Were Back!

Hey everyone!
As you may have guessed... were back in the country!
I thought id still post to let you know a few more things.
There are a few things i managed to forget to speak about or add photo's for!
This was due to me being forgetful and also the lack of good quality internet some of the time...

Firtsly is the addition of several huts to the camp site at avalanche!
These are both for staff and campers, they are made completely from natural materials such as wood and grass along with twine made of bark from certain trees.
This is a really exciting prospect for future development on site because there will be perminant shelter for more campers without using bricks and mortar. The site is jungle based and should be in keeping with its surroundings. The huts only need re-roofing every 4 or 5 years also.


Since i went there in march before my family arrived there was hardly anything of the such built. When i arrived the second time i found that three had been finished along with another on the way!
It was great to see so much happening over the time i was there!



We thoroughly enjoyed our time in kerela after leaving Ooty. We enjoyed the company of Anupa very much also, even though she wanted us to take picures of her posing all the time...
She was great to have with us also because she could speak the local language too!

We flew back to chennai as i mentioned previously, and were greeted by anupa's parents.
That day was the day of their 25th anniversary party also.
We helped with the setting up of the chairs and the house.... well i didnt cos i was doing my blog and procrastinating!

The evening went really well, a pastor and long term friend of the family lead some songs and a short talk and gave blessings for the couple.
Food was served afterwards as 'any meeting without eating is cheating' once said by Raj.
The whole event was lovely, seeing great friends and family who have been part of their lives for so long!






The next day we flew home via Sri lanka in the morning. The flight to Sri Lanka was fine although it was in the opposite direction to home! But due to pricing it was cheaper to fly via there, even if it took longer. We connected straight onto our second flight homewards!
The flight took about 12 hours including time difference (4.5 hrs).
We were picked up by a friend and driven home while catching up on church buisness and the premiership!

That night we went to bed English time, 4 hours or so later than we would have in india!
I adjusted ok, but mum and dad are still feeling the effects of jet lag

Since we have been home some have still not fully adjusted, but were still doing well if not a little tired!

Now were back ill have to stop badgering you to read my blog!

If you want to i might add some more stuff not necessarily connected with india, but your welcome to look out for it.

Kerela and the Boat'y Birthday - More pics to come....

Hi all!
We are now back in Chennai after our flight back from Kerela. We flew for one and a half hours instead of 12 hours by train!
Kerela was great, especially as it had my birthday in the middle of it!
We went from Ooty to coimbatore to get a train to kerela which arived around 4am. We seem to have a nack of getting trains that arrive at stupid o'clock in the morning! Raj had previously arranged accommodation including the day boat trip over my birthday. We met anupa at the station in kerela, she had got the same train as us; but she sarted in chennai.
We all arrived at 'Coconut Creek' where we were staying for 3 nights and went back to bed!
That day was spent looking around the local area including the lake, which is massive! We went out for lunch at the KTDC Hotel on the lake side which provided a very nice view.

The next day My Birthday! April 21st was spent on a Kerelan House Boat, otherwise known as a Rice Boat. This boat was mostly made from wood and Palm matting all over the exterior making it look prett good. The boat was equipped with 3 staff, electricity, 2 air conditioned bedrooms for night time, and some stunning views of the backwater lake area's.
Dad secretly bought a cake and brought it out at dinner time.
We motored around the lakes for the day being waited on hand and foot and provided with alot of food! We stayed on the boat that night before returning back to our rooms at coconut creek in the morning by boat.

That day we went to Cochin, the nearby city. We saw the harbour, jewish quarter, and the dutch palace. We then paid extra for AC in our taxi because it was so hot!
On wednesday we took a local bus, costing only 7 or so rupees for the equivalent distance to guildford... although a little more bumpy and faster!

We looked around some shops including 'Seemati' a large Sari shop, and several extravagent and very busy gold shops! Gold is not rare in india, and the gold is costed by weight; 1 gram only Rs1120 = 14 pounds. Dad bought mum a present for her birthday which she chose, of course! After we came back we went fo a swim at a local resort to cool down, although the water was quite warm, but still very nice

And now we come to today; we got up pretty early and got to the airport at Cochin to leave at 0940. Surprisingly our plane was on time, unlike most other public transport...

We were greeted by anupa's parents and now we are gettin ready for celebrations of their 25th anniversary. There will be around 50 people here, most of whom we wont know!

Tomorrow we fly home to england to end this chapter of the Doneys India Experience!

We would love to come back again, but we have to leave it for a few years i think.

Dad has a boat to build, i have a degree to finish, mum has a class to teach, and andy has something to do... (A-Levels) Which mum has made him revise all over india...

BEST BITS!

Most memorable images

Andy: Going to Avalanche Camp and being in the jungle. Walking around the place and seeing the amazing scenery. The place was stunning!

Norm: Meeting up with old friends, and seeing how there are progressing . Observing camp sites and hearing the vision and passion of others. Appreciating afresh the worldwide benefits of camp work in peoples lives of all ages and backgrounds.

Mum: Probably the faces of the children we have met whether aids orphans, abandoned, school pupils or children of our missionary friends. They all need love and they all smile at the same things. I pray that the little girl at Divia Shanti, who had only been rescued a week before i saw her, can smile soon too. The whole experience has left a lasting impression which i take home with me.

ME: Seeing others learning and enjoying teaching. I pray that the people i have helped will go on to many good things and pass on their knowledge to others, as i have enjoyed doing. I have also enjoyed making so many great friends: including Raj, Nandu, Dinesh, Davis, Shreeni, Rajesh, Gladwin, Melvin, Nelson and many more along the way. God Bless you all!

Enough from us for now!

I plan to add more photo's when im back home.

We fly tomorrow morning to sri lanka, then homewards; arriving late friday night.

We hope to tell you more in person!

Much Love

Charlie, Norm, Rosslyn, Andy

x

Avalanche!

Hey guys!

Were back from the jungle safe and sound, if not a little more muddy and tired!

We arrived in ooty at around 7am monday and went to a guesthouse called montoban for the day, we met up with some friends; the buckingham family who we know through CYE.

It was great to spend the day with them looking around a tea factory, as it all come from here anyway. As norman said ' i do love tea!' so we all enjoyed learning about it and having a cuppa afterwards. We also went on a train along the moutnainside for some time. We went for a posh tea at a Tea room later that day, we pretended that the tea was nice... although it was pretty weak and looked like dish water...

During the day we also met a lovely english family with 2 young kids which we really enjoyed spending time with. We found out that the father had met Raj at a conference once... small world!

On tuesday we got picked up by the scripture union army style truck to be taken with the group to avalanche, we drove to the edge of the jungle on poorly maintained roads and then walked into the camp for some 5 or so kilometres. We arrived in time for some lunch and we then set up our tents to sleep in for the next few nights.

That afternoon we started our activity rotations of kayaking, gorge walking, abseiling and swimming. I ran abseiling with nandu and managed to send a majority of the group down over the 2 days sessions.

The group didnt all speak english and so lanaguage was difficult. The speaker was talking in 'canada' one of the bangalore languages, as well as saying some in english.

We completed all the rotations and had some great fun with the group. Dad was in charge of kayaking and mum was running swimming sessions.

Andy was helping and being the official photographer.

On thursday we ran some team challenges including a river crossing challenge and another activity dad brought from cye. The activities went down well and everyone learnt from it!

We brought with us a safety line and a life ring to help the avalanche staff with water safety and the training was in 3 languages!

We came back to montoban on friday afternoon to some hot water and a swim at hebron school, where the buckinghams and the fairfields live. That evening dad met with some camp leaders and discussed ideas for the future.

This evening we are heading off to kerela joined by our friend anupa for a few days, then back to chennai for friday to fly home.

I will post again if possible, but otherwise i will post again in england!

Much love

The Doneys

x

Bangalore! or 'Bengaluru' as it 's to be called now... Photo's at a later date...

Hi all
I thought we would post now as we are leaving for Ooty on sunday evening for the camp at Avalanche and to meet friends in Ooty also. Then on to Kerela and back to Chennai to fly home!

We arrived in Bangalore on wednesday morning pretty early after getting a train from Chennai at 9.30pm. The train was surprisingly on time and well organised, stuck onto the train carriage near the door was the seat bookings for the carriage and destinations and so on.
The indian railway caters for over 1 Billion people, so they are doing pretty well!

We arrived in bangalore at around 3.30am where Raj met us at the station after calling me to let me know our train was arriving at the station as we spoke!
Raj ran to catch up with our carriage as it arrived and we off loaded our many bags!
We arrived at Raj's place and then went for a sleep for some time until around 12 noon.

That Afternoon mum went on Raj's motorbike through the city, where she would never do so in england... they went to the Divya Shanti school nearby where they were having their sports day. She was shown around the school and met a number of orphan kids, one who has only been rescued the week before. Mum took video's and some pictures to show back home.

That afternoon we took rickshaws to do yet more shopping to get some indian sheets and see the commercial district.

Thursday we travelled with some friends of Raj, including Nandu., and Stevie who has ownership of a potential camp site land that we had a look at. This made Norman somewhat excited and for a moment forgetful about his own boat projects...

We continued to the Nandi Hills, around 3000 feet or more. We drove to the top to be greeted by many nosey monkeys. Some of these would do almost anything for a meal... including mounting one couples lunch table!
The view of the region from the hills was stunning and pretty high!

On the way back we visited an aids orphanage and centre called 'Accept'. We played with the kids and showed them some magic tricks, including a few from the so called 'uncle Raj' who had been once before.
The centre is destined to close due to the government building a highway to the new international airport, this seems a bit unethical as pay off's are not sufficient to rebuild facilities elsewhere...

The surrounding highways were well maintained, although they had speed bumps near most junctions for so called traffic calming, this means going from 60km to 10km in a short space of time! This is not too enjoyable when in the back seats of a jeep...
All this was done in a rented taxi, which only cost a small amount for the whole day!
That evening we went out for a steak dinner at 'millers' restaurant; This wasn't very indian... We all ate to our hearts content!

On friday am we attended a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian centres in Bangalore. Discussions were about how they could assist and encourage one another, and how to bring others doing camps or running centres into the group.
In the afternoon we went to Breakthrough which is the centre that i have worked at earlier.
Norman had been there 10 years before when it was only a bare site, so it was amazing to see the low and high ropes, accommodation and Zip line which we all tested out!! That evening we stayed at breakthrough catching up with old friends; some of which are now married, or have older children.

Today, Saturday we have been relaxing after a long day on friday. This morning we went out for an indian breakfast at my favourite eating place 'Shanti Sagar' where we had Dose (dough-say) and some other foods.
After that Me Andy and Norman had a haircut and a shave, along with an indian head massage! Mum watched on, bemused as to how the so called 'massage' could be beneficial; but it was still good and surprisingly relieving on the head!

This evening we are celebrating my birthday early with friends from bangalore before we leave on sunday. We plan to have much food and fun this evening!
Sunday we are going to Raj's church in the morning and leaving for Ooty in the late evening.
We hope for safe travels and hopefully to sleep on the overnight bus...

I apologise for the lack of photo's and I plan up upload some onto this post when i find a computer that isn't broken...

Much love
Charlie D
Norman, Rosslyn and Andy
xxx

Chennai!

Hi all
Thought we would post to let you all know what we have been up to as a family. We have been doing quite alot of sight seeing. Me and Andy have been feeling pretty awkard while mum takes photo's of anything slightly interesting, and also striking up conversations with complete strangers!

Since my family have arrived on friday we have been quite busy!

After my parents slept for some time we went out for a walk to visit a Hindu temple and later went for some pizza at Pizza Hut, an unexpectedly popular eating place in India. While munching on pizza we got to know Anupas parents Paul and Rani quite well. After the meal we all rang the bell by the door to say that we had a good time that was greeted by chorused 'Thank yous' by the Pizza Hut staff.

Saturday was mostly filled with shopping and riding in rickshaws, for those who don't know this is a cross between a motor-bike and a Smart car. Mum bought loads of stuff along with me and Andy, who got shirts and leather belts and wallets. That night we went to an Indian vegetarian restaurant to give Norman and Andy a chance to try some south Indian cuisine.

We got up ridiculously early on Sunday morning to go to Anupas church, which is similar to a CofE church. As we entered we were ushered to the front row where we could'nt see when to stand up and sit down! This proved difficult and resulted in us turning round alot of the time...

The service finished around 9 am and we were invited for breakfast with the pastor. When we returned we went back to bed and in the evening we went to the Marina beach in Chennai. This is the second longest beach for a city in the world. The beach was packed with people but no one was allowed to swim, because most people can't swim anyway; and the tsunami changed the sea bed alot also. We bought kites and ran around the beach trying to keep them in the air.

Later that evening we went to a hand loom exhibition... apparently this was interesting? Mum bought some stuff while we wandered around trying to find things to do.

On Monday we visited the Santhome Basilica Church which is built over the tomb of St.Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus. We then went on to Mahabalipuram to revisit a place close to our hearts; Cornerstone House. This is a place which was founded by some good friends Rod and Ruthie Gilbert. We met Jacob and Rani who are running the place now and also saw the changes after the tsunami over 3 years ago. Thankfully the water did not damage the actual structures although it did damage many trees. After walking around in the sun for some time we went for a swim in the pool on site! This was very refreshing and the water was bath like!

We went back through the village and bought some leather sandals for some good prices and also looked at the beach where all the fishermen work from, this all looks very traditional with some boats made from beams of wood and other more expencive models. On our way back to chennai we stopped at an indian household to get some video for mum of a child in india to show back in school.

After returning, me and dad went for a meeting with the J Team (Jesus Team) to talk about networking between CYE and so on. Anupa's Dad paul; is chairman of J team. After the meeting other members joined us along with the rest of our family for dinner, free food is always a bonus! We also played a few songs after dinner on guitar for some time.

Today me andy and dad slept in while mum and Anupa went to Rani's school to get yet more video and for mum to see an indian, english speaking school in action.
The rest of today has been spent packing and relaxing before we leave for Bangalore tonight on the train, we leave around 9pm and arrive in bangalore at about 3 or 4 am, so early rise tomorrow; but we can sleep at Raj's place again.

Ill update again some time in the next 5/6 days

Much Love

God Bless

Charlie, Andy, Norman and Rosslyn

New Arrivals!!

No i havent had a baby!

My parents have arrived! Along with my brother andy!

We picked them up from chennai airport at around 9 this morning

Raj and his dad also met us at the airport.

We are staying in chennai until tuesday night when we are leaving for bangalore to stay with Raj.

We hope to get some sight seeing and shopping done while we are here, also seeing some schools and other locations.

I travelled from bangalore on wednesday night with Raj

The journey was ok, but sleep wasnt really that great.

We were on a sleeper train, but it was hot and i dont sleep well while travelling anyway.
I stayed the day with Raj's family and came to my friend anupa's house yesterday evening.

Anupa is a long term friend through CYE and my parents were thrilled to see her again finall

We are now relaxing in the high temperatures after they have all had a sleep for a while.

Ill post again soon, but i thought you might all want to know

Bye

Charlie D