We were joined by a few other friends. Tara and I gave the school a year's worth of water and the TEA organization gave the children in the school shoes and socks.
Liam was with us, Aidan and Jonah decided to stay home.
Here are some photos.
^ Going into the school. The place had no running water, no electricity. They had put a new coat of paint on the walls, but it didn't serve to help very much. It was rough.
^ A few girls were milling around the courtyard of the school.
^ Tara and Shah were introduced to the headmistress of the school.
^ There were boys and girls in the school, but it was mostly girls. It was explained to me that the families that these girls come from want them to learn pure Urdu, thus the schooling at this Urdu Medium School. Boys of this age bracket usually work full time, so there were fewer of them. At one point, the boys were called over to where I was having a conversation and asked where they worked. They all had an answer, which served to show me that these boys, too, despite their schooling - worked.
^ You can see the shoes in the background, from TEA Cares.
^ Here you can see a few of the boys.
^ This was kind of a strange moment. For background, there was a recent security risk in Hyderabad because it is believed that three guys who snuck in from Pakistan came to the city. So, that was in the background of my mind when this guy came in - huge beard, shades, turban. It was weird. Before that, there was just the older man with the walker. The guy came in and started asking questions, but eventually left. It didn't disrupt the proceedings, but a few of us were watching him closely.
No harm done.
^ We started to hand out shoes. Notice the creepy guy behind Shah, in the midst of his questioning.
^ More shoes, now being handed out by the kids that had come with us, very nice.
^ This is the water as currently used at the school. Not very clean water in huge barrels scooped out with a cut-in-half bottle. I am glad that we could set the stage for these being abolished at this school. But a small gesture.
^ This was interesting. These are the class notes of the solar system from a class at the school. Notice the Urdu script. This is the language of Pakistan, so these children being in this place and speaking that language is a remnant of a huge set of events from centuries ago. These children do not speak, write or read Telugu, the language of Andhra Pradesh.
^ Liam involved in the distribution of mangoes.
^ The closing picture.
Now, it is up to the community in Hyderabad to continue to make a difference through TEA Cares. This is but one of many events that have made a material difference in the lives of people around us. In recent weeks, two of our friends helped another school to start up and get running. Incredible!
Two years ago, TEA Cares didn't exist. It does now because of the good work of Tara and a few other women who came up with the idea, I am so proud of her!
Did I tell you that Tara means "star" in Hindi?
