Vidyal

---

For the lecture Tuesday night we had a speaker from an organization called Vidiyal. This organization was devoted to getting "street kids" off the street and into schools/safe environments. I had been trying to volunteer or teach at numerous schools and orphanages since I ahd gotten here only to be rebuffed by most of them. However, when I asked him about helping out he only too excited to have me come.

The organization was begun 10 years ago by the man who came to lecture. Don't be fooled by the name... hes Tamil. He went to graduate school in Bombay for social work and when on vacation in germany when in the middle of a discussion about street kids in madurai his friend in germany said he'd donate $20,000 to start a program Vidiyal was created. Now it was expanded to an after school program, a shelter, a school and resource centers in every slum. It really is amazing what they do.

So yesterday I went to the after school program with my friend Catie. We arrived in front of a modest sized house of, I think 4 rooms before the kids who went to other schools showed up. I met Jimmy's wife and promptly sat down, took out my chess board and played against the 10 kids who were there. They all played together adn showed a great cunning, though they didnt know the most basic opening moves. I was expecting to be mobbed by overzealous kids overjoyed to see a "vellicanan" (white man), but instead they were all really shy. Over the next 1/2 hour i kept playing kids as more and more kids filed in. By the time I stopped playing an hour later there must have been 80-100 kids in the house and backyard of about 10m by 10m. After working with camps and after school programs before I was expecting mayhem. Yet that was not the case. Actually the opposite turned out to be the case. Every one of the children was one of the the nicest, best behaved kids I have ever met. Example. Catie and I teamed up against 10 10-12 year old boys in a field about 5m by 5m. It was rough and tumble, but all fun. The kid's energy was at its peak when I was too tired and said "avalavadan" meaning "finished". No sooner had the word come out of my mouth when the kid who had the ball picked it up, when to wash the ball and the kids like worker ants immediately went inside to help bring out the dinner.

Honestly the whole time spent there was preposterous. it defied my logic of what it meant to work with kids. I can expect a certain level of cooperation, but not out of every single child in a mass of 100. The only way it could be possible is the memory of being out on the street being firmly in the chilren's mind. The organization teaches them karate, art, english and vocations. It is wonderful and I am looking forward to going there every day I dont have class. On saturday and sunday they go to the park and play on the soccer field. Remember the post where I was bummed that I wasnt going to get to coach? Well, im going to coach the kids on an organized level in soccer, have a chess class where I teach them the basics and teach english. I really psyched. To think... this fabulous program was started with only $20,000. It has really been a dream of mine to start a place like that of my own.... maybe some years down the line it'll happen. Oh, and the three hours I spent there... I spoke not a word of english.

---