Village People

On Wednesday we went to the village where the Dehra Dun Vineyard has planted a church. The people there predominently make their money through begging, picking up rubbish and selling it to recyclers or through snake charming.

We organised some children's activities, although it was mostly chaos and our assesment criteria boiled down to "are they having fun?" The answer was a big yes. It was lovely to see nearly 200 kids, from babies up to about 14 or 15 enjoying themselves. They don't really seem to understand rules, fair-play or teamwork. Much of our time seemed to be spent chasing the kid who'd grabbed the ball and pegged it off.

We finished by telling them a story and singing some songs. By the end we were exhausted and baked to well-done by the hot sun. We were invited to go to see some of the village girls dance and we went expecting to sit and watch a performance of traditional Indian dancing. Instead they put on some Bollywood soundtrack and it became more of a bizarre nightclub than a show of traditional Indian culture. You can see the results for yourself:



It was a great experience - all the more amazing at how welcomed we were and invited into someone's house - only three rooms which we filled immediately.