Friday, November 9, 2007

Photo Hunters--Theme: Flexible

For my "FLEXIBLE" photos I am going back into the files I just got transferred off of floppy disks (no longer a very flexible medium to save data, on since most newer computers don't offer a floppy drive). Most of these floppies were photos I took when I went to India in the summer of 2000. I was with a group of teachers from schools operated by the Christian Brothers in the western USA. We spent a month in one of three projects run by the Indian Christian Brothers.
-
Three of us were at St. Joseph Boys Village, a home for orphaned or very poor boys from six to 14 in the state of Tamil Nadu in the south of the country. We helped with a construction project--reroofing and painting the small housing unit where the Boys Village cooks live. When the boys were back from schooleach day , we joined them in their recreation and prayers.
-
Being fairly near the equator, there is not much difference in the length of day and night from summer to winter. It was already dark by supper time and recreation was after supper. Earlier in the afternoon, after school and chores, the boys would all go across the road to the playfield and play soccer (oops, sorry, it's football in most of the world.) These boys at recreation were very flexible dancing about.
On weekends we did some touristy excursions. In the real evenings we visited some villages and met the common people.
-
In thinking of the word "flexible", I usually do not think of the sense of being physically flexible, but rather being able to do things and change to meet the circumstances. One day we did not work on the roof, but were invited to visit the school the boys attended. There we saw how flexible the teachers had to be to teach these children with little in the way of supplies or materials.
Each classroom had a chalkboard and a supply of colored chalk. The older students had desks, which consisted of a table and a bench which was shared with another. One true advantage was the flexibility to take a whole classroom outside when the weather was fine.

On the Monday morning when we visited, Dan (another volunteer) and I took in the morning assembly, where students sang, gave recitations, and were given a pep talk by the principal. When this was over, Brother Lawrence, who had brought us to the school, turned to us and said, "At 10:00 you can give a lesson to the seventh and eight grade." After pointing out where we would gather, Brother Lawrence left us to go to his fourth grade classroom.
-
Dan and I just looked at each other dumbfounded. It was 9:40, and this was the first we had heard of our giving a lesson.
-
That is the final flexible moment in my post (but no picture as I was rather busy thinking flexibly at the moment.) Twenty minutes later, the entire seventh and eight grades gathered in a large outdoor theater style classroom, where Dan and I presented the history of the United States and related it to the history of India--with a chalk board, a supply of colored chalk, and a lot of flexibility.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an amazing adventure, filled with flexibility of all kinds! Thank you for sharing the story with us - I very much enjoyed reading about it. :)

Anonymous said...

I love your choices in photos this week!! Beautiful.

Liz said...

That's very nice. Great idea for the theme too. Happy weekend :)

Corey~living and loving said...

WOW! very fascinating. great entry!
happy weekend!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Great story and there is enough flexibility, sure. thanks for sharing.

LivG said...

Very nice. Flexibility comes in all forms, including how we think and use our talents.

Lisa said...

Great story and pictures. Happy weekend.

Anonymous said...

wonderful find for flexible theme!

have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

Lots of flexibility for sure...

Kate said...

extraodinary.

Tammie said...

Great idea for the flexible theme!

PowersTwinB said...

what a great story! And what a great "catch" on teaching that class! My photo is up, please come and visit

Anonymous said...

What a great variety of applications to the flexible theme!

Paulie said...

Wonderful flexibility on everyone's part. What an adventure!

Have a great weekend and drop by my site now and again.

Anonymous said...

Wow, great choice for this week's flexible theme! :)

Have a good weekend.

Anonymous said...

Those are such beautiful photos of the children! Great adventure you had!
Mine is up here;
Photo Hunt:Flexible
Happy Weekend!

**"Liza"** said...

great photos this week..original idea too..happy HunT!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful take on the theme! Wonderful!

Joyismygoal said...

cute kiddos

Natalie said...

Great choices of photos!

I did my first photo hunt, come check it out if you get a chance. Have a great weekend!

Valarie said...

Very unique for the flexible theme. Sounds like a great adventure! Hope you have a good weekend.