I Have a Job! January 29

In reality, I have become quite bored. I have no reason to go into town everyday. I did not make this trip to India to visit other parts of the country - I came to volunteer. I realize it would be different if Babaji were here – but he isn’t and there really isn’t much to do. The tiniest orphans don’t really need my help – they have plenty of staff (although, thankfully, I frequently have the opportunity to hold a baby). We have absolutely no obligations – so how to fill my time? There are walks outside – but we have been asked to not do them alone and I don’t want to slow others down while I hobble along with my slowly healing knees – so have felt somewhat restricted to walking around the compound itself. The problem is I can complete the circuit in about 10 minutes and the thought of doing the same circuit over and over to get in a good walk is less than thrilling.

Yesterday I did walk with Nirmala, another visitor and 2 of the girls (one is the bride in the upcoming wedding) to the Ganges. It was an amazing 20 minute walk – along a brick walkway that runs between fields of wheat, then through a tiny village (15 houses maybe) where everyone stares – but also say “Namaste”, then along a dry river bed to the shore of the Ganges. I stood there amazed – the water was blue and so clean-looking that I did what I said I would not – I stuck my finger in. I mentioned how nice it was that we were upstream from Haridwar (where they throw in the ashes of the burned corpses) only to have the others tell me – no, we are downstream. Oh dear.

I heard a slight noise and turned around – there were 15 cows coming down to drink followed by their herder. Another 6 cows came from another direction. I watched the cows pee into the Ganges – right about where I stuck my finger in – and, once again, thought, “oh dear.” We then searched for some rocks to bring home –the girls found 3 they gave to me. They sit on my little table next to my bed. I enjoyed the walk and hope I can find someone to walk with me who is willing to go at my hobbling speed. I did spot some great banana trees – with bunches of bananas ripening, many wild marijuana plants growing in the ditch, interesting fencing designed to keep wandering cows out. I will bring my camera next time and take some photos. The fields are big and flat – although the foothills of the Himalayas are all around us. The sun is bright orange as it both rises and sets – I am, indeed, in India!

But, the good news is that I finally have a job. When the school principal found out that I was a “teacher of teachers” – from all my work with beginning teachers at Carmel – she asked if I could help out by giving demonstration classes. I am a little wary – I don’t want other teachers to feel that I think I am better than they are. I want to honor their ways of teaching while, perhaps, showing them some other ways – not necessarily better, but as supplements to what they now use.

I began by becoming the 5th grade Study Session Teacher. After school ends, the Ashram children have tea while the village children return to their homes. The children have a study session from 3:30 – 5 pm in big open rooms in the ground floor of the building for foreigners (where I live). I monitor the four 5th graders. The school principal, Kavita Singh, monitors the four 6th graders. The 5th graders (2 girls, 2 boys) are like children everywhere – they avoided telling me what their homework was (one boy is honest and kept shaking his head when the others insisted they had none). They wanted to talk, they wanted to poke each other, they wanted to do ANYTHING except study. The principal asked me to help them with their English and then math. So that is what we did. They read Dr. Doolittle to me and I went over vocabulary and tested their comprehension. In the first 10 minutes I identified the lazy child, the one with ADD and has given up really trying, the bright one who is a hard worker, and the clown - just like any 4 kids in America. I had to laugh. Children are the same the world over.

After the second session, Kavita asked me to stay and discuss possible demonstration lessons. We decided I would do a social studies lesson tomorrow for the 6th grade. I will be teaching it in English, obviously. Their English comprehension varies – but much, much better than I expected. After our discussion, Kavita invited me to tea at her house – on one edge of the Ashram compound. While we had chai we discussed our families. Her young 4-year old daughter died 2 years ago – my heart clutched as I thought about this - the one thing parents pray will never happen. Her husband took a job 300 miles away – and their 12-year old daughter lives with him. They see each other every few weeks. We compared experiences of her losing a daughter and my losing a husband. It was a thoughtful discussion.

So, I have a job. She gave me the 6th grade textbook and tomorrow I will teach a lesson on, get ready, “The similarities and differences of urban and rural living in India.” I am excited.