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Mr. Nenshad Elavia
Somebody was really taking care of us when they introduced us to Mr. Nenshad Ilavia...or Neo as he is more commonly known. Neo is 25 years old and is working for 3G services call center as a team manager. He is very hard working, but has taken time out of his busy schedule to help us out. Neo is a very special asset as he is originally from Surat in Gujarat. The children love speaking to him in Gujarati, but it is the parents who especially appreciate it. Neo has taken several trips to the Baroda School, trying to help the children meld into the environment there, and talking to the staff and teachers there. He is respected by everyone at the school and in fact, the school hopes that he is the one that is picking up dropping off the children EVERY time. Neo has also assisted us in Mumbai, talking to the parents about certain issues, like treatment of the children, working habits, and so much more. This is what volunteer Lisbeth has to say about Neo: “Neo speaking Gujarati really helps. He is great with all the kids and parents and they respond really well to him and seem to really respect him.” Thank you Neo for spending some of your precious free time with us. You have helped us over and over again and it is impossible to really say what needs to be said in such a short space. You are an amazingly loving and gentle man and we are very lucky to have you as our One! friend. |
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 Saturday Fun! |
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Public School Woes
In July we told you about getting 12 of our children into the local municipal school that we have our school room in. Unfortunately we only have three children remaining in the government school. The reasons are many: the children had a hard time adjusting to the system which requires that they sit quietly at their desk writing in their notebooks (the teachers are not even in the room at all times) for the bulk of the school day; the parents were not happy with the children getting hit by the teacher for misbehaving; the children were not accepted by the other children who made fun of “our” kids; the children themselves began to rebel against going to the municipal school and wanted to attend only “our” school. We will keep trying, as in order for the children to gain official recognition of their scholastic accomplishments, they need to be in official Indian schools. In November, at the annual program, we will be giving out awards to those children who stayed with the government school program. Hopefully this will motivate others. MARILYN |
Volunteer Magic
I was very worried when August arrived and there were only two volunteers in Mumbai...but there was nothing to worry about. Lisbeth Overheu (Australia) teamed up with Rebecca Desmots (France) to accomplish more than what was expected of them. They didn’t hesitate at all and worked extremely hard. In fact, I had to be careful to express my ideas...because before I turned around again, either Liz or Rebecca had already made the idea reality. Rebecca was our artist while she was there. She managed to brighten up our works book by creating computer drawings for as many nouns as she could. She also created our 7th Math workbook and worked on our Kinderbook materials. These were only her main projects- on top of all this was the daily work in school and many, many, many little tasks she quickly executed. Lisbeth came along way with our science materials. She researched all of the topics to be studied and produced class lesson plans that will carry us through for a few more months. On top of this time consuming job, Lis is incredibly organized and managed to keep me (Tania) on track. We brainstormed together and kept everything pointed in a positive direction. August and September showed the fastest growth rate (intellectually) of any other period in One! history. I can’t help but think that it was the patience, dedication and love of Lisbeth and Rebecca that contributed immensely to making this happen. |
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