Gotta like our food!!!

This is how our food is cooked every day!! These ladies work SO HARD to prepare three meals a day for 1,400 students. They get to the cafeteria at 4am each day, except Sabbath. All of our meals are prepared over open fires and then taken into the cafeteria to be served. The chapatis (basically a whole wheat tortilla that is thin) are cooked six days per week. The ladies make nearly 2,000 chapatis every day and these are SO GOOD when they are warm. Our diet consists of white rice, potatoes (every day), dal (watery lentil soup), veggies (lots of pumpkin and squash) and chapatis. Tonya and I eat out of the cafeteria each day at lunch and then I take home the leftovers and heat them up for dinner. I do miss my food and we will be back in Khunti around October 31, 2007. We had a great time in the States and we really thank everyone for their time and support of Khunti School!! Hopefully soon, I will post a photo of the new generator that we were able to fund while in the States!!!

Laundry day at the school

Each week, every student is required to do their OWN laundry. Yes, parents...children CAN do their own laundry!! Every student has one hour of work built into their schedule each day except Sabbath. Most weeks, there is not enough water coming from the taps for the entire campus to be served with water, so students (and staff) have to either save water in buckets (which we do from Thursday night until Sunday) or get water from an open well and then do their clothes in a bucket. We do our laundry out of a bucket like everyone else, rinse it out and then hang it on the line to dry. With no dryer, you really hope for a lot of sun during the monsoon season.!!

Students at Khunti SDA School

Here is a look at some of our students at Khunti SDA School!! Khunti SDA School is a K-12 school and there are about 1,400 students that attend the school. Of these students, about 800 are boarding students. We have a significant orphan population that live full-time at the school and attend class. Khunti SDA School is a large, but very poor school. There is no lighting in the classrooms and students often have to fetch water from an open well for hygiene and laundry. Although there is playtime built in to their day, the real focus is on education, as education is the real way out of poverty.

Life in India...

Is hard. Over 80% of all Indians live on less than $2.00 per day. With this level of income, most people are living below the poverty line. Indians do whatever it takes to provide for their families survival. From what we have seen, there is little in the way of public assistance. If you don't work, odds are you aren't going to eat. Unemployment is very high, even with the surging economy. With over one billion people in the country, people work where they can whether it is selling leechies, pedaling a bicycle rickshaw or loading a bus.

Lira has no loss of attention from students!

Yes, we DID take our "girls" with us from Roorkee to Khunti!! We wouldn't know what to do without our girls! Lira, our big girl, loves everyone and everyplace is a new party for her! Delilah, on the other hand, has HAD IT with being the "star of India" and is just content to stay home with mom and dad and she isn't real keen on students anymore. She likes to be "homeland security" at the house we have and she leaves the socializing to Lira now. Both of our girls are in India and we miss them!

Going to church on Sabbath..

Tonya and I are dressed and ready to go to our little school campus church. This is our front lawn that we share with the School Principal, Mr. J. Kurju. We live in a very remote area that has a lot of jungle and farmland surrounding the school. Our tiny home (we call it the 3 closet, 1 bath place) is next to the orchard that is behind us in the pic. We have no fridge, no washer/dryer (we wash clothes out of a bucket), no dishwasher (bucket thing again) and no a/c or t.v. We love where we are staying and we are very happy that we are living just like everyone else!!

We have moved!!

Well, our time in Roorkee has come to an end. We enjoyed our stay and were able to accomplish what we had set out to do at the school, but it was time to move on. We are now at the SDA Secondary School in Khunti, India in the state of Jharkhand that is about 60 kms west of Calcutta. Tonya is still teaching English to children on the campus and Al is now the Librarian of the school. We are located in the hills above Ranchi in a remote jungle area that is very poor and with a high unemployment rate. Above is a picture of the front of the school and we will be adding pics as we go along. We can still be reached at Neeper2@aol.com, but be patient as we have to go 35 kms into Ranchi for Internet use.

Neeps arrival in India

Well everyone, we did make it India!! Things here are great. We have had much time to travel, as we have been buying the necessities of life. The dogs made it through with no problems at all and they seem to love the campus. Tonya is already getting her Resource Room together and I have been placed as the "Admistrative Aide to the President. Big title, but that doesn't matter to me. I have many duties including supervising the boys and girls dorms, the cafeteria and several staff on campus. I usually just fall into bed after the day due to all the walking. Tonya is waiting for our container to come, so she can get started to. Not much travelling yet, as we have had to purchasse a fridge and a microwave. I am in Chicago right now watching him graduate from bootcamp and he has really matured. He should be home for Christmas if he graduates on time which is 12/21/06. Seeing him was wonderful and has liberty all weekend so that will be nice to spend some time with him. He misses our church at home and all of friends too. We are very happy here and just ask that you keep us in your prayers. Sorry that there are no pics this time as Tonya has the laptop. Take care everyone

Al and Tonya