Unexpected Rains Allow Replanting

Quite unexpectedly we were blessed with some unseasonal heavy falls of rain in February, enough to allow us to plant some new cow fodder and okra.  The fruit trees all have new leaves shooting on them and we've started harvesting our tomatoes and selling them in the village.  The rice is also ready for harvesting.  It's all very exciting. 

The rice fields, vegie gardens as seen from the roof.

Preparing the newly ploughed fields for sowing the cow grass.

One of the guava trees.

Prabhu with some of the tomatoes

Looking across the brinjal and rice towards the buildings

New Shalom video available on Youtube

Our son Simon has uploaded a short video from our recent visit on his youtube channel.  It features comments from Simon and our friends Kerrie and Peter (sponsors of two of the boys) about their experience visiting Shalom.  This and other videos will be added to our Shalom youtube channel over the next few weeks.  To watch the video now click this link. 

Simon with some of the boys at Shalom

Around The Farm

Despite the drought conditions, farming activities have increased dramatically in the last couple of months.  Putting in the new dripper system has made a huge difference to how much we can grow.  The tomato plants are covered in ripening fruit, the brinjal also doing well.  Unfortunately the chillies haven't thrived and some lady finger (okra) plants will be planted in their place.  At the start of our 2 week visit the rice was still a vibrant green, but by the time we left, it was drying off in preperation for the harvest.  We were given 100 trees by the forestry department and planting of these has been started around the perimeters of the fields.  These will provide income through sales of teak wood in about 10 years.  After struggling with getting our farming activities up and running over the last four years we feel like we've turned a corner.  Our next step is to get quotes to deepen our well or dig a new one so we can keep increasing our output.

Gathering corn stalks to feed the cows

Breaking up urea to use as fertiliser in the drip lines

The rice fields just starting to turn yellow

Ladies from the village weeding the vegetable gardens

One of our calves

Off to sell milk to a tea stall in the village

Tomatoes from our gardens

Visiting Erampatti Village School

What a reception we got at the village primary school when we visited the boys' classes.  The children rushed out and surrounded us.  We were well and truly mobbed, everyone was keen to shake hands and introduce themselves.  A tour of each classroom followed and it was good to see the new desks and cupboards that Payne Road State School gave them in October being put to good use.  The work we'd organised to repair the front gate had also been done and it was looking sturdy again with no danger of falling down and hurting any children.  This year we hope to make repairs to the school toilets including construction of  new toilets for the girls, and installation of a septic system and water tanks.  First we have to find out what approvals we need from the government and then we'll raise additional funds to complete the work.

Inside the Grade 9 classroom

Repairs to the front gate

Visiting the Grade 1 classroom

The abandoned toilets and open sewer in the playground

Having Fun At Shalom

Our visit to Shalom was a great excuse to give the boys some new sporting and games equipment.  We gave them a carrom board table, some footballs, a volleyball and net, badminton racquets, quoits, snakes and ladders, dominos and 2 chess sets.  This meant our afternoons were filled with sports and games of every kind.  We taught them touch footy which they picked up very quickly and and really enjoyed playing.  The widows even joined in some of the games along with a few of the boys' friends from the village.  We've since heard that the children in the village are very interested in learning this new game.

The new badminton court

Geoff and Simon explaining the rules of touch footy

Running races

Playing carrom board

Visit To The Water Park

One of our visits to Shalom wouldn't be the same without taking the boys and staff out on a day trip somewhere.  So this time we decided to visit Athisayam Water Park at Madurai for a day of fun on the waterslides and amusement rides.  Despite being their winter, it was still really hot, so jumping in and out of the pools was a lovely treat for everyone. 

Group photo at Athisayam Water Park Madurai

Boarding the rollercoaster

Heading down into the pool

Enjoying the rides in the dry games area

All aboard

The wave pool and waterfall sections

Letters And Visitors From Sponsors

It was really great to take letters over from every one of our sponsors this time.  In the past we've only had one or two, so you can imagine the big smiles when the boys realised everyone had a letter individually addressed to them.  The room was a buzz with excited voices as everyone opened their letters and showed each other the photos of their families.  We thought we'd have to get Israel and Prabhu to translate what was written, but we were pleasantly surprised to see many of the boys were reading their letters by themselves without translation, they just needed help understanding a few words.  This is a clear sign of how much their English has improved.  They wrote some lovely letters back and decorated them with lots of drawings and stickers. I hope to post these out to their sponsor families soon.

We also had another surprise in store for them. Two days after our arrival, we were joined by our friends, Kerrie and Peter who sponsor two of the boys.  How wonderful for Perumal and Kalimuthu to meet their Aussie sponsors and visa versa.  No longer just a name or face in a photo.  They played and chatted and shared many special times together.  We look forward to welcoming other sponsors over for a visit in the future.

Showing Babu his letter and photos

Kerrie and Peter with Kalimuthu and Perumal

New Bird Cages Completed

The older boys did a magnificent job building the new bird cages.  We now have 2 turkey's, 8 ducks and 2 guinea hens.  We got rid of the chickens after Subhu our neighbour was bitten by a viper.  They were replaced by the guinea hens because chickens attract snakes but the guinea hens make a noise and smell that the snakes don't like.  The ducks love swimming in the pond, the turkey's strut around all day showing off their feathers with a "gobble, gobble, gobble".  The original male duck likes to think he's in charge.  The female turkey picks on the guinea hens, who hide behind the male turkeys tail feathers, he gets very excited and they all run around chasing each other in circles until the male duck comes over and breaks up the fight.  He'll even run in at full speed from a long distance to tell everyone to behave.  This happens several times a day and is very funny to watch.

The new cage which the older boys built by themselves

The male turkey is very impressive when he puffs his feathers

The most recent addition, the white ducks

New Mattresses For The Boys

We presented the boys with some belated Christmas gifts from their Aussie sponsors.  Everyone got new mattresses for their beds.  Sleeping on soft mattresses was a new experience for most of them, and the first morning everyone slept in and had to be woken up for school.

Ready to carry their mattresses upstairs

Getting ready for a comfy night's sleep

Neatly made beds in the morning

Bringing A Smile To Our Widows' Faces

Our 3 widows seem to be settling in so well.  They came to Shalom with very little and in poor health, having lived in very tough circumstances after being rejected by their families.  Already their faces look brighter and they seem so much happier and healthier.  It was lovely watching them joining in games in the evenings and sharing in the day to day life of their new family at Shalom.  Thanks to donations from Australia, we were able to bless them with new beds and some cupboards to store their things in.  

Me with our 3 Parthy (grandmas)

They now help with cooking and cleaning around the home

Happy smiles have returned

Enjoying a game of quoits with the boys

One of their new cupboards

Farming Activities Under Drought Conditions

Unfortunately the 2012 monsoon rains missed most of our district.  Our well is dry, no irrigation waters have been released and many farmers in our area have been forced to watch as their crops slowly die from lack of water.  Local newspapers reported this week that farmers were requesting the Tamil Nadu Government officially declare Madurai district drought affected so farmers can seek compensation for lost crops.  We are in the fortunate position that by installing our drip irrigation and using our bore water plus our neighbour's water we've been able to keep our vegetable gardens, rice and fruit trees alive.  You can see from the photos below how dry the unplanted areas of our property are compared to the green parts where we are using our water sparingly.  Israel told me we are one of the few farms around that still has healthy green rice.  The dry conditions mean that growth of our crops is a little slow and harvesting of vegetables may be delayed.  I've also included a photo of the work the older boys have done on some new bird shelters so we can keep more ducks, chickens and turkeys.  Its great to see them putting into practice some of the skills they've been learning at technical college.

Bringal plants growing alongside the dripper lines

Our rice is still a vibrant green

The drought conditions meant we could only plant a couple of fields with rice

Brick foundations built by the older boys for the new bird shelters

Two new ducks swim on the duck pond that the boys built last year

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