Our benefit Wednesday night was an unqualified success. we raised 4,000 INR and got a lot more people interested in the school. Several party-goers are planning to visit the school on Saturday and may even donate some more money. Work began yesterday with the laborers preparing the walls for cement. A whole section of the building needs to be torn down and completely rebuilt to support a roof.
Fundraising is going incredibly well. We’ve nearly our share of the roof project and any extra will go to buy mattresses and fans. I think we’re really going to pull this off. There’s been a bit of a national competition for donations going on between all of us. I am very proud to say that the American contingent has raised way more than the rest, beating out the Brits, Germans, and Spaniards for charity domination.
Tomorrow morning we’ve got a 6:30am wakeup to go buy materials in time for the workers to start at 8:00am. It’s hard to push through the normal relaxed Indian pace to get things moving before next week. Everything seems to be going well so far, but I’m waiting for the inevitable complications.
Update: So I roused myself at 6:30am and went off to the school to meet with the builder. Today is the birthday of the Hindu god Shiva and I was a bit worried that the workers might not show up. Fortunately, everyone made it to the school and a list of materials for the next few days was drawn up. After a bit of discussion, it was recommended that I not tag along to the purchasing mission. As I can attest, a Foreign Idiot Tax is levied on any purchase appearing to be made by a foreigner and we didn’t want the price of our materials to go up. So, I receipted the principal, Manoj, 16,000 INR to buy cement, lime, sand, and rent some equipment. I also gave him my camera with instructions to take pictures so I can put them online. I’ll stop in later to audit the materials. It’s a bit of a balancing act to strike the right note of oversight and fiscal responsibility without coming off as paranoid and overbearing. I trust Dhanna and Manoj, and if it were just my money on the line, I wouldn’t worry about it. However, since I’ve now roped a bunch of other people into giving money on my say-so, I’m feeling the pressure to account for every rupee.
April 30th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Yes, I am very interested in the Scotland trip. I expect to leave Folio myself around that time as I will probably be moving to Pennsylvania since my son will be heading off to boarding school. don’t want to write a novel here, but yes, I am ready to begin a new chapter of my life and that would be a good beginning.
Hope this finds you well.
Take care,
Greg