Namaste from IY7! After we had to leave our wonderful GM
Halli, we have adapted and are having a SUPER (one adjective for all purposes
in India) time in Mydanahalli. We have now entered glorious phase 2, although
almost finished it, and work has really begun.
We’ve had two epic awareness lessons, where over 370 children were
taught the importance of hand washing and brushing your teeth. We understand
that this is one of the more crucial aspects of our project due to its long
lasting and potentially life changing effects. What’s more exciting about this
is the fact that we have made connections with a school specializing in
children with learning difficulties and they cannot wait to have us pay a
visit. As lots of our volunteers have past experience working in this
environment it’s going to really play to our strengths.
Due
to our impromptu relocation, our project had some setbacks, for instance our
health camps dates had to be altered, however as a team we have reacted well
and adapted to our new surroundings. Rather than mourning our loss, we
celebrated our gain and used the extra time to our advantage. As a result we
are already half way through completing all our construction in Mydanahalli,
with 9 out of 24 toilets fully completed, and only 6 toilets having just dug
their pits. This could not have come about without the fantastic legacy of IY3
who ran their ICS project here from September to December 2012. Because of
their hard work and efforts they created an environment ready to accept our
help.
As
for our new village, it’s just as beautiful as GM Halli was, with lots of
lovely walks nearby, and huge amounts of greenery, which we found to be a
rarity in Karnataka. We even have a shop nearby that sells 7up, if you’re
prepared to accept the inflation rate of 5 rupees every day/sell, but
nonetheless Amy is still very happy about it. The best thing though is the
beautiful lake that we can go swimming in, and sunbathe on the grass (grass!),
which is such a great treat after working hard on construction all day.
Furthermore,
we are staying in a house with a family that consists of an old grandmother
(Aggi) who looks terrifying but is actually lovely, an awesome old man called Thatha
who walks around saying ‘watter buttle’ and generally makes life more entertaining.
The family have made us all feel welcome into their home and we are eternally
grateful for this.
We
look forward to returning to field base to swap success stories with everyone
else and can’t wait to start phase 3 to get our teeth stuck into our three
health camps and secondary projects. It’s going to be a lot of work but we are
ready!
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