New Resources For The Village School - Karen's Visit

Thanks to Payne Road State School in Brisbane, we were able to buy lots of resources to help the teachers and students at our village school.  The teachers made a wish list of what they needed, hoping we might be able to get a few things off the list and to their amazement, we were able to get everything.  When we went shopping, the manager of the sports shop in Madurai was so touched that children in Australia wanted to help children in India, that he also gave us a discount.  On the presentation day, the students and teachers gathered together in the playground with huge smiles on their faces. This is what we gave them: 3 teacher's desks, 3 large lockable metal cabinets for classroom supplies, 5 chairs, 2 cricket bats, 10 cricket balls, stumps, 4 soccer balls, 4 volleyballs, 4 large balls for throwing and catching games, 10 badminton racquets, 20 shuttlecocks, a badminton net, a carrom board table and equipment, 3 chess sets, 4 large rubber rings for ring tennis, 10 skipping ropes and some picture and reading books.  We're also planning to buy a new PA system and do repairs to the main school gate to increase safety.  I took a bundle of letters over from the students at Payne Road and in return carried back a whole lot of thank you letters and drawings from the students in India.  Thank you Payne Road State School for blessing our school in such an incredible way.  
To see a short video about the presentation day and gifts, click here.
To see the full version of what Karen said at the ceremony (5 min) click here

Shopping for the sporting equipment in Madurai

The children and staff gather around for the presentation ceremony

The children are looking forward to playing with the new games equipment

Presenting a ball to the Principal of The Primary section.

Two boys try out the new carrom board table - a popular game in India

We'll replace the brick pier before the gate falls on a child

Some of the beautifully decorated thank you letters

One group of boys worked together to make a large thank you poster