Blogs from Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia - page 4

Today was our final day at the offsite village project! It was so sad to leave but they made the day really special for us. We visited the day care centre for the aged one last time and sang for them as well as donating a sari or a longhi for each person. We also did a collection amongst us and managed to collect over 5,000 rupees for them. A few of the group got offered a chance to go into the classrooms and take part in the lessons. We taught them nursery rhymes and gave them gifts including board games, colouring pencils and sports equipment. All the children were extremely excited and grateful for the gifts. This was sad for all the people who worked on the project as it meant leaving the children they ... read more

After an evenings practise, we felt we were fully prepared for our sold out performance to what seemed like half of Tirunelveli. It was surreal turning up and being cheered walking through a sea of 7000 school girls, eager to hear our number. We were treated to a performance of their own, at which point the nerves kicked in. After a quick welcoming from the headmistress, we hit the stage and belted out possibly the worst version of 'Oh Happy Day' you will ever not hear - unless you come to our celebration evening and watch the recording! This was followed by an equally painful version of 'Wonderwall'. The students loved it, despite not having a clue what we were singing about! We then went on a tour of the school where we answered questions the ... read more

For the past few days some of the group have been rather insanely getting up at 6am to go on a 2.5 miles run around Tirunelveli. They assure the rest of us that it is great fun and a fantastic way to wake up in the morning. The rest of us are unconvinced and wallow in the bliss of extra sleep. The projects continue and we begin to really see huge improvements to both sites. Whilst the toll of 4 days of physical labour was beginning to show, the group completed some really impressive work. At Chittenden Deaf School all the hard work scraping, sanding and smashing paid off as work began on plastering and painting. There was still some pretty tough concrete that needed smashing off the walls. Our crack destruction crew managed to complete ... read more

So far we have had a brilliant time. All the youngpeople have now experienced working in a bakery and we are now completing two building projects. These consist of, a kitchen and toilet at a local primary school in a near by village and a warden accommodation at the deaf school. It is very different here, and we feel like we should be on the 'Only way is India' as we have acquired celebrity status for no reason! The food is amazing and everyone has been adventerous at trying everything. We are well looked after in the school we are staying at, and everyone is very appreciative of the work we are doing. The boys have been busy setting up lots of cricket and football tournaments. Although they are one nil down after losing against 400 ... read more

We took the Kanyakumari Express train from Chennai to Tirunelveli. It arrived at 4:30 in the morning. The taxi we hired to take us to Dr. Balasubramanian's house broke down half way there. The alternator gave up the ghost. We waited for a bit and then finally got an autorickshaw. It was almost comical trying to fit 4 people (5 with the driver) plus everyone's luggage into a tiny vehicle only meant for 2 passengers. A Chinese fire drill for the record books! I've heard so much of the inconveniences of India but had been lucky so far to not have experienced any major disruptions. Yesterday, we drove down through Nagercoil to Kanyakumari. At the seashore we crowded onto an over-full ferry boat which spilled us out onto a huge rock along with a ton of ... read more