journey there (which was mainly 'motorway') coming back across country seeing the rural India prossibly for the last time, so took loads of photos at the sight of anything and everything. I might put a few of these on in later blogs when I've had the time to sort them.
Finally, 2 new arrivals at the Hyderabad home - Meet little Michele!
Michele is probably six months old but is as tiny as a 2-month-old. She has a colostomy and a hernia and needs a pull-through operation. Michele is so funny--she loves to mimic facial expressions. Ask her any question and she'll tilt her head from side to side as if to say, "Yep, yep." What fun she's going to be--we all just love her! Welcome, Michele!
(To answer a frequently asked question, all names used online are pseudonyms--we actually call this baby the name officially given to her by the government when found abandoned.)
Sarah's Covenant Homes, India
'I need a tutor for my middle girls--can anyone help for 3 months? I will cover your food & lodging expenses if you can help my 5th & 6th grade daughters with their schoolwork for about five hours/day and take them to a sport 5 days a week. Need help in March, April, & May. Need good knowledge of English grammar and sixth grade math. If interested in working with SCH as well, some preschoolers need some help with spoken English & other skills for about an hour or two a day.'
These 2 girls are an absolute delight - great fun and very mature for their age, you certainly would have a wonderful time with them and a unique opportunity.
As for mine - no - I said that I AM appealing.Well I'm certainly being made to feel that way and it really is very humbling and I'm really not worthy.
I left Ongole today with a heavy heart and that surprised me. When I arrived about 3 weeks ago, I also had a heavy heart - at arriving! I had sort of found my niche (just about) at Hyderabad and had been dropped off in a totally depressing place to my mind and would have to start all over again.
HOWEVER
This was the beginning of the beginning for me. Ongole, although a seemingly endless town - had an intimacy about it. It is smellier, dirtier and noisier than where I was in Hyderabad BUT the people that I was working with were great, the people on the street and in the stores are accepting and friendly and certainly very helpful - often without understanding each other - we understood each other (I understood that a shaking wobble of the head means OK - not 'No' - 'Sari' (?) means OK to and not sorry - I thought everybody was being very apologetic!).
It's so much easier to locate what you need - the carpenters are all in one area, the paint supplies, the tools, the mechanics &c &c all likewise - so you have a choice of zillions when you are looking for something.
The World Racers that I worked with are beautiful, wonderful new daughters, the Foster Moms likewise - and the kids - well there's a whole herd of them across the various homes - each one catering for different ages. Whenever I'd go into the homes, there were always smiling faces (OK - I did scare a few who let it be known if they weren't able to escape).
All I had to do was sort a few screws out, knock some walls down, paint some stuff and plant a few things - or something like that and I was 'so wonderful'. At the end of it all, when it was time to go - I genuinely felt sad. When I next turned on my laptop and opened my emails - this was waiting for me:
'Mr.Dave
it's been great
working woth you , thank you so much for the wonderful ideas , i
learned a lot from you , your timing , ideas are so nice ,
if it is possible please visit again SCH Ongole
thank you
Sukumar'Sukumar has been trying very hard over the last few days to persuade me to come back very soon - and I genuinely think that he means it and isn't just being polite. I really haven't done anything out of the ordinary - but because of the Indian way of thinking and doing (or not doing) things - apparently I have seemed to be a bit of a whirlwind relatively speaking - I eventually managed to get Sukumar to understand the concept of 'I want it yesterday!'
So why am I appealing? Well isn't it obvious? Take a look at my photo
Oh alright, I give in - I am appealing for other men to follow my lead and do an even better job than me. If you're not appreciated at home - you will be here - give it some thought - the weather is lovely - how many of you have gotten a suntan this Jan/Feb? How many people have you made happy in the last 5 weeks? How often have you been able to eat out for £1.50?
SARAH'S COVENANT HOMES NEEDS YOU!
To further inflate my ego - after a 350-400 mile return trip to Hyderabad - I was met by and jumped on with huge hugs from Sarah's daughters, a hug from Sarah and Sudahakar (!!!) Even Jeffrey seemed pleased to see me. I certainly felt like I'd come home and had been missed. Can't wait to get back to England for the real thing (please take note England!).
We travelled back a different route from the journey there (which was mainly 'motorway') coming back across country seeing the rural India prossibly for the last time, so took loads of photos at the sight of anything and everything. I might put a few of these on in later blogs when I've had the time to sort them.
Finally, 2 new arrivals at the Hyderabad home - Meet little Michele!
Michele is probably six months old but is as tiny as a 2-month-old. She has a colostomy and a hernia and needs a pull-through operation. Michele is so funny--she loves to mimic facial expressions. Ask her any question and she'll tilt her head from side to side as if to say, "Yep, yep." What fun she's going to be--we all just love her! Welcome, Michele!
(To answer a frequently asked question, all names used online are pseudonyms--we actually call this baby the name officially given to her by the government when found abandoned.)
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