Daily Class Schedule

8:30am Catch bus out to village. Make nice with friendly bus conductor who is obviously proud to call us his daily customers.

8:50am Get off bus at water tower, walk ~half mile into Kanjar part of Chandi Kehri village. If its been raining, an eight foot wide stream raises in a mud bank that cuts across our walking path; makes for an early morning adventure trying to successfully cross it and get to class unmuddy.

9:00am Greet parents ("Namaste") and hug the excited kids who run out to see us. Set up tarp for the class to sit on, tattered black board, retrieve school supplies (notebooks, boards, chalk, tooth brushes, etc) from neighboring storage shed that is also used to house the village reserves of bootleg moonshine.

9:15am Walk with Rick and a few students out to well to fill a metal pot with water (bannee) for the kids to drink during the day. Later, a bore well would be installed in the village.

9:20am Brush teeth! Followed by morning exercises (head shoulders knees and toes, etc).

--First Lesson--
Rick and I teach half the class English letters, simple math, or simple English vocab. Sometimes we play games like around the world or whatever else we can come up with to entertain.

11:30am Walk the smaller children to other side of village for government subsidized meals at nearby public school. Get harassed by local school children. The purpose of our transit school is to instill skills and confidence within the Kanjar children in order to set them up for success at this neighboring public school. The rural public schools in India are run notoriously bad and I always wonder/pray the kids make it through to the school and benefit at least somewhat.


--Second Lesson--
Sohan or Sarochi Tailor teach Hindi or tell stories. The kids start getting antsy so we usually just end up playing games. The kids love to dance, hit each other/me, cheer, throw things, smile, jump around/be lifted into the sky/on trees by one of us ("mierdacool, mierdacool") and all kinds of things kids generally like to do.

~2:00pm Recess. Marbles, dodgeball, cricket, gaparti are always popular choices.

~2:30pm Try and hail a ride back to town. Can take awhile as the rare passing bus is usually packed to capacity and a half; though we always find a way to either squeeze in.