Its funny, at the start of the week, I was thinking I think I’ll be ready to leave by the end of this week but now my last day is here, I don’t feel ready. I don’t want to leave the kids here. Even though its only been 3 weeks, I’ve definitely got attached to them! I headed to the slum in the morning for my last lesson with them. As it was my last day, we just had fun. We did some artwork, decorating a piece of A1 paper with drawings, and then played some games. After the lessons, the children gave me a present! Something pretty for hanging up on the wall, and a packet of silver bindis, one of which they put on me. It was so cute considering that they have nothing! They were telling me not to leave, and telling me how much they’ll miss me. I started crying. The older girl who was my favourite told me not to forget about her. I assured her that I wouldn’t. I really wish there was more that I could do for her!
It was a similar experience at the orphanage in the afternoon. Normally, we have Friday afternoons off but they agreed to take me to the orphanage so that I could say goodbye to the children. They were asking me if I will come back and I told them hopefully. I couldn’t really say no, hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to come back and see them again one day.
After I left, they took us out to watch a Bollywood movie. I wasn’t expecting much, the film was in Hindi with no English subtitles and was 3 hours long so I expected to be completely lost, but I loved it! The film was called Blaag Milkha Blaag which means Run Milkha Run and was about Milkha Singh, an Indian runner. I loved all the dancing in it! We had one of the ladies from the organisation with us and for any bits where we were confused, she would whisper what was going on and we would pass it on to everyone like a game of Chinese whispers! The Indian cinema experience was funny. You would hear people’s phones ringing, and they would actually answer while in there! And then there was an intermission halfway through the film! Some adverts followed before the film restarted. Shortly after that, there was a power cut! So the whole cinema was dark, and everyone started laughing and whistling! We’ve had around 8 power cuts in the 3 weeks I’ve been here so I guess everyone here is just used to it.
After the movie, we headed out for dinner. Its become our Friday night ritual. We go to a restaurant called Pentagon at the end of the week to have a break from the food at the camp. It was a nice way to spend my last night. Tomorrow I fly to Delhi. I’ll be there for 1 night, and will then head to Jaipur to start my next project.
Below are some photos of the children I have been teaching: