Start of our first "working week"

Rein checking in -

"Yesterday Simon and I each had our first official day of volunteering. I met with Cheryl at Spastics just before 10 am for our meeting with Dr. Hema, the Society's Head of Research and HR. We had a brief chat and then she took me to the Society's Chief Executive, an elderly lady who's been there almost from the start (some 25+ years). From our meeting I could immediately ascertain that she is the driving force and source of inspiration of the 60 or so staff that look after the 350+ children in the centre's care. Such passion, such wisdom and drive, and that for a 78 y/o lady. I hope I will have plenty more occasions to sit and discuss with her, but seeing how much loved and in demand she is, our encounters will probably be few. She understood me completely, in terms of my reasons for volunteering, what I am looking for and how I can be of best use to the centre, so together we decided that I will start of with hands-on assistance in the care for the children.

I was then paired up with Maxi, the head of the rehabilitation centre. Maxi is a great guy, a little younger than I, with a thorough education in paediatrics, children psychology and physiotherapy. Before being able to take me around the campus, he asked me if I would assist him during his 11 o'clock appointment. Of course I was; and so I assisted in the assessment of shaving skills of two intellectually challenged adolescents'... (the two boys had been instructed not to shave for a week and perform the act in front of Maxi, so he could assess their skill at it and if they would require extra training in this - all this is part of the life skills program which aims at making the kids at the centre self reliant and capable of independent living).

What I learned that day was that the Association not only has a research and rehabilitation centre, but a school for elementary and vocational training for kids with special needs as well. Initially, this school targeted children with cerebral palsy only, but due to its success (and no doubt the passion of the staff and association's management) it now includes children with all kinds of learning disabilities (such as autistic and intellectually challenged children) as well!

Due to the centre's schedule of activities, we decided that it would make most sense that I would be there at the end, rather than the beginning of the week. So my volunteering hours will be Wednesday through Friday, 9:30 - 15:30. I will be mainly assisting the professionals in group activities, which include sports, arts etc. I am still not sure what exactly, but I will surely know by the end of this week.

So my changed schedule meant that I was off today. After a third and luckily final visit to the FRRO in the morning, where we received our official registration, I took a tuk-tuk to the Leela Palace, a beautiful five star hotel, probably the best in town, where I crashed the pool :-) I was really gagging for a good swim to work-out my back muscles (due to the rigid mattress of our bed, I wake up sore with muscle pain each morning :-( We had been to the Palace on our first evening in Bangalore, having been invited for dinner there by our dear friend P. from Brussels, who was visiting Bangalore on a business trip. He showed us around the magnificent grounds of the place (the hotel is set in a lush purpose-built tropical garden) and I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to bluff my way into the pool area; which it wasn't.

So I had my swim and read my book until it was time to go home in time for Simon's return from his second day of volunteering and to get ready for our evening appointment, with a fellow Nijenrode graduate who started an Indian import consultancy, based here in Bangalore, together with another Nijenrode graduate. I haven't met him before, but we got in touch through our Alma Mater's "network" and decided it would be nice to meet up.

Then back to work tomorrow...."

- Rein checking out.