Farewell Dream a Dream

So it is my last day with Dream a Dream as I fly home early tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to getting up at 3.30am to leave the hotel for the airport.

The last two weeks has flown by - just like the the last time I was here. Apologies to everyone for the lackj of blogs this time but internet acess has been a real problem (I'm told it is always worse in the summer) and I have also been in a rural area for the past 3 days with the Dream Team facilitating their Retreat. It was great and ended with a clear strategic plan for the next 3 years - and a hugely ambitious one at that. The plan, if excecuted successfully, will see DAD grow well beyond their current impact of c. 1500 children to approx 8,000 children.

The Retreat saw us working till late in the night. Just as well I was tired when I went to bed as my bed wasn't exactlky what I'm used to!! See pic. Just a rough padded mattress on a stone slab!!! But I slept like a baby. At least I had a western-style loo and a shower. Such blissful luxury!!!

The Rereat ended with Holi celebrations for the entire team. Holi is the festival of colours and is celebrated with people getting covered in brightly coloured paints. Wow that was a fun way to end a pretty intensive 3 days.

As I write this, I am surrounded by cardboard boxes stuffed to the brim as the DAD office gets packed up ready to be moved to bigger premises at the weekend. I visted the new office the other day and it is a real step-up from the current accommodation. It is clean, spacious and above all....quiet. No constant din from the traffic noise and a place to hear yourself think. Also, there is proper electrical wiring that is a big improvement on the rather dodgy arrangements in the current office.

Other news includes: getting more proficient eating with my right hand; enjoying riding on the back of various motor bikes being driven from place to place by some of the team; joining in on a 5km fun run in Cubbon Park early on Sunday morning (6.30am); visiting the very smart Leela Palace Hotel for coffee at the weekend (Bangalore's best hotel); being the recipient of Anju's undying love and affection and trying to understand Indian English e.g. "updation" which I am told means updating!!

Once again, it has been such a privelege to work with, and contribute to, such a fabulous team of people. Their warmth, generousity of spirit, optimism, hunger for learning and, above all, kindness have all been overwhelming. It is very humbling.

So, until the next time......

PS Thanks to everyone back home for your emails and sorry that I haven't been able to reply to all of them - either through lack of time or, most likely, lack of internet access.

Sending a package in India

Photos top to bottom:

• Back in the slum
• New fashion? Comb in hair!
• Afternoon sleep in the heat - but oh, the flies (by the lady's hand)
• My auto rickshaw queuing for LPG gas in the morning rush hour
• Our Thali lunch

Dream a Dream has had two Gap Guru volunteers for the last two months - Will and Kieran. They are both from the UK and leave today. As Iwrite I am watching them pack up their things in a large cardboard box to ship back to the UK whilst they continue their travels to Northern India before returning home. Watching them is like a comedy act! They were going to go to the general post office only to realise at the last minute that large parcels that are being shipped overseas need to be sewn up in white cloth. Not sure why! Suspect that the cloth will hold the cardboard box together. Hamsa, one of the young guys working here has come to the rescue as he has found a metre of cloth and they are starting to sew the package together.

Such are the distractions of working here!! Never a dull moment.

Yesterday saw the whole team go out for lunch to say goodbye to Will and Kieran as it was their last full day. We had South Indian Thalis all round. See pics below and note the eating with the hands which I have now fully mastered.

Last night I went home (well, back the the hotel) in an auto rickshaw (as usual) and the driver must have been the fastest rickshaw driver in the whole of India. My heart was in my mouth most of the time as he was weaving in and out of the traffic at great speed. At one point I thought we were going to be crushed between a lorry and the wall of a bridge!! I just about held the remnants of my Thali lunch in my stomach!

Since I arrived here I have been working on the design of the 3-day Retreat for the Dream Team that I will be facilitating. We will spending the three days at a rural farmhouse location and the purpose will be to review last year's achievements, agree 09/10 goals and establish a new 3 year strategy which will see the organisation grow significantly.

It will definitely test my facilitation skills as there will be a wide range of ability and English language skills - not to mention the heat and the inevitable mosquitoes. The design of the 3 days has been pretty testing too and hope that it works out well.

In between, I've been coaching the leadership team here together with the programme managers and taking them through their Myers Briggs profiles.

It's now 5.20pm. I'm tired, hot and sticky. The ceiling fans are whirring around and the traffic noise poutside is constant. But I should count my blessings as I was talking to a guy in Hyderabad today where the temperature is 40 degrees and will be climbing steadily to 46 degrees over the next few weeks.

That's all for now.....

Internet connection frustrates again...!!!!!

Having just spent 15 minutes writing today's blog I lost the lot when the internet conection failed. A regular occurance here and hugely frustrating. So here we go again......

Just about managed 3 hours at Dream a Dream's office yesterday afternoon before jet lag got the better of me. Went back to the hotel and had something to eat before crashing into bed for about 10 hours' sleep.

Eating in the hotel last night reminded me of just how many people there are available for work in this country. The hotel restaurant - famous for its vegetarian food - was pretty quiet last night being a Monday. I ordered a Thali ( a vegetarian meal consisting of a number of little pots of vegetarian curries and relishes together with a wonderful pilau rice and bread (roti or naan). At every mouthful, the waiter came up to me to ask if I wanted my pots refilled!! He had nothing else to do and the moment I had finished the plate was whisked away and the bill appeared. The meal cost me about £1.30 and I couldn't eat another thing.

Before going to bed I went to a shopping centre to buy another plug adaptor. There must have been a ratio of 10:1 staff to customers in the shop I went into!!! In most places, staff are plentiful and buzzing about.

This morning in the office, Indian English struck again as I was told by one of the managers here that there was going to be a meeting of the team. "OK", I said, "so you are having a team meeting". "No", she said, "it's not a team meeting, it's just a meeting of the team". ??!!??!!??!! Work that one out!!

And getting my auto rickshaw to the office this morning I asked the driver for Adugodi (the district where the office is based). It took me about 9 times to say Adugodi with emphasis on different vowels to get him to understand where I wanted to go. Rather like the first time I was here in November when I asked a rickshaw driver to take me to Brigade Road only to find out that my educated vowels didn't quite hit the spot as the pronunciation for Brigade Road is Briggerd Road. Ah well.......!

Till the next time......

From 11 degrees C to 34 degrees C!!!

Wow - what a change in climate! It's hot, hot, hot and it feels more like 40 degrees! Arrived at Bangalore airport at 04.45 after a good flight. Didn't get much sleep but watched "The Changeling" film and started reading and my new Rohinton Mistry book "Family Matters" to get back into the Indian groove. Took a taxi from the airport to the hotel and reminded myself of the precarious driving! Nearly crashed into two lorries but I was so tired that I didn't really bother about it.

Arrived at my hotel (same as last time) to be greeted by the staff there as a long lost friend! Had a quick breakfast and then slept for 4 hours. Arrived at Dream a Dream office about one hour ago to an amazing welcome. It is good to be back with such wonderful people and I feel that I have hardly been away. Where have the last three months gone?

Will stay for 2/3 hours only today until I feel too wobbly to carry on and hopefully have a good sleep tonight.

That's all for now......just letting you all know that I've arrived safely.

Heading out to Bangalore

I am making final preparations to leave home tomorrow morning. All the usual packing and preparing work papers etc. but this time it all seems less stressful. Firstly, I am returning to a city I am now more familiar with, to a hotel that was my home for 2 weeks in November and to a team of people at Dream a Dream who I now know and who are sure to give me a warm welcome. That will only be matched by the warmth of the greeting I will give them in return.

Secondly, last time, I was packing my things and doing some last minute work on the computer, and my pc crashed badly and I thought I had lost everything. I carted it off to the computer man en route to Heathrow and was worried sick about it for the entire flight. This time, I am hoping for a more relaxed departure from Highgate and I'm looking forward to chilling out on the plane. (By the way, my computer was fine).

I'm delighted that I've also checked in online and got my favourite seat - right at the back next to the window. Well, it would have been better travelling business but hey........

So, off to the land of Slumdog Millionaire and I really cant wait for a return visit to the wonderful "cholera" cafe. More of that in later blogs. Hope you keep following........

And finally...the Dream Team at Dream a Dream

The last supper........

Today is my last day at Dream a Dream - well at least until I return for my second fortnight sometime early next year to follow up etc. Last night the "Dream Team" all went to Kalpana's home for dinner. Kalpana is one of the Leadership Team and had us all round for a very scrummy meal. It was my first visit to an Indian home and to home-cooked food which was amazing....especially the jalebi.......sweet lattice-like fried loveliness!! All very bad for the diet and the heart no doubt, but nevertheless delicious. We all sat on the floor and devoured the excellent food and company.

Yesterday morning I was frantic writing up my reports and soon I will be presenting my recommendations to the Leadership Team. I have already taken Vishal (the Director) through these reports and hope that the Leadership Team are as positive as he was.

Yesterday morning I visited a school funded by the Round Table of India where Dream a Dream runs some of their programmes. The kids at the school mostly come from a local slum area and, again, I was struck by their hunger for learning. As a white man I was quite an attraction. See the pics! The conditions in the school were very very basic compared to our own standards but the standards of behaviour were great - if a little Dickensian at times. On entering the classroom, all the kids (mainly 12/13 years old) stood up and said good morning. They then sat down and in turns stood up individually to say their names. Teachers clearly have no problems with behaviour - unlike Christophe, the young guy I am coaching who is spending his first two years of work as a teacher in a pretty challenging school near Heathrow through an organisation called Teach First. He always tells me that about 80% of his time is spent trying to keep control! It wasn't like that at yesterday's school.

The terrorist attack at Mumbai has dominated Indian TV - as it has done across the world. To let you all know that I am fine and thanks to everyone for your text messages asking if I am OK. Even if they arrived in the middle of the night/early morning!!!! Hey...thanks for waking me up about a dozen times each night for the last 2 nights!!!! Seriously, it is good to know I have such wonderful friends and family all concerned about me.

This is my last blog posting as I fly home tomorrow morning. I'll have to leave the hotel at 04.30 to get to the airport by 05.30 for my 07.45 flight to Heathrow. I land at about 1.00pm and hope to be home at about 3.00pm - probably a bit wobbly with jet-lag and general exhaustion after my pretty intense 2 weeks here.

I'll have to get used to the cold weather at home as it has been mild here - although very wet for the past 3 days.....and SO muddy too!!

It's been a wonderful two weeks here spent with some amazing people. I'll miss the Dream a Dream team but will be staying in touch via email and before I know it, I'll be back

So thanks for keeping up to date with my travels and experiences. I hope you have enjoyed reading my entries and look forward to catching up with you soon.