Sadly today marks our last day in Manvi, although we will be happy to see our families again we will be very sad to leave our friends here. Last night the children gave us a wonderful send off, that was followed by a shared meal, chicken biryani all round and  dancing and partying until the late hours, ()well 9 o'clock but it felt later! Today there is a mass of activity as the group pack up and clean their rooms.

This will be the last blog entry.A couple of things to finish with; without exception this has been the best group we have brought in nine years, their solidarity, workrate, initiative and spirit has been exceptional.

|Although strictly speaking today is the Feast of St Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits , here in Manvi it was celebrated yesterday (Saturday). It started with a colourful Mass (in Kannada language and with a 25 minute homily) and then segued into a cultural programme of dance and music. The group did very well although faced competition from the Spanish group based in Pannur - there is a video but the connection is slow so I haven't been able to upload it yet. Today celebrations were supposed to continue in Pannur this morning and then with a smaller presentation by the hostel children this evening.

Friday.

Work finished yesterday. Today is mainly taken up with preparation for the Feast Day celebrations, tomorrow in Manvi and Sunday in Pannur. All remain well; remarkably we have not had to take any students to the doctor this year, just teachers, Debra with infected bites and Pavel with a sore throat. Both are fine after a course of anti - biotics.

Today we are working on building the stage for Saturday's festivities.

 

Tuesday Night.

The group arrived back from Hampi this evening, exhausted and sporting very strange trousers. Work starts again in the morning and then the week focuses more and more on the feastday at the weekend. One week tonight and we will be heading back to Bangalore.

Today is a rest day and the group is engaged in activities such as sleeping, and er sleeping mainly .

Last night Liam led night prayer with a very moving reflection on the events in Norway. the group want you to know that families ae very much in their thoughts and they are grateful to be in a place where they are safe and well looked after. Tomorrow they are heading off for Hampi at the crack of dawn.

 

 

We heard with shock this morning of the terrible events in Norway and our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved.

Because the group is going to Hampi on Monday and Tuesday today is a workday and there has been much shifting of stones and sand.This afternoon we have to buy the costumes for the dance. The girls are wearing white saris and the boys indian shirts and white trousers, however as  there are uneven numbers some of the boys are going to be dancing as girls so watch out for the photographs! All are well, I think this is the healthiest group on record although that will no doubt change when they gorge themselves on pizza in Hampi

Manvi, Thursday am.

Apologies for the gap in the blog but I have been in Pannur with my small group and there was no internet connection. pannur was hard work but fun. sadly I had to make the decision to bring the group back a day early because there was no water in the village; this ,eant the work came to a halt on the houses and the kindergarten and there was no real work for us to do, so we have now rejoined the rest. We were very sad to leave the children there as they are so enagging. One thing that amused us greately was when they return from school each day they go to wash their clothes and take a bath - this involves going to the river and at present digging a bore hole to find water underground to find a spring as the river is dry. The teacher then flings buckets of water at the children; presumambly the ones who got a bucket of water in the face first had annoyed her how different this is from life at Wimbledon College.because there are no hotel spaces at the weekend in Hampi our trip there is now delayed until Monday. many thanks to those who have sent messages via the blog

Sunday. Yesterday was a free day when people were able to catch up on their sleep and go shopping. In the evening we had a quiz night which was most entertaining and surprisingly competitive.

This morning was a 7.30 start to attend Mass with the parishioners in Pannur; after that the group visited the village and spent some time with the children of the hostel. All are now  back in Manvi and the whole group are having their first dancing lesson where everyone can attend. Spirits remain high and all is going very well.

Friday Night. The group from Pannur rejoined us tonight after 3 days and nights in the village. They had a fantastic experience even though conditions are very basic.They especially enjoyed going out to other outlying villages with the sisters who run the Health Centre in Pannur; they were delivering medicine and health care but also setting up womens groups and credit unions so it was fascinating for group members to see social care in action. Tomorrow is a work free day, the group deserve a lie in after their hard work this week. The girls are going sari shopping but have already been beaten to this by the boys who have their shirts already on order.