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I am now in Dehra Dun and absolutely love it. The project is fantastic and the view stunning. I have only been here two full days as last week we were sent to Rishikesh to work on a herbal medicine farm. We were given a wonderful send-off from our project partners in Dehli. We all dressed up in clothes we had bought in India (mine were limited due to being stuck inside for two weeks and missing shopping trips!). Many people who were sponsors of our organisation were there to find out about us. The highlight of the evening was when they asked us all to perform a song! None of us knew the words of the same song and none of us are great singers! I ended up suggesting 'Let It Be' by the Beatles and tried to lead but my breathing technique was affected by a fit of the giggles. I had to retreat to the back to hide and not distract the others. It didn't quite work and we only managed to complete two verses before laughing again. It was one of the funniest moments yet! We then went out for a drink where a live band were playing which was great fun.
The next morning, we had to catch the 6am train to Dehra Dun. It was not a great journey. I only got about 20 minutes sleep the night before as I started feeling sick again. I couldn't sleep on the train as there was a mouse scuttering around my feet for the whole six hours and was terrified I'd get bitten and get even more ill! When we arrived we were greeted by a mass of people from 'Project India' and bombarded with questions. I felt too ill to even speak and extremely weak and ended up bursting into tears. I was so embarrassed as it is so unlike me and that was the first impression I gave them. Luckily, I was excused from standing on the stage and talking about myself and they were very sweet to me. We were then taken to Rishikesh where we were told we were working for a week. Rishikesh is beautiful. Our hostel overlooked the River Ganges and all around us were the foothills of the Himalayers. Rishikesh is known as the Yoga Capital of the world and everyone there practiced yoga everyday. The Beatles apparently spent some time here to write songs and relax! It is a very spiritual and calm place, you would think ideal for me to recover. However, we were put straight to work on Monday, walking up hill for 40 minutes everyday to do manual work on the herbal farm. It was an interesting week but I definitely think I am a people person rather than a plant person! We had to memorise the plant names and uses, as cultivating herbal medicines is very important to the people here. We also helped the working women to weed, collect soil, pick seeds and carry loads of aloe vera. It was hard work, especially as two days were extremely hot and two were freezing and raining but it is what the local women do day-in day-out so I am glad I experienced part of their working lives and helped a little. On Wednesday, while carrying heavy loads of aloe vera up to the top of a hill, I had to stop and go inside to rest. I felt weak for the whole of last week but it didn't help that we had no time to walk back to our hostel for lunch so were told to wait from 10am until 7pm for tea which, for me consisted only of rice and breakfast only of toast. Luke stopped work when I did and was sick so we were all sent home. Luke had become ill from food we ate at a restaurant the night before, where I was given a cup of tea that had, what looked and smelt like sick on the rim. On Friday we went into Hardiwar which is a very religious town where people send candles down the River Ganges. We visited Mansa Devi Temple on a cable car which was interesting.
On Saturday we were taken to our final project in Dehra Dun. Our project partners are so lovely and the work is fascinating. We are helping at The Tibetan Youth Corporation which takes in young men suffering from drug and alcohol addiction. I am teaching English and communication skills to a group and had a brilliant first day today. The men are aged between 18 and 35 and are very open about their habits and how they are recovering. They are all determined to learn skills to lead better lives and many of them have been clean for months or years. We are living at one of the centres with two mentors of the project who were addicts once themselves. They are lovely and cook us delicious food! Nothing has been spicy so far; last night we had stew and Tibetan dumplings! The project was set up in 1998 and recognised as a corporation in 2003. It was founded by Tibetans and many of the addicts come from Tibet so it is fascinating and horrifying to learn about their lives there. They are keen to learn about English culture and English views on drugs and I think it is going to be an experience I'll never forget. Our daily routine is the same as the young men: A 6am walk, 7am breakfast, 7.30am cleaning of the house and toilets and 10am lessons. We play sport from 3.30 until 5 and have dinner at 8pm. We are located in the country and the weather so far has been glorious. We were given the whole of Sunday to rest so I feel completely healthy after a day lying on the roof sunbathing. Yesterday was also the annual Colour Festival where all the locals have colour fights - bascially water fights with colour so it was great fun to watch from the saftely of our roof! Amy, Luke, Fiona and Craig joined in and got absolutely covered! They are still pink today.
I have so much more to write about the new project but it will have to wait as my time is running out.
I hope you are all well and glad you like the photos!
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