Day 10: Back to work

Hey there Readers,

The flight to New Delhi was quite uneventful. We woke up early and got on the shuttle to the airport. It was actually really nice, and virtually no lines because our Kingfisher flight was the only one that early in the morning. At the gate we met the Family and soon after that we boarded the plane. Back in Delhi, we said goodbye to the Family as they headed off towards their next destination. After luggage reclaim, Mom found a place to get a prepaid car to bring us back to Dr. Bandhu’s house. We arrived in Faridabad at about noon and met our new roommate, Hannah. She’s pretty chill and we get along well. Mom and I relaxed a little bit, went to the market, and then towards the end of the day, Mom and I went to a slum school. We mostly observed and didn’t do much teaching because we were only there for an hour. There were two teachers and 25 kids and the school was actually in a slum. Here they learn basic English, Hindi, and Math, which prepares them for government school. At Shri’s school previous volunteers even left a booklet behind with the work they did with the kids and some good suggestions that help when you start. The way it works with slum schools is that parents in the slum have no education at all and don’t see a reason their kids should get an education and are resigned with the life that they have. Some of the parents send their kids to the slum school because it is in their own comfort zone. Once they get used to the slum school, some of the kids are ready to go to a government school and once they start they get a decent education. This particular school sent 30 kids to government schools recently. The man in charge of it is Shri and afterwards we went to his house where we met his wife and daughter. It’s a nice place and it’s also where volunteers would stay if they decided to help out at his school. Something I would like to point out about slums is that when you walk through one, you don’t feel threatened. Yes, people stare at you cause you’re probably the second white person they’ve seen, but all of them either just stare or smile. It doesn’t give a sinister vibe and you don’t feel threatened as you walk through the makeshift homes. Some even wave and don’t mind when you take their photos. Tired and happy we returned to our bunk beds and went to sleep.