Bangalore

Since I live at the orphanage with the kids and spend most of my day with them I have not seen that much of India aside from the city that I live in. Bangalore a city of 6 million is a compilation of houses, apartments, stores, parks, churches, mosques and temples. Everything is very close together and most people live in very close quarters, especially those who are quite poor are living in very small shacks with many people living in them. 

I can relate Bangalore to places in South and Central America that I have been to where there is a high population density in the cities, much of Bangalore even looks similar to cities in South and Central America. That is aside from the language differences and the way that the people look.

Most people in India that are living in cities speak some English. The national language in India is Hindi but not even all people speak Hindi or understand it, there are at least 22 different sub-national languages that are spoken and over 1,500 tribal languages and dialects spoken just in this country alone. This make communication difficult between people that are native Indians let alone a foreigner like myself.

Most people speak at least 3 languages; English, Hindi and then their native language, depending which state they come from. For example I am living in the state of Karnataka where Tamil is spoken and in the house that I live in between the staff, kids and myself that are 7 different languages that are spoken. 

Often times my instinct for not knowing Hindi or Tamil is to try to speak Spanish if I know someone does not understand English, because this is the only other language besides English that I know. Then I am reminded that I am in India and people will understand my Spanish as well as I understand their Hindi, which means, not at all. 

A Day at the Park

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we take the kids to the park to play. It is a beautiful green space near the orphanage hidden from much of the noise and pollution of the city. The kids bring their Cricket gear when we go and play Cricket, a game which is very similar to baseball, but you don't run any bases. The kids are all much better than I am at it since I have never played before. They have been teaching the techniques of the game and give me huge hugs every time I score a run, because it is very rare if I do.

They love having their pictures taken and say "auntie, auntie, take more photos of me!" 

Here are some pictures of our afternoon at the park!

What Have I Had to Do to Prepare?

Preparation for the trip has been ongoing over the past 4 months ever since I first decided to go. Aside from the standard visa application and purchasing of plane tickets, I have had to get a whole slew of vaccines and immunizations, as well as anti-malarial medicine to take with me.

Curriculum development has taken about 2 months, I was given guidelines for what they need to know for their entry level exams for each grade, so some of the curriculum is based off that. Nearly the entire literacy program of what I will be doing had been adopted and modified to fit the needs of ESL learners from the literacy program we developed and used in my student teaching placement.

Student teaching in and of itself was a huge preparation in making this trip possible, I gained so much priceless knowledge about literacy and how to teach kids to read that I will be able to pass on to the staff at the orphanage.

I have also spent countless hours at home surrounded by multicolored paper and matte board creating games that the kids will be able to play at their level for literacy and math while I am teaching other leveled groups. Since I have very little money to spend on what I was taking I have to be highly creative with all of the resources I already had, which was actually quite fun to make everything myself!

Where Will I Be? What Will I Be Doing?

I will be living in Banglaore, India which is in the state of Karnataka for the months of March, April and May. While there I will be living at the orphanage that I will be teaching at. The orphanage is comprised of 30 kids ages 5-8, most orphaned because of religious persecution in Orissia (Northern India) where most of their parents were martyred. 

My main role will be improving the kids reading, writing and speaking of English to help prepare them for the school year starting in June. Currently they are not in school and many of them are still not near where they need to be for starting school. The school they will be attending they will learn and be taught in English only and their native dialect will not be used at all, thus it is imperative for them to be at an emergent language stage for kindergarden and a fluent language stage for every other grade. In addition to developing English literacy I will also be teaching Math, Science, Social Studies, Health and Bible Classes for the kids. 

Why India?

Why India?

The decision to go to India started last summer, in 2009. India has always been a country that I have wanted to travel to and it has always been a desire of mine to teach in an orphanage. I started by getting contacts from a friend who had been to India a few months prior. Through her I was able to collect names and email of people connected with ministries that could help me get linked up with what I was looking to do. After sending out a few emails I had an orphanage to teach at and a place to live, it all happened very quickly in a matter of about a month.

I knew that after I graduated in December of 2009 I wanted to do something other than just substitute teach while I looked for teaching jobs for the fall. I wanted to be able to use what I had spent the past 5 years learning and my wealth of experience of world travel and ministry to be able to help others. So instead of staying at home and making money substitute teaching I decided to volunteer to teach for free.

Using what I know and have learned to help others grow is a driving passion of mine, I also want to be able to empower the staff that are not trained teachers to gain the necessary knowledge they need to teach their kids.

Hence the name...Know >> Grow >> Empower