Rainbow Primary School

Now that we have a doctor around, we are beginning to think about all the necessary inputs for students to be able to learn. This is the phase of development where we start to approach different partner organizations to deliver services to the students and even the entire neighborhood. The school is a natural magnet for this. Health predicates any ability to learn, so it seems natural to start with the largest input to the community health: water. Work in Progress: Water A non-profit in Hyderabad which partners with an American scientific firm is interested in making the Mastan Nagar neighborhood an urban water pilot project. (Previous water projects were in rural villages.) This would be a huge improvement for the neighborhood. The water supply in the neighborhood is erratic, there is never enough, and it is definitely not purified. The school has water delivered by government tanker truck. We always run out of water before the next delivery is due. Then the whole school

Here is a bad picture of our new “Medicine Woman,” Dr. Arati. I’ll replace this with a good one soon. She is a wonder-woman doctor who recently relocated to Hyderabad from So. California with her husband and two kids. Her medical specialty is pediatrics and her primary work was in community care in Hispanic communities. It was like she came from heaven, with custom made skills for our students. We are so excited to have her visit the neighborhood, she offered to come twice a week. Arati is also helping coordinate referrals for special needs (developmental problems, operations, etc.) through our partner organizations. Whoo hooo! On a personal note, having her little ones around to play with Campbell while I’m working have SAVED me from guilty working mom syndrome. Thank you, Arati!! Last week, we had a blast setting up the little kit for diagnosing and treating the typical cases: cuts, earaches, fevers, and malnutrition (lots of multivitamins with iron). We're setting up

These are pictures from Thursday morning after a great visit from some wonderful American friends. They showered the students with flowers to say “thank you” for all their hard work in school. Next, they placed garlands on the teachers, which took them COMPLETELY by surprise. The message was these teachers, who work so hard in these conditions to produce students who truly learn, are very, very special. No matter where people come from, they can see these teachers are quality. Here are some pictures of the kids! (Below) All plans are moving along, the land is still ours, the architect is still working on the estimates, we have a great group of funders lined up, and our angel in the government is waiting for the go-ahead to help us with our building and personnel problems.

Ravi from Naandi came by last week to draw up the site plan for the new school! Here is the sketch. We’re so excited. Below is a picture of Ravi with some of the third standard students.