Indiability ‘09

On the morning of February 11th I set off for Bombay to pick up the second youth group from England, the Indiabilitygroup ’09. Because we arrive late in the night in Navsari we had a welcoming ceremony the next morning. Like for the group in October all the deaf kids and some disabled gathered in lines and welcomed us (including me) with drums and flower garlands and roli (the red dot and rice on the forehead).
After having been in India for nearly five months I knew well how things in school worked and thus my job this time was a totally different one than in autumn. I did a lot of organizing for the group, showed them around and guided and tried to make them feel as comfortable as possible. Due to a lack of language knowledge I did also have to translate all the time. Although the group was much bigger (10 girls and 5 boys and 4 staff), they did basically the same activities as the last group, which was mainly working with the kids in all three schools. Being in Navsari we split into two groups and worked in both schools parallel. While the others played a lot of games, did sport activities and arts and crafts. My job was basically to translate explain and take photos and videos.
Like the last group we went to the blindschool for a few days and spend a very good time with the kids there. Basic activities were, like in Navsari, sports and games, arts and crafts and even a bit of music. I think all of us enjoyed it and learned a lot and the kids and staff did have a nice change for a few days from their normal school routine.
Again it was very good that I knew a bit of Gujarati and had worked with the kids a lot. Thus they trusted me and it was easier to communicate with them or help some members of the group to get in touch with the students.
After coming back we did spend more time in the schools in Navsari, went to Dandi, went with the mobile ambulance to some nearby villages and visited some hospitals. While going for shopping in Navsari I could test my Gujarati and bargaining skills. One day we had to go to Surat and visit a little school for disabled girls. Through the press conference afterwards we were all in the newspaper the other day and I had to give interviews for two TV channels.Due to some relatives of some group members we got invited to a wedding again which was a nice cultural addition.
After two weeks the Indiability group ’09 left again with a nice farewell and many tears.

For me it was nice to have some change and some company from Europe. But it was also very exhausting to have so many people around and to organize all the time. I think I’ve never done so much translations at a time (Gujarati and ISL), but although it was a bit too much sometimes, I did actually quite enjoy it.