Learn with Play at Home: Dear Kids, Mummy's going to India. Part 2

After arriving in Chennai, the state capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, we caught the overnight train about 395 kms (or about 8 hours on the train) southeast to the Pudukkottai district, one of the least urbanised districts in Tamil Nadu where 80% of the people live in rural areas.

Here we met the wonderful staff from World Vision India's Pudukottai Area Development Programme (ADP) office, who talked us through the projects that they are working on across 74 villages, which house approximately 16,500 children.

One of the main things that I love about World Vision is that they are not about just walking into a village, telling them what they need, throwing a bit of time and money into it and then leaving them be. It is so, so, SO much more than that. World Vision employ people that live in the area and know it very, very well. They talk with the people, they learn and assess what the main issues are in these areas and then they develop a long term plan to assist where they can, with education as a key element. At the heart of all of this, is the children. Their rights and their needs are top priority and it is through child sponsorship that funds are raised in order to be able to impact their lives and that of their families and communities, for the better. One of the main things that struck me about the World Vision staff was their passion for their work. It was so evident in the way that they spoke and it is so much more than a job for them.

Photo by Theodore Sam Paul

Dear Kids, today's little story is about a bright colourful school, a whole lot of kids, some water and a garden.

Photo by Theodore Sam Paul

You know how I am always encouraging you to eat vegetables, because they are full of vitamins and minerals essential for your health and nutrition? Well, this is the same for all children around the world. Unfortunately in some areas of the world though, children do not have access to good, nutritious food for a variety of reasons. In this region, one of the biggest issues for children is malnutrition (which leads to stunting and wasting which can have irreversible effects on the brain and development) and this is mainly due to people being too poor to provide nutrient rich meals and also because of improper rain fall which leads to a lack of water.

At this school, as well as the regular subjects, children are being educated about health, hygiene and nutrition and each day they are provided with an nutritious, organic meal to help tackle the issue of malnutrition. As the school has a number of sponsored children in attendance, World Vision helped them establish a Nutrition Garden so that they could grow, harvest and prepare their own organic vegetables.

Unfortunately, without adequate water, the garden could not survive, so World Vision put in a bore well, (dug very deep under ground to access water), so now the school has access to clean, safe water, not just for drinking and hygiene, but also so that their Nutrition Garden can survive and thrive.

Photo by Theodore Sam Paul

Meeting the children was so wonderful. I saw the same sparkle in their eyes as in yours and their smiles warmed my heart.

Dear Kids, these children deserve to be healthy and well nourished so that they may grow and learn and thrive, just like you. It is wonderful that through the generosity of child sponsors and the work of World Vision, that this can be a reality for these children.

Also, please eat your veggies. Love Mum.

If you missed Part 1, you can see it here. Also, You can follow along with our adventures over on Instagram, under the tag #wvaindia and #wvabloggers. I’m here in India with fellow bloggers, Kelly from Be a Fun Mum and Alison from Talking Frankly. Check out their sites for even more of the story.

Thanks for reading and sharing,

Debs :)

Look where else we are. Are you following along? :)