Helen and I spent yesterday with the street school team...Kanta, Kavita, Sunil, Anil.
The day started with the four of them picking us up with the ambulance. They don't have a school bus driver...so the ambulance is used for everything.
The ambulance looks like one from the outside, but the inside is pretty plain....with side seats on each side. Four of us crowded in one side of the ambulance as the food containers were all on the other side.
After about 45 minutes in this hot crowded ambulance....we get there.
'There' is one of the slum area's.
The slums consist of tent like homes......roofs often made from plastic bags or sacks. It's a community- so they have kind of like streets separating the 'homes' and I also saw a little store in this one slum we were at.
We stop by a tree. There aren't that many of them in the area....so finding one for shade is good as it's super hot by now. We park.
Kids start running up to us as they are excited to see new people with the 'regulars'.
All of them want to shake your hand and yell 'HELLO". 'WHAT IS YOUR NAME?'
The teachers/health-care/social workers set up an area for school.
By now the kids are getting a little wild as Helen and I are taking pictures. Kids here LOVE their pictures taken. They then want to see it. Crazy time. This means you have to yell 'DO NOT TOUCH' over and over as the camera will then have hundreds of little fingers on it.
There must of been a good 50 kids at the first place we stopped. All dirty. All with mismatched clothes if they had any on. Most with no shoes. Snotty noses. Matted hair. YET....all of them were smiling. All of them were happy. It was so overwhelming to be there in the middle of it all. We even had the adults calling us over to their tents to visit with them. None of them spoke English...but we communicated with our smiles and our pictures. Good thing I have a digital now!
The kids at this school were between the ages of 4 and 12. They knew their ABC's and 1 to 10 in English. They also knew their names. Not much.
We didn't really do much with this first group as they then had to line up for their food. The line was pretty tame considering it was all kids with their small little bowls. Ones they have from home. Lunch was rice and a curry vegetable.
Anil was making sure only the kids that went to school stood in line and got some food as other people from the community tried to sneak in.
I would say that about 500 people lived in this first community.
We then made our way to the second spot. This is where Mukesti was waiting for us with his shower bus. It's really a truck pulling a water tank.
About 20 kids were waiting for their showers. Most had some sort of clothing on. There were a lot more women waiting to fill up their buckets/pails with the water.
Sunil made his way on the tank and just let the water go. Yippee! The kids went wild. After they managed to make themselves totally wet everyone made their way to Kanta and Kavita who poured some shampoo on their hair and gave them some soap. Wow! it got better after that. The water was going and the kids were yelling and having fun. I'm not sure how many of them actually cleaned themselves...but it was fun to watch!
After all the fun, the women got in line to get their water.
Our team then took a break by driving over to a park nearby to have our lunch. After a cup of chai, we made our way back to the spot the kids had their showers.
The school was another basic set up.....blankets under a tree for shade. Helen & I took over this class by singing 'Old Mcdonald' and having them each tell us their names. Counting and then ABC's. At one point I was asking the kids to 'teach me'. I wanted them to show me how to do something in their language. They all just stared at me and repeated 'teach me' to me. I couldn't stop laughing in front of the class.
I suck as a teacher. Anna....my dear cousin....I sure could use you here in India with the kids.
The kids got some food and then the teachers/health aid/social workers handed out some of the stuff Helen and I brought. Underwear. Boy do they like getting underwear. No embarrassment like our kids. They smile and hold up their new panties for a picture.
Our last stop was with a group of working kids. Right in the heart of the city. These kids work with their parents picking up garbage. They were totally filthy. I've never been that close to people so dirty. These kids carry big sacks and pick up recycle products. They also live on the street....so bathing and having clean clothes are not an option.
Their hair was a total mess. Their bodies were full of built in dirt. On the neck. On the arms. On their faces. Filthy. The clothes- what little they had on- hadn't been washed.....EVER. Most did not have underwear on. None of them had shoes.
This was where I had to take a couple of deep breathes......it was so shocking to think too hard on this life. A life that just repeats itself. A cycle of poverty. No water. No clothes. No shoes. No food. They beg on the street for what they live on.
The remarkable thing is that all these kids were smiling and laughing. All so very happy.
Kanata reminded us that all kids really want is love. That's all.
There were no showers or food for these kids....just some biscuits....that they had to line up for. Their three little biscuits each. It just broke my heart.
Helen and I are going back with the team on Wednesday.
Helen is going to cut their hair.
I am going to be the assistant.
One more thing to add to my resume.
