Tour of Tamil & Vast Rewards

We are weeks late posting this entry, so it falls out of chronological order; please forgive. Its appearance now heralds two things: the upload of the last videos from our 3-week teaching trip Tamil Nadu, and the upcoming Hyderabad arrival of our amazing new friend Adriana from Communities Rising! This experience was productive and rewarding in innumerable ways, but I shall try to number some of them.

# days with SAMSSS / Communities Rising = 14
# students = 180
# videos produced = 12

Most of our time was spent with the 5th to 8th classes of Anilady, a combined primary and high school associated with the Catholic ministry. The school was not English-medium, an obvious challenge, but we were assisted diligently by Brother Philip and the computer teacher, Siva. We had a new class and thus new video project every day of the week. They produced Favorite Things, Feeling Thankful, When I Grow Up, Bodies, Our School Anilady, Colorful, I Can Fly, Memories, and a short welcome video for students in Piya’s new program in the U.S., Breakthrough. In our spare time (yes, jokes) we spent two days with students in Periyatchioor village making a video about animals, two days with students in Sengadu village making a song + dance music video about beauty, and five days of after-school time at the SAMSSS center with students from Vikravandy village making Fever, and This Boy Fever. Oh, also, the photo walk project.

Somehow, despite this huge workload, the time in Tamil Nadu was one of the most joyful I’ve experienced. This is due, in part, to the quiet and the beauty of rural India; a welcome break from the everlasting noise and smoke pollution of Hyderabad. But more, the joy came from the feeling of family that is fostered so warmly by