This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under India, YAV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Where in the World is Sudie?
The adventures of Sudie Niesen, world traveler.
A Week in Mavelikara
For one week of May, John and I (along with some Malayalam-speaking friends) joined Ariel at her site to host a camp for her Lower Primary students. These children, many of whom come from the nearby Dalit community, attend the C.S.I. (Church of South India) Kallumala School where Ariel teaches a few days a week. We spent our mornings with the children reading stories, singing ridiculous English songs, playing games and (my favorite) doing arts and crafts. In the afternoons we visited the homes of children and teachers in Ariel’s community. Although the India YAVs live within 100 kilometers of each other, share common challenges of cross-cultural living, and act as a support network as we navigate life in Kerala, the nature of our site placements allows for great diversity of experience. Each of us will certainly come home in August bringing memories of a YAV year that was entirely our own. Though I have visited all the sites, Ariel’s is the first I truly experienced. It was wonderful to participate in the life of her community, meet her friends, and see how Ariel and her site have embraced each other.
[Playing Red Rover!]
[Some of the girls working on their paper-bag puppets]
[One of our campers showing off his puppet]
[All our campers with their puppets]
[John, Ariel, and me with Salama (one of the teachers at the Lower Primary School) and her Grandmother]
[Bijo helping one of our campers with his painting]
[Story time with Sudie and Prajod]
[The ants go marching 2 by 2 hoorah, hoorah . . . ]
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