The children were all seated on the floor, girls on one side, boys on the other, in one classroom, when we arrived. Cathy and I entertained the children while the rest of the team set up the "SCAW circuit". We showed them our bubbles and a hand puppet. So as not to frighten them, one needs to be extremely gentle in presenting and approaching these children with a puppet. Some of the children sang songs to us. I wish you in Canada could have heard their cheers when we showed them the individual items in the bedkits. They were spontaneous and very appreciative. These children are poor! Yesterday I told a parent and some hotel management students the cost of one kit. They were flabbergasted at the generosity of Canadians.
After the distribution, the Gokak Rotarians treated us to a lunch of sandwiches, fruit and homemade cocoa cake. Delicious!
It was suggested that we visit the local temple and a local Shiva festival. We met up with recipients at the temple who were there to thank their goddess for their gifts from SCAW. The temple is built to honour the goddess "Laxmi" who protects their town.
On to the festival, which was held at a second larger temple. This temple had a swing bridge, built the British, crossing the Ghatprabha River, beside it. We were escorted past the hundreds of people going to the temple and blessed by receiving a yellow dot on our forehead. Today is Ash Wednesday.
The people are always thrilled to see "white people" and to see their own image in our cameras. We were elbow To elbow with crowds of people at the festival and felt perfectly safe.
Tonight we went to a recommended restaurant close to our hotel and celebrated an early surprise birthday for Lorna. The restaurant presented her with special packages of candy. A wonderful finish to another great day in India.
Pamela Horricks for Team Belgaum 2015
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