Varanasi: School Visit

Post by Gretchen

While in India we constantly saw people in need of basic essentials - food and shelter.  Hungry children begged in the streets, big eyes and empty bloated bellies.  People of all ages without limbs, open sores and dirty ripped clothing lay in the streets.  The train stations were the worst.  People gathered there in mass to beg.  It broke my heart, yet at the same time overwhelmed me to the point of just wanting to get away from it all.  Like if I didn't see it, it wouldn't exist.  What could we do, how could we help?  We were in India to learn and to experience, but we didn't want to just be tourists.  Our lives back home revolve around serving others, both professional and personally.  While in Varanasi we took the opportunity to check out a charity school that educates poor children whose parents cannot afford to send them to public schools.

In the U.S. we take it for granted that we all have the opportunity for FREE education!  That is really an amazing thing.  Yes, our system has it's problems, but all kids can go to school.  In India school fees are very expensive and even some people with jobs cannot afford to send their children to school.  Our driver one day explained to us how even the schools that have low tuition still require families to pay for books and uniforms and many families cannot afford to send their children at all.  When I hear Sam's kids complain about having to go to school I wish they could see just a piece of what we saw and know what great opportunity it is to be able to go to school!

I had read about this school in Lonely Planet, but it took a bit of searching to find it tucked away on a back street.  We were able to ask at a cafe that sells bread to support the school and got a guide to take us to the classrooms.  The school was in an old house with two bedrooms converted into classrooms just off of an open air atrium.

The children sat on simple wood benches, sharing text books and copying lessons into notebooks.  There was a lower and upper primary classroom, with about 30 kids between the two classes and two teachers.  The Principal/Administrator welcomed us in to sit and watch as classes finished up for the afternoon.

Like many of our days in India it was peel the paint off the walls hot and the two classrooms shared one fan that was positioned between the two as the only source of moving air.  I was melting, but to the kids it was just a normal school day.

One of the youngest students taking a rest at the end of the day as the older children finish assignments.

The kids were excited to practice the English phrases they knew with us and were very interested in have their photos taken.

This student lead the class, counting out loud in English to 100.  He even stopped and corrected his peers when they got off track!

These girls showed me their writing assignments and some of the games they like to play.

I pulled out my I-Pod to snap a couple of pictures and they were fascinated by it. "Is that a phone?"  "Is it a computer?"

I showed the kids some games I have on the I-Pod and they took turns spelling words and doing math problems.  Gotta love free apps!

I love technology that is so intuitive you don't have to explain it.  The language barrier was not a problem, they just touched the screen, moved things around and figured out how to use it.  Of course every student wanted a turn.

It was a privilege to spend the afternoon with these students. I thank them for sharing with us and welcoming us into their school.