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XVP News: First Report from India, January 2007 - Charles Graffius and Simon Darvill
After a long and rather uncomfortable ten-hour bus journey we finally arrived in Mundgod just before sunrise. Loyola Vikas Kendra (LVK), where we are based, is built around a central courtyard with classrooms, offices, bedrooms and dining room facing inwards. The school is split into a small Girls' College for teacher training and a larger primary school for those who are rejected by the government schools due to physical disability and/or learning or behavioural difficulties. Here they are able to receive the education they would likely have been otherwise been denied. The children are a mix of many religions including Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and they all live and study next to each other with no observable difficulties.
LVK is also responsible for the running and funding of approximately seventy-five villages in the area surrounding the towns of Mundgod and Hanagal. Because of this there is a large team working here to oversee finances and general administration across the region. The atmosphere here is like a family. This is helped by the fact that many staff live here at LVK, and we have been welcomed into this family and feel quite at home here.
On Sunday, after a few days of acclimatisation we were taken to visit our first village, Ugginkeri. This is a Siddi village around a half a hour by road from Mundgod. The Siddi people are descended from African slaves brought to India by the Portuguese traders. They have lost almost all of their African culture and have adopted a mainly Indian way of life. It is however a predominately Catholic community. We accompanied Fr. Francis who was going to say Mass at the recently built church. Mass here is very different from Mass in England, as people were shouting and arguing about various village problems during the service. Embarrassingly when we arrived two chairs were brought out for us while the congregation sat on the floor.
After Mass, Fr. Francis showed us the village hostel which LVK funds and which is run by the community. The hostel houses around twenty girls and ten boys who eat, live and sleep in two small rooms. They have one teacher and a cook who also live in the hostel. Books and other school supplies were in poor condition and often out of date; however the children more than make up for this with their enthusiasm to learn.
Fr. Francis asked us to give the teachers a break and keep the children entertained. At first this was easy and we tried teaching some basic English. Unfortunately towards the end this turned into a large chalk fight shortly after Charles had had to leave due to a nose bleed. Simon then looked on while chaos reigned until the teachers returned, extremely amused by the whole situation.
Towards the end of the month two members of staff took us to another village called Shirgeri. These people are of the Gowli tribe and are refugees from their native Rajasthan. They are almost exclusively farmers who share their houses with the cattle they keep. Here LVK runs a Kindergarten, a crèche and a hostel; we visited all three and spent time with the small children. Despite the large number of cattle they are unable to make sufficient money because they live too far away from a large town to sell their milk at much of a profit. There is also prejudice against their tribe from the local population, further hindering their ability to make a decent wage.
If you have any questions, do get in touch - my email address is
charles.graffius@lmvn.org
I will try to respond to all emails as quickly as possible.
LDS
LVK is also responsible for the running and funding of approximately seventy-five villages in the area surrounding the towns of Mundgod and Hanagal. Because of this there is a large team working here to oversee finances and general administration across the region. The atmosphere here is like a family. This is helped by the fact that many staff live here at LVK, and we have been welcomed into this family and feel quite at home here.
On Sunday, after a few days of acclimatisation we were taken to visit our first village, Ugginkeri. This is a Siddi village around a half a hour by road from Mundgod. The Siddi people are descended from African slaves brought to India by the Portuguese traders. They have lost almost all of their African culture and have adopted a mainly Indian way of life. It is however a predominately Catholic community. We accompanied Fr. Francis who was going to say Mass at the recently built church. Mass here is very different from Mass in England, as people were shouting and arguing about various village problems during the service. Embarrassingly when we arrived two chairs were brought out for us while the congregation sat on the floor.
After Mass, Fr. Francis showed us the village hostel which LVK funds and which is run by the community. The hostel houses around twenty girls and ten boys who eat, live and sleep in two small rooms. They have one teacher and a cook who also live in the hostel. Books and other school supplies were in poor condition and often out of date; however the children more than make up for this with their enthusiasm to learn.
Fr. Francis asked us to give the teachers a break and keep the children entertained. At first this was easy and we tried teaching some basic English. Unfortunately towards the end this turned into a large chalk fight shortly after Charles had had to leave due to a nose bleed. Simon then looked on while chaos reigned until the teachers returned, extremely amused by the whole situation.
Towards the end of the month two members of staff took us to another village called Shirgeri. These people are of the Gowli tribe and are refugees from their native Rajasthan. They are almost exclusively farmers who share their houses with the cattle they keep. Here LVK runs a Kindergarten, a crèche and a hostel; we visited all three and spent time with the small children. Despite the large number of cattle they are unable to make sufficient money because they live too far away from a large town to sell their milk at much of a profit. There is also prejudice against their tribe from the local population, further hindering their ability to make a decent wage.
If you have any questions, do get in touch - my email address is
charles.graffius@lmvn.org
I will try to respond to all emails as quickly as possible.
LDS