The village centre also teaches typing and basic computer skills, and tailoring. Both slums and the five villages have women's associations which co-ordinate adult literacy classes, tuition classes to keep children from dropping out of school, as well as loan schemes and organizing lobbies for better facilities in their village. In the village Deepavali was celebrated with a dress distribution for tuition classes. I have learned some strategic Tamil phrases, but I haven't started tackling the script. We can get a lot of interaction going just writing names down.
People here are full of committed energy, hard working and a joy to be with.
In India, a large country with about a billion people, there is always something going on. Some things are good, some not. You will know of the cyclone disaster in Orissa. We also only saw it on the television and in the newspapers. A sharp reminder of the contrasts in this country of high tech and no tech as well as the enormity of some natural disasters.