Firstly I celebrated New Year flying over Mumbai. Different way to bring in the new year and I also got a free drink.
I arrived in Sangam at around 4.50am on January 1st 2014, even at this ungodly hour Rachel still greeted me with her infectious smile and a hug - welcomed back into the Sangam Family straight away. Thank Rach :D
I quickly settled back into Sangam life and reconnected with old friends and made lots of new ones too during the Reach for the Stars event.
I started my new job as Sangam Programme intern straight away and getting to know the newly arrived Tare (community volunteers). Who are all the warmest, friendliest and most enthusiastic group of women. I feel very lucky to have them as my first group and over the last few weeks I have grown very fond of them all.
Watching them set off on their first day at site made me feel a bit like a Mum letting her kids go to school on their own for the first time. I felt a little anxious for them, excited, making sure they had everything packed, tiffins for lunch and money in their rickshaw bags, and then sat with my phone on the desk for a good hour in case anyone should phone and need anything. I'm really looking forward to them returning so I can hear all about their first day!
I've also been given the responsibility of First Aider - visiting the local hospital and then a few days later having to take an injured guest there. Not as scary as I may have thought and happily not a very serious injury.
Hospitals are very different maybe I will do a whole post on what happens at an Indian Hospital in the Accident and Emergency Dept from my first experience and most likely not my last. All shall say is that as foreigners we do get special treatment, nearly every doctor in their came to assist us.
I have now visited my beloved school twice - Anand Gram is very much the same. It looks a little more worn around the edges - what happens when 350 children run through your halls and classrooms everyday.
The teachers were very happy to see me and were very keen to have me back.
I was so pleased to be taking new people around, and seeing their reactions to this place that I love so much and I feel incredibly happy to have had my experience when I did and now feel excited that I am able to pass this on to the next Tare who has started there today. From her first impressions she liked it very much but only time will tell if she feels the same connection to the Anand Gram Family.
The children were all super sweet and excited to see me. One of my 6th, now 7th Standard boys surprised me by producing a photo to me that I had given him last year - I had written a little note on the back to encourage him and he told Mina that he kept it in his bag every day and that it was very special to him. This really choked me up to think he kept it all this time and also that he wanted to show me. The children also gave me and the other girls lots of flowers and also little Happy New Year Cards which was very cute.
I have also visited the other four volunteer sites. It is very humbling and inspiring to be working with these community partners every day and seeing the happy faces that come back to Sangam after a good work day. I get to encourage other women to take this leap into the unknown and to give themselves selflessly to others who need and want their help, love, time and support. Really is this my job because it sounds too good to be true?!
The Tare and I also got invited to the Tara Mobile Creche Evening Camp & Show - which is a bit of a sleepover and performance for all the kids and families who work and live at the construction sites in Pune. It's such a great event, and I have been lucky enough attend last year as well as this one. They put so much effort into the whole event, whether it was the arts and craft work on display, the outifts, the songs, dances and plays - considering Tara Mobile Creche is working with some of the poorer families on building sites all over the City who can be excluded from society they all come together and put on a fantastic event. One which I am sure they were all very proud to be a part of.
The building site where the event all took place.
As usual, my best day by far has been the Community Partner Fun Day as part of the Reach for the Stars Event. This was my 8th Fun Day at Sangam. The first was back when I was a participant that very first event in 2012 and it was back then that I saw what an amazing thing Sangam does for the community kids on these days!
60 children from four of the partners attended and it was excellent to hear that nearly all of the kids had never been to Sangam before.
This was the first session I lead alone, facilitating the participants discussions and ideas to help create the best day for all.
They planned some lovely crafts which all the children really enjoyed as well as games and play time in the park and with all the sports equipment. Just letting the children play with each other and us in the outdoor space we have here.
We had a camel and the children were fascinated by it. Some too nervous to ride it but they still loved seeing the camel there just for them.
Deep Griha Society decided to bring their creche kids. I completely fell in love with them all. These boys were so into the camera and just wanted to see all my photos of themselves.
All in all it was just another super day, one where I saw all the participants come into their own and share something special with each other and with all the kids and teachers.
So that's a small overview of my day to day life at Sangam. We have lots of guests coming and going all the time. Now the 12 week Tare are settled I have the final preparations for the new 4 week February Tare, there are going to be 10 more ladies joining our volunteer party so it will be a busy time organising their introduction sessions, helping them settle in to Sangam and Indian life but also getting them ready very quickly to start volunteering in the community within a few days, as they are only here for 4 weeks we don't want them to miss any time.
Once they arrive and start work I am hoping to visit as many of them as possible so I can see them in action, help out at each site for the day and also take photos and videos for each of them so that we can share the things that they do at each site and so they can see the amazing things they do each day
I have to say I am truly loving my job so far and living at Sangam is always such fun. Going to bed each night I feel very happy and satisfied with my days accomplishments but also really look forward to the next day, spending time with all the fantastic Sangam family and wondering what surprises may unfold!
