No Bag Saturday...

Marshall School is open 6 days a week; morning assembly begins at 8:30, then classes let out at 4:30...with a schedule like that I'm sure you can understand why the kids love "No Bag Saturdays"! And what exactly does that mean??  On those designated days, the children leave their backpacks at home and enjoy doing things outside of the regular scheduled classes! On this particular day, our travelers planned to share their love of art with the students. But before I say anymore
about that, let me back up for a moment.  Sophia works at ArtCycle in West Bend, over the past several months they raised money, by selling their catnip toys, and gave it to her so she could buy art supplies for the children at the school. She picked up a few things prior to leaving, but then had the opportunity to shop while she was here with the rest of the money.

Now, jumping back to today...the school was divided in half; Sophie had the younger kids, her helpers were Al, Emma, and Olivia. The plan was to teach them how to Zentangle, then let them use

the new water colors to paint their pictures. 

We were absolutely amazed with the creativity in their designs; isn't it incredible what can be done when you  are allowed to think outside the lines!!

Joan led the older kids in the art of Origami with special papers and instructions from home. Her helpers were Big Bob, Jan, and Kaitlin. Joan did an outstanding job explaining the techniques, and the kids had a fabulous time learning this new skill!!

Both projects required great patience, the Origami because of the meticulous folding patterns, and the Zentangle because of waiting for your turn to paint. But the children were great and excited to learn these new forms of art. 

Now you're probably wondering about the rest of us; well, Jo was taking pictures of everything and Jordan got to spend time with Rajini preparing lunch. 

So many creative things came out of "No Bag Saturday"!!

But wait, there's more!! The day is only half over!!

In the afternoon we attended the Graduation Celebration for 31 women who completed the Cutting and Tailoring course, 6 women who mastered basic computer training, and 9 men who had been training in the Mobile Bible Study. What a joy and honor it was to be able to present certificates to this dedicated group of individuals!! In addition to their completion paper, each person received a hand knit washcloth (thank you again Oma and Carolyn),  and a bar of soap. The C&T students also received a sewing scissors and measuring tape.

Cutting and Tailoring Teachers

House Pastors

In the evening we had the chance to worship at one of the small house churches. Once again we were humbled by the outpouring of love we received as we walked through a very impoverished village, as well as in the church.

We pray the Holy Spirit will continue to work in and through us on this trip as we discover what Joyful Journeys is doing for the people of Madhavapatnam, and how it is impacting each one of us as individuals. 

Namaste'

~Jenny

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Today started off with gathering as many of the 450 students, from the Marshall School, that would fit in the front of the building for a photo; it was absolutely amazing how efficient the process was!! Not only are the children incredibly cooperative, which of course makes things that much easier, but the teachers and helpers just seem to work together like a well oiled machine.

The 2020 travelers and the Valluri family

We spent the remainder of the morning trying to wrap up handing out cards and such to the students who we didn't get to yesterday.  It was fun because today's groups were the older classes so they remembered some of us from last time we were here.

The afternoon was set aside for touring the area and seeing where many of our students live.  Although most reside in Madhavapatnam, there is a fair amount that travel from neighboring villages just to attend our school. One area in specific was a community set apart because of the lower cast families who live there.  The last time we visited this place most of the people lived in palm frawn huts; I also remember it being one of the cleanest areas at that point because the folks living there didn't have the means to purchase items that came in packaging and simply lived off the land. Nine years later we found that the majority now lived in homes built with money the government had paid them when they bought out their farm fields to construct a new road. Now there was also more waste laying around too. I guess in a twisted way this means progress.  

This boy is a student at our school; he hasn't been able to attend because of a broken foot. He requested a blessing from us for healing, and was grateful for the prayer.

 Life is certainly not easy for the beautiful women of this area, and yet they proudly greeted us with smiles and kindness. The woman below is 60 years old; she is standing by our eldest travel companion Jan, who is 74.

We arrived back at the school just in time to see our new bus loaded up with students to take home; what an absolute blessing this recent gift was as they can now make one big loop dropping off students instead of coming back and forth to pick up another load.

At this point we had the opportunity to walk around the neighborhood where the school and hostel are located. We were greeted with great enthusiasm, in an almost bizarre way, as we walked up and down the streets. What started with just our group, quickly turned into a parade of children and adults alike; some wanting to shake our hands while others requested to have their pictures taken with us...all wanting to simply follow us.  It's definitely a hard concept to wrestle with as we consider why so much attention is given to us.

Joan is in good hands with Manjula's sister Santhi

Dung patty for starting fires

 

This nomad and his beast entertained us in front of the hostile. He actually had trained the cow to shake and bow down to offer a namaste' greeting. 

 

We ended out night by spending time getting to know the children in the hostel better; what a delightful group of Shine Brites!

Our group sure had fun interacting with the kids to the Barnyard Dance!

With a baa and a moo and a cock-a-doodle doo

everybody promenade two by two!

The next generation of Joyful Journeys leaders...

May God work in and through us to help us discern our call here 

both in the ministry itself  and the community it serves.

Namaste'

~Jenny