Week Three in Pali This week, following the arrival of Baya and Aparna - two of FEGG's Mumbai-based senior staff members, we received further details of our working arrangements and were sent out on a full-day field trip across Pali district. We were also informed that FEGG (Foundation to Educate Girls Globally) has been condensed to a much punchier 'Educate Girls'.
During our field trip we visited a remarkable primary school where, through the efforts of one dedicated teacher, enrolment figures have increased from a one child to 111 students during the course of a single month. This startling turnaround is the result of an exhaustive door-to-door campaign to convince local parents about the government-funded resources and educational opportunities available for their children. Moreover, and again through his own efforts, the teacher also managed to secure a 80 lakh (800,000 rupee) donation from a local businessman to improve the infrastructure of the school.
To recount the rest of day's experiences would warrant a far longer blog post than our weary minds can currently muster; but rest assured, it was equally as fascinating. We witnessed some of Educate Girls' testing methodologies, met and interviewed a tribal mother whose daughter has recently returned to school and were once again mauled by hoards of enthusiastic girls at a residential school.
In regards to our new work brief we were pleased to find that we have numerous tasks to keep us busy, both from the communications and developmental side of the spectrum. We've been issued a detailed weekly schedule (a much appreciated respite from our previously ad hoc 'India time' working life) and we anticipate a rather chaotic fortnight prior to our Christmas break.
Speaking of which (a convenient segway into some rather more trivial happenings) we've semi-successfully hunted down some Christmas decorations to spruce up our guesthouse. Admittedly, the impetuous here was less to do with an abundance of festive cheer than fear of being outdone by previous interns (turned arch nemeses) Amelia and Claire. Their decorative efforts last year have become something of legend among the local staff - to Manju, our surrogate mother, in particular.
In other, equally absurd, news we've all begun to show signs of cabin fever. Ingrid in particular. Aside from perennially scheming to thieve babies and bestowing obscure nicknames to local fauna Ms. Stear has ensured that life in the guesthouse has become something of a one-woman musical. Additionally, a week-long mystery of why Manju has refused to let us do the washing up was resolved when we were informed "Matt good washing, Anna good washing, Ingrid... no good washing". She has since been schooled on the art of soap and scrubbing, but alas, to no avail.
Matt and Anna have shown similar, if slightly less blatant, signs of mental degradation. While stuck in a rather large traffic jam on our way back to Pali Anna produced some A-grade joke material, stating (and I quote) "Wow, everything's happening in Pali! It should be called 'party'!". Likewise, Matt has successfully scaled the facade of the guesthouse and continued his quest to achieve a oneness with nature, with mixed results. His cow pat tally now stands at a triumphant 29 although he also endured a less impressive incident in which a tortoise unleashed (what seemed like) several litres of urine on his pants.
As a footnote, Anna managed to feature in the local newspaper (Matt suspects her Chinese heritage endows her with greater cultural capital than a mere Caucasian). We have also been conspiring to kidnap a puppy for a pet, as they roam the local neighbourhood in such abundance that its disappearance would surely go unnoticed. We've actually singled out our victim, whom Ingrid has dubbed 'Kangas' on account of her uncannily Kangaroo-esque features.
We bid you adieu!
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