Placement - Week 8

Apart from a few visits to schools to award more trophies and certificates, plus a little trip to the bank to gather information for our group in the mountains, most of this week has been spent preparing for our livelihoods event on Saturday, and here is your invitation to that very event.......

Yes, that's right.... special motivation address by.... Mr Tanya Colvin! I really am famous..... and male apparently! They really did go to so much effort I hadn't the heart to say anything. Vadi, our programme manager here in Vellore has been working his bottom off preparing for this event (going to countless meetings all week), it really was a massive deal. Vadi presented each of us with our very own invitation the day before for us to keep and it really did mean the world. So, Saturday. It was an early rise but we didn't have to travel too far, and not knowing what to expect, on our arrival we were chaperoned into an office where we met the members of Bhartha Amma Social Services, (this was the organisation we teamed up with for the event and was also family run). The proceedings began at 10am and we were first confronted with..... the national anthem?!? Oh yes we went through both the Indian and English national anthems, it was a very bizarre situation and start to the day. Next came several votes of thanks; it was also at this point that all of the guest speakers addressed our young people. We were ourselves awarded a trophie and a blanket was placed around our shoulders. Our pictures were taken so many times it was starting to get a little bit ridiculous but they absolute cherish photographs here and this was definitely an event to capture. Jack then kicked off the day with his workshop on 'soft and hard skills' for which he conducted a game entitled 'treasure hunt' that really broke the ice with the young people. For lunch, we were treated like royalty, and ate upstairs with the 'special guests'- it was delicious! The family's daughter then gave me some henna, before Will kicked off the afternoon with his 'CV Skills', which was wonderfully interactive and of great use to the young people we were addressing. Then it was my turn....... 'Interview Skills'. I really did have so much fun, a particular highlight was a role play in which I acted out a scenario of how not to behave in an interview - they loved it. I also went through the different stages of the interview, how to sell yourself (using an exercise of selling a pen), and a listening exercise we used in Africa. Best of all was reading the feedback of the day from the participants themselves and they all found it useful, learnt plenty and had a great time - a definite success. A brilliant day, but it went so fast! Even more exciting.....we made it into the national newspaper, 'The Hindu'... in which they particularly mention that 'the seminar also incorporated non formal educational techniques such as games, acting and thorough audience participation'..... you can read the whole article here http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article3249799.ece




Sunday saw myself and Jack visit another one of the volunteers home. On route they were keen to show us the temple city...... and a city of temples it most definite was. The area was vast and the floor was scorching under the sun (as you can't wear shoes), I definitely burnt my poor feet. We were blessed countless times, queuing up for the more popular Gods and collecting quite an array of blessings on our foreheads. Best of all, and an absolute highlight so far, I was blessed..... by an ELEPHANT! It was absolutely enormous, and painted in looked even more magnificent. Standing directly in front on this gigantic animal was an experience in itself. It was in no way restrained an it complete dwarfed me (I wasn't scared but maybe I should have been given that it could have trampled me). I put out my hand and the elephant took my rupee with its trunk, after which I bowed my head and tip of its trunk (slightly curled) rested on the top of my head before gently rolling forward and then off - Wow! There was something very special about feeling the breath of this colossal animal on both my hand and my head. It is definitely something I will always remember. I immediately turned to Jack after and was so excited, we had both just been blessed by an elephant, 'amazing eh?' To which he replied........ 'So, basically, that elephant just robbed me, and then smacked me round the head'...... admittedly, Jack did not receive the same gentle blessing that I had experienced, and the trunk did come crashing down on his head with some speed, but I guess it can't get it right every time.