By Sharyn Pridham

As you know, I’m here in Jaipur, India helping teach English at Tushita Foundation to children in the nearby village of Amer. The web-site, www.tushitafoundationindia.org, will give you information on history and purpose, however, now that I’ve been here for six weeks, I’d like to tell you a little about it from my personal experience here.

To me, Tushita Foundation is an example of altruism in its purest form. It is the dream child of four very special people and everything that Tushita Foundation is, is because they had a dream to give children the chance at a better life by teaching them English, an opportunity these children would not otherwise have. This is particularly compelling It is all the more when you consider that only recently could a person in India hope to achieve a position in a occupation outside of that prescribed by the caste he/she was born into.

Attendance at the Foundation is free for the children and they are provided with their uniform, school supplies and a fruit everyday. Just having a fruit a day is a big thing for these children, the benefits of which have already been observed in the health of the children.

School days in India run Monday through Saturday and the children come to the Foundation between 2 and 6 pm after their regular school day, however, attendance can be sporadic for numerous reasons, for example, school hours change seasonally at their regular school, so they can’t get to the Foundation. Parenthetically, at first I thought it was a long school day and week compared to ours, but I’ve come to realize that there are many more days on which there is no school or, when a student will not be there. For example, a traditional Hindi marriage ceremony spans 10 days (!), and a student be away for that time.

You will notice from pictures that there are not classrooms such as we know them, and in fact, one teacher’s space is the hallway entrance to the building. To see the use of school supplies here is an eye opener. While in Canada, our children typically have their own pack and pencil case with a multitude of pens, pencils and markers, here there is a pen or pencil for each student, kept in a small tin. There is one tin of coloured pencils. To see these children use these pencils is to know how wasteful we can be in North America. These students use pencils down to the stub and the erasers right down until its so tiny that only small fingers can even pick it up. They make do with the little plastic sharpeners and share erasers.

And share they do. From time to time, you will see a little grabbing but most of the time, no. Boys and girls alike look out for the younger children and its not at all unusual to see friends hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm – again boys and girls alike into young adulthood.

The bigger contrast, however, is the interaction between the teachers and students – its so much different here. There is teaching of course, but there is also interactive conversation between teachers and students , both in the classroom and in the playground. For example, recently, one of the teachers had to take her child to the hospital and the children in her class asked her about what happened when she arrived. A teacher’s birthday is celebrated by colleagues and students alike and pictures of a teacher’s recent wedding eagerly viewed by the students! There is laughter between students and teachers in the classroom and the playground is a delight to see as teachers, volunteers and students alike participate in games – whether it be badminton, kite flying or, hide and seek with the little ones. Its quite lovely.

The children themselves – well, they’re children so they’re wonderful! Everyday, there is a chorus of “Good Afternoon Ma’am” from smiling faces as they troop happily file into the building. When the fruit comes, they all want to share with the teachers and they can be pretty persistent (I’ve come to realize that the answer “no” to an offer of food is just a prelude to numerous other offers!) They are smart, eager to learn and appreciative.

This Foundation is still in its infancy – this being only its sixth year and everything that has been done has been done by with one single guiding principle and that is: will it benefit the children”. They have big dreams for the children – bigger classrooms, a library, a computer room, visits by doctors, to dentists and the like, but it takes time especially when its entirely self-funded.

Currently only four volunteers at a time are invited and I feel so lucky to be a part of this endeavour and truly blessed to be here and be part of this incredible level of selfless caring. A small adjacent museum room displays Teresa’s worn sandals and battered enamel dinner bowl. Located upstairs is the room where she worked and slept from 1953 to 1997, preserved in all its simplicity with her modest camp bed and an unexplained framed airline route-map. The site is around 15 minutes’ walk from Sudder St, walk along Alimuddin St, then two minutes’ south. It’s in the second alley to the right (after Hotel Heaven).