Thursday 11 September 2014

Goodbye to our final DofE volunteers!

We said our final farewell to our last Duke of Edinburgh girls, and it is fair to say it got emotional! 

Tears saying bye to our Pankaj
Thank you both so much for all your hard work and valuable contribution you have made at the school and destitute boys home. You will be missed by everyone at Basti Ram and Channel Touth, as well as by your students!

Ruby & Brogan at Lake Pichola for their final farewell meal at Ambrai Restaurant
Good luck with everything in the future and hopefully we will hear from you again!

Sumeet Dhamu
DofE Venture Assistant

A fun filled afternoon for our girls!

The girls chose to use their three hour free time in the afternoon to visit Jagdish Temple. 

Jagdish Temple is a large Hindu temple in the middle of the bustling street markets in Udaipur, completed in 1651.

Jagdish Temple
The view from the top of the Temple
Hand carved marble
Walking up the steep stairs to enter the temple, we were greeted by friendly locals and a huge marble elephant. The temple itself is breathtaking - all hand carved from marble, it was a beautiful place to visit. We were able to walk around and take it in at our leisure; we walked around the temple in a clockwise direction as we were told it is lucky.

Ruby & Brogan outside Jagdish Temple


We managed to get back to the volunteer house in time for 'chai time' just before our evening time at the destitute boys home.

Panoramic view of the exterior of Jagdish Temple
We visited an ice cream parlour in the evening with some new volunteers who have arrived from Australia.

Acting our age?!
Thanks for reading! We will be saying goodbye to our girls soon so stay tuned!
Sumeet Dhamu
DofE Venture Assistant

Tuesday 2 September 2014

And then there were two...

We have had an exciting few days with our two final Duke of Edinburgh participants. In between teaching at school, as well as lessons and playtime at the destitute boys home, the girls had the chance to pop to the local market to do some last-minute shopping.

Having a look at some of the jewellery on offer in the market

Getting some gifts personalized
Choosing from the many jewellery, clothes and craft stores isn't easy for a group of girls!

After a bit of shopping, we got caught up in an all mighty monsoon rain downpour. Rain is something we are quite used to so the only shock for us was how warm the rains was; definitely a nice experience.

Taking shelter in yet another jewellery store during the heavy rain

Post-Monsoon selfie!
It has been excellent to see how well all of our participants have balanced their lesson planning, alongside teaching and using their free time productively!

Thanks for reading!
Sumeet Dhamu
DofE Venture Assistant

Monday 18 August 2014

The final days... goodbye two weekenders! You will be missed.

The weekend has been a little emotional with the house saying goodbye to those DofE volunteers who were on their two week programme. Here's a final groupshot all with a little gift from Channel Youth.


Thursday evening was the final night for the whole group so it was spent having a party...

The girls showing us their moves!


The night ended with the group having a sleepover. 

In the early hours of Friday morning we said our goodbyes to Reema, Rayhan, Katharine and in the afternoon we said goodbye to Katie. For the rest of the group there was no school because the whole country was celebrating India's Independence! HAPPY INDEPENDENCE INDIA! 

First the group visited the boys home where Himanshu Choudhary (Channel Youth Director), Rachel Stovold (Basti Ram Project Leader) and Nick Corker (Hackney Virtual School) were the special guests and invited to sit at the front and draw the flag at their celebrations.



After this we visited Channel Youth's first school to continue the celebrations. On the way we spotted some other guests!





The group handed out some sweets to the children of the school.

In the afternoon the group spent their last day at the boys home starting with a round of football! I think all of the British lot have been itching to do this. 

Final farewell shot! 

In the evening Sumeet practised her Mehndi skills on Mead by giving him a tribal warrior makeover.

The girls decided to do some unusual hairstyles and we all played a round of Uno in the evening. Whilst leaving my phone around I came back to find a selection of selfies from the group and I'm still deciding whether to do a post dedicated to the Many Selfies of Duke of Edinburgh!


Thank you for reading and stay tuned as all is not over. Brogan and Ruby are both on our 4 week residential and are only half way through their programme. 

Rachel Stovold, Duke of Edinburgh Assessor. 










Sunday 17 August 2014

The final week...

So what's the low down on the final week for Duke of Edinburgh 2 weekers?

Well the group had the opportunity to have some henna done by the lovely Meena Ji. 

Here are a few snaps from the English lessons at the boys home. 






Reema and Rayhan along with the help of Megan and Ruby cooked dinner for the house; a delicious South Indian dish. 



We did another stop at Happinezz where the group got some well needed ice cream! 





On Thursday 14th the group all got their results! Well done everyone you should be proud of yourselves. We also had a few tears shed. 

Thank you for reading and stay tuned! 

Rachel Stovold, Duke of Edinburgh Assessor 

Wednesday 13 August 2014

The weekend adventure Part 2 - Camel Safari

Four of girls went for an adventure across one of India's deserts! The weekend entailed spending a night in Jodhpar and the moving on to the Osian desert for a wonderful evening with a traditional host family who live there.

The girls decided to represent Basti Ram in the desert! Thanks

Megan and Holly on the morning camel walk to see the spectacular sunrise across the Osian desert. 


They traveled in style! 

What a beautiful sunset! 

Thank you for reading and stay tuned.

Rachel Stovold, Duke of Edinburgh Assessor 




The weekend adventure Part 1!

Last weekend was a little unusual as the group split in two to do different excursions. For six of them they stayed around Udaipur and the other four went on the Camel Safari. Here is an update of those who stayed in and around Udaipur. 

On the Saturday the group had a day trip to Ranakpur Temple and Kumbhlaghar Fort (the worlds 2nd longest wall! After??.....) 

Photobombed by a member of the hackney staff. 

A group shot outside Kumbhlaghar Wall alongside the Hackney group. 

Sunday arrived and the group spent the morning hand washing - a new activity for some of them I think. Credit given as they organised a system of washing, rinsing and hanging up. 

Late morning we visited the boys home to celebrate Raksha Bandhan. This is a Hindu festival to celebrate the love and duty between brothers and sisters. 
Meena Ji getting everything ready. 

All of the boys sat on the floor whilst in pairs the girls tie a rakhi(sacred thread) on her "brothers" wrist. 


In the afternoon the group visited the city to do a little bit of shopping! 

One shop keeper was very keen to get a picture of us all! 

The day was ended on a lovely meal at Jagat Niwas Palace which has spetacular views overlooking Lake Pichola. 

Thank you for reading and stay tuned! 

Rachel Stovold, Duke of Edinburgh Assessor.