The 2017 student trip to India was a great success and more information can be found from the participants. The author of this blog was not on the Easter 2017 visit but made a visit in October with some administrative tasks in connection with the creche projects. Here are some recent images
October 25 Kodaikanal Projects visit:
On this morning we visited our three creche projects, Little Lilies, Peach Tree and Grace Kids in and around Kodaikanal. We were accompanied by Hilda the chief officer of the NGO with whom our international school liaises to manage and fund the schools, salaries, food and building development.
It was a pleasure to be welcomed by the staff of each creche, get up-to-date with developments and see the students being taught.
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| Little Lilies creche with students in the outside play area (village in background) after an energetic dance. |
One reason for visiting Kodai (other than to meet our contacts) was to leave a plaque on each creche building to acknowledge the work of students and the support of the International School community in the facilitating the existence of 'our' creches. The three plaques should be firmly attached to the wall near the main doors of each creche for our students to see next Easter.
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| One of the plaques, measuring about 10 x 20cm, on the outside wall. |
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Peach Tree creche on our departure.
Peach Tree creche suffers from limited outside space for the students. We are looking into the possibility of purchasing a new site and building from scratch. We had a great hour with the staff and students who were also doing an energetic dance. It is nice to see the students being actively engaged.
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| Hilda, our main contact, a remarkable woman, heading up the NGO responsible for several similar projects. |
Our final visit was to Grace Kids, where the students had been moved to temporary and rather cramped quarters nearby because of the expansion of the creche. There will be lots of work on the campus for our students when they arrive next Easter!
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| Grace kids under redevelopment, the addition of extra space and a separate kitchen, to comply with Indian regulations regarding health and safety. |
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| After the students had been fed and were having an afternoon nap, we ate a delicious meal with Hilda (right) and the teachers. |
We spent the rest of the day exploring Kodaikanal and doing some shopping; we purchased underwear, notebooks and pencils for the 150 students.
October 26 Drive from Kodaikanal to Madurai:
We said goodbye to Rathna and Srinath, the couple who provide the meals for our students, and drove down the Western Ghat (mountain) road towards Madurai where we were to fly onto Delhi. However we made one more stop for a rendez-vous with Mr. Paramadas who heads up another NGO with whom our students visit and work in a tribal village.
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| Our departure from Stonycroft Hotel, Ratna and Srinath centre. |
A couple of hours later having descended to the plains we stopped at Eden Garden restaurant where Mr. Paramadas and his wife were waiting. We liase with him to work with Tribal people living in villages in the forested areas near to Kodaikanal. Students have planted tree and carried out some labouring and painting work in one village and the work is expanding to another more remote village next year.
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Saying goodbye to Mr. Paramadas and his wife as we leave for Madurai
Please scroll on down for the 2016 student visit
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