Cath's attempt at a World Tour.

Journey to Vallipattu today to visit a new school to see where we can build a new kitchen garden for our targets and teach some more classes. After that we were invited to one of our nationals houses for dinner, Indian people are so generous. Sat on the roof in the sun and relaxed as majority of Indian homes have a flat roof space, great for drying of all descriptions. Packing and preparing for journey to Puducherry tomorrow. We are attending a wedding, yes I am wearing a saree, and then a few days spent with the other placement groups sightseeing and shopping. Vallipattu countryside, view from school. Being served dinner. Drying ground nuts on the roof, yum. Drying incense, Vallipattu has 6 incense making machines within the tiny village. These are then used in temples. 

Posting less now as working during the week so revisiting some same places. As our weekends are our own we went to Vellore on Sunday which is about 2 hours away by bus. There are 2 placements within Vellore, 1 in the city of Vellore itself and we are further out within the district, in Alangayam aka Vellore 2. Visited Fort Vellore, one of the most in tact specimens of military architecture in South India, built in the 16th century. Jalakantesvara Temple is inside Fort Vellore and built around the same time. There is also a museum contained within the fort and 2 large field-like areas which groups of people were playing cricket on. Visited the sites and then went for a wander around the shops and some lunch. Got to ride a few tuc-tuc's but as these were the smaller variants we took turns sitting on the side rail and having our asses hang out of the side which is an ... interesting experience. Back to our working week we went to Battanvattam, a small village outside Nimmiyamputtur

Went to Nimmiyamputtur's village presidents house yesterday for post Diwali dinner but as he was poorly he gave us sweets and coffee. When he is better he said he will put on a grand affair in the village and also got us an invite to his main home in Bangalore. Today was meant to be a meet and greet in Nimmi with a volleyball game but bad weather meant we had to call it off. Sat in local dentists office who serves several of the local villages alone. Every Saturday morning they have a walk-in clinic for children who come every 6-8 months on school trips which they attend especially on a Saturday for this reason. I was amazed he managed to maintain a conversation with us while checking children's teeth for 3 hours and applying fillings. They record ages and numbers but not specific names. Dental fluorsis is a big problem with school children and they need to be encouraged to brush twice a day. He found it very strange we pay 100 Rs. for baby teeth which is actually enough to fe

Awesome day today, I think it was Diwali but I'm unsure as when I ask our nationals they aren't very clear about what day it is and it changes depending on who you speak to so I'm settling for it's Diwali today. We were all very kindly invited to our national volunteer, Satish's, house for dinner. Got to experience our first tuc-tuc ride as he lives out in the countryside. Lovely welcome of blessing and each of us given a rose. Sat down to dinner in living room while the rest of his friends and family (about 20) waited for us to finish as we were the guests. After this went and visited his Aunts house down a dirt track road which was a beautiful building. All his friends and family were very welcoming and the view from all of the houses was fantastic. Watched the guys play volleyball then home for some sweets at the neighbours. Possibly the best day I've had since I came here. Thali for dinner, okra chutney, rice, samba and a poppadom served

Did you know that during Diwali festivities Hindu's wake up at 6am to light world record loud, long lines of firecrackers and fireworks which they continue to do at unpredictable points throughout the day? It is a national holiday too so no work or school so no reason to get up early, not impressed. Diwali involves lots of eating and fireworks from what I can tell. The people are so generous and our neighbours have invited is to their houses to share in their celebrations. Quite a few power cuts today which is ironic for the festival of light.  Yesterday, we were teaching health and livelihoods sessions at the local all boys school. We learnt we n eed to be prepared for anything as we were expecting a single 1-hour session and ended up doing 4 sessions from 10am until end of school at 4.30pm and had to be flexible with time as our sessions ranged from 40 minutes to 1.5 hours. The boys were very  enthusiastic  though and our team rallied together so it was a good day

Some more pictures from the weekend. Chilled day home in AleeG today (our name for Alangayam) with new national volunteers and planning our sessions for tomorrow. Also typing up some handover notes to help with continuity when the next volunteers come. Diwali this week, very excited to be here for it. Wiki - Diwali also known as Deepavali and the "festival of lights", is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year.   The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five day period, but the main festival night of Diwali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika.  Before Diwali night, people clean, renovate and decorate their homes. On Diwali night, Hindus dress up in new clothes or their best outfit, light up diyas   (lamps and candles) inside and outside their home, partic

As our weekends are free time, all the groups decided to meet up in Mamallapuram on the coast. Sadly, we are the furthest away so less than £2 bus fares later and 8 hours on the road we arrived at 10pm. Found our hotel which was £4.50 for 2 nights sharing rooms and enjoyed a shower with 2 taps that controlled hot and cold water. It was an awesome treat. It rained on and off most of the following day but was great seeing people, doing some shopping (more shopping than I wanted to but such good bargains) and seeing some sights. Mamallapuram is famous for its stone carvings and is a popular tourist destination so there were people from america, france etc also staying. There were some really amazing temples to see and a nice beach. Left at 2.30pm and got back home and 10pm so just a quick update and more tomorrow. View of the town View of the lighthouse, temple and the area on the right that looks like a river is actually remaining flooding from the 2004 tsuna

Today was our meet and greet sessions in home town Alangayam which involved visiting the Primary Healthcare Centre, Block Development Office, all girls school and separate all boys school. Our needs assessment at the PHC has shown that vector-bourne is disease is an important topic to raise awareness for (mosquito protection) but the main health concerns here are sanitation and nutrition with linked rise in type 2 diabetes cases. Sanitation is a recurrent issue as many people and schools do not have toilets so people will just go, away from main roads, and then return to their routines. However, even places that do have toilets need awareness raising regarding basic good hygiene practises such as washing hands and brushing teeth. Type 2 diabetes is becoming more prevalent across India, there are lots of  high sugar content sweets/snacks/drinks that can be purchased cheaply that are becoming part of peoples regular diet. As a result, people are developing a higher tolerance for sugar w

Went to Nimmiyamputtur to deliver health and livelihood session to a classroom of 60, 14 year old girls. Was a great day and got some really positive reactions to most of our non formal education techniques. A mixture of question and answer sessions with some energisers themed around what they had just learnt.  The class with volunteers and Mr Germ in the centre  Afternoon plans called off as it looked like a storm was coming but passed over us Average Daily Meal in Alangayam. Breakfast - 2 Puri (2 x 10 Rs.) 1 Masala Vada (3 Rs.) and free Potato/Onion curry = approx £0.23 Lunch - 2 Parotta (2 x 10 Rs.) and Sambar = approx £0.20 Dinner - Large onion omelette (10 Rs.) and Set onion dosa (35 Rs.) with coconut chutney and sambar = approx £0.45 Possible to live on less than £1 per day in this cou

Today we had our first delivery session with a class of approximately 30, 10 year olds. It was alot of fun and we concentrated on hand washing, disease spreading using Mr Germ and what they want to be when they grow up. Lots of session planning etc today so not many pictures relating to that so thought I'd give you a break from animal pictures and upload pictures of my home for the next few months.  Living room with PC  Kitchen after a clean, gas cannister for basic hob, purified water bottles (no drinking tap water) and a fridge that is great when there isn't a power cut  Bedroom 1 - Emma, Rochelle, Megan and Me Bedroom 2 - Pavlina, Cara and Danielle Office/Ellis' Bedroom Bathroom 1 of 3 - western toilet buts non of them flush so