A lot has happened since the last time I wrote on here, seems crazy that it's only actually been one week. Last weekend, we did some touristy things like Elephanta Island (which contains no elephants) but had lots of monkeys and market stalls and a really gorgeous view! We also went for dinner at the Taj Mahal hotel which was absolutely amazing and we felt so out of place there but had some gorgeous curry. Then on Sunday we went to church in Bandra and then went out to lunch with 20 people from church, some who we knew from Oasis and some who we didn't. We also explored the beach near us which wasn't amazing as far as beaches can go, but it was nice enough to see the sunset.
I spent half the week at the Dadar office, typing up a 418 page survey from 275 people about setting up a new training centre. It wasn't the most stimulating thing to do ever, but it was helpful for them because they can't type as quickly and usually pay for other companies to do it for them. Also means that they can research more into making a training centre to teach computer and English skills to help teenagers into getting a better education and a better future.
Thursday I was back at the DCC, and because of staff training I was playing with about 10 different kids all day - although I was exhausted it was so much fun. We did colouring and games and played hairdressers and played this weird pool type game and played with puppets. It's weird how I've actually only spoken a few words of Hindi to them but they know and trust me. They call me Deedee which means sister, which is similar to how you'd call someone Aunty. I know I'm not meant to have favourites, but there are two beautiful sisters who just make my heart melt everytime they smile. It took a bit of time to get then trust me and play with me but they are the cutest girls in the world! I can't put pictures up online, but trust me when I say they are beyond adorable.
It seems slightly unconnected, doing a lot of admin work or playing with kids and human trafficking, but I just wanna explain a little bit, just in the whole purpose of Oasis/DCC/me being here.
The DCC has set up a lot of prevention programmes in order to stop kids being trafficked. The newest one is called Early Encounter which is to stop kids from being trafficked at train stations by targeting traffickers. They've set up night shelters for girls to stay someone overnight in a safe place. They work with teenagers to either get them in school, or go with them to get jobs. They're looking after and teaching kids who have grown up in brothels. This is just the last year of only one project, and Oasis has 8 projects. I've only got a tiny part to play in all of this, but by doing admin work, I'm helping projects being set up and doing official documents that need to be written up. And playing with the kids, whether we understand each other or not is irrelevant because I'm having a positive impact on these kids and loving them.
As of tomorrow, we're half way through our time here and I cant believe how fast it's all going. But really enjoying everything, and falling more and more in love with India!
I spent half the week at the Dadar office, typing up a 418 page survey from 275 people about setting up a new training centre. It wasn't the most stimulating thing to do ever, but it was helpful for them because they can't type as quickly and usually pay for other companies to do it for them. Also means that they can research more into making a training centre to teach computer and English skills to help teenagers into getting a better education and a better future.
Thursday I was back at the DCC, and because of staff training I was playing with about 10 different kids all day - although I was exhausted it was so much fun. We did colouring and games and played hairdressers and played this weird pool type game and played with puppets. It's weird how I've actually only spoken a few words of Hindi to them but they know and trust me. They call me Deedee which means sister, which is similar to how you'd call someone Aunty. I know I'm not meant to have favourites, but there are two beautiful sisters who just make my heart melt everytime they smile. It took a bit of time to get then trust me and play with me but they are the cutest girls in the world! I can't put pictures up online, but trust me when I say they are beyond adorable.
It seems slightly unconnected, doing a lot of admin work or playing with kids and human trafficking, but I just wanna explain a little bit, just in the whole purpose of Oasis/DCC/me being here.
The DCC has set up a lot of prevention programmes in order to stop kids being trafficked. The newest one is called Early Encounter which is to stop kids from being trafficked at train stations by targeting traffickers. They've set up night shelters for girls to stay someone overnight in a safe place. They work with teenagers to either get them in school, or go with them to get jobs. They're looking after and teaching kids who have grown up in brothels. This is just the last year of only one project, and Oasis has 8 projects. I've only got a tiny part to play in all of this, but by doing admin work, I'm helping projects being set up and doing official documents that need to be written up. And playing with the kids, whether we understand each other or not is irrelevant because I'm having a positive impact on these kids and loving them.
As of tomorrow, we're half way through our time here and I cant believe how fast it's all going. But really enjoying everything, and falling more and more in love with India!
Hey Lucy, stumbled across your blog via Facebook- lovely to catch a glimpse of what you're up to! Keep making the most of it and learn all you can while you're away! :-)
ReplyDelete