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Reflections on being a “Granny”

By Olivia Loria

I have had the privilege of being a "Granny" for The School in the Cloud program for a year now. I Skype with the same group of girls from the GGSS in Kalkaji, New Delhi weekly or nearly weekly, minus exam days and holidays, which they seem to have many. The girls range in age from 12-14 and have progressed from grade 6 to grade 7 this year. The School in the Cloud website describes their background as lower socio economic with fathers who are daily wagers, typically with an 8th grade education, and mothers who are domestic helpers or housewives, mostly illiterate.

It has been wonderful to watch the girls become more comfortable using English and more comfortable researching various topics on the Internet. Our conversations have ranged from "getting to know you" topics such as favorite activities, family members, favorite school subjects, holiday celebrations in both locations; to brief Hindi lessons for me, a comparison of temperatures in our locations which led to how to convert Centigrade to Fahrenheit and vice versa, to searching for answers to their "big questions." They have asked and researched the answers to big questions which they formulated such as, "Why are trees green?" "Why do onions make you cry when you peel them?" "Why does the earth rotate around the sun?" "How does sea water become saline water?" "How does sea water become drinking water?" "How do earthquakes happen?"

Over the year, we have had to contend with some poor Skype connections. Since I live in a rural area, I can't really say it is all their fault as my connection is not always fantastic. Recently, the connections have been better and we have been able to talk and see each other fairly well.

Rekha Sharma is the delightful facilitator for the program in Kalkaji. She has been the helpful person at the other end of Skype, making sure the connection is working as well as possible, helping the girls understand my American accent and helping me understand their Indian accents, and managing the entire process. She has been especially successful in providing the girls with a nurturing environment in which they have thrived.

I have been impressed with the curiosity, desire to learn, and general knowledge that the girls exhibit. Now, having been an educator for 45 years, I know this is not unusual. Most young people will exhibit curiosity, a desire to learn, and general knowledge given nurturing circumstances. I loved it when they told me about the politics of the recent elections in India. They told me who the candidates were, what political party they represented, and the platform of the party. They knew which candidate they agreed with and why. They excitedly told me about President and Mrs. Obama's visit to New Delhi. When we talked about holidays in December, they knew a lot about Christmas including Christmas carols, which surprised me. They did tell me about a custom that they have in New Delhi where the students obtain the signatures of their teachers on a piece of paper which they then put under their pillow so that all their wishes will be fulfilled. At one point they must have been studying energy conservation because they showed me posters about saving energy that they had created. One night, my granddaughters were spending the night, so they did the session with me. It was fun to see the girls in India interact with two girls in Colorado. They seemed to enjoy sharing a bit about themselves from both sides of the world. All in all the experience of being a "Granny" has been worthwhile and interesting for me. I hope our sessions have been beneficial to the girls. I can only say, I love meeting with my girls every week and miss them when they are on holiday or having exams.