Hari Om!

Hari Om,

As part of the full Chinmaya Mission experience, we were given the opportunity to teach Balavihar on Sunday. After stories and bhajans, we went out to play games for the rest of the day. Sunday is usually the girls' day to relax and play, so we did just that.

Yesterday we continued classes in the afternoon. Again, we focused on English and math. This time we started experimenting with our new phonics kit (which includes audio tapes, books, and flashcards) to help the girls learn English. The catchy music in each audio tape made the phonics clear and simple. We plan to continue using the phonics kit for each grade.

A retired English professor from Guntur arrived today to teach the third and fourth grade students grammar. While the guest was teaching, the volunteers went to the NRI Hospital.

Yesterday morning, the volunteers went to one of th NRI Medical Camps. The Camps are units set up in the rural parts of India to give medical attention to those who can not get to a hospital or doctor. They are not at all similar to medical units in the United States, but they are extremely important to the villagers. We also found out that through the NRI Medical Camps, CORD was able to bring all these orphaned girls to a safe home.
Today, the volunteers had the opportunity to watch a general surgery. Poorviamma went as well, intrigued by surgery.

To take some time off, last night we went into the city of Vijayawada. While there Sumathiji took us out for an exquisite dinner at the Quality Hotel. After dinner we came across some stalls selling handicrafts. There were thread jewelry, small glass sculptures and portrait painting. We purchased as many souvenirs as we could and headed back to CORD after a long day.