Bangalore
Trip Start
Feb 22, 2008
1
10
42
Trip End
Feb 21, 2009
Bangalore,
India
Saturday, April 5, 2008
It is 9pm and i am really quite tired. We drive along in a really old jeep in silence for about an hour and then turn into the university. We pull up alongside a house and i assume this is where i am staying, but as i get out of the jeep to get my backpack the driver tells me this is the brothers house. I am very confused, until i walk inside the house and find a party going on. Basically it is a party for the director's, brother's daughter an all the volunteers have been invited. It is fancy dress and i feel really stupid sat there in my travelling clothes while everyone else is zebra's and cats!! There are about 6 volunteers here, some of whom have been here for a while and some who have just arrived.
I leave the party early and finally head to the actual house we will be staying in. It is kinda a converted warehouse, or that is as close to how i can describe it. There are 2 floors and a basement. I am staying on the ground floor which is just partitioned bedrooms and a bathroom. Upstairs there is a kitchen, lounge area and another bedroom. And the basement is used by a co-oprative for stitching and a school.
We are working at a goverment boys home, which is about an hours drive away, which we do in the back of the jeep (very uncomfortable!). The boys here are between homes, they are street children who have been picked up and their cases are being investigated to see if they have any family that can look after them. As they are under investigation and they don't know how long they will be in the home, there are no activities planned and they are just locked in a building all day. we go along from 10.30 til 3.30 everyday and do games, songs and lessons with them. It is really worth while, but quite sad as some of the boys have been badly treated and you can see scars etc. They don't have any possestions and all only have the uniforms they are given. We have clubbed together and bought them toothbrushes, but there is a posibility the dorm father will take them from the boys and sell them. Or they will be stolen by the older kids, that upsets me, but the boys are always very happy to see us and very gratefull for the toothbrushes.
We are off to Hampi this weekend for sightseeing so look out for the next blog.
x
