Day 1
After a good night’s sleep shaking off a long day of flying we had a late breakfast of pancakes with dried sugar cane. We then explored ‘The Land’ and had to all find an object that interested or reflected our personality. We all described how we felt in one word and Travis was well and truly ‘flabbergasted’. Imogen then gave us some time to journal but most of us ended up collating the craft and game items that we all brought. Imogen was really touched with the amount of thought that we had all put into the gifts. We were shown how to create traditional Indian land art called Rangoli. The women here do this every morning mostly as a form of meditation and therapy but Imogen explained that every woman does it for a different and personal reason. We then discovered that we loved the Indian food and we are really in for a treat!
After lunch we split into 3 groups and went on a walk to explore the village and the surrounding area. We ended up watching the sun set over the lake and we were all in awe at the clarity and size of the moon. We then came home to a dinner of chickpea curry and then all crawled into bed.
WRITTEN BY – AMELIA, SADIE AND REBEKAH
Day 2
After an early (5am) wake-up call from the local Catholic Church prayers, around 2/3 of us managed to get up in time for Yoga on the terrace that Imogen led. We had a team responsible to prepare breakfast (we have made a rota for our jobs) for 8am and we all got ready for our choice of 3 activities over the next few mornings. There was a choice of a gentle cycle around the local villages, gardening or going to the local market. When we all arrived back we enjoyed lunch and set off for Baale Mane (a girls orphanage) and split into three groups, creating different stories for the puppet theatre. We tried to base them around issues the girls have experienced or could relate to. They put on a traditional dance which included balancing on each others shoulders and was absolutely amazing. Over the last hours there we taught them some of our songs and they taught us some of their cultural songs and dances. On the way home we stopped at a temple devoted to Shiva and all received a blessing. Some of us were even lucky enough to see monkeys! Back at home we had Takka dhal for tea and we are ecstatic to see chocolate and ice cream cake for desert. We’re now ending the night with a bonfire to end a really lovely day.
WRITTEN BY – REBEKAH, AMELIA AND SADIE