It's been an exciting few days at Nav Jeevan. On Wednesday night, instead of T.V. time for the children, we completed our mural! Each of the 100 hostel children now have a hand print on the wall, whether it be a flower, butterfly, or tree. With only a little mess, we made a lot of smiles and a huge improvement to the space.
The kids were so excited to participate in our project. It was nice to create a sense of ownership with them to achieve a friendly space to eat and play. There were many nervous giggles when they first squished their fingers in paint, but by the end of the night children were coming though the line again and again, even making hand prints on pieces of blank paper so they could keep a souvenir to remember how much fun they had.
Also, we bought nine pairs of shoes for the children, continuing the work that the other volunteers at Nav Jeevan had been doing. With all the activities at the school, shoes are quickly worn out here at Nav Jeevan and always need frequent replacing. It really makes a child's day when they have new shoes and we quickly received many more orders than we could fill! Fortunately, Nav Jeevan has a budget for shoes and will be replacing them again after the students get back from summer vacation.
This weekend, we will hold a sex education class, one for girls and one for boys. We also have plans to take 15 girls on a hike to a lake. On Sunday, we'll be going on a temple tour of Nagpur with a friend we have met here.
