St Thomas More High School

India Expedition 2017

After many months of preparation, fund raising and contact with the facilitators and children of the Elysiom Slum Project, the day was finally here, we had touched down in Southern India. Our first stop was Mumbai Airport where we would collect our connecting flight to Chennai. The airport was stunning, polished marble walls and fine carpets as we walked from our plane down through to the shops and dining area. Here our two accountants Eddie Jones and Galvin Salvador-Regalado began exchanging some of our British pounds into Indian Rupees, besides checking into the correct flights this was their first real independent experience of the trip and they handled it very well!

Our connecting flight was approximately 2 hours and we landed in Chennai, again the airport was fantastic, it was air conditioned, painted white, very clean, even with its own indoor waterfall! It certainly gave some of us a distorted impression of what to expect for the next three weeks. As soon as we left the air conditioned comfort of the airport we were hit with the 38 degree heat and intense humidity, immediately taking the wind out of my sails. Waiting for us was our transport to our first hotel in Chennai, a small minibus, we clambered on board, forcing the bags into any available space around us and off we went.

The bus left the airport Carpark and joined the rest of the traffic on one of the busy main roads. Our conversations were drowned out by the relentless barrage of horns and honks from the range of vehicles. The noise was incomprehensible to us but to the local people it was a part of their everyday commute. On these roads you would find nearly 5 lanes worth of traffic on a two lane road, it was very busy. This wasn't your usual traffic either, included overfilled buses, cars, open top trucks carrying varieties of foods, bright yellow tuc tucs, motorbikes, mopeds being used by whole families at a time and bicycles with big wooden carts in tow. Beeping was a necessity on these roads as overtaking and undertaking along with a lack of traffic rules meant accidents were a real possibility if you didn't know who was around you.

Our first day in Chennai was spent getting out bearings, making sure we were aware of contact numbers, the name of our accommodation and ensuring we had exchanged our pounds into Indian rupees. Over the next 5 evenings we volunteered with the Elysiom Slum Project of Chennai, it was a fantastic chance to do some good, whilst learning much about the culture and challenges of India's most poor. Poverty was something that jumped straight out at us as we navigated the streets of Chennai; we often found ourselves having to step over or walk around homeless people as they were laid out on the paths and deal with our emotions as others begged out of desperation. The children of the Elysiom slum would visit the project after school to partake in a variety of activities and sometimes before school for games of football. We had previously skyped these children, Joshua, one of the project leaders, had reiterated how excited they were to meet us. Meeting the children for the first time was a fantastic experience, they were booming with confidence and there were smiles on every face, we played games, they showed us magic tricks and we got to learn each other’s names. It was very difficult to imagine their stories. We had been told of the many difficulties these children face at home and at school, the lack of opportunities available to them, especially the girls. We were told about the adversities they had faced and how they aimed to overcome them. We had seen the quality of housing opposite the project with houses much smaller than my classroom shared by whole families, with rooves made from billboard notices and their front doors leading out onto a mud path. It was an extremely humbling experience. It certainly made me and Mrs Saunders fortunate for the opportunities that we have and our pupils felt the same. Please click here for a YouTube film made by Charlie Beresford, one of the students who went on the trip.   Mr West.