Today we visited the Emmanuel School, a school offering the highest level of education in India for the poorest of the poor. See my post from 2008 to learn more:
http://tamstergk1.blogspot.com/2008/12/day-6-calcutta-samaritans-emmanuel.html. (Actually I just looked at that post and there is not all that much there but something). We did not have formal observation sessions and work, but we wanted to visit the school to help round out our experience in looking at EMC’s various educational programs. We had already interacted with several of the students outside of the classroom so it was neat to see them in their uniforms in the classroom. It’s amazing how much a uniform erases social boundaries. You almost forget what these kids go through every day in their lives outside of school when they are on school grounds and in the classrooms, wearing uniforms and socializing with their peers. Some of these kids go home to a small room where 8 or so family members reside, studying under a blanket using a candle as light.
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| I had bingo card/"chips" duty. |
After school we participated in Javeen Jyoti’s Youth Fellowship. That was a lot of fun. Reminded me of the good ole youth group days. Teenagers are all the same wherever you go. Different backgrounds, different circumstances, but teens are teens.
During the day we stepped out to visit Connexions, EMC’s program that is supporting families in the slums by creating jobs for women to sew, stitch, craft, create blankets, bags, clothing out of recycled Saris, and cards as well. It was neat to see the work that is going on there to empower these women in the slums.
At the end of the day we rushed back to the office to try to grab some time with EMC’s leadership, who I’m sure I’ve talked about before – just amazing people who are so gifted and on a daily basis pour out their love and energy to the many people they serve through their ministries. A brief unscheduled on-site wrap up ended up running much longer than anticipated, but I’m happy we had the opportunity to share in greater detail the work we’ve been doing, and highlight some of our early thoughts and ideas. Their eagerness and affirmation was encouraging, and I pray and hope that we will be able to do a good job providing realistically implementable ideas and suggestions that empower the teachers and staff to do their work more effectively, beyond the wonderful job they are already doing to change and impact lives and communities. We have quite a bit of homework to do but we are excited that they too are excited.
Today we visited the Emmanuel School, a school offering the highest level of education in India for the poorest of the poor. See my post from 2008 to learn more: http://tamstergk1.blogspot.com/2008/12/day-6-calcutta-samaritans-emmanuel.html. (Actually I just looked at that post and there is not all that much there but something). We did not have formal observation sessions and work, but we wanted to visit the school to help round out our experience in looking at EMC’s various educational programs. We had already interacted with several of the students outside of the classroom so it was neat to see them in their uniforms in the classroom. It’s amazing how much a uniform erases social boundaries. You almost forget what these kids go through every day in their lives outside of school when they are on school grounds and in the classrooms, wearing uniforms and socializing with their peers. Some of these kids go home to a small room where 8 or so family members reside, studying under a blanket using a candle as light.
After school we participated in Javeen Jyoti’s Youth Fellowship. That was a lot of fun. Reminded me of the good ole youth group days. Teenagers are all the same wherever you go. Different backgrounds, different circumstances, but teens are teens.
During the day we stepped out to visit Connexions, EMC’s program that is supporting families in the slums by creating jobs for women to sew, stitch, craft, create blankets, bags, clothing out of recycled Saris, and cards as well. It was neat to see the work that is going on there to empower these women in the slums.
At the end of the day we rushed back to the office to try to grab some time with EMC’s leadership, who I’m sure I’ve talked about before – just amazing people who are so gifted and on a daily basis pour out their love and energy to the many people they serve through their ministries. A brief unscheduled on-site wrap up ended up running much longer than anticipated, but I’m happy we had the opportunity to share in greater detail the work we’ve been doing, and highlight some of our early thoughts and ideas. Their eagerness and affirmation was encouraging, and I pray and hope that we will be able to do a good job providing realistically implementable ideas and suggestions that empower the teachers and staff to do their work more effectively, beyond the wonderful job they are already doing to change and impact lives and communities. We have quite a bit of homework to do but we are excited that they too are excited.
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