Happy 75th Independence Day, India! Today we celebrated Independence Day at Felix Convent School, with a flag-hosting outside and an inside program. Students gave short speeches about Indian freedom fighters, the Nursery class danced, dignitaries spoke. It was a wonderful day.
Greetings! I am halfway into my trip and thought I would reflect on the impact of the pandemic on our schools. One of the challenges of this trip is that I am meeting people amid the chaos of the pandemic. The first wave of COVID-19 was devastating: with all 200 beds in the hospital occupied with patients day after day for months; with students from the nursing school and staff from Happy Valley School volunteering to care for patients; with funeral after funeral for the hospital chaplain to perform; with the deaths of prominent community members before the vaccines came.
Mission Primary School, Padhar
The indirect effects of COVID-19 are ongoing and will continue to traumatize the community. When the country locked down, the government stopped funding schools. Students couldn’t attend school so families were not paying admission fees, and therefore teachers were not paid for 2 years. Teachers approached these challenges by offering online classes on Whats App, by recording YouTube lessons, and by meeting with students and families in their homes, all without a salary.
With some of the teachers at St. Mark School, Sarni
We provided some salary help last year, but not enough to supplement full teachers’ salaries for 8 schools! In total, we sent over 15,000 USD to support teachers’ salaries for Happy Valley English School, Mission Higher Secondary School and Ebenezer English School. This was enough to help fill the gaps and every dollar is appreciated. But the effects of the financial trauma continue. Our eight schools are located within communities of extreme poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic has just intensified the desperation for help.
But, the financial crisis has affected the world and our donations from friends in the US and Europe have slowed. Non-profits all over the world, in every sector have noticed that donors are reluctant to give. This is felt in churches, in education, in housing programs and especially in small non-profits. The needs have increased and the funding has slowed. Donors have less ‘disposable income’ and more fear about the future. But it takes so little to make a BIG difference here in India.
Felix Convent School, Paratwada
My experience is filled with joy, but it can also provoke other emotions. It all pushes me to continue this work, to give children the opportunity education provides. I hope you will join me in this work.
At Felix Convent School this morning, the 400+ students were rehearsing for the 75th Anniversary of India's Independence celebration, held on Monday. Since my last visit, the construction of the school is finished, they have beautiful murals in the Kindergarten and Nursery classes, they have a school band (!) with drums and flutes, and a new science lab courtesy of Friends of Padhar Schools. Because they were able to supply the science lab, they now qualify to open for 11 and 12 grades.
Today was my last school visit in Madhya Pradesh and I traveled about 90 minutes to Sarni. There are 350 enrolled for this year at St. Mark School in Sarni, with the 9-12 grades meeting in the morning, and the Nursery -8 grades in the afternoon. We had a wonderful program of welcome, a lot of picture-taking, a tour of the classrooms (including a visit to computer lab, supplied with 5 computers provided by Friends of Padhar Schools) and then a tour and lunch with Pastor Johnson Crusoe and family. It was a lovely day!
Yesterday, I traveled to Shahpur Mission Primary School to visit for the first time. The school was built in 1937 and the village children attend. They speak Gondi, the tribal language, so they are learning Hindi and English. I will bring their requests before the Board when I return.
Then we took to trip to Shahpur to visit the Ebenezer Hindi and English Medium Schools. The journey led us through the mountainous areas where monkeys lined the road. The children offered a wonderful program and it was good to connect with the director and the founder of the school.
There are 25 students now registered at the English Medium school, with classes from Nursery - Grade 8 and 132 students at the Hindi Medium School, with students from grade 6-grade 10. The Hindi Medium School receives some funding from a Swedish Foundation but the English Medium School has really suffered during the pandemic. We are pleased to support the English Medium School to provide teacher support, as well as supplies and equipment.
I was privileged to visit Padhar Mission Primary School. With 75 students from grades 1-5, they have 3 teachers but only one is paid. One teacher's salary pays the salaries for three teachers and one school helper. The children gave me flowers and garlands and the teachers gave me a beautiful sari!
This year, our budget includes the salaries of two teachers and some money for supplies, uniforms and equipment. We are grateful to be able to help in a tangible way, to provide schooling to these children in Padhar.
On March 23, 2020, the Indian government imposed the COVID-19 lockdown. Everything stopped. No food for sale, no transportation available, no services provided and no one was supposed to drive. It was a total shutdown. At that time, the school was at capacity with 179 students staying at the facility. The staff quickly realized the problem was how to provide food for almost 200 people with no businesses open and no one allowed on the roads. The parents who lived out of town could not drive to Padhar to pick their children up! Only emergency vehicles were allowed on the roads. So for 3 months the school was at capacity, trying to work within the system to get permission to travel to supply food for the children.
Now, it just so happened that the school had acquired an old broken-down ambulance from the hospital that they fixed and were using to transport the kids, so they finally got permission to get supplies and food, but only if they used the old ambulance! Thankfully someone with some car repair skills had rescued the old ambulance many years ago. Who knew it would be so helpful?
I have a lot to write about when it comes to the School and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind (SRCB). But first some facts: They have 85 students enrolled, but expect more to join this month after the Hindu holidays next week. I say “students” because they are a school, but also a live-in facility for those with hearing and sight impairments, physical and cognitive disabilities. They also have opened their home to 10 orphaned children from a local children’s home that closed recently. They have 24 staff - administrative officers, teachers and teachers assistants, plus household staff, cooks, etc. During the COVID-19 pandemic they lost 3 staff members: 1 cook, 1 house mother and 1 teacher. Although the director and his wife tested positive, they both recovered well.
Today, I had the pleasure of visiting the Mission Higher Secondary School. The 85 children registered come from a variety of backgrounds, with the majority being kids in grades 9-12 who are deaf and partially deaf, blind and partially blind, with physical and/or mental impairments. We had a wonderful presentation and I received a gift from one of the artists, Rabin, who drew this pencil sketch of. me and Po! What a joy!
The journey to Padhar went smoothly - the flight to Nagpur ran a little late, but the driver from Padhar picked me up at the airport and drove me the 3 hours to Padhar with ease. I arrived to the warm smiles of my friends Deepa and Rajiv and a delicious dinner. The WIFI was down so I slept, determined to figure it out in the morning.
The next morning, I visited Happy Valley English School and had a wonderful discussion with their new principal, Mrs. Daniel. What a joy to see my teacher friends and all the students back after the pandemic. Happy Valley has about 400 students, grades Nursery through grade 12 and Friends of Padhar Schools is supporting scholarships and equipment for the upcoming school year.
For two years and seven months, the memories of India sustained me: through the COVID pandemic and the restrictions on travel, through the deaths of friends and partners in the work of Friends of Padhar Schools, through the waves of “Will I be able to travel?” And “I’ll have to cancel my ticket.” The sights, sounds and smells sustained me.
When I moved to Spain, one of the reasons was that it would allow me to be closer to India, on this side of the world. This trip to India is really a milestone, an experiment and a test to determine future trips. After completing the first three legs of the trip, I can say I’ve learned some things to do and not do, some good decisions I made and some I’ll need to rethink.
First, the legs: the first was to fly from Alicante to Madrid and then stay the night in Madrid. It was a fine plan and I was grateful for the extra sleep in Madrid. The hotel was okay, nothing special but not bad and they did arrange for a ride to the airport the next early morning.
The second leg was an early morning flight from Madrid to Frankfurt and this is where I learned some lessons. It all went fine - flight was on time, all went smoothly, but once at the Frankfurt airport I learned some lessons. When I was booking a flight from Alicante to Mumbai I realized although I am geographically closer to India, it is not “easier” or cheaper to to get here. Flights were expensive and so I decided to try to save a little money, I would book an Air Europa flight to Frankfurt (through Madrid) and then catch a Lufthansa flight down to Mumbai. But I hit a snag when collecting my bag from one company and trying to recheck it. Not a big snag. It all worked out in time, but there were some tense moments of wondering if my bag would make it to Mumbai. Thankfully, it did, but I will rethink my switching airlines next trip.
I completed the third leg (Frankfurt to Mumbai) with no issues: almost 8 hours on a plane seemed quick compared to my previous trips (12 hours from LAX to Frankfurt + 8 hours to Mumbai). For a few years I did the preliminary 4 hour flight from Hawaii to LAX, before the 12 to Germany and the 8 to Mumbai…. I am grateful for the single 8 hour flight.
When I lived in Hawaii, I contemplated going the other way to get to India - over Asia - but those flights are infrequent and much more expensive. I am learning that unless you are right next to a major airport (LAX, Atlanta, Munich, etc) it is a bit contrived and more expensive to get where you want to go.
My plane landed about 1:30 AM and after immigration, collecting my bag, changing money and the taxi ride to Colaba, I arrived at the hotel around 3AM. I had a deep sleep for 5 hours and then ate breakfast and went back to bed for a while, having no plans for today. I do not have jet lag since Spain is only 3 hours and 30 minutes behind India time, so I do not have to worry about adjusting my internal clock. That is good. I leave tomorrow to complete the final legs of the trip: a short flight to Nagpur then a longer drive to Padhar. Tomorrow evening I will be where I am going.
Krista S. Givens is the Executive Director of Friends of Padhar Schools and is traveling to visit our partners in India. Her journey is recorded here.
We are approaching the end of our fundraising year and we are running a bit short to meet our goals. We've sent almost $30,000 to Padhar and Panchsheel this year, but we have about $4500 we'd still like to raise to help our students and teachers in rural India.
One of the best fundraisers we have seen are our Facebook fundraisers, usually for birthdays or other celebrations. Do you have a celebration upcoming that you could donate to Friends of Padhar Schools? A birthday/anniversary or celebration in May or June? If you need ideas or help, please message me and we can work together on how your celebration can also help students in need.
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Thanks to our fundraisers and donors, Friends of Padhar Schools raised $4000 on #GivingTuesday2021! Many thanks to Carolyne Givens, Erika Gara, Krista S Givens, Ks Gee, Lea Appleton, Loreen Brown and Stephanie Slater Blay for hosting Fundraisers on your Facebook pages and all those who gave through the platform!
Happy Thanksgiving from the Friends of Padhar Schools!
A glimpse inside the Padhar Mission Higher Secondary School and the amazing work they are doing with Inter-abled children.
A two-year project realized! Felix Convent School in Paratwada now has a Science Lab! Materials, tables and benches, infrastructure and supplies were provided by the generous donation of Friends of Padhar Schools and some private donors. Many thanks!
