The 'teacher & assistant' do not show up for day care. The children must know because neither do they. We wait around at the bori watching the young girls aged about 4-10 scrubbing the family clothes and then themselves. They work so hard, happily.
There is a small truck in front of us as we drive back to camp, it is a village road so it is very narrow barely wide enough for the truck and he drives over the water pipe. They all lay exposed along the side of the tracks, it bursts and he continues along. There will now be a village without water.
The no show at day care gives S & I 2 hours spare so we catch the bus to Dharamsala it is about 7km up hill from Sidwari village where we stay. I've heard there is a refugee camp there for 40,000 Tibetans but I don't see it. Varun offers me the opportunity to, (kindly) but I'm not sure what purpose I could serve by visiting. It isn't a circus, so I decline. Dharamsala is host to a large bright red cricket stadium, clearly the pride and joy of the city. They will host 3 IPL matches here next month. We are not long off the bus when approached by two beggar women with babies aged 1-2. They have thin hair, hollow eyes, no bums, they dangle off their mothers like rag dolls, they are filthy. We buy each mother a large bag of powdered milk. A mother washes her toddler's clothes in the gutter while he stands beside her naked. S buy shoes for children who come along to our second computer class. S has set up a day care session for this group of very poor looking children while I do the computer lesson - she helps with this too - S is very busy during this 2 hours! I'm not sure who got the most pleasure of the shoes the giver or receivers.
The computer classes are exhausting! The numbers have swelled, we will not turn anyone away. I think of more resources I could have brought. They are loud & keen, we have to be patient. They, like everyone else we have come across are respectful to us. Importantly, they are learning.
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