One of Our First Families @ ONE!

                                         To Teach is to Learn Twice.

                                                                   –    Joseph Joubert

One of Our First Families:  Rekha, Raju, Rajeshree, Bhajeshree,  Nitin,
and

I remember my second trip to India, the first after One! International became a reality.

Tania had rented a school room in the local municipal school near the temporary houses.  The houses were on the side of Carter Road between the road and the sea.

At that time Nitin was a baby.  Tania had hired Rekha to keep the school clean.  This job entailed sweeping the floor and taking the garbage out. I watched her for a few days push the dirt and papers around on the floor, making little real difference.  One day I got down on the floor and started to clean up the papers and garbage under the desks and in the corners.  That seemed to have an effect and her efforts were a little more energetic for the next few days.

Each time I visited Mumbai on subsequent trips Rekha’s performance was better and better and she started to take on more responsible tasks.

Now I am not going to say that Rekha is now perfect – but the improvement and growth is quite phenomenal.  She still has her bad days when she doesn’t show up for work, or the days she shows up a bit “under the influence”, but these days are less frequent.

The biggest change is the pride she has in doing a good job. Now, she not only sweeps up all the garbage on the floor, she gets into the corners and under the furniture and then washes the floor completely.  She takes pride in cooking good nutritious meals for the children and staff.  Her children are doing well at their studies – she is a good role model for them.

Rekha and her family have come a long way from the days on Carter Road.