Trip to the Water park with the street children of Calcutta

After
last year’s heartbreaking trip to Kolkata, I was determined to make this trip as emotionally positive as possible hence the decision to take the street children VITAL sponsors in the two schools on a day trip to the Water Park.

As it was difficult to limit the numbers & refuse some children, we ended up with 64 children coming.

It was lucky I had Dougal & Alice accompanying the 5 teachers along with myself.

Most of these children had never been out of the city before & were in such jovial spirits when they boarded the bus at 9.30am that they all started singing & dancing on the bus.

We quietened them down by giving them a packed breakfast!

We finally arrived at Aquatica by 11.30am.

We had to hire swimsuits for most of the children & then most of them ran off.

I was assigned two 5 yr olds who were nervous of the water & clung to me most of the time whilst Alice had offered to look after 3 yr old Krishnu.

Krishnu was also frightened of the water but by the end of the day he was completely at home in the water.

We rounded up the children by 4pm & gave them a hot lunch by the bus before returning to the city on a quiet bus as all the children had fallen asleep!

Locarno Triathlon 2009

What can I say?

I was absolutely dreading the actual event & even considered not doing it as the knee was still not 100%.

I was only able to swim most of the summer with no cycling or running at all until two weeks before the event when I tried to squeeze in as much training as possible.

Swimming was no problem except for the boredom & the fish frightening me as they were not afraid of me & I managed about 160km of cycling over 10 days.

I didnt feel ready to practise uphills since I didnt feel the knee could handle it though the actual race had a couple of steep hills.

Since I dislike running I thought waterskiing could replace the run & I foolishly tried a few new moves to increase the rooster tail leaving me with aching pecs, shoulders & stomach muscles!

The night before the big day there were heavy strong winds causing the lake temp to drop 4C down to 20C but I refused to wear a wetsuit.

The day turned out gorgeous & our late take off time at 5.45pm was a blessing as it would have been much too hot earlier on.

As always the swim was a breeze which I always enjoy.

The bike was difficult uphill against a slight wind.

Coming down I had to put the brakes on at 44kph as I'm too frightened of the speed.

I managed to shuffle the 5km run with a few walks to rest the knee.

I was so pleased to complete it & even enjoyed it despite the extremely slow time which was even slower than last year with the wind & rain!

It was great doing it with Ed & Sheery. Thank you to all our generous donors once again.

Watch this space for 2010.

London Triathlon 2009

What a nightmare with people dropping out & finding last minute fill ins.

Michelle cant make it so Jessica fills in.

Sara doesnt make it so my team does not have a swimmer whilst I feel my knee has not recovered so Amy takes my place!

Another runner pulls out 2 days before but Debbie fills in & Denise pulls out completely from the individual which luckily doesnt affect any teams.

Despite all the drama EVERYONE enjoyed themselves so much they all want to do it again next year - I dont know if I can handle the stress!

In any case about £6500 was raised - great effort everyone & thank you all so much.

London Triathlon 2008

Having cycled over 250km over the last 2 months & swimming half a dozen times in my new wetsuit, I was feeling quite prepared to tackle my latest challenge. Despite my confidence, the sleepless nights before the big day were filled with butterflies in my stomach or my heart pounding away furiously.

The agonisingly slow drive of 10km to the Excel Centre on my own took nearly an hour in pouring rain. It was difficult to concentrate on anything let alone the traffic.

Entering the Thames with 450 female competitors at 5pm, I felt good. I was surprised by the slightly salty taste of the water. At take off, I sprinted 30m then I started to panic. I couldn't believe what was happening. I couldn't breathe. I was gasping for air & couldn't swim. I wanted to quit. I started pulling myself along the rope in between trying to swim a few strokes. I was amazed at all the strong swimmers passing me. I wanted to end this fear & call out for help but then I thought of all you people who believed in me – there was absolutely no way I could let you all down.

Towards the end of the swim I could hear & see my cheer squad urging me on, giving me the extra oomph needed. Thank you cheer squad!!

As I exited the centre on my bike it was pouring with rain, & strong head winds – once again I was gripped with fear as I had never cycled in the rain before, let alone battle strong winds that made cycling on flat ground like cycling uphill !!

It was cold at 15C. I was drenched after the first lap. My shoes were heavy. I was glad to change into running shoes. The rain stopped but the wind was still strong. The run was more a shuffle. Stitches appeared on both sides or was it stomach upset from swallowing too much Thames water? The knees started to ache. Had my torn knee ligament last year not healed completely? Why am I putting myself through 2 hours of torture? I lead such a wonderful cushy life, doing as I please with no worries or stress…this is absolutely crazy!!

At the finish line I was not buzzed up as I had anticipated. I remembered to drink my glass of coke to kill the Thames bugs!!

Do you remember how you felt when you received your first pay check? That is how I felt. I felt I really earned the £3000/$6000 you all so generously donated. I really would like to thank you all but more than this, I am grateful to you all for your support & belief in me, and most importantly, in VITAL.

TOGETHER WE WILL make a difference in the lives of thousands of children.

For those of you who still haven't donated & those of you who would like to donate again, I've decided to do it again – a triathlon in Locarno on Sept 6th (didn't I mention somewhere above the words…never again??)
Here is the link www.mycharitypage.com/YvonneNeuman

With much love & gratitude

Yvonne xxx

Teaching children of the sex workers in the red light district in Calcutta

Teaching English to the children of the sex workers was not going to be easy as they varied in age & abilities.

My first lesson with them was to see how much English they knew so I decided to bring whatever I could find in my hotel room to discuss- teabags, coffee & sugar sachets.

I was amazed when these children had never seen them before especially the dried milk powder.

They laughed at the chopsticks I borrowed from the Chinese restaurant & were fascinated at the different currencies I was able to show them from Australia, USA & UK.

They kept asking me questions about my life.

Where I grew up, my origins & where I was living now.

When I told them about Mithra’s background & how his parents had to flee, they had never heard of Hitler.

When I explained how Hitler dreamt of a world where every one was blonde haired & blue eyed they so innocently asked “why?”

At the end of my 2 hr class they all started to sing to me in chorus with the lead singer starting off.

They were such a happy lot.

All of them knew they wanted a better life than they had now so all were attending formal school & coming to our evening program for further education.

This program that VITAL funds offers protection & education to the children in the evenings when their mothers turn the children out onto the streets whilst they work.

In the 16 years this program had been running, not one daughter of a sex worker had followed in her mother’s footsteps.

Working with the community in this area, the local school has offered the use of two classrooms.

Any space available is grabbed such as the balcony & the store room.

The library also allows us to teach in there too.

Making a Documentary

A Documentary on the work VITAL does with the street children was made by Dougal & Alice.

Alice gave 35 children a two hour lesson to learn a 90 second dance routine which was to be filmed the next day.

Some of the children who were interviewed were child labourers, children who had to work before & after school.

It was heartbreaking to hear of their stories.

One in particular was a 6 year old boy. He would get up in the morning at 6am to wash plates & glasses in the restaurant & even collect payment.

If the tally was incorrect he would be scolded & his meager pay withdrawn.

He would then reach our school by 11am for two hours before returning to work.

I do feel one of the attractions to get the children to come to our school is the provision of a free hot lunch, most likely the only meal they would get that day.

House of Lords Dinner

A black tie dinner at the House of Lords was held one week before Christmas, was hosted by our Patron, the Baroness Miller. The event was a huge success with Dame Norma Major as our guest of honour. Six guests flew in from USA & another 3 from Europe. 40% of the guests were Americans who very likely contributed to the enthusiastic atmosphere on the night.

The evening started with a snow shower producing a Christmas feel as the snow flakes floated past Big Ben. Guests were taken on a tour of both Houses of Parliament. The guides were in jovial form explaining the origins of many colloquial English expressions, which amused the Americans.

Christies auctioneer, Nicholas Martineau, was in excellent form squeezing money out of guests in the most humorous manner amidst much laughter. Everyone was in great spirits & in the most generous of moods.

The evening flew by & ended with a surprise birthday cupcake presented to 82 year old Marilyn, who flew in from Maine, USA. She said this was the best birthday of her life!