we were invited back to shoot and interview students during the opening ceremonies (sound clip below) and were in awe. it was overwhelming. chanting, stomping and stretching are only a few of the things we witnessed from the 220 students ranging in age from 3 to 12. the older students and teachers leading the effort. it was incredible to see just how many students they are teaching in the small confines of the three story building located in the slum.

enjoy the sounds of their opening exercises below.

blessing the school first thing in the morning.

the ABCs

waiting patiently for morning ceremonies.

filing to the courtyard.

Subhan back in school today!

ash saying good morning to the students.

groggy early morning.

the teaching staff waiting for the students to arrive.

homework help.

ash interviewing ansar, teachers and students.

the head master before the ceremony.

so many students! this is only a third of the children.

shooting this was a LITTLE overwhelming. there was a lot going on.

chanting.

praying.

the older girls led the ceremony.

subhan chanting.

aram back in school!

calisthenics.

getting the blood pumping!

filing to class.

showing off her work.

toilet and toys.

aram in class again. so happy.

subhan learning again.

getting interviewed.

buddies.

ash signing autographs. she was a HUGE hit.

waiting patiently for the bathroom.

ash exchanging our donation with the head master. they were very pleased.

some of the books that we donated to the school.

the school front. “public” simply means that everyone is welcome as long as they can afford to pay the fees.

ash, arshi and ansar walking home from school.

me with ansar’s nephew.

ansar’s son, zuber (arshi’s twin), is a photographer in the making!

on our journey to find schools in delhi, we decided to go on a rickshaw adventure today. it ended up being the best decision we could have made. after spending a couple of hours with our driver (ansar), he invited us to his home for lunch with his beautiful family. sure enough, he has four kids and we were soon talking about their school situation.

the school is down the street from their home in an old delhi village, so we decided to go check it out. once there, we explained what dfsw is and what we are aiming to do. we were welcomed with open arms. they gave us a wonderful tour of the school and we were very impressed by their passion for education, but it still left a lot to be desired. it is a “private” school that survives solely on monthly fees paid by the parents or guardians (if they can’t pay, their children won’t go to school).

it’s not a matter of just putting them in a public school if they can’t afford private school. it is a matter of them actually getting an education. in ansar’s case, he recently had to pull all four of his kids out of school because he could not afford to pay the monthly fees. after spending time with him and his family and heading his story, we have decided to allocate part of the donated funds to send all four of them back to school for the upcoming school year.

tomorrow morning we are returning to the school to talk to the administrators about how we can help more with supplies and textbooks.

if you’d like to see what else we’ve been up to in india, visit www.jacobbmurphy.wordpress.com.

thanks for your continued support and please enjoy the photos and sounds below. they were taken at the school today.

“the schoolyard”

our driver, ansar. a true family man.

typical delhi traffic.

the front of the school we visited today.

a dedicated (and shy) teacher.

love the things they chose to illustrate the ABCs.

waiting for school to end so they can ring the bell!

a very strong student!

i’ve never seen kids so excited in my life!

tight squeeze in this classroom. some small classrooms will hold as many as 60 students at one time.

down the street from the school by ansar’s house.

ansar’s daughter. she’s a twin!

‘

causing trouble in the living room.

ansar’s amazing wife, sonya, made an incredible and delicious meal for us.

ansar and most of his family.

he’s a photographer too!

maybe he wants to be a veterinarian?

ansar loves his children so so much.

they love ash and ash loves them. we can’t wait to go back tomorrow!

ash looking like someone you don’t want to mess with. YIKES!

check out www.jacobbmurphy.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/back-in-bharat-day-1/

we can’t wait to get into the schools!

flying over new york.

brushing up on our hindi.

our sweet ride!

the view from our guest house.

our home in delhi.

this blog will be dedicated to updates and happenings with the dfsw project while we are traveling through india. come back often or click “follow” in the menu on the right.

below is the map showing our route through india as we continue our work to document the conditions of india’s public school system.

our goal is to dig deeper and bring back the images and stories that will bring everything full circle. we will return to the schools we visited on our first trip to follow up and we will visit new schools and programs to present a contrast. we will also be DELIVERING SUPPLIES!! none of this would be possible without your donations. THANK YOU!

these are some of the questions we hope to answer on this trip: how does leaving school affect the life of the children? what do children do if they live too far away from a school to attend? what happens to the children who successfully navigate the system?  my fiancee ashley will be joining me on this trip to interview the children and teachers as well as delivering much-needed supplies.

here is a map of our route through northern india. planes, trains and automobiles indeed!

 #1 new delhi, delhi: we’ll fly into delhi and acclimate for a couple of days before heading to the sleepy himalayan city of rishikesh.

#2 rishikesh, uttaranchal: in rishikesh, we hope to enter a small rural public school set on the ganges river. this contrast between urban, rural and suburban schools will be extremely valuable in showing how inherently different the daily lives are of different demographic groups in india.

 #3  jaipur, rajasthan: our time in jaipur will be the most utilized and valuable for the dfsw project. we will return to the first school that started it all and will dig deeper. we hope to trace down the children that have since left school and document how being out of school has affected their lives. so far, i know of several children under the age of 10 that were pulled out of the humble school and are now working in factories. we will be delivering supplies to this school. the only way to do this is to sneak them in, as the school could get into a lot of trouble if the government finds out.

#4 ahmedabad, gujarat: our time in ahmedabad will be spent working with ghandi’s ashram. there is a non-profit there called manav sadhm (hindi for “worshipping the individual”) that has amazing programs for children. the one we will focus on is called “street education”. these teachers go into the slums and literally teach the children in the streets. they bring school the children who can’t make it to the school.

 #5 mumbai, maharashtra: mumbai is the largest and final city that we will visit on our journey. it is also the home to asia’s largest slum: dharavi. i tried to get into some schools in dharavi on my first trip, but it proved to be very difficult. with more experience under my belt and a very skilled “fixer” i hope to change that on this journey.

we can’t thank you all enough for your support of the project. it is thanks to your generosity that we are returning to india and making a difference!

i’d especially like to thank the following people and organizations for their generous donations:

ken johnson, designs by malyse designer madison waldrop, robert simon and gilles devoe, maude murphy, terrell and brian murphy, the jackson family, the noerr family, katherine carey, simon rosen, jon friedman, kimberly hogan, ginalola, florine murphy, the baker family, the grices, patsy and betsy, david schaap, max margenau, kate walton, joseph olivier, jodie fried, jim van blarcom, james ancone, prathima narayan, heiko thieme, meredith levin, laura turner garrison, russ valdez, ian monsma, jeff liffman, andrea taverna, liv pedersen, laetitia allexant, nico morga, donna greene, caitlyn mccarthy, caroline rambert, adam simon, jillian volk, taylor gramps, missy aldrich, ari wile, kent taylor, wladyslaw saj, sylvia golbin, eric sharpe, joe tannenbaum, kurt deutmeyer, alejandra arenas, andrew erdle, camey kimball, cristina shea, rosanna ryskasen, charles babecki, maryann luttrell, glenn wester, francesca fiore, caitlin feigenbaum, melissa davlin, jonathan green, phaedra hitchings, michael sunkin, bruce rosen, andrew cavell, james turnbull, jennifer dow, maureen gannon, megan sperry, april mclucas, liz house, mallary abel & cut and run, lindsay mcdonald, racheline, hylary ahrendt, eric damon walters