Monthly Archives: March 2012

Give and Take

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At the school where I work we have a theme for assemblies each week. This week the theme is “Give and Take”.

It is interesting to reflect on things which we give and take personally. Some times we can feel like all we go is give, give, give. And we see others who take, take, take. Some times we need to give someone  a piece of our mind, or maybe we take the easy way out. Sometimes we feel like we have nothing left to give.

This lent 40 acts  has again been challenging people to look at practising generosity in a variety of ways, not just giving money. It can be a useful way to think about what you are giving and when. Hopefully it will help some of us think about giving more than we think about taking.

But I started to think about Chennai Challenge as a whole, what does Chennai Challenge give? What does Chennai Challenge take? Here are a few of my thoughts on that:

We give people opportunities, by offering to take people to India.

We give team members an experience, by taking them out of their comfort zones.

We give resources and funding for projects in Chennai, by taking money from people (Justgiving).

We take time out of the normal lives, to give something to others.

 

I would like to think that we try to give more than we take, but somehow I am not sure if we do.  Once we have a team in Chennai, we certainly give away more money and resources than people can give us there. As a project leader I have given my wisdom and knowledge(?) to team members during the training. We give out our energy when we are running sessions at YMCA Kottivakkum Boys Town, when we take the Boys who live there to Camp Yellagiri we give out even more energy.  When we work with Oasis and the Blue edge project we give our first hand knowledge of speaking English.

Yet at the end of a project, I have never felt like all I have done is give. In fact I normally feel like I have given less than I have taken. I have always taken a huge sense of being welcomed. I have been given hospitality that is far beyond what I have expected. I have been given such thanks for the small things I have done and shown so much genuine gratitude and love that it seems a cheat to say that I have given anything at all.

I think it is very hard to be able to give and genuinely get nothing back. Even though I may not have been given any great financial or physical reward, I have always taken more than I could ever give through my experiences with Chennai Challenge.

If it has worked, you should be reading my blog! :)

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Hello!

I’m Megan and this is my blog about Chennai Challenge (hopefully if it has worked)!

My first thought is that I’m so excited, and I cannot wait. However, when I think about it properly I become quite scared and freaked out. Having to raise £1400 and travelling thousands of miles to help orphaned boys in slum conditions. It feels unrealistic, like it’s a dream. But it’s true and I can’t wait!

The team meetings are awesome and I’m loving the team for this year. Going to London was great, the weekend made me think more realistically towards the commitment I have made for August. But it also gave me great confidence because I was reassured and stopped me worrying (a little).

Over the weekend we learned a little bit of Tamil which was really fun, although I only remember a little. We also learned how to dressing in a sari, but I wasn’t very good at that unfortunately. We also did some important things to, such as malteser games… ;D

Overall I loved the weekend and I’m so glad I’ve signed up to go.

Thank you for reading my first blog!

Megan :D xx

Tons and Tons

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Today a piece of history was made. Today a feat that has never been achieved before, and may possibly never be achieved again, was achieved. After over a year of waiting, it finally happened.  Sachin Tendulkar scored his hundredth hundred in international cricket.

This is a massive achievement. It is hard to think of a parallel in another sport, it is an insane thing to have done.

It explains a little bit about why Indians, and quite a few others, regard ‘the little master’ as the greatest cricketer of all time.  Sachin has now got all sorts of records in terms of  his cricketing. The most hundreds scored in test matches and one day internationals, the most runs scored in internationals, the most capped player, the list goes on and on.

English: Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar drive...

Image via Wikipedia

People speak with joy when they talk about watching him bat, talk about his genius, his skill and a way that Sachin just knows cricket. For the past year, evr since he scored a century against South Africa in the world cup, people have been waiting to see Sachin get another ton. A some points there were fears that it might not happen, but it now has.

How did Tendulkar manage to do this feat? Well it doesn’t hurt that he started playing international test cricket at age 16. Now at 38 he is still going strong. It is the perfect arguement for “If you’re good enough, you’re old enough” mentality, that age isn’t a part of every desicion that needs to be made.  At Chennai Challenge we agree with that. This year our team going to India has teenagers, people in their 20′s, 50′s and 60′s. A huge range of ages. All of different experience, but all willing to push themselves a little bit, to help some one else.

When Sachin started playing cricket, I doubt he was thinking “I am going to be the best ever”, or “I will do things no-one else will”, he just played cricket because he loved it. This year our team may not have started thinking ” I will do great things”, or “I will do things no-one else will”, but they might just do that. Not in the same way that Sachin has, but the impact on the impoverished people they meet and help in Chennai could have a huge and profound effect, and if they hadn’t done it, then who would have?

Related articles

Fundraising Fandangos.

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As a very excitable member of the Chennai Challenge Team 2K12 (<< does this make me cool!?) I have decided to waffle about fundraising, primarily to keep Isaac (my Team Leader) happy, and perhaps because I find it therapeutic, Ladies and Gentlemen you have been warned. >.<

Basically, insane as it sounds I have spent this past weekend perfecting my baking skills for mass baking my next baking sale at church after the service (after the 10.30am service St.Lawrence, Gnosall, Sunday 22nd April << PLEASE COME!) my arm is hanging by a thread, so to speak. That said, I fear there was probably little point considering I am getting help from the Youth Church group but at least my brother was happy, walking into my kitchen to find a mountain of muffins, literally.

However, I am proud to announce that I am well on the way to the £1000 mark, and hopefully after sending some letters to people in high places, that last £400 should come rolling in, however the key word to note is ‘hopefully’, otherwise I forsee frantic weekends baking my arms off, or being sponsered to come into school in various novelty costumes (perhaps a sari? Very appropriate I think ;) .)

To cease my wafflings, I would like people to comment some ideas to help me fundraise, considering the policy ‘minimum effort, maximum yield’.

Good Evening Bloggers!

Kate xx

Quick Indian Recipe’s

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Friday night I did something unusual, I made a quick version of a biriyani and it tasted really nice, so I thought I would tell you about it. Firstly I should say that there is definitely no short cuts to making a good biriyani, so if you have the time, you should look at http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/534257 for a good Madhur Jaffrey recipe.
So this isn’t really a biriyani recipe, but a curry and rice recipe cooked together. It took 20 minutes start to finish, certainly quicker than the local takeaway and I think tasted nicer.

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
1 chopped chilli
1tbsp ghee or oil
1 1/2 tbsp curry powder
12 meatballs
1 jar of tomato based sauce
2 packets of microwaveable rice

Method
1. Heat a pan and add the ghee or oil.
2. Add the diced onion and fry until soft and starts to brown.
3. Add the chilli and soften.
4. Add the curry powder and cook until the raw spice smell disappears
5. Add the meatballs. (if using raw meatballs as apposed to the cooked ones you can get in the supermarket, then make sure that you brown them all over.
6. Add the tomato based sauce. I had some leftover homemade sauce from the night before, with added vegetables. I also added some water at this point so that it seemed a little bit too watery for a sauce, but remember the rice will absorb a lot of water. I then simmered this for a few minutes, to make sure that the meatballs were cooked/reheated all the way through.
7. Add the microwaveable rice and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.
8. Serve

This is by no means a authentic Indian recipe, but it did taste good.

Another good place to look for Indian recipes is www.tarladalal.com who has some great biriyani recipes including a really nice kofta biriyani which looks like this:

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I will try and put up some other recipes soon, try them and let me know what you think.

Cathy