The reason we're here

I'm watching the setting sun turn the snow capped mountains rosy pink. Below me the town is quiet, but for the odd high pitched honk from a car or rickshaw navigating the bends and the sound of dogs barking. Lots of people here have them as pets.

We went to St Mary's School today for the first time. It is about a half an hour drive down the hill in a small village called Sidhpur. As we pulled up outside the school gates, I think we all felt a little nervous. Except Martha that is. She couldn't get there quick enough, skipping down the school path singing.

We were greeted by the principal Sister Jancy Joseph. She is from the nearby convent where they run another school The Sacred Heart High School. This one is private and it gives the convent the means to fund St Mary's. The children there do not pay to come to school, unless, in a few cases, they can afford to. In India, no schooling is free. They have both private and public schools, though I am not certain of the difference between the two. My understanding is that public is the more expensive. Either way, if you can't afford to pay the fees, your kids don't get an education here. There is no state funding. It makes you appreciate how very lucky we are.

Anyway, St Mary's was set up about fifteen years ago, by Sister Celia (who sadly I will not meet as she has been seconded to somewhere in Goa) and a group of locals who believed that everyone had the right to an education, regardless of their finical situation.

Sister Jancy gave us a tour of the school. It's unbelievably Victorian, children sitting silently in rows, even four year olds are behind a desk all morning. They all stand to attention when a visitor enters the room, with their arms by their sides, bowing their heads slightly as they say "Good Morning," in perfect unison. They are smartly dressed in a uniform of maroon jumpers, White shirts and ties, with white trousers for the boys and skirts for the girls. Some girls wear tartan skirts and they all have their long hair tied in very neat plaits with red ribbons.

As we walked from class to class I couldn't help feeling some sense of nostalgia as the books they used reminded me of my own days at primary school. (I went to a very old fashioned school!) There were lots of similarities to the subjects they were covering. In class three they were learning about the life cycle of a plant, not unlike their counterparts in England. In class two, however, they were doing moral studies which was teaching them how to be a good person. Our equivalent is PSHE (personal, social, health education) but this seemed a lot less sophisticated. They were learning about three magical words to use at home, "please, thank you and sorry"! It will be really interesting to find out more. These kids are uber polite. Maybe kids at home should have lessons in using these magic words!

Some of the classrooms were very overcrowded, with maybe 50 pupils or more. The teachers all stand in front of blackboards and I heard chanting going on as they learnt by rote. Working in an education system that is so very different, it will be really interesting to make comparisons.

At lunchtime we went out onto the yard and got completely mobbed. How DO the Beckhams cope? We were surrounded by so many kids that at one point, I saw Martha crying and I just couldn't get to her! I made the mistake of getting my camera out and that sent them all into a spin as they pushed and shoved to get in front of the lens.

After a little while some of the older girls starting playing the drums, signalling the start of assembly. The classes lined up in regimental order and the PE teacher stood up on the stage and shouted for everyone to stand "At ease!". They all stood identically with their hands neatly behind their backs. We we then invited onto the stage by Sister Jancy and we stood there with the 580 pupils of St Mary's clapping to welcome us to their school, full of hope for the great things we will do with them. Let's hope we don't disappoint them!

After assembly, we left the school, all feeling excited about coming back. We walked up the hill to the Norbulingka Institute. This is a centre of Tibetan culture, where they hope to preserve the Tibetan way of life. The temple is the place where the Dalai Lama does his writings. There is a cafe where we lunched, a guest house, museum and arts centre, and the whole thing is set in Japanese style gardens, with streams, waterfalls, bridges and shady paths. It was all very mellow, a stark contrast to being mobbed.

We chilled out here for a while before returning back McLeod. It feels good to be back here. When we first set off this morning, I had mixed feelings. I knew that going to St Mary's was one of the key features of this adventure, that was the reason I was released from my job, and the kids were so freely granted permission to leave school for two months. After the freedom of the last two weeks though, I didn't want to go back into a classroom. But it is so very very different. I can't compare it to being at work. I remind myself of some the words of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama....

The True Meaning of Life:

"We are visitors on this planet. We are here for ninety or one hundred years at the very most. During that period, we must try to do something good, something useful, with our lives.
If you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find the true goal, the true meaning of life."