“Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
Lucy Maud Montgomery
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New Teacher
We have a new TEACHER and you won’t believe who it is...VINOD! (One!’s first ever child). Vinod has been our ‘dance teacher’ for quite a while now, but has just recently started teaching his own Hindi Classes. Vinod can read basic Hindi and is teaching our lowest level of children. On a patient day, Vinod is great with the children. Unfortunately on an impatient day we can’t quite say the same. He is growing and learning fast, so what more can we ask for?
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3 Feet of Rain in 24 hours!!!!!!!!!!!
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I was sleeping peacefully at home in Canada when chaos struck the streets of Mumbai. Rain, rain and more rain.
In less than 24 hours time, more than 3 feet of rain fell on the suburbs of the city—especially the areas of One!’s office and school.
In fact, the rains started just around 3 o’clock, when school was let out for the day. Staff and volunteers thought nothing of the ‘shower’, until the staff tried to leave at the end of the day at 5 o’clock. They walked down the stairs and knew immediately that this wasn’t just any other rain. The street was already over two feet backed up.
In the end, the volunteer apartment housed seven people that night! They were all in good spirits though and taking it well; they played water polo in the street the following day!
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Erica (Canada) and Johanna (Sweden) were finally able to go see the kids 36 hours later. They found good news and bad. The families living on Carter Road had evacuated to sleep at the train stations for a couple nights and their houses were in terrible shape...but EVERYONE was healthy. One child almost drowned and was saved by a rikshaw driver, but no one fell ill with the rain.
The Juhu houses were in even worse shape, and in the following weeks, we unfortunately saw three families move out: Sharda’s, Sarita’s, and Sunita’s. They missed work in the following weeks of the rains and just couldn’t make it work.
The following is a picture of a rain about a month later that was only a quarter of the amount that fell the month before. Tania returning from school and forced to swim!
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Graduation?!
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Two of our children are doing sooo well, that we are now starting to prepare them for their grade 10 exam, graduation in India. It will be a two year process, but we know that the two boys—Bismilla (son of Fatima) and Jayenti (son of Lila) — definitely have the potential academically.
Jayenti had never used a pencil before he started with One! four and a half years ago. He had never seen the number one on paper nor known any letters—in either Hindi or English. Now Jayenti can read fluently in Hindi and only needs to work on his writing skills (essays and long answer). Jayenti reads very well in English. His biggest roadblock is having the confidence to speak. Jayenti is a math superstar in the making. He picks up concepts exceptionally fast and is very precise in his work. He is now at about a grade 5 level and has the foundation to learn VERY quickly from here on.
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Bismilla has only been with One! for three years but had a few basics before he joined. He knew his letters and numbers,but not how to use either. Bismilla is now at the same place in his studies as Jayenti. Bismilla isn’t as quick to pick up concepts but has sheer dedication and will that allows him to challenge Jayenti every step of the way!
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