Skip to main content

A teacher in heaven

Hello from Chettipalayam! I have settled into a lovely guest house which I am sharing with a 20 year old U of Toronto student, Kevin. He is a Loran scholar, and is preparing the medical records in a database for the doctors that care for the students here at Global Pathways School. He's a wonderful person and has made my transition here very pleasant.                  Loran Scholars 2021

Our neighbours include cows, dogs and chickens. We are down the road from the police station and the local government school. Though Chettipalayam is called a "village", I think a population of 20,000+ makes it a city! There are many, many motorcycles traveling around the neighbourhood, sharing the roads with pedestrians, cars, trucks and buses as well! 

I have spent two busy days at school now. It is such a wonderful place and I want to stay forever. The children look so happy all day long. I feel grateful to the Mersky family that started this school. Their loving gift has improved the lives of hundreds of families.

Village Community Foundation

The children receive regular dental and medical care, nutritious food and a good education. All the teachers, staff and children eat the same good food in the "canteen" each day. Some children receive iron supplements. The statistics are very high for changing the circumstances of children that were underweight or malnourished. Everybody washes their own dishes and children take turns wiping the tables and chairs after lunch. (The adults also get a cup of delicious chai in the morning and at the end of the school day. Delicious!) I also was delighted to learn that GPS is an eco school (designated by the Indian government). They have reduced paper use, plastic use and food waste, and re-use water. They have a vermi-compost and grow vegetables for the canteen in the school garden. A number of years ago, Leah Mersky led a group of women in planting the "forest" of trees on the playground.

The Monday morning assembly was a delightful way to start the week. Children sang and teachers acknowledged some of the children for their good leadership in the classrooms. The student leaders for the year were introduced, the flag raised, the national anthem sung and announcements were made. I would have paid for a ticket to this event! 




I have had the pleasure of working with Maria, the carnatic music teacher. I have been helping "newcomers", children that didn't start in kindergarten, with their letter sounds (phonics) to help catch them up to their peers, which I will be continuing to do during my time here. I will help Raymond, the other music teacher, write the school anthem, starting tomorrow. I will be helping where I can in the kindergartens, especially with the newest teacher. There is a kindergarten child that will be coming back to Canada in my suitcase--I know my suitcase is small, but so is she.



Comments

  1. Cathy W5 July 2023 at 14:10

    A wonderful adventure, Lynne! And a great team of advocates for this cause. So enriching for everyone. Thanks for sharing with us! xo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5 July 2023 at 15:03

    So great! I’m hanging on every word and photo. So glad you’re on another adventure and sharing it with us. Looking forward to the next update. DK

    ReplyDelete
  3. Denita M.6 July 2023 at 11:21

    Can't wait to hear more of your fabulous adventure!! They are so lucky to have you! xo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous6 July 2023 at 17:46

    Delighted to hear that you are able to work directly with the students and the teachers. They're going to benefit from your knowledge and kindness and you'll all have great memories of each other.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9 July 2023 at 05:22

    Your work continues, Lynne. You are an inspiration to kids both in Canada and India. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11 July 2023 at 17:53

    This is so great Lynne! I love reading about your adventures :) Bonnie

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous17 July 2023 at 09:19

    Awwwwww Lynne. So glad you’re having the best time xo Stephanie

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kim18 July 2023 at 12:48

    What a wonderful experience for you, the students and the staff! An eco-school, too! Do they know that you're a hippy eco-freak!? 🌳 Keep posting your photos and blog so we can live vicariously through you. 💕

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kibi (Week Two)

 Our second week was spent at the Kibi Presbyterian College of Education in Kibi--pronounced chibi, and sometimes spelled Kyebi. It was a gorgeous campus in a valley, surrounded by mountains. There was a garden, used by students, and many fruit trees (mango, papaya, banana, coconut), available to students to help themselves to! We had cocoyam for our supper one night. The leaves grow plentifully and Ghanaiansr refer to it as "spinach." cocoyam leaves growing all over the campus The campus had lush plant life, especially hibiscus--they also serve hibiscus drinks which are delicious. Did you know that Ghana (at least in the south of the country where we were) has red soil just like PEI? The pictures of red soil that I took don't look quite red. In real life the soil is a much brighter red. The second week was a replica of the first. Two cohorts from the Volta and Eastern regions. Opening ceremonies, 2 days of 4, 2 hour classes, a closing ceremony and Canada/Ghana night. For...
4 comments
Read more

Home again, jetlagged and happy

I had the luxury of spending the day in Paris on my way back during a 12 hour layover. I went directly to Pont St. Michel to see if it looked familiar after forty years. It didn't! Forty years ago, I was a Jeune Fille Au Pair and went from Thias to Pont St. Michel to go to school each day at the Alliance Francaise. Some days I bought a crepe fromage, so I did--instead of a street cart, it was a little cubbyhole restaurant with an open door in the alley. On Sundays, in those days, I used to attend the very glorious organ recitals at Cathedrale Notre Dame. So my first order of business was to check on the reparations of the cathedral. I had planned to vist Musee Jeu du Paume, but it was such a beautiful, sunny day I thought I should stay outside as much as I could, so I decided to visit the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triompe. I was thinking about how many books I've read and movies I've seen that contain these historic Parisien sites. Walking along the Champs Elysees makes...
3 comments
Read more

I'll have a blue Christmas without you

One of my homework assignments for the forest therapy course is to find a “sitspot”, a place to sit with the natural world and allow nature to work its way in. My sitspot on the ship is in the bow of the U deck. When the crew is working on the deck, it can be quite noisy and some parts of the engine are noisy too. I am glad to have my fancy musician’s earplugs. They allow me to hear everything (even small details) but they lower the decibel level to protect hearing. I use these when I need to. But at the bow, there is a miraculous quiet, and I listen to the waves against the ship, watching the birds and the changing sky. On the starboard side in the early afternoon, or the portside in the morning, I find the most exquisite variations in blue. Perhaps I’ll see a greenish blue--let’s call it aqua, or a light greyish blue or on cloudy days a darker grey like a blackboard. I love to see the particular blue that falls somewhere between denim and royal blue with...
3 comments
Read more