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Published: April 23rd 2009
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Amristar
The Golden Temple in the evening looking very beautiful with lots of pretty lights. Bits and bobs blog!
Lots of stuff happening here in hot and getting hotter Sydenwalla!
Geoff and I had another visit to India! This time we walked!! Not all the way--- we are close to the Wagga border crossing. {Yes, the one where the trainee police academy was attacked!} so we took a taxi to the Pakistani side {there was little evidence of the previous trouble and I had made lots of phone call and enquires to make sure things were OK now!} and we walked across to India! The Pakistani side was very modern and posh but lacked electricity and the India side was rather run down but did have power! Our names are now written in many huge ledgers as they still want physical proof as well as the computer records! We then took a taxi to Amristar and meet up with Judy and Dave. The Golden Temple was very beautiful and full of pilgrims making a special visit for Baisakhi. The atmosphere was calm and peaceful and, as we have found everywhere, open and welcoming. We are on lots of people’s photos again!!
It was a great treat to be in a hotel with air-con [infact we
Amristar
Dave,geoff and me at the Golden temple. had to ask them to turn it OFF!] and a bar and a swimming pool! We took full advantage of all the facilities!
We also went to the flag lowering ceremony at the border—I’ve seen Wagga from both sides now and win or lose it seems somehow that ---well, India and Pakistan each have a different attitude to the ceremony. I will say no more but we had a much better view when on the Pakistani side! It was boisterous and crowded in India but just as noisy on both sides! And people enjoyed the spectacle cheering for their country! It made Trouping the Colours in London look rather staid! Our marching is not as flamboyant! Still, I don’t expect there are too many people who have stood on both sides recently.
It was great to see some friends from home again and strange how easily you slip back into ‘normal’ life.
Back here there seem to be many developments at the school, which may or may not be due to our influence. The High School is applying to add grades 11 and 12 which will mean the girls can reach a level of education locally that means they
Back in Pakistan
We had just walked back over the Wagga crossing from India into Pakistan can then attend a college to take higher exams. These colleges are residential and so the problem of girls travelling daily is solved. Many girls who have just completed grade 10 spoke to us about feeling disappointed that they had to finish their education and explained that their families were not happy for them to travel to Kot Radar Kishen where they could attend grades 11 and 12, and also the cost was prohivative even if their parents were happy to let them go. We spoke about his with many people, including Syed Barbar Ali and he has agreed to fund this new project. We have said that the biggest problem is finding teachers willing to travel to Sydenwalla every day and we discussed weekly accommodation for staff as an incentive. Another possible project!
The computers are almost up and running but as with all electrical things you get glitches and problems!! We spent a long day in a huge complex in Lahore buying the second-hand equipment—it was fascinating!!!! I saw 1 other female all day and was stared at a lot!
There have been 3 sports days, 1 for the boy’s schools
India
India sodiers getting ready to march down to the gates to do the strutting! and 2 smaller events for the girls. It was not easy organising the girl’s event as the girls schools do not have any grounds so we asked the local boys school if we could use their ground but it meant we also had to arrange guards and the older boys were not able to attend school that day! The girls had a great time and the guys with the guns also got to watch young ladies running about and enjoying a tug-of -war!
I am working with the staff to introduce a new topic based curriculum in the non-formal school—a class of mixed age students who have missed out on stages of school for one reason or another. The class is taken by a young girl who has had no training but is willing to try out new ideas with the support of one of the TARC trainers, Rabia, who is a natural teacher and who I hope will carry on when we leave.
We have just done some work in the local schools on 2D and 3D shapes demonstrating that they can be taught in many practical ways. We made 3D shape mobiles with the children but the teachers
Lahore
This is the transport we use when we are in Lahore these days. Much cheaper than rickshaws. 20 rupees for a long ride down College Road. also found it fascinating and enjoyed the activity as much as the students. It is very worrying when the teachers don’t know what the shapes are called or how to make a cube. The level of maths in the grade 5 text books is beyond me but they still don’t know what a pentagon is or how to construct it or knowledge of the properties of shapes.
The children are eager for us go and do some more songs so I think we will teach them ‘Old McDonald had a farm’ as I know they will find the animal noises hilarious! Mind you, the buffalo don’t really make much of a mooing!
As I said it has suddenly got pretty hot and it makes working in the afternoon very difficult as the air is heavy with dust and even the cooler rooms have warmed up! It is not too bad when we have power to drive the fans but when they stop so do I! The fan in our room was not working and when they came to mend it it was like a circus! The ‘electrician’ was balanced on an upended charpoy and I had visions of him dangling
Shop 67
This is our favourite diner when in Lahore! Shop 67. Lovely ambience and view!! But boneless ginger chicken and vegtables and as much fresh tandori roti as you can eat and 3 cokes for340 rupees for 3 people! from the fan like in a silent movie!
The dust is very bad at the moment as it is wheat harvesting time! Very strange as we think of harvest time as autumn not hot hot summer!! Sydenwalla has a combine harvester but the local farmers are cutting by hand crouching down using small hand sickles. They put the wheat in piles and the women bundle it up using ropes made from straw. The children make the straw ropes by wetting handfuls of straw and winding it round and round moving backwards away from each other as the straw rope gets longer. The dust is coming from the treashing and chopping of the remaining straw. It is hot dusty work and the children are constantly employed at the pump filling the water pots. And no long cool beer at the pub at the end as a reward!
This is a very rambling episode but I hope you find some bits interesting—if you want to know any thing else put questions in your comments or messages and I will answer them as best I can! I hope everyone who reads this is well and happy. We are missing lots of people
computers
Having spent hours in a high tech mall buying computers this is how they were transported down 5 floors to the van! and things and talk about you all a lot!! Please let us know how you are getting on---we love to get news of any sort!!
Take care Jane and Geoff
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Judy
non-member comment
hi
So glad you made it safely back, so did we! It was great to see you . Love the blog entry. Don't forget you promised to take pictures in the garden and on your walk! Love Judy xxx