Slum kids

Today the second batch of summer school started, two more week (four days) with a new group of children. I will post some picture collages in two weeks time when all is finished (to safe you the agony of a day by day report).

The most heard sentence around the slum is "Auntie Photo!" these days. All the volunteers are taking their cameras or smart phones and lots of photos are made.

I snapped some cutie pies today. They are young and adorable, but a lot wiser than children of the same age that live under better circumstances. I can't help but wonder what will become of them. I can only hope and pray they will have a better life than their parents.

On our way to the car we saw a tiny baby boy, only 15 days old.



And then there was this guy, symbolic of most of the fathers in the slum: a drunkard. He slept there on the hard concrete floor, without being bothered by the noise of the children around him... We did check if he was still alive and he was, but what kind of life is it?

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

I got spoiled this morning with breakfast in bed, home made gifts and lots of cuddles. There is a freshly baked cake and dinner will be cooked by my men. Just the way I like my mother's day to be :-)

Something less nice is the fact that Simon broke his knee last Friday. He fell in the classroom, on his right knee, and when he turned around to get up one of his class mates wanted to help him, but in the rush to get to him he knocked over a chair that landed on the same knee...
The nurse came to have a look and all seemed fine, but during the morning the knee started to swell up and the pain got worse, so Simon came home.
I took him to the clinic, where the GP took one look and just said: X-ray! I had put Simon in a wheel chair when we arrived at the clinic, because it was very painful for him to walk on crutches. To get out of the wheel chair and on to the X-ray table was not easy. Every movement hurt and he could not get his leg straight anymore.
Getting Simon off the table was an even bigger drama. It took 5 people at least 10 minutes to find a way to get him on a stretcher without causing him too much pain.

While we waited for the results of the X-ray, Simon got an injection with painkiller, but that took a long time to take any effect.

The X-ray didn't show any fractures, so Simon's knee was bandaged and we were told to go for an MRI to see if there was any soft tissue damage.

The choice was to either go to the MRI clinic by ambulance or by our own car. We decided to go by our own car, but getting Simon in the car from the stretcher was quite an ordeal. There were a lot of people who wanted to help, but that didn't really help (if you know what I mean).

Lots of 'helping' hands

We managed to get him home and comfortable on the couch and by that time the painkiller finally started to take effect.

Comfy on the couch

That night the MRI was followed by a complimentary CT scan and the results would be available the next day from 15:00 hrs.  At 13:00 hrs., the GP rang me to say the knee was broken after all and a ligament was torn almost completely, so we had to come to the clinic to see the Orthopedic Doctor.

MRI

The Orthopedic Dr. said an operation is not necessary at the moment. Because Simon is so young, the ligament will most likely heal by itself. The kneecap is still in 1 piece despite the break, so that needs time to heal. The only thing that might need to be done is to drain the knee to get the swelling down, but it was decided to wait till next week to see if it is still needed.

Simon has to wear a brace and has to keep his leg still. No school on Monday and Tuesday for him and back to the Doc. on Wednesday. 

Brace and crutches

resting the knee while enjoying pizza and you tube

Cocoon

Yesterday we started Summer school again for the children in the Janakiram Lay Out. It was chaotic and fun and noisy and very, very warm.
I have made lots of photos again, but there is one that I like a lot:

In the middle of all the noise and mayhem of children running around playing games, this woman sat under a tree and seemed to be in her own little cocoon. She didn't seem to notice much of what was going on around her, she just stared in the distance. I stood there for a while and stared at her without realising it, before I took this photo.

Orange Sensation Party

It seems like we have a pattern going on when it comes to parties. We get an invitation and enthusiastically reply that we will attend. Then when the date of event draws closer and closer, we feel less and less like going. On the day itself we don't feel like going at all...but we still do and end up having a great time!

It was the same this weekend. We went to the Orange Sensation Party, organised by a group of Dutch men in honour of King's Day, and we had a blast. Adriaan even danced!!!! Beer and bitterballen is all it takes apparently ;-)

Silly dancing

Lots of fun!

Adriaan scored a bitterbal!!!

Can't remember the last time I danced with my husband

(I copied the photos from the party's FB-page)

Boring

Remember how I went on and on told you about our great week in Perth? There was also an incident that threw us back a bit...We were quite shocked when we saw this sign:

We thought we were fun to have around, kind of, sort of ... a bit at least, but now we know they find us boring.....


OK, not fair, this is a picture of the whole sign:

I guess some European borers can be a real pest ;-)

A week in Perth, WA

I am pretty sure we walked around with the same facial expression the whole week

Our first posting was in Karratha, Western Australia. It is still the only posting I have been homesick for. I cried when the airplane took off from Perth International Airport to take us back to the Netherlands. We had had 4 wonderful years in Karratha, had 2 children and no. 3 on the way, made friends for life and memories to last a lifetime.

Our boys have no memories of living in Australia, they were 3 years, 18 months and unborn when we left and we have always said we would take them back some day to show them this beautiful country down under.

Unfortunately the Easter holiday was only 1 week long, so there was limited time. We decided to keep our visit to Karratha for another, longer, holiday and stay in Perth for the whole week. Why Perth? Because some of the nicest people in the world live there, and they are our friends!

We rented a house around the corner from our friends, a huge house, with 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and most important of all: free wifi!

Our not so humble abode for the week

It was a fantastic week. We made daytrips, swam in the sea, patted kangaroos and koalas, had bbqs and picnics and spent a lot of time with our friends. My idea of a perfect holiday.
On top of it all we had lovely weather, a lot cooler than the summer heat in India and no rain.

Of course we took a gazillion pictures:

Cottesloe Beach

Patting Kangaroos at Caversham Wildlife Park

Cute little Joeys

Imagine that: 20 hours of sleep a day!

They had a huge Guinea Pig (aka a wombat)

Lots of lovely birds

On penguin Island we saw some penguins, but mainly seagulls and pelicans and a group of very playful sealions

We had lots of fun together!

Thank you Bernie and Anto Keane, for making this an unforgettable week!

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

We are back home in India, after a week in Perth, Australia. We had a fantastic time, thanks to our dear friends Bernie and Anto Keane.

I am busy sorting out the photographs, so I can post them on this blog to brag about/bore you with tell you all about our week down under.

Have a happy Easter :-)