Leaving the School

Leaving the School

Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006--Kumbalam

Today is my last day here. I would have left today, but I still have unfinished business. I am helping Joseph re-list the school on websites for volunteers. Some of them require me to first register with them and then place the listing after we hear back. I've spent today waiting to hear from a couple of sites. In the meantime, I did research for him related to purchasing children's books in Hindi for the library. The school must meet the standards for accreditation when a team comes in a couple of weeks, and they are short in the number of books they have in Hindi.

Jerry is no longer living at the hostel. He was one of my favorites last year. He's a bit of a troubled boy with great potential. I am worried for him now that he isn't at the hostel. I understand that his uncle lives with his mother, him, and his sister and that he drinks heavily. Since returning to India from the Middle East in April, the family is already living in their third home after having been kicked out of the others for lack of paying rent. When they lived here by the school, there were often 10-12 of the town drunks hanging around their place. What kind of an influence can that be on Jerry? And now they are living far enough away that it takes 2 buses for Jerry and his sister to get here to classes. They weren't able to make it today because of a bus strike by private bus drivers. My fear is that a combination of factors--difficulty getting to school and bad influences at home will cause him to eventually become a dropout. I hope not, though.

I hate to leave the kids tomorrow, but today is my last day here. I have to move onward. Tomorrow, I will catch a morning bus into town and switch to another bus going to Alleppey. I'll stay one night there and then move to Kochi (Cochin) for a few days. I don't want to stay long in Alleppey because of the mosquitoes there and the mosquito-borne diseases that are a problem there. Kochi is a wonderful place, however, so I think I will stay there for 4-5 days.

Tonight, I will give the kids a small treat of candy. Then I'll hug them all goodnight for the last time.