Sarah and Abigail (Shillong, 2009)

  WI'll never forget the experience that I had there and I've gained so much from it, so thank you very much for the opportunity.

Didi was wonderful and extremely kind and the children were the most amazing I have ever met. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of being with them and feel privileged to have been able to live with them and teach them. There is still lots to do at the school though. I wish I could do more to help.

I did find teaching, though enjoyable, extremely frustrating! You hit the nail on the head when you said it would be difficult to change! The conditions for teaching are obviously less than ideal, and the use of nothing but a blackboard and textbook is dreadful. I was shocked by the behaviour and attitude of some of the teachers I saw and one in particular who didn't even attempt to teach but instead sat with a stick in her hand while the children did absolutely nothing. I know the teachers are paid extremely low wages and the use of the textbook is never going to change, as teachers only work the hours that they are teaching and so would never have time to plan their own lessons. The English textbooks were particularly depressing, as was the way that the children are simply given the answers to the comprehension questions to copy down. The nursery class was the worst - I couldn't bear to hear their little voices reciting spellings over and over again. I know that the education they're receiving is obviously better than no education, but as a teacher who is constantly thinking about how to motivate and excite pupils and ways to improve lessons in order to maximise learning potential, as well as differentiating and meeting children's individual needs, I found it incredibly frustrating.

This has therefore made me keener than ever to help in any way I can. Best wishes

  I've been teaching in the school for the majority of my stay, and the children and both Didis are lovely. I'll be sad to leave on Monday.

I'd just like to make a few suggestions if that's alright. For the list of things for volunteers to bring as presents for the children, I would say bring enough for one each. Didi confiscates every gift given (really everything - crayons, toys, books) because she believes it will cause strife between them. If they have one each of everything however this may mean the children at least get the use out of their gifts. They need teddy bears, soft toys, skipping rope, balls, frisbees, games without lots of bits that will be lost. Most important is pencils, pencils, pencils - even just 120, one for each student - would be brilliant. I thought it would be easy to buy all that stuff here, but there just isn't anywhere round here that I've seen.

I've asked Didi when would be inconvenient for her to have more volunteers, but she won't give me any dates, so I assume that anytime is OK, but with a gap in between volunteers staying. It might be a good idea to warn people coming too that they will be expected to eat large quantities of food, and so if they don't eat a lot, just be prepared to adjust. I would say that's been the only difficulty during my stay, other than that I've really enjoyed it.