School Days

Yesterday was a school day for us in two different villages and I truly believe we saw some of the best that India has to offer in the products of the educational system. these children are learning things at an early age that could take our US schools to task very quickly. The S. R. K. school in Nellore has a very strong rotary presence in the faculty, student body, and the projects that students from age three through 10th standard at age 15 put forth. Yesterday the school presented the annual science fair and children as young as three were doing posters on different types of animals and plants. We moved late in the day from Nellore to Guder and were unaware until our arrival that I was the keynote speaker at an anniversary celebration of a large private school here that was commemorating the anniversary of the school which has both a State Regents component and a private component. Students are schooled not only in academic subjects but in dance and music and athletics and hundreds of prizes were given out last evening. My talk focused (totally off the cuff) on not limiting the size of your dreams but on becoming passionate about something, making it the focus of your thoughts and dreams and doing whatever it takes to make those dreams a reality.

We got out of there so late last evening that the team came home to bed at 10:30PM without taking supper or feeling the need.

Today we each did a vocational day in Guder with me visiting two small private hospitals, regina going to the Engineering College, Chris an aquaculture farm where shrimp is grown, Rebecca seeing another C.N. Television news station and Megan watching "Don", a Tallywood Action flick which she tells us was very violent and bloody but in which the dancing was good.

I am about to take my first mid day nap of the trip as I feel quite in need of one and we have two hours prior to our next set of visiting Rotary Projects and then presentation to the Guder main Club this evening.