Update from One! International

Here is Tania's newletter highlighting the accomplishments and tribulations of One! International during the last six months. I thought some of you would be interested!

Well, well, well… here I sit - not pen in hand, but cat by my side and laptop on my lap. It is a fantastic time to be writing this update and unlike last time, I have a smile on my face and am filled with satisfaction for what has been accomplished over the last six months and determination to accomplish even more in the time to come.

It has certainly been another news-filled six months.

I last left you at the end of September, when a new batch of volunteers started to make themselves at home along with the new staff. To give everyone (including the children) a fresh start, we ran exam week three weeks early in October and started a new semester. Everyone was excitedly planning for their classes and there was a buzz of fresh ideas. Volunteers Sofie and Caroline headed off to Nallasopara while volunteers Amy, Verinderjit and Curtis stayed with the children in Khar.

Sofie and Caroline (both from Canada) immediately took the new school as their own and took on the responsibility to help organize the school, and the administration. In fact, after Sofie’s month was up, she decided to continue on in Nallasopara rather than to shift to the Khar school. Quite a remarkable decision considering it meant 3 hours travel time as opposed to twenty minutes, and off and on electricity and lack of other facilities as opposed to stability at Khar. Sofie displayed shear dedication to the children and making the most of every minute she had with them. She returned for two weeks in January after her travels. Caroline was instrumental in planning for fun week (movie day, amusement park, nature park, and sports day) which proved stressful for staff and volunteers but undoubtedly successful and fun-filled for the children! Caroline brought fresh ideas to her classes and was fantastic at documentation.

At the Khar school, Amy (England) not only did a great job with her classes but helped a lot on the administration side. She supported the staff immensely and was someone that everyone knew they could depend on. She was a dedicated volunteer, and like Sophie, wanted to know all she could about the children and the organization.

Verinderjit found it very hard to adjust to Mumbai and One! During her first week. Then, one day, she decided to make the most of it and wore a smile every minute thereafter. She gave a lot of energy and love to the children and created a fantastic mural on one of the Khar School’s wall.

Curtis (Canada) was great in his classes and like Sophie, fell in love with the challenge of the new school in Nallasopara. After a month in Khar, he spent two months travelling back and forth on the trains. The children there really responded to him and continue reciting the English poems he taught them long after he finished as a volunteer at the end of January. Curtis was not only dedicated to the children, but was also dedicated to the organization and spent the month of February programming and developing a database system for us.

Krishna (England) joined the team in November and spent three and a half months at the Khar school. The children immediately accepted her as a big sister and were able to trust her and open up to her. Krishna fell in love with Mumbai and hopes to come back.

Our program at the end of December was fantastic!! Both schools were brought together for the first time and it was clear that the Nallasopara students and parents were excited to be a part of the celebration. The Khar children welcomed them warmly and supported all of their performances. Though the list of acts was long, the night went off with few troubles and mainly huge smiles, happy children and proud parents.

After the program we were all happy to have our two week holiday. Two of the staff from Nallasopara (Kirti and Susheela) didn’t return after the holiday – the fit just wasn’t right, but Sunita was happy to have Chitr (an actress/teacher from north India) join her full-time at the school and was even happier when she found out that a senior staff from the Khar school would be at the Nallasopara school every day. Jayanti, Mahendra, Vinita and I go to the school to help with teaching, but mainly to maintain the school, do social work and administration. This has proven to have had a fantastic effect on the school and a very cohesive effect on our staff as a whole. For Friday fun day, either teacher Smita, Kishore or Diksha helps out in Nallasopara. Sometimes they even fight about who gets to go!

The Nallasopara School has slowed down a bit in terms of attendance, but that is actually a very positive thing rather than negative. The children that are now studying at the school are dedicated to education and are not just there for the freebies. They are able to have more contact with the staff one on one and the teachers and social workers are in more of a position to really make a difference. One of the easiest ways of seeing this is by watching little Vijay – a boy at the school. He suffers from severe foetal alcohol syndrome on top of other disabilities. When we first met him, he was destructive, inattentive and couldn’t listen to what people were saying let alone follow instructions. Now when he comes to school he has a huge smile on his face and is able to follow the pattern of the day with ease. When we asked in a school assembly “Who’s school is this?” expecting to get the answer “Everyone’s school.” Vijay shouted very loudly and confidently “It is MY school!!!”

Vinod continued his antics in November and ended up losing his job once again over them – he quit at the same time as he was being fired! He maintains contact with me, but not the same closeness. His wife, Asha, is pregnant and is due some time during monsoon.

Reshma continues her work as the maid for the volunteers. She is frustratingly inconsistent, and sometimes it is hard to know how much leeway to give for the outside pressures she has from home. In general, the debate is always on as to how many chances are too many chances?? Whoever has an answer to this, please enlighten us!

One of the worst events in our history happened at the Khar school in February – the 18^th to be specific, I will never forget it. Vinita and I arrived at the school in the morning to hear that one of our fathers had been rushed to emergency a couple days before and died within hours. We immediately left to go to the family’s house and be there for the wife and the five children (9, 7, 5, 2 and newborn). While we were gone, two senior students of the school snuck into the office and stole 20,000 Rs.

My heart sank in despair when I saw the money was missing. The worst pain was when I walked in to school two days later and saw the two students with two brand new camera cell phones and a third second-hand phone. One of the students had been with me since the first day of school in May of 2001 and was like a son – we had a communication beyond words and he gave me utmost respect at all times. I was stunned with the betrayal. The other student was responsible and hard-working and also spent more than five years as a part of the school family. The pain deepened.

As soon as we pieced together the story, we took both of the boys to the police who managed to get a confession out of them and on our request – let them free.

The whole school was in shock and all of the staff felt completely betrayed. How could our own students do this? How could they steal their own money – the money that feeds them, and clothes them, and teaches them and does so much more? They weren’t just stealing from TaniaDidi and One! International, but they were stealing from their friends and their own brothers and sisters and parents. The parents of the two students were embarrassed and inconsolable. They felt ashamed at what their children had done.

The decision was taken to shut the school down. We had an emergency meeting for everyone – staff, children, and parents. I reminded everyone of how the organization started and its dream. To help, to give, to support, to teach, to feed, to love…. All such positive things, that not only these two boys didn’t appreciate or respect, but things that no-one appreciated or respected. What if we weren’t here? It was not solely this incident but an accumulation of many attitudes that led to shutting down. We asked them to think about their own attitudes and come back with renewed appreciation and respect for the opportunities and gifts that they have been given through One!.

It was a very traumatic week for everyone – especially me. Years of faith and trust that seemed to be for not. Years of dedication and hard-work. Why? To be stolen from by the very people that I dedicated my life to help. The despair didn’t last long however, as each of the parents came up one by one to apologize and say thank you and express their worry and appreciation. Positive always surpasses negative. Everyone tried to convince us to not shut the school down and that they were sorry not only for the theft but for their own mistakes and disrespect.

After a week of needed recovery (for everyone) and Naniji’s (Marilyn) arrival of warmth and love and support, the school reopened a week later. Attendance was down (not a surprise) but the mood was completely different: attitude less; appreciation more.

It has been smooth sailing through March and April. The positive spirit of the school remains and the children are performing fantastically. The staff is working together well and using every minute they can to make a difference. We just finished conducting exams for the year. The students we expected to do well did – but even more rewarding were the large number of students who performed beyond expectation and really showed their progress. A few students to note were Roshan, Nilesh and Usha, fifteen to sixteen year olds who have found it hard over the years to commit to education. All three wrote all of their exams and didn’t give up and managed to pass them all! They are setting great examples for the younger students – try your best, which is all anyone can ask of you and all you can ask of yourself.

A huge accomplishment for the organization has been the great success of the new Loan Program. It is no longer just an opportunity that the organization gives to those in need, but a full system and community development opportunity. The families have been divided in to three groups each with the same amount in their bank. Each group of families has to work together to help each other and help each other get ahead. When the new program first started at the end of January, senior social worker Vinita and I were expecting chaos and trouble. We were pleasantly surprised when it went off without a hitch and the groups immediately got involved and took it seriously. We felt like we were dreaming. This just shows that we have managed to educate not only the children but indirectly the parents also. They have grown a sense of responsibility not only for themselves and their children but for the greater school community also. They can follow rules and regulations and learned respect for a system. Wow!

Another success on the social work side of our activities is the progress of Anil in working toward getting ration cards (proof of identity) for our parents. We were hoping to have had them already, but the process has proven more political than first anticipated. Anil is fighting his way through the bureaucracy and has a meeting in the middle of May at which time he will more than likely get ration cards for three of our families.

We were very sad to say good bye to long time friend and volunteer Bryonie (England) at the end of December. She worked a lot with the PreStep children, filled in any class needed and kept the office in remarkable order. Little Nitesh really looked up to her and made her pull out a book and read to him whenever she was free. All of us miss her gentle nature as much as Nitesh does.

In January we were excited to have Ari (England) return as a part-time volunteer along with new volunteer Angelica (Mexico). Together they cover three classes and are really professional and dedicated to the children. They have not only shown their support and love inside the school but have been instrumental in finding support from the outside also.

We had two great short-time volunteers in February and March. Nicole (USA) was busy helping to organize our social work filing and in continuing our dental program. Her three short weeks were not long enough and we only wish she could have been with us for longer. Avi (USA) was also only with us for a few weeks and had a lot of fun with the children. He taught them English, and most of all taught them to have fun and joke without having to hurt anyone’s feelings. Hopefully the tears he shed when he left meant that he will make his way back to the school one day soon.

Now we are lucky to have Yoga guru Vanessa (Canada) give her gentleness and incredible work ethic until the end of June, and Shalin (USA) and Jennifer (Canada) volunteer during Summer Fun month of May.

Mom (Marilyn) said something very true during one of our staff meetings in February. The boys who stole were not bad, the decisions they made were bad. This is so true. We are all good people. We are all faced with decisions. Unfortunately sometimes we make bad ones. I guess that is our goal as One!. We want to give people the tools and knowledge they need to make good decisions in life. We can’t expect people to always make the right decision, but we have to only hope that we can help them to make the right decision most of the time. We need to appreciate when they do. We need to stay positive. We need to push on. We need to stay strong… we need to never give up!

Thank you for your continued support and love for the families of Khar Danda and Nallasopara. Thank you for your belief in the goals of One!.

Tania

For more information on One! International: www.one-international.com/