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On Tuesday, I planned to go see Deep Griha’s rural school.  Their work originated in the city and most projects focus on urban slums.  In the past few years, they have expanded their vision to include some of the rural areas west of Pune.  I thought it would be neat to see surrounding region.  Since I’m also writing the May newsletter, I wanted to see what I would be writing about.

I usually leave for work at 9:15 or 9:30. The minibus to work planned to pick up me and Kassie, the other volunteer, later than usual because the special needs kids had to go to school early.  On the way back, the minibus broke down.  Kassie and I had tea until the car arrived at 11:15.  We got to work at 11:30.  We could have taken a rickshaw.  However, I was supposed to take the same car out to the rural areas so there was no point in rushing.

City of Child

Since we got to work so late, everyone else had work to catch up on before we left.  Eventually, we left the office around 3.  We picked up several people and six watermelons along the way.  Our first stop was City of Child, an orphanage/children’s home for 40-50 kids from the slums who don’t have adequate care at home.  

I got a tour of the place while everyone else had a business meeting.  The ladies in the kitchen gave me fresh buttermilk, chapatis made with millet, and watermelon.  The highlight was watching the kids eat watermelon and showoff doing handstands.

At 4:30, we finally headed out for the entire reason I had come on the trip, to see Deep Griha Academy/City of Knowledge.  The goal of the school is to provide quality English education in the farming region near Pune.  The property is a former poultry farm and some of the old hen houses are still standing.  So far, there is a preschool.  Soon, they will be adding first and second grade classrooms.  They recently installed a solar-powered rainwater harvesting system to provide water to the school.  Deep Griha grows millet on the property to raise money for the school and hopes to provide vocational training to locals.

In the light of the late afternoon, a sense of peace and promise settled across the property.  The timing was perfect.  Sometimes running on Indian time gets you to the right place at the right time.