This is the third of GA India’s updates from earlier parts of the trip.
July 3:
It was an early morning for Will, Max, and Michael, who volunteered to help milk the cows (whose names are Basket and Bottle). The rest of the group took advantage of the dawn hours to get a little bit of extra sleep before heading to the kitchen to prepare a breakfast of eggs, yogurt, and lots of tea.
After breakfast, we were recruited by some of the SECMOL students to help build an earthen chicken coop for the campus. Paired up with Ladakhi friends, we found ourselves elbows-deep in buckets of mud, mixing and preparing it for the construction. The SECMOL students once again provided a soundtrack for the morning, and our mud-making enterprise resulted in a lot of laughter and good times (read: a giant mud fight!), if not (yet) a fully functional chicken coop. Covered head to toe in mud, we all ran down to the Indus river (which was freezing!) to clean up. Afterwards, the SECMOL students gave us a quick tutorial on how to take an effective bucket shower – a first for many Putney students—and we headed to lunch.
After lunch we took the official campus tour. The entire campus operates sustainably. The buildings are made of natural materials, and electricity is generated by solar power. The school has gardens to grow its own vegetables, cows for milk, chickens for eggs, etc. Our tour ended with a rousing game of volleyball with our new friends.
In the afternoon, we held a special class session with the SECMOL students. We played a few introductory games, and then got down to business. Karan, who is a math teacher back home, devised a math lesson; we worked on riddles and held conversation groups to help the SECMOL students practice their English (an important component in their end-of-year exams). The conversation groups were especially fun because they gave us a chance to get to know the SECMOL students better.
The students at SECMOL have a nightly tradition of watching the local news (which is in Ladakhi) and choosing one student to give a report on what they heard. Another student translates the report into English. They then give a speech and lead everyone in a traditional song, followed by a few minutes of reflection. A few of our students have volunteered to be a part of this tradition when we return to SECMOL after our trek!
After dinner, our new friends introduced us to a game. Some of the SECMOL students brought in drums, and while they played them, we tossed around a stuffed monkey, which you could not be holding when the music stopped—a Ladakhi version of hot potato. A lot of laughter ensued and our game quickly evolved into another dance party.
-The GA India Team