Christmas at Shalom

The boys woke early, excited about the day's activities.  Everyone was given a new shirt and a pair of jeans as Christmas gifts from the students at Kenmore State School in Brisbane.  As you can see from the group photo below they looked wonderful in their new clothes.  They then went to church and performed some dances as part of the service.  An extra surprise was that 3 of the boys who previously stayed at the Shalom, turned up at church and asked if they could spend Christmas with Israel and the boys.  It was so lovely that they wanted to spend Christmas with their Shalom family. Muthusiva had to go back to work the next day but Manoj and Divagar stayed for a few days and had lots of fun playing cricket with the other boys.  After church it was off to lunch at KFC (see seperate post) rest and games in the afternoon and then for dinner they feasted on Briyani cooked by Pastor Daniel.  I'm sure everyone slept well that night.

Early morning on Christmas day with their gifts

Babu modelling his new shirt and jeans

The boys from Shalom  in their new clothes.  No longer orphans, now proud young men and future leaders.

Special Christmas Lunch

Christmas Day was full of surprises and lunch for the boys was a special treat indeed.  They were invited as special guests at the opening of Madurai's first KFC store.  It was all arranged by a friend of Israel's.  The Mayor and other dignatories were there to take care of the official side of things but the boys had the honour of being the first ones to taste the food.  They were each given a huge feed of chicken, fries and soft drink and the Mayor gave them each a gift of pens and pencils as a Christmas gift.   Everyone went home with very full tummys.

Pothi, Rasu and Joshua enjoying their first taste of KFC

Israel with the Mayor and other dignatories

Babu flanked by photographers from the local newspapers

A group photo taken on the front steps of KFC

New Clothing for 40 Widows

This year we were able to bless 40 widows with new saris for Christmas.  Widows in India are seen as cursed and in some cases their own families will throw them out of the house.  Most of the ladies who received our saris are elderly and desperately poor.  They probably only have one or two saris to wear.  You might think that a new sari won't help change their situation... it won't.  But for these women who have suffered so much hardship and rejection, even a simple gift like this, is an expression of love that shows them they have worth and value.

Ladies from Pastor Daniel's church shopping for the saris

Pastor Daniel presented the saris during the Christmas Day service

The happy widows holding the bags containing their new saris

Tutoring Program Christmas Party

Just before Christmas Israel held a Christmas party at the village school for the children who attend our evening tutoring program.  It was a fun night with people from the village gathering around to listen as Pastor Daniel shared some Christmas stories.  Santa even put in an appearance.  There were plenty of cakes and drinks to share around and every child went home with a pencil case filled with pens, pencils and sweets. 

Pencil cases, pens and pencils ready for wrapping

The older boys helped sort and wrap enough gifts for 60 children

Smiles were in abundance as the children waited to receive their gifts

Pastor Daniel and some of our boys with their Christmas hats

Thank you to all our Australian friends for your Christmas gifts

Wow, I can hardly believe the year is nearly finished.  It's been a busy one for us at Shalom and we've seen lots of exciting things happen. I've added in the posts below some new photos of the planting work being done at the moment.  The monsoon rains were very poor this year so we'll be relying on water from our neighbour and our new drip irrigation system to keep everything growing. 

Vegie Garden Planting Underway

Today ladies from the village started planting the vegetable gardens with lots of tomatoes, bringal (eggplant), ladies finger (okra), chillies and other veryday items to help feed our growing family.  Once they've finished, the Agriculture Consultant will recheck the dripper flow rates and draw up a fertilizing schedule.  Hopefully when Geoff, Simon and I visit in February, we'll be able to taste some of the newly harvested vegies. 

Ladies from Erampatti planting vegetable seedlings

The New Fruit Trees Have Arrived

Would you believe there are more than 100 fruit trees crammed in here at the back of Israel's car?  80% of them are guava trees, with the rest a mix of mango, lemon and other fruits.  Planting will take place over the coming week.  He'll need to make another trip back to the nursery to buy the 40 coconut trees we're also planning to plant.

It's always amazing to see how much can get packed into the back of the car

Rice Planting Completed

The 2012 monsoon brought very little rain to our area so the Government decided to stop  releasing irrigation water from the dams to conserve water for drinking supplies.  This is bad news for farmers throughout our district.  We've arranged to buy extra water from our neighbour and at the end of November planted about 2 acres of rice.

Israel and Pothi survey the newly planted rice fields.

Widows' News

In November we welcomed a third widow to Shalom.  Her name is Saroja.  She is fairly frail and in poor health but we hope that with regular food and some love and care, her body will gain strength and we'll see a smile back on her face.  Israel took Salome to the eye hospital for a check up and she got new glasses to replace her old ones which were tied together with string.

Our newest widow Saroja

Salome with her new glasses

Village Tutoring Update - Karen's Visit

The village tutoring program continues to grow thanks to the fantastic work of our new tutors Pragash and Priya. Priya recently completed her degree at teacher's college. They offered to work for us for a year to help set up the tutoring program but I'm hoping we can talk them into staying longer. Our initial venue (which was actually on the roof of a house) turned out to be unsuitable once the monsoon rains started, so the teachers wrote letters to the Education Department to get permission for us to use the school premises.  Now we don't have to worry about the weather and we'll have somewhere secure to store a generator.  The move to the school has only just happened and we expect the number of students attending will increase again now that we have more suitable premises.  After Christmas, we plan to offer a seperate study session before school for the grade 10 students to help them prepare for their final exams.
News Flash - Priya gave birth to a little girl on the 26 Oct which is very exciting news.  While she takes some time off, one of the young ladies from the village will help supervise the students.

Priya and Pragash our new tutors

The tutoring program is now being held at the village school

More than 40 children come and study for 2 hours 5 days a week

Saturday Morning Chores - Karen's Visit

On Saturday mornings, the boys usually help with a few chores around the farm.  A roster is drawn up and everyone takes turns with the different tasks.  This week, the contractor working on the irrigation channel, gave us some soil from the channel.  Everyone chipped in and it didn't take long before it was spread across the area where we want to plant lawn and put in some playground equipment.

Abinesh helps water some of the existing fruit trees

After a snake was seen near the bathrooms the boys helped clear the long grass

The irrigation tank is emptied and scrubbed every week

Gathering up weeds

Spreading the loads of soil didn't take long with lots of energetic helpers

Next year we hope to put some gardens and a playground in this area

Installing Our New Drip Irrigation - Karen's Visit

Growing crops has always been a battle, so during my visit, we arranged for a local agricultural consultant to look at our soil and water supply and give advice on the best crops to grow and how to use our water more effectively.  He checked the flow from our irrigation bore and calculated that if we switched to drip irrigation, we'd have sufficient water to grow vegetables all year round plus establish an orchard of fruit trees.  This was great news and we were keen to get the main digging done before the monsoon rains arrived. We've now installed drip lines to 1 acre of the land.  Half an acre will be dedicated to vegetables for the home and sale, and the other half acre will have 40 coconut trees plus 120 fruit trees including guava, lemon, pomegranate and custard apples.  Rice will be grown on the remainer of the fields when irrigation waters are released from the dam. Once we're familiar with using the drip system, we plan to sink another bore at the far end of the property and extend the drip system to the remaining fields.  Thanks to some very generous friends from New Zealand we now have enough money to buy our trees and plant our vegies.  We were hoping to get everything planted before the monsoon rains arrived but some early downpours mean we'll have to wait for the soil to dry out before we can dig in our composts and start planting.  To see a short video of the drip irrigation being installed, click here.

The agricultural consultant explains the water saving benefits of drip irrigation

The boys helped with measuring the holes for the coconut trees

We hired a excavator to dig holes for the trees and trenches for the pipework

One of the trenches running from the bore to the new orchard area

The consultant shows how to flush dirt from the pipelines

Learning how to use and maintain the filters and add fertlizer to the lines

Harmonicas For The Boys - Karen's Visit

Thanks to our friend Paul, each of the boys now has his own harmonica to play.  The harmonicas caused quite a stir each time my bags went through airport x-ray machines in India.  "What are all these metal objects you have across the bottom of your bag?"  The security officers would demand, pointing at the x-ray image.  I think it looked like I was smuggling gold bars in ... I wish.  Then their faces would break into big smiles when I showed them what they were and explained who they were for. The night I gave them to the boys, it was quite hilarious seeing the looks on their faces when they blew into them for the first time.   Their eyes would widen, they'd stop to giggle and and then start blowing nonstop.  As I handed out more harmonicas, the "music" and laughter got louder and louder.  Everyone was playing random notes, yet it sounded quite melodious.  To see a video of the boys playing their harmonicas for the first time click here  I'm sure it will put a smile on your face.    Later that night, I watched as different boys went off to a quiet corner and sat with their eyes closed, experimenting with the different sounds they could make. If we'd let them, I think they would have kept playing for hours, but some of the adults were concerned the continuous sound might attract snakes like a snake charmer does.  (Yes they were seriously concerned). The next morning, when everyone came down dressed ready for school, every single boy had hidden his harmonica in a pocket, to show his friends.  Unfortunately we had to spoil their plans ... the risk of having a harmonica stolen, or catching a serious disease if others took a turn, was too great.   I'm looking forward to hearing what beautiful songs they've learnt to play when we visit them in February. To see the boys' thank you message click here.

The boys were delighted with their new harmonicas

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

Visiting Erampatti School - Karen's Visit

On this trip I visited our village school 3 times, which was lots of fun.  My visits have to be carefully planned, because the children get so excited and want to run out of the classes to see me.  The teachers are very dedicated and do a fantastic job with very limited resources.  There are no working toilets for the students and two of the classes share a dark storage building while they wait for the Government to build 2 new classrooms. Many of the children come from very poor, illiterate families. I saw at least 4 children with disabilities and one of the teaching staff in the High School is blind.  It was very inspiring watching her get around the school and helping the children with their work.  To see a short video about the school, click here

A lady from the village helps cook the Government sponsored school lunches

Grades 4 and 5 share a dark room used for storing items like broken swings

Grade 4 students with their teacher

The High School teachers - the teacher's aide, 2nd from left , is blind

Grade 10 students in their classroom which has no desks

The High School English teacher with the Grade 9's

Grades 2 and 3 share a classroom

These young girls sneaked out of class to watch us

The grade 1's working quietly at their desks