Day 8 & 9

For the 4th attempt at posting....

Day 8 & Day 9

The adventures still continue on here at Shishur Sevay and in Kolkata. Yesterday, I got the communication boards done for the kids trays—with symbols, pictures, English and Bengali. We got them all laminated as well hoping they will last a while.

Sonali and I have been spending a lot of time together. She is amazing. She has tremendous amounts of curiosity in her eyes. She also has a great deal of sensory needs. She loves to have her face rubbed, particularly just between her eyes above her nose. She is blind, so that is where she can see the best. She is the type of kid who melts your heart. She gets so excited when I come into the room and she figures out I am there.

I spent the evening with Gibi and the kids at her apartment! It was so nice to catch up with them all. Preeti had so many questions about Beijing. She loved pouring over the pictures and videos I had. Gibi made me my all time favorite food too, onion pakoras! They were soooo good. I decided to spend the night there with them last night.

Today I had a visitor, Kamala Joseph, my massi who cared for me when I was an IMH baby. It was so nice to meet her son as well.

Another exciting moment was when I came back to Shishur Sevay this morning after spending the night at Gibi’s, the teachers had taken out the computer and big mac button on their own and were using it with the kids!!!!!!!! Hooray for transfer of learning! It may seem simple, but it was certainly a moment to celebrate.

I’ve been thinking a lot about a class I took last term, leading sustainable change. Spending time here at Shishur Sevay, more than just visiting a place for a day like the school for the deaf etc. you really begin to realize the challenges that you face when trying to lead sustainable change in this type of environment. Not only are there deeply rooted traditions to overcome, but there are tremendous language and class barriers as well. Change is not impossible, but in order for it to be meaningful you must have soooo much patience. As a foreigner too, you are constantly trying to balance your suggestions with praise so you don’t offend anybody. Truthfully, the teachers here are doing an exceptional job with these kids.

I am beginning to miss some of the western affordances – air conditioning, nice hot showers. I suppose it is only natural to begin to miss those things though. Tomorrow we are going to the village to visit Bubbi (Michelle’s cow). We have rented a bus so that we can all go. I am looking forward to this trip!