WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS NO.2

Christmas Wishes

From Hostel Children of St. Joseph's
Computer classes are on
a Saturday morning.

Only possible when the village has
an electricity supply.

They have many power cuts in the Hill Regions.

WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Hello everyone,

I am going to try and share with you, some of the greeting cards I got from the children of St Joseph's School Hostel Git Dubling.

A large brown envelop arrive yesterday morning with letters and cards made on the computer, Their Computer teacher, Mr. Suman must have very busy helping them to make the cards etc for me.

I feel so priveledged to have got to know all the children and stafff of St. Joseph's School.
My eyes were full of tears as I read their fond greetings and looked at the pictures attached to their cards. Tears of happines. I am so so lucky to have been able to work with them earlier on this year. I hope to visit them again in 2008

I am going to try to scan some of their greeting and share them with you. Hopefully I will succeed, I am not very clever on the PC yet!!!

Life in the Darjeeling/Kalimpong Hill Region

A village view, the houses are spread out down the hillside.


Don't know where the smiles have gone? They don't always have serious faces.

The villagers are a tribal people,of Nepali origin from the Lepcha,Bhulia and Sherpa tribes. Their common language is Nepali,however they also converse in their individual tribal dialects. Their facial features and physical build vary ,depending on from which tribe they originate.
Their main occupation is farming,however the region is very hilly and thickly forested,and individual family plots of land are small.They practise terraced farming and some own a few animals, usually cows,goats, pigs or chickens.
A pair of oxen and a wooden plough will be shared by several neighbouring families.
The main crops grown are:rice,potatoes and a variety of green leaf vegetables.
Cash crops cultivated are:broom,ginger and excess vegetables not required for home consumption. Excess meat-mainly chicken,goat and pork is used for bartering for other commodities within the individual village communities.
Similarly with milk and eggs.
The people are hard working and the children also have to help with household tasks, like fetching water,fodder for the animals and firewood for cooking etc. before and after school. Many have a long walk to and from school each day.
Their day starts at first light,between 4.30 and 5am. Darkness fall early between 6 and 6.30pm and as there is often no electricity supply, most people retire for the night by 9pm. Life is hard for the villagers,however they love celebrating special occasions and religious festivals with song,dance and shared meals. They are a generous people and look on a visitor as a gift from God regardless of their religious belief.


Lots of Happy Faces

In and Around Saint Stephen's School , Loly Goon

Out for a Walk

Goats are used for Milk,Cheese and Meat.

Meat is only eaten on Special Occasions.

Photo taken on the Forest path leading

down from the Village of Loly Goon

to St. Stephen's School.

Bud ah Statute situated in the Village Square in Loly Goon
Many of the Hill People are Buddhist.

Oxen used to plough the fields for planting
prior to the start of the Monsoon season.

The terrain is very hilly.

A beautiful view of Kanchenjunga, at 6am,

from the front of St Stephen's School.

A Sunday Outing in Git Dubling

In the school playground playing Basket Ball

Out and About in Git Dubling

How many of us can fit in this picture?

Down by the River in Git Dubling

I spent most of my weekends whilst I was in West Bengal in Git Dubling. This being the village town of the Hill Region I was working in and the parish centre for this area.

I stayed with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, in the Convent beside St. Joseph's School and the Hostel for the pupils of St. Joseph's school, who live too far from the school to travel there daily.

The roads in this area are very poor, the only public transport is byJeep, of which there are 2 or 3 daily travelling between Git Dubling and Kalimpong the nearest Town.

The jeeps transport passengers,produce for the market in Kalimpong and animals. They also transport any excess milk, from any villager who has milk to sell, to the cooling plant in a village situated between Git Dubling and Kalimpong.

On a Sunday, after the morning sevice, I used to enjoy spending time with the residents of the hostel.

A Saturday Nature Ramble in Loly Goon

Outside the Hostel

Posing for my Picture

What have I found?

The children, of one of the hostels for St. stephen's School in Loly Goon, and I decided to have an outing to a nearby forest which had been developed to attract visitors.

We set out for the forest about 10am on a Saturday morning , taking along with us, a plastic bag to collect different spieces of leaves and wild flowers in. We also had a big bottle of water, 2 apples cut up into small pieces, a few plain saltine biscuits,some raisins and 2 sweeties each, for our lunch.

We had a wonderful day out,and the children and I had learned many new words, the children English words and me the Nepali word for many of the different trees, plants and insects we had seen.

In the evening we made a collage with the leaves and flowers and Miss Susan, the teacher who ran the hostel told us the names of some of the flowers and from which tree some of the leaves had come.

St. Stephen's School Concert Loly Goon

Getting ready for a Nepali Dance Routine

Infants ready to go on stage "Fruits of The Earth"

I want to share a few photos with you from St Stephen's School Concert.

St. Stephen's concert took place a few days after the one at St. Joseph's, Git Dubling.

The staging was built and erected by the parents of the pupils who live in the village, two days prior to the date of the concert, so that the children could have a full rehearsal on the day before the concert. All went well at the rehearsal.

That night, the night prior to the big day, we had a terrible storm and the stage and the tarpaulin covered in area for the visitors, was completely demolished.

The villagers turned out in mass at 5am, first light, to start building again. All was ready for the first visitors arriving at 10am. The concert did not get started until 11.30am as many of the visitors coming from further afield, had had to walk along very wet and muddy pathways.

The concert went well ,much to the relief of the staff and pupils of St. Stephen's. And the visitors all appeared to enjoy their day out.

St Joseph's School Concert---- Gitdubling

Lining up for the Entrance Parade

The boys from class UKG; even they get make up on.

A mixed age group; helping each other to apply the finishing touches.

Posting some pictures of the children of St. Joseph's getting ready for their annual school concert.
A lot of preparation goes into the presentation of this.

They, the pupils, give performancies using the English, Nepali and Hindi media; and use music,dance and drama.

Schools from all around this area come for the performance and parents and guardians are also invited. Because many of the visitors have to walk for several hours to get to St. Joseph's, they are offered a light snack and the adults tea and the children juice.

The residents of the village of Gitdubling all get together, build the stage, help get the pupils made up and into their costumes,which are all made on site, and help with the snacks,teas etc.

The concert is a wonderful opportunity for the pupils.staff and villagers to get together and show what can be achieved with lots of hard work and co-operation.

St. Joseph's Hostel Gitdubling

A impromptu concert in the school hall

They loved getting their photos taken

St Joseph's hostel provides accommodation for approximately 84 pupils who attend St. Joseph's Sch. Many of the pupils live a long distance from the school and can not travel daily.

The Hostel consists of two long dormitories with bunk beds on either side of the room. The bunk beds are about 2 feet apart and there is no furniture in the dormitories except for the beds.
Any spare clothing is kept on the bottom of their bed.

Toilets and personal washing facilities are apart from the sleeping accommodation. The kitchen and hall for eating in are also in a separate building.

The residents spend much of their time out of doors or in a class room studying. They get about 2 hours homework every night. They all have to do odd jobs around the property, eg. collecting wood for the cooking stove, preparing vegetables,washing clothes etc.

When they do have spare time they love to sing and dance and the boys play, basket ball, football and cricket. The girls look after the younger residents. This keeps them very busy.

ST. Joseph's School Gitdubling

Hard at work Homework time

Meal Time in the Hostel Rice, Dal and Curried potatoes

St. Joseph's School Gitdubling West Bengal, was established in 1948 for the education, of the poor village children of this region.This school educates children up to approximately the age of 15.

St. Joseph's school has 380 students at present. Pupils come from various villages in the Kalimpong Hill Region. Street children from Darjeeling are also sent to St. Joseph's , if they wish to leave the streets and get an education.

The school , has a hostel attached to it. This is very crowded, however, the residents living in it, are on the whole, very happy and contented with their lot. They receive three meals a day, education and a bed to sleep in.Many of them would not receive these basic amenities in their own homes.

Whilst I was working in West Bengal I spent several weekends with the hostel children, and really enjoyed their company. They love to play, dance and sing when they have free time.
However, they also have to spend some time in study and all have jobs to do around the hostel, food purchasing , collecting from the garden, and the preparing of it in the in the kitchen. They also help to keep the surrounding area clean and tidy and have to do their own washing.

Their lives are very different from most children's lives in the Western world.
But the children of St. Joseph's think themselves very luck to be there.

GITDUBLING

A view from Gitdubling, West Bengal, overlooking St Joseph's School

Pupils from St. Joseph's School, Gitdubling, West Bengal

Gitdubling is a small market village surrounded by other small villages scattered around in the hills of the Kalimpong hill region.

Names of some of these villages: Nok, Pochok, Longsheol, Kaffer, Pakang and Dubling.

The whole area is very hilly and forested, and hard surfaced single track roads are few and far between.

The people from the surrounding villages depend on Gitdubling for:- shopping , market day is on a Wednesday, for religious celebrations and for schooling after they have completed grade 4 in the other village schools. St Joseph's School in Git Dubling takes the pupils up to grade 10.

Some of the villagers have to walk for up to 3 or 4 hours to reach Gitdubling and then walk home again carrying heavy loads ,supported by bandas around their foreheads, and mothers with babies strapped around their mid drift.

My visit to West Bengal in 2006

A view of Kanchenjunga, West Bengal

Travel:
I flew from London to Kathmandu in Nepal, from Kathmandu I flew to Kakabeta on the border of Nepal and West Bengal. I was met there by a driver and jeep, who had been instructed to take me to Kalimpong.
This journey took three hours over very rough roads but through beautiful countryside. When I arrived in Kalimpong another jeep was waiting to take me to Gitdubling. This took another three hours and the roads were even worse.
By the time I arrived there I was exhautsed and not sure what to expect. I was taken to the convent of the sisters of St. Jospeh of Cluny. There I was made very welcome, given tea, and warm water in a bucket to wash with.
I then sat down to my first meal-19.30 hours- steamed rice, dal and hot curried potatoes along with a glass of warm boiled water.
I was in bed and asleep by 21.00 hours.