Rainbow Primary School

Here is a great picture. I caught Sunitha in the act of conducting an extremely child-friendly Hindi lesson. She picked up the local cat (a white and ginger boy cat I call "Lal," which means red). She used Lal during a 1st standard A section lesson using a BIG book, constructed and donated by Sangeeta Gupta, our strongest and longest-serving volunteer. (The big books are part of the literacy methods we use, borrowed from the Columbia Teacher's College literacy program.) This Hindi "big book was" about a cat that escaped from her owner, a little girl. The kids LOVED this lesson, they sat spell-bound in their seats - eyes sparkling. I was so happy that Sunitha and the rest of the teachers are using their training that we had a party - cool drinks party - that day during the meeting. CHEERS!

Our doctor, Arati, had to return to her practice in the U.S. last month. Before she left, she gave her youngest son's old "cadillac" stroller to Eliya, our special needs student. This stroller is BIG. It has all kinds of levers, a sun shade, cushions all around, and nice, solid wheels. That is why Americans call these kinds of strollers "cadillac" strollers. This stroller has turned Eliya into the favorite, favorite playmate in Mastan Nagar. Boys and girls gather around his house after school, beg to take Eliya on a stroller ride, then fight for their turn to push him. Up and down the main lane in Mastan Nagar he thunders about like Mad Max, his cadillac stroller scattering the chickens, dogs, and smaller children! He loves it. He constantly grins and swivels his head around to catch the changing shadows (Eliya is partially blind). Eliya is playing. Eliya is playing.

There have been some outstanding in-kind donations at the school. Here are pictures from the latest in the long, long line of in-kind donations. This is Linda and Christine, two wonderful members of the Twin-Cities Ex-patriots Association (the "twin cities" are Secunderabad and Hyderabad). Linda and Christine are putting new dresses and pants/shirts onto our little preschoolers. HOW PRECIOUS! So many donations have come in that Usha Madam, the teachers and I met yesterday to (along with our usual to-do items) put down some guidelines for giving. Here is the back-story on what I call the "Goodies Phenomenon." The phenomenon shows how counterintuitive the minds are in the slum -- compared to what one would think -- when donations are handed out: Our slum community is quite hilarious about donations. Most of the parents are illiterate. That explains why they do not complain or ask for more books or school supplies, which are regularly handed out without inciden...

In a previous post, "Almost a Cinderella Story," there was a story of a little boy named Vada Prasad. He and his mother have returned to the slum after a few months in her native village. I visited them today. Vada Prasad looks FANTASTIC!! I'm so happy!! She is now showing much more interest in taking care of him. She is even going to physiotherapy with him at our local government hospital. All signs point to his survival, even that he will thrive, but all the RPS staff will keep a close eye on him. This is a big win for the school! He looks like a real BOY now, not a shrimpy, floppy half-boy. He is holding up his head, really responds to stimuli, and is constantly trying to turn over and grab at things. And here are those fun pictures.

We had a great group of visitors come through. This is in addition to our wonderful volunteers - we now have a volunteer teaching one hour of Telegu, Hindi, or English EVERYDAY! Here are some pictures of our recent visitors. They handed out goodies, had fun with the children, and really showed some community spirit! It has been a joy hosting these fun visitors.