Betla National Park

Meet mine and Fred's ride in Betla National Park, a dream come true finally experiencing a ride on an elephant, this was the highlight of the trip. After a gruelling 5 hours in a very small car with A/C that was barely working in 43 degrees we arrived at the hotel. Got to say slightly run down government run establishment, obviously lack of tourism from the worry that 9 out of 10 villagers are Naxalites has done damage to the place as little money is spent on maintaining the place. With paint peeling off the walls and no other residents but us they decide that when the power goes off its not worth running the generator for only two guests. An hour later melting into my bed i have it out with the reception staff and he tells me its the managers decision and hes currently on lunch at 3.30pm. Got to say didn't buy this rubbish and had a hissy fit requesting to leave if it was not put on immediately. Also had a friend who put out a request to the chief of police in the area to make sure we were OK and comfortable and he sent a assistant to look after our needs. The power was switched on pretty quickly after that. Though throughout the night we had several power cuts and had very little sleep with lack of A/C and fan at times.

Samba

Started our tour in a Jeep around the park with our driver, the ranger, the Jeep driver, our personal assistant and another man in the back not sure what he was about. But we did get to see a few animals in the very short hour ride they gave us.

Blurry peacock

Bambi

Elephants in the wild at sunset

Think one of the difficulties in the park at this time of year is the many forest fires, seemed to be just the actual heat causing so much damage. I was also told that the park suffers from poaching as well and only has 2 tigers both male left and a hand full of leopards none of which we spotted. Although we were told these were tiger foot prints circled and that they lived in this rocky palace.

Rocky Palace

Our Final day on-board the elephant we got to go in the thicket of the forest, not that we saw anything more because of it although it was a great experience and had to hold on tight going down hill and through the water.

VSO meet in York

Meet VSO Event
York
14th Jul, 11-12.30

York CVS, Priory St Centre, Priory St, YO1 6E

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utilising their professional expertise. If you’re interested in volunteering overseas,
come to our Meet VSO event to find out all about it.

Book your place at: www.vso.org.uk/meetvso

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Who would have known that I'm famous

 

Its been nearly 3 months now and I don't think I will ever get used to the constant staring and harassment for photos with me, is this not a celebs life! Actually it becomes a bit annoying at times. Not so much the children who stop you in the street to touch you and greet you and practice a few strands of English. But some people actually stare so intently without even a smile. Also I constantly find that others had similar ideas to you at work but their only getting done now because a white girl asked. How do you pass on initiative and confidence to women who are so used to be dominated, I must be very alien to them all. I am referred to as Rosie Mam here, students stand up when I pass and use this formal greeting, I find it respectful but over the top at the same time. I'm quite a casual person really. I may have been introduced to everyone I think by now in Ranchi. Most women want to feed me, I even told them at work I was loosing weight because I had a much better diet here, like less chocolate, not much dairy, no cheese and no bread. So off a colleague went next day turned up with a shopping bag full of all the bad stuff I said I wasn't missing, stating I couldn't go back to my family in England having not been fed properly. Are they not listening. Especially when they are so concerned about image, how white their skin is and if they are putting on weight, nothing is hidden here it is bluntly stated to each other. I find it all very contradictory, what can you do but politely take the food and have a bit of a late feast. Can you believe everyone wants to improve their English speaking with me, makes you laugh hey, I will pass on my cockney accent to the hoards, Rosie's legacy.

Time keeping in India is non existent, missed appointments, late arrivals and even this weekend I asked to join some colleagues who were providing some support to a special Olympics event out of Ranchi. Informed me they would pick me up at 12.00 they arrived at 1.00pm, was told it was 10km away and we would be gone about an hour got back at 9.30pm. They even got the administrator of the event to make me stay longer by springing on me the role of presenting the awards to the children thankfully not asked to give speech however many photos taken and cancelled plans for the evening. I did enjoy the event though and it was very nice getting out of Ranchi into the field. These kids were amazing specially those with cerebral palsy and severe deformities making them have to mobilise on all fours and they were so fast in the match and held their own with all the other children on two feet. Their is a special Olympics committee holding these events all over India in rural settings its great to see.

Puri Orissa

 Finally my first adventure since settling in placement, I took to the sea as I know where I can feel at home. Puri is a bit of a hippie Indian town is the best way I can explain it, has a laid back feel although you cant miss the shear numbers of people and chaotic traffic anywhere in India. Thanks to my fellow VSO volunteer I had a nice bed for the night and the promise of a good home cooked meal Sue style. So off we went to the shops and here we are outside the butchers asking for this chicken in cage to be chopped up in front of us, Sue was more brave than me I kept a slight distance.

So then off to the beach after experiencing Puri auto rickshaw drivers who as usual want to kill us and charge us a very high price for the privilege, but finally there for the promised sea breeze and toe dip to cool off, not much further though as red flagged and very strong currents even the fishing vessels were having difficulties riding the waves back in. I mostly enjoyed watching the clothed Indian women bathing in the shallows, this is a no swimming costume kinda place.

Of course we also tucked into some fresh catch of the day - Mackerel and chips very happy Rosie

Then off to my favourite place the swimming pool for an afternoon cool down and a bottle of kingfisher with a good catch up with Sue, lets say it did a lot for the soul.

We went the following day too when Amanda came across too, Thanks guys really appreciated the catch up and a girls session and the bacon and pancakes. Which we allowed ourselves as we are dropping the pounds off from our sauna diet, lack of dairy and bread.

Also managed to find a good hand-loom market, so have finally got my wedding presents to send off to my spectacular friends who are all getting married in June. So keep an eye on the post although could take anything from 3-6 weeks to arrive once I find out how you wrap a parcel in India, someone mentioned cloth! Don't worry they are not breakables. Unlike my ebook that I managed to crack the screen on my way home, was absolutely gutted as it is a lifeline here and is unrepairable. Amazon are doing me a cheap replacement though but may take awhile before I get it. After a long haul back on a 15hr train, I added up my mosquito bites (15) arms, legs and back and was still glad I had such a lovely weekend.

I'm back to work from tomorrow with the promise of finishing the activities of daily living cards with the trainee special educators, I had to adapt quite a few of their photos in the end as instead of taking close up of the task in hand they liked to get snaps of everyone, they just love being in photos even if they don't keep the snaps its crazy. Many of us have been asked by total strangers to take a photo of them posing with our camera.

Photo above is the cooking group making roti which I can also do now, they also gave me the food after it was very nice.

These are the students in groups planning the stages/steps of the activity they have chosen to do and seem to be enjoying themselves.

May and Mango's

Fresh and bought today, its mango season and I'm sure these are the start of many and so so cheap. I am getting used to having a maid now its still a bit unusual for me to let others work while I lay about watching films or reading my book. It has given me a lot of extra time just to chill out so I am happy.






Been working hard at work making some changes, working with new treatment plans for the children and developing more and more resources for Deepshikha to use when I am gone. I have added some pictures of the new toys I got for the children in pre-school to assist with hand function problems and some sensory toys to engage the children in activity. They were so happy and it made me really happy to see everyone so engaged in the group even the parents were motivated to play, it was great to see.

Some of the programmes I have written for individual treatment plans I have now been asked to develop as a therapy package, so I am now working on a handbook to develop handwriting skills to use at home and in schools. I am also teaching the special educator trainees all 38 students and have got them making activity prompt cards for the children to break down some of the tasks they are finding difficult. I will  include some of the results in my future posts. School closes in a weeks time then I go to the beach for an extended weekend. I then come back to developing the centre.

The facilities at present are not ergonomically sound for children for instance the tables and chairs are at the same height as each other not good for the work I am trying to do. So we are going to get this changed, paint up the place and add some new resources thankfully Deepshikha is well known and supported to gain the funds for all these changes which is really nice to see. So as you can see feeling more of use at work now.

So as promised a picture of me on my bike, wasn't actually off to ride it at that point therefore no helmet and sandals normally a bit more safety concious if you were worrying at all. You will also be happy to hear it has been fixed and my brakes work better and most importantly I have a horn to beep to my hearts content. This week the club has been hosting a cricket tournament which I have been to see a few matches to support my friends son Bobby who was playing in the under 19's. It even got stopped briefly for a mad rain storm, just like home the covers came out.

So I will end showing you all my favourite dog Simba who has jumped up to see me and my favourite place Ranchi club. This is me in the bar! Next blog entails Rosie at the beach.