Our Trip to India – 2018 – Friday

 

All I can say about today is- WOW! This is hands down one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life. I can’t even put it into words how blessed I am feeling to experience a day like today.

We started back at JJR this morning for the last lesson observation of the week. It was so emotional to see how far the teachers have come in just one week and how much of an influence our volunteers have had on their teaching practice. We met with the Headteacher and he couldn’t thank us enough for the work that was carried out this week. He said he already noticed a difference in his teachers and is so grateful for everything we have done. Minu, a teacher that Kayley and Carys were working with all week came and gave us a gift just as we were leaving to say thank you for helping her throughout the week. This really touched my heart, even though they have so little they give you everything they have and are so happy and positive about everything they do.

We then made our way to Swarn Bharti Public School, the headteacher brought us down to watch a play the standard 3 class were doing on female equality. The performance was so moving and they were so excited to have us, there was so much talent especially at such a young age. We then moved on to one of our favourite schools Vijay Deep Public School where we were greeted for the final time by the principal Viijay. He was excited to see us and said with a smile from ear to ear “I have a surprise for my Impact Angels”. As we walked up the stairs into the school hall, all we could see was smiley happy children and teachers waving at us. The entire school were out to put on a performance for us, at this point we were all emotional wrecks trying to keep the tears back. We couldn’t believe that the school went to so much effort for us. As we sat down, one of the teachers came over with drinks and snacks for us and also gave us a Bindi which is a coloured dot worn on the centre of the forehead by the Hindu and Jain women, Bindi is considered the point at where creation begins. After we all sat down the performance began with two girls dancing to traditional Indian music. They then came over and grabbed us by the hands and brought us all out on the dance floor where we danced together to “Jai Ho”. This was without a doubt one of my highlights from the week, I couldn’t believe how much time and effort all the children and teachers put in organising this amazing performance. It was such an incredible feeling being able to experience something so special.

After we said our goodbyes to Vijayy Deep School we made our way to City Modern School for the last time. After the volunteers observed the lessons, the hall filled with up with teachers ready to celebrate the last day with us and all the hard work that brought us to this day. We played revision games, sang songs and talked through everything that was done over the week. We were all so emotional that the week was coming to an end, and we all sat together wishing we could stay another week. Alex and Luke presented all the teachers with certificates to conclude the final part of the programme. Our Indian team of teachers leave me speechless! They’re dedicated and so passionate, seeing them daily is a pleasure, watching them develop was a privilege.

The hard work that the volunteers have done this week has been absolutely outstanding. We couldn’t have asked for a better team of people to end the final part of the programme with. Lots of hugs and selfies were had to conclude the day. It’s always difficult to say goodbye, but instead we said “See you later”.  This trip has certainly touched our Impact Teachers in a way that could never be described.

Contribution from Mary Flynn.  Want to read more about our trip – read here!

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