We were all excited about the first day of our community project, repairing the Jambha Village school. It was a 10 minute walk from camp, even at 8am, the sun was hot and we were all anxious about working in the severe heat.
The school was empty when we arrived and we were briefed on our work for the next few days - painting 8 classrooms plus the outside of the building. The school was made up two L-shaped concrete buildings in a box shape with big wide verandahs. Painted in a pinky-red colour with orange, white and green - the colours of their flag painted on the columns. There were no chairs & tables, the children sit on rugs on the concrete floor. Outside the classrooms was just desert, a couple of trees, no shade and certainly nothing to play on.
I started painting inside oen of the classrooms, which we painted in a yellow white-wash. Whilst whitewash is economic, it didn't exactly cover up all the marks, but certainly an improvement. The children arrived about 10am and they all crowded around to watch these crazy westerners who had flown from the other side of the world to paint their tiny school in the Thar desert. Their was much laughter and exchanging of names in limited English and Hindi.
After lunch at camp, we were almost happy to be back on painting duties. The school was surprisingly cool, compared to the blazing heat outside. I spent the afternoon painting the ceiling of the veranda, nice and shady but very uncomfortable. I was too short without a table, and too tall standing on a table, so I had to kind of crouch down for much of the roof which gave me very sore arms and shoulders.
We made our way back to camp at sunset. The slight drop in temperature was so rejuvenating....compounded by a cold beer which were pleasantly surprised to have on offer. Ahhhh , beer fixes everything.
Yet again, the meal was delicious. The World Expeditions staff were exceptional, serving up a mix of Indian and western food, always with a scrumptious desert - tonight coconut balls in a custard-like sauce.
The staff are so good, they are almost subservient. Sometimes, it is as if the British still rule here, it is just so plainly 'us' and 'them'. Apart from our wonderful tour leader Angchuk, none of the staff feel comfortable socialising or sitting with us.
I guess it was 'us' and 'them' for just too long.
