Behind the picture frame in my room which holds a tattered Egyptian picture painted on cotton, lives possibly the largest spider I have ever seen. Every evening he comes out from behind his lair and makes his presence known. He is the king of many other, slightly smaller fellows who roam the other nooks and crevaces in the walls. We all live together in harmony in my basement hideaway which backs onto the forest in the village of Jhodi Gaon near Dehra Dun. It's a pleasure to finally have a place to unpack my backpack, put my toothbrush out and make my own cup of chai.
Since I arrived here after my trip to Nepal, I've been in the service of Mr Swamy. He's the 73 year old gentleman who runs the NGO I'm working for with help from his wife. This man has got more energy than I have ever had and it is absolutely astonishing the rate at which his mind churns over excellent new ideas and initiatives. He works entirely on faith. He believes that as long as he keeps doing good work, God will provide the means and the funds...and until now he has. So, I'm here trying to keep up with this man and live up to these very high expectations he has of me.
In a nutshell, the NGO is enhancing lives within the community by helping children through education and empowering women through skill development. At the moment, I'm working with students from 5 or 6 to about 17 trying to establish some good programmes for the teachers to use in their classes. The philosophy is that it's not a school, but a place where the students can get a break from the often monotonous education style, and develop their minds in a different way. We try to give them good English communication skills, computer training, good nutrition, yoga classes and the environment to be inquisitive and progressive-thinking. www.purkal.org
Besides all the teaching, I'm getting involved with every aspect of the running of an NGO and am learning a great deal every day I ride my scooter up into the hills to visit this magical little village full of smiling children.
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