Pamohi Village Gets Into the Photo Pals Groove!
30 January 2013
The Photo Pals Project just keeps
getting more and more fun!
Apparently, Mama and I are not the
only ones for whom the Parijat students’ joy is contagious. The whole town gets
into it.
Today, we struck out to the local
outdoor veggie market (about 1 ½ km away from the school) with Class 5. At
first, Mama and I were a bit apprehensive about taking young students so far.
We knew that keeping 5th graders walking in a line for that long so as to avoid
getting smooshed by little trucks heading to the market and big trucks heading
to the quarries would be no easy feat. But we sweated it out and managed to go
and return with all the students!
Thank goodness we got over our
initial hesitation because today’s Photo Pals Project was even more fun than
yesterday’s Photo Pals Project— and I did not think that was possible. When the
students were finally set loose in the crowded outdoor veggie market, it was
utter and heavenly pandemonium. The students took photos of everyone and
everything in sight.
At first, the students started just
taking candid photos of vendors and customers without asking. No one seemed
bothered by it, and then it went a step further: they actually enjoyed it!
Vendors and customers started mugging for the camera and asking to be in
photos. They also started taking photos of the students as they took photos,
and they asked to take plenty of photos of Mama and me, too.
On the way back to Parijat, the
students just kept snapping photos. They stopped at a roadside stand that
carries snacks and candy, and the vendor gave each of them a piece of candy.
How sweet…no pun intended! And then as we were walking through the fields, we
passed a fruit tree (I still don’t know what the fruit is.) and the students
started jumping and knocking the fruit off the tree. The owner of the house by
the tree came out and I thought, “Uh-oh. Now we’re gonna get it.” But nope. He
smiled, pulled out a long pole and started knocking the fruit off the tree for
the students. The owner, Mama and I stood by and chuckled as they scrambled all
over the ground to pick up the fruit and pop them in their mouths.
We came back pretty wiped out. Too
much excitement for one day. :-) No rest for the weary, though. We promised
Class 6 that we would take them out with the cameras once more this week.
[On a side, but related, note: We
finally got rechargeable batteries, so it seems that we can make this project
run more smoothly. That is, if the electricity would stop cutting out!
Seriously, in the last few days, we’ve had electricity outages for most of the
day. That makes recharging the batteries (not to mention uploading these
photos!) quite the on-going challenge. I know I’ve mentioned the battery
problems and electricity outages in other posts, but it’s a regular part of
life. And it’s a regular part of the Photo Pals Project, too!]
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