Day 8

Hello everyone! 

Today we spent another incredible day in the resource centre with the kids.

This morning was the weekly baby clinic, where children under five from the slum have a health check up and are immunised. The babies were being weighed and vaccinated against polio, hepatitis B and DPT. As Rachel Keys, Shannen, Adam and Suzanne are interested in medicine and social work, they were able to sit in and take part. Adam and Rachel even had the new experience of giving two babies their injections. Since the introduction of these inoculations the infant mortality rate has dropped dramatically. In the past few years there have been no deaths at all in children under five.

The video also shows the children enjoying this afternoon's craft activity; we made paper hats decorated with foam shapes. The children were thrilled to take these home and were so proud of what they'd made.

Meanwhile the others continued with the painting, and after another day of hard work the main corridor and ICT room are almost completed, as you can see in the video below. We were asked to paint another room, the English classroom, in which we've decided to contrast Northern Irish and Indian culture- pictures include Slemish and Himalayas, Harland and Wolff and the Taj Mahal.                    
Dr Donnelly has discovered a new passion to replace physics- outlining trees with black paint! (Pictured above with her most beloved creation.)

Mr Donnelly, on the other hand, has only reinforced his love of maths, as he imposes it upon the children through his painting.

Others had the opportunity to talk to the college students...

We can't believe we only have one more day of working left. Over the past days we have really gotten to know and appreciate the Asha staff, who work in this amazing centre every day. Even those who can't speak a word of English have made us feel so very welcome. Here you can see Miss Bassett with Sweeta, an Asha worker who is the supervisor of five slums, including Tigri.

This evening we will be attending a celebration dinner organised by Dr Kiran for five different UK teams currently working in Delhi, including our own. We'll let you know all about it tomorrow.

This is Suzanne's blogspot on Indian food...

Food in the north of India is mostly based around rice and vegetables because they are both widely available there. 'Saag' is a very popular dish which is prepared with a green leafy vegetable known as the 'Hak'. West Indian food uses lots of pickled vegetables also known as ‘dals’ because it is a desert area as fresh vegetables are not so available. In South India, spices, fishes and coconuts are the most popular ingredients and they use a lot of the tamarind spice. In East India, the staple food is a combination of rice and fish. Hilsa is the national fish of Bangladesh. A popular way of preparing it is to wrap it in pumpkin leaf and then cook it.

‘Lassi’, is a popular drink in India. It is a yoghurt or buttermilk drink that is sweetened and flavoured with rose, mango, or served plain. Many Indian restaurants offer lassi on their menus, since it is a popular accompaniment to spicy Indian food. Yogurt and other dairy products make it easier to digest spicy foods.

There are three main types of bread in India, Roti, which doesn’t contain yeast, chapati which is a thinner version of roti and naan bread which does have yeast in it. The breads are normally eaten with curries or cooked vegetables.

Almost 25 spices are used in making Indian curries. Popular spices include turmeric, chilly, saffron, cloves, peppercorns, cardamom and cumin seeds. The mixture of onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes is used as a base to these spices for cooking. To make the curry rich coconut milk, cream and dry fruits are added.

Nuts are another common choice, but they are roasted with a hot spice blend of turmeric, paprika, and cumin powder. Often a little lemon juice is squeezed on top.

Georgina, Shannen, Adam and Naomi.

P.S. We (Naomi and Georgina) would like to add that we're especially enjoying the privileged status our ginger hair has afforded us. Whenever we step onto the street it seems like every other family wants a photo with us! Naturally, we will expect the same attention whenever we return home...