BTS 1: Smiles All Round!

This morning one of the charity administrators, Sivakumar, came to collect me from the hotel in Madurai and brought me to the small town of Tirumangalam, around 45 minutes away. Here, one Boys Town, one Girls Town, two Children’s Villages and the Primary School are located in a peaceful rural location out of town, surrounded by fields.

Approaching from the main road...

I am staying in a guest-house on the premises, along with another English volunteer, Kirsty. This was one of the first buildings that Joe Homan built when he bought this plot of land in 1966 and my room was actually Joe’s bedroom for 25 years (in other words, I have the best room!). It’s really nice, big and airy with a desk and a couple of comfy chairs… and air con! What a luxury!

Home for the next 4 weeks

There’s also a wonderful cook, Muthupandi, who makes a delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner each day. He grew up in the Tirumangalam Boys Town and used to come after school to help cook for Joe and the older boys. Now in his late 40's, he has been looking after the staff and volunteers here ever since.

After being introduced to the office staff I was briefed on my projects for the next 4 weeks.  Initially my main focus will be Sponsor Communications. Around 500 of the 700 children here are sponsored by BTS supporters, mostly in the UK and Japan, although more are now being found in India itself (as the Indian economy continues to grow and the UK declines). Once a year the sponsors receive a full written update on the Children’s Village, Boys Town or Girls Town in which their sponsor child is living. It’s a pretty extensive report which tries to paint a picture of what the children’s lives are like by describing the facilities of the Boys Town, the daily and weekly routines of the children, major events, big achievements, etc. Also, as I mentioned in my last post, many of the children go on to do apprenticeships after 10^th Standard (similar to GCSEs). At this point they no longer live in the Boys or Girls Towns but their further education is still funded by the sponsors and these sponsors receive individual reports on their child.

I have been asked to produce 3 annual reports on the Boys Towns and around 30 individual apprentice reports. Once finished I will spend the last week or two doing work on the website, blog, facebook page etc.

No work today though - just a chance to get settled in and most importantly, meet some of the children!

This started straight after lunch when one of the girls from the office, Uma, took me along to the primary school, which is on site. The school is one large room, with basic screens dividing it into four separate classes, for children aged from 5 to 9. The children from the top class had made me a welcome card!

All of the lessons here are in English (very unusual in poor village schools) and the little ones were all keen to practice, saying hello, and asking my name and how I was. In each class I visited, a couple of children would be picked to come to the front and ask me a question or sing a song or read aloud. I was so surprised and overwhelmed!

Listening to a rendition of "Wind the Bobbin Up"

It was funny to see the different personalities emerging in even the youngest children; some were very confident and others very shy, but they were all curious about me and they were all full of smiles! 

"1st Standard" children (5-6 years old)

Later in the afternoon when school was over, I got on the back of Uma’s moped and we headed over to the Girls Town which is just across the main road from the office and guest-house. The girls here are aged between 12 and 16 and definitely a lot more noisy and confident – they were giggling and messing around, having fun. But there was a tender side too. They all wanted to sit next to me, to link arms, to shake my hand, to tell me their name… A couple of them shyly told me that I had beautiful eyes and beautiful hair! (Can't imagine teenagers in England being like this!). When I arrived they presented me with a home-made bouquet of flower petals, and put a flower garland around my neck.

A Warm Welcome in the Girls Town

The Girls Town is a set of small buildings made of honey-coloured stone, set around an open space used for playing or prayer. Each building is just one room, in which 14 girls sleep on mats on the floor. They each have one shelf for their personal belongings; most of the shelves were half empty. It was quite poignant, but the girls happiness and enthusiasm meant that it was impossible to feel sad for them. They were so proud of this place. Each wanted to show me their room, and the pictures they’d drawn, and the library, with the crafts that they’d made. I met the cook and was given a drink; always given pride of place on a plastic chair while everyone else sat on the floor.

New Friends!

After being shown around I was taken to a hall, and treated to a performance of traditional dancing. These girls can certainly move!! They were all fighting over who would get on stage to dance. They asked me to do “just one move” and I didn’t want to disappoint them, so I let them try to teach me a few steps, which they found hilarious (as anyone who has seen me dance will understand).

I had a big bag of chocolate éclairs in my bag and asked Uma if I could give them to the girls. I was thinking I'd just pass the bag around, but instead it turned into quite a formal occasion where the girls lined up in rows and approached me one by one to take an éclair, shake my hand and wish me an advanced Happy Birthday (I believe its traditional to give out sweets on your Birthday here, so they were a bit confused when I said my Birthday isn’t until June!). I felt a bit embarrassed that such a big deal was made out of such a pathetic offering and wished I’d brought something more!

The Director also handed out Indian sweets at this time. I took one, tried it and confirmed that it was delicious, at which point one of the young girls tried to give me her one! It’s incredible that these children have so little and yet will still offer up what they have to others. I was really moved. 

I really had a brilliant first day. It was incredibly humbling to meet these children. They are so poor in many ways, and yet so rich in terms of happiness and hope and appreciation for life. I know I am going to love my time here and I really hope I can add value to the organisation.

Happy girls