Doing the Hokey Pokey!

Today's lesson included GPM volunteers teaching the Hokey Pokey to the kids of Mumbai. This is not only a lot of fun, but a great way to learn important words in English – body parts, movement, prepositions (in, out, around), and more. Its so much fun to see the little kids twirling and shaking their bodies all the while giggling and having a blast!

Sigalith teaching kids English using chalk and slates (yes, slates)

Sigalith is helping teach the kids ABCs using very traditional methods of chalk and slates. Kids are learning their English letters, the building blocks for writing and reading. The kids love when Sigalith and GPM volunteers teach them English, and Sigalith especially loves working with the kids. Knowing English is an important element of education in Mumbai and it helps the children in the slums by opening doors for them to further their education and improve their chances of improving their standard of living. This is yet another example of how GPM and REAP have built a win-win model, in which everyone benefits. 

Moments - Jacob Sztokman

On this post I would like to share two moments that touched me on our first and second day's volunteering in the slums of Kalwa, North Mumbai.

Moment 1: After assisting in the preparation of food for a mid-day meal for about 50 children, GPM volunteers began to distribute the food to children aged 4-10 who were attending classes run in the slums. Leora, one of the volunteers had just placed a ladle full of rice, vegetables and dahl into a 5 yr old girls' lunch box. The girl then closed the lunch box and placed it behind her while all the other children began eating. Sigalith, our coordinator asked the girl why she wasn't eating and the girl replied that she was taking the rice back to her parents and siblings so that they could eat.

Moment 2: An older mentally challenged girl began to cry when the teachers asked the children to sit down just before the food was being distributed. After the teacher asked the girl why she was crying, she replied that she felt very bad that she was eating while her mother and sister back home didn't have any food (father had past away).

These moments were deeply emotional ones for me. Here were a small 5 year old girl, and a mentally challenged girl with heightened emotions --both obviously hungry -- who could only think of their family members who were also hungry. These and other bitter-sweet moments reassure me of the importance of our cause and the love that exists in the most trying of places.

GPM volunteers providing hot lunches for the children

GPM volunteers help deliver and serve hot meals of chapati (large pita's) rice, vegetables, dahl, sprouts, fruit to 500 schoolchildren in the Mumbai slums. The class rooms are run by REAP, a grass-roots NGO that is working to combat poverty by promoting literacy among the poorest, youngest members of the Mumbai community. These marginalized groups would otherwise send their children to work in order to provide money for basic food. GPM, by providing hot meals to the kids who go to school, offers a powerful incentive for parents to send their children to school instead of to work. This is a win-win solution, providing immediate relief for hunger and poverty within the context of promoting literacy – because the real long-term solution to poverty is in education. GPM is thrilled to be able to partner with REAP (www.reapchild.org) on this really important project. 

The Kitchen: Where Indian women and GPM volunteers prepare food for the children in school

GPM is working with local women’s groups to prepare hot, nutritious meals for 500 Indian schoolchildren in the Mumbai slums every day.  One of the volunteers, Leora, is learning to prepare dahl, vegetables and rice.

 

 

Indian women welcome GPM volunteers

In this picture, Indian women representatives of the Kalwa neighborhood of Mumbai (adjacent to the Kalwa slums) welcomed the new volunteers in a Hindu ceremony for luck and success, which includes giving flowers, candies and a traditional red spot in the space between the eyes. Here the volunteers work alongside local women to prepare food for children learning in slum class rooms. The volunteers are continuously grateful for the women's' warmth, kindness and camaraderie. 

Visit to Yeeor National Park

Yeoor is a naturally beautiful and pollution free area carpeted by natural foliage and fauna.

Yeoor , home to about 78 known species of birds and about 12 different species of animals has the highest density of leopards in India. Volunteers enjoyed a drizzly day in Yeoor National Park, where they saw the local flora and fauna: monkeys, wild buffalo, kingfisher birds, crabs (thankfully, no leopards).