Return to India

I arrived in the state of Kerala early Sunday morning. The Sisters met me at the airport and we drove through the streets at lightening speed back to their place. All along the road men stood beside makeshift tables that held jars of freshly-squeezed sugar cane juice. Using a simple mechanical juicer that looked like the insides of a truck engine, they fed five-foot poles of fresh-cut sugar cane into one end of the machine and the juice poured out the other.

After a restful day I was met this morning by the students singing outside in an all school assembly.



I spent the morning visiting teachers in their classrooms and talking to students.

At mid-morning I came across a math class with no teacher. The teacher had gone home early not feeling well. The students seemed quite able to entertain themselves.


The day ended a little early so that students could practice basketball in preparation for Sports Day, which will take place in a week.


Sister and a teacher are out on the court!


The next best thing to basketball shoes...bare feet!

Dubai at Dusk

Our Airbus A380-800 gently lowered itself above the barren landscape surrounding Dubai at dusk. We skirted miles of red sand and low-lying adobe-like homes clustered sporadically on the outskirts of the city. Our plane touched down while the sun set at around 7:30 p.m.

Everything is glittering here; it is a consumer's extravaganza of designer goods. There is luxury here for everyone.


This is a golden palm tree where they are selling 18K and 22K gold jewelry by the kilo.


I will be here until well after midnight, drifting past the perfumes, chocolate and gold, while I wait for my departure to Calicut. Here is the departure board:


And in English. My flight is going to Calicut. I think you can get to anywhere from Dubai...

An English Medium School

The school that I visited began operating out of a carpenter's shed in 1993 in a suburb of the Kerala city of Calicut. The school opened with only a handful of students and a few dedicated nuns with a vision. Today there are 1600 students attending from the age of three (LKG - lower kindergarten) to the age of 18 years (Plus II post-secondary). Right from the start there was a focus on learning English and all classes are taught in English except for Hindi lessons and a daily class in Malayalam.


The school is run by a group of resourceful, intelligent nuns who are Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco. With a strong vision, excellent leadership and pure hard work they have created a school environment with high expectations for academic achievement and moral/social development. And they have managed to do it with extremely limited resources.


Each morning begins with singing, a prayer, a story, and the recitation of the Indian national pledge.



"India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters."


"I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall always strive to be worthy of it."


"I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders respect, and treat everyone with courtesy."


"To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion. In their well-being and prosperity alone lies my happiness."



Scenes from the classroom.


Plus II students waiting for their teacher to arrive for their daily lesson in values education.


Maps and charts hanging in the library.


Students in a standard three classroom.


A geography class.


The Principal's office.


Test taking with standard five students.


Shoes outside the library.


At work in the chemistry lab.


Teachers grading papers in the teacher's lounge.


The upper school playground.


Upper kindergarten.


Plus II students greeting their teacher at the start of the lesson.


Dismissal time a 3:45 p.m.


The classrooms in this school operate with the bare minimum. There are no computers in the classrooms, the library is not large. Average class size is 45 students and one teacher. There are no wi-fi connections or word walls or stacks of paper or art supplies. One photo-copier serves the whole school. Yet things get done. Children are learning. There is a culture of working toward the common good with a spirit of cooperation and compassion. How lucky am I to have spent a moment in time with all of the people who are here.

Goodbye to India

Her beauty and culture are in my memories.

Driving is a full contact sport.

Driving in India is only for the brave at heart. It's a full contact sport.

Monsoon Monday

It has been raining for two days now as the monsoon season comes to an end. While we spent the day in the library testing reading skills with the seventh and ninth grade students, the rest of the school carried on as usual despite the downpours.
























Nothing can put a damper on this much positive energy.