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| Stehpen Bird's Bourbon (choc biscuits) and coke. |
Namaskar!
Celebrations were many in January; New Years eve, Stephen’s birthday, Daniel’s birthday, the births of a new niece and a new nephew in NZ (congratulations Tan’s & Blakes!), our 16
th wedding anniversary and the arrival of our first long-term team member Ann Weatherburn. Yay!
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| Ana, Anna, and Ann at the Family Centre |
We are so excited that Ann Weatherburn has come to work and live with us for the next five years. Her
teaching philosophy , business plans and heart for children (and their community) resonates with ours.
She will be our head consultant for Play and Learn
and teacher training. First things first; shopping and orientation (by auto rickshaw). Fun and exhausting at the same time! Her first challenges have been getting used to regular power cuts (we have about four daily) and we had water pump problems during her first week which made showering, washing hands/dishes/clothes, drinking, cleaning, cooking all that more complicated. However, she is as prepared as you could be, flexible, has a good sense of humor and is managing the new conditions, environment, clothing and culture incredibly well. Legend!
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| Play n Learn at Grace Nursery |
Other excitement in January was having the Kings and Gateway team visit (also from Hamilton) for two days (during their stay at Faith Outreach). It was so cool to see familiar faces and show and
share with them our environment and life here in Orissa, India. How amazing to sit down in our home here with them and chat over coffee. They were such an encouragement.
In Feb, we were honored to be included like family in the four day celebration, which involved henna hand painting, several changes of sparkly sari’s, delicious south Indian banquets (breakfast, lunch & dinner!), colourful flowers as hair decorations for the ladies and interesting Hindu ceremonies. It was like a four day long fashion parade as ladies donned a different silk sari each day, and showed off their gold jewellery. Our
village was bustling with the 5000 extra guests that arrived to attend the wedding. Daniel even got to dance through Sambalpur with all the guys (we have to push past our cultural boundaries; sometimes it hurts a bit, he he he).
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| Friends Marriage |
After what felt like such a long wait, our Family
Centre is now being used Mon-Fri! Sewing lessons commenced in February with five students and two employee’s. Hence, the new routine of walking to and from ‘work’, through the village mud huts and dirt streets, has begun, and it feels so good. This daily walk (with the necessity of shade from my umbrella) means that I am ‘out and about’ more, being seen, and people on the other side of the village are getting more familiar with us.
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| New Zealand Girls Explore Kolkata's Shops |
We are coming home for a holiday (4 May –12 June)! We hope to catch up when we are back!
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| Eva gets her Henna done before the wedding celebrations with the bride et.al. |
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Nameskar Dosti!
Jehoash celebrated his 10th birthday two times this month; we had a pancake breakfast with maple syrup in Kuala Lumpur (we can't get maple syrup in Orissa), and then a week later he had an afternoon tea party with his local friends back home in Bhalupali. We purchased a bicycle for him and also one for Malachai. They have been asking us for bikes since we arrived in India in Feb 2010. These winter temperatures (mid twenties) are giving perfect sunny yet cool days for the boys to be out and about, biking around the neighbourhood.
The boundary wall at our new property "Family Centre" is now pretty much complete! It has been plastered and is looking sharp. Our next stage for the property is to level the ground, plant trees and have the bridge over the drain at the entrance made. Also, the electrical work inside the building needs to be done (electrical points, light fittings, switches and fans). Once the bridge is done, we can then think about having a gate made; Further security with a gate will mean that any further building equipment and materials can be stored out-side the building rather than inside, making the building available and ready for use. Thanks to a timely donation, we are able to continue moving ahead with these plans. Yay!
We took Cindy to Faith Outreach (in the next town, an hour and a half drive) and spent the day with our friends there; a trip down memory lane for Cindy as she had stayed there in 2006. We also made a train trip 12hrs further south to meet our friends (Jason & Andrea Cobb) and their children’s home. It was an eventful and fun week at the Cobb residence including playing on their flying fox, a trek through the Indian jungle with crazy Jason, riding in their homemade jeep, and seeing elephants, camels and snakes, and joining in with the kids fun daily singing sessions. Cindy shared with the kids stories of her journey’s and adventures in Mozambique. Cindy was a trooper encouraging many people at many meetings with local friends.
October finished with a 12 hour train trip up to Kolkata to see Cindy off, and then a short flight up north of India to visit our kiwi friends in ‘the big city’. We enjoyed all the mod cons of city life, including air-conditioned malls, fast food, and hot running water! Ooooh yeah, soooo good! Feeling very re-energized!
Eva celebrated her third birthday while we were away. We also visited the touristy, historic sites of Lucknow. But our biggest accomplishment; fitting 9 persons plus a driver in an auto rick-shaw! We are definitely learning the Indian ways!
Hi Friends
We enjoyed showing them around our town, taking them to the boys school, the markets, showing them our new property, Daniel’s College class and Play and Learn at Grace Nursery. They met many of our friends over delicious, authentic Indian meals.
We are excited about the possibilities with the land and our dreams of building a child care facility feel so real. We would love to build an amazing play ground here too! Our boys have been helping us draw pictures of what the play ground should look like, and we have included ideas of having animals roaming around and a dirt bike track too!
However, first things first: Our first requirement is to build up the boundary wall (currently only at knee height) for security purposes and to connect the property to electricity and water. For this we need an estimate of NZ$8,000. 
Other than purchasing a property and setting up a new business, daily life continued as normal this month with sewing lessons, ‘marketing’ (buying fruit and vegetables at the market), Jehoash and Malachai with school and sat a few exams (yes, 6yr olds have exams here!), Daniel teaching at the local BCollege during the week and speaking on Sunday mornings. Daniel and the teachers he is training at Grace Nursery (Kindy), continue to offer the kids new experiences and opportunities for learning through exploration and play. This month some of their new experiences included making huts with chairs and blankets, swinging in the big blanket-hammock and an introduction to hammer and nails.
Jehoash and Malachai catch the van to a local school at 6:30am, returning home at 1:30pm in time for lunch. Jehoash is doing well at school and enjoys both the aca-demic and the social aspects. Malachai has been finding the slow pace in the classroom boring and has been get-ting up to some mischief! We have been called into the Principals office once this month! He looks for fun in everything.
We are loving being around language a lot more now than when we were on the English-speaking bubble at Faith Outreach. We are keen to expand our language skills and one day become fluent in Oriya (both Sam-balpuri Oriya and Oriya!) It turns out that I am picking up more Oryia than Hindi, and Daniel is picking up more Hindi than Oriya; so depending on the situation we’ve got it covered! Once again, great team work.
