After a 7 hour mini bus transfer from our last campsite we arrive at our project stage in Varkala. As we turned along the sea front to our hotel we were expecting someone to jump out and shout 'April Fool!' because it seemed we had just arrived in paradise...!
The girls are sharing in small beach chalets - all with real showers and the all important sit-on loo!
As we realised this was to be our home for the next few days we all started to switch into holiday mode and enjoy our surroundings. But we were here to work so the next day we took Tuk Tuks down to our school project.
Driving anywhere in India is quite mad but taking a Tuk Tuk ride is a whole new level of experience! It's a bit like Formula 1 but without the safety features.
Arriving at the school we were somewhat stunned by what we found. Because of festivals there were no pupils present but we found out the buildings housed a school of over 1000 pupils in classes of 40+ in what can only be described as very basic conditions. Coming from our own school we really were in a totally different world and the realisation of what we were seeing hit the girls and staff alike.
Our project was simply to make two classrooms more habitable and the girls set about painting some bright murals on the walls. On the second day we had some help from workmen as we laid into tiling one of the rooms and completing a veranda. At times it was a bit difficult to tell where the girls ended and the cement begun - everything was spread very liberally around!
After two very hard days we were all very proud of what we had accomplished for the school and hope that the students like there new classrooms upon their return.
Tomorrow is a religious festival - although we are India we are in a very strongly Muslim area and everything is focused on Eid. So we are looking forward to a day without any planned activity at all and breakfast at 10am! The R&R phase is beginning!
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| Happy campers as we arrive in paradise! |
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| Sun sets on another hard day! |
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| It's a tough life on World Challenge! |
As we realised this was to be our home for the next few days we all started to switch into holiday mode and enjoy our surroundings. But we were here to work so the next day we took Tuk Tuks down to our school project.
Driving anywhere in India is quite mad but taking a Tuk Tuk ride is a whole new level of experience! It's a bit like Formula 1 but without the safety features.
Arriving at the school we were somewhat stunned by what we found. Because of festivals there were no pupils present but we found out the buildings housed a school of over 1000 pupils in classes of 40+ in what can only be described as very basic conditions. Coming from our own school we really were in a totally different world and the realisation of what we were seeing hit the girls and staff alike.
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| Tuk Tuk Races! |
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| Buying Tiles, Cement and Paint |
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| Time to unload the lorry |
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| Mixing the tile cement |
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| Getting the consistency right is the hard bit |
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| These guys work so fast! |
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| The floor takes shape |
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| We did it! |
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