#### Bombai Mining Camp Our first visit today was to Bombai Mining Camp. Most of the children seem to be going to the nearby government schools or a local private schools. There seems to be another tuition that is also conducted here that many children attend. The children were all curious when we came and visited. They enjoyed playing catch with the ball and I was able to attract some boys through this. The children speak Telugu and Kannada here and they have quite a lot of exposure. I was surprised to see some children even imitate Jasprit Bumrah's bowling action. The English levels were also not bad at all and the children had a general idea of the body part names in English when we sang the "Put Your Right Hand In" song and were easily able to sing along. We had a chance to see the books that children were writing in and they seem to be writing quite comfortably though it's hard to say how much they are able to read and write. In terms of space this centre seems to be limited. There are some areas to play but they are a little away. Kho Kho should definitely possible. This is a classroom style setup with board but the facilitator pointed out that there is a possibility to accommodate more with additional tarpaulins. #### Kariganoor The Kariganoor centre happens in a temple. On the way we noticed how cooking occurs in the area with coal fires. This centre had a lot of fanfare and expectation about our visit. The facilitator had shared with the children who we were and had told them about the workshop as well. The children welcomed each and every one of us with welcome claps and roses. Once again this was a tuition with a clear whiteboard and a classroom type seating structure. At this centre we made it a point to try to understand how they were doing academically as well. This was quite a Telugu dominated centre and many children could not even follow the Kannada that I was speaking in. We started by playing some "Simon Says" and it was interesting to note that some of the children found it difficult to follow my instructions. From an FLN standpoint this felt like a very mixed centre perhaps closer to some of our Bengaluru centres like T R Nagar or Bandepalya. There was one girl who I worked with who had some idea of the four arithmetic operations and simple English words as well. Rajeshwari pointed out that she had recently introduced division to the girl. At the same time another boy who had dropped out before being admitted to 5th standard could only follow from 1-10. #### Ingaligi This centre was in a beautiful room near a temple. The children were all seated in a circle and were working as we entered. This centre was awfully quite despite the sounds of tamate from the outside because of Muharram. When the children sang a song they sang a religious song with much devotion but not much fun. The facilitator had thought them well but it was quite stiff. This centre it felt like the facilitator had got most of the front benchers from school who are generally doing well. The children seemed to be quite conforming in general and very disciplined. The children showed us their books as well and we noticed that most of the children had the same things written. It seems as though like school they were copying what the facilitator was writing on the board. I was surprised to find that even the song they sang had found it's way into the book. It was nice to see though that the alphabet cups game that Venkatesh had introduced had found it's way to this centre. It was still yet to be completed because there were not enough cups. #### Hosamalapanagudi This centre was in a "samudaya bhavan" that was quite big and had plenty of room. The children were quite eagerly waiting for us as we entered and greeted us with the classic school sing song "good evening ma'am". Though it was quite didactic it was nice to note that the facilitator had introduced a lot of games at the centre. This was the one centre where when we asked them what games they knew they were able to suggest games rather than looking towards us to introduce something. It felt as though there was some rapport between the facilitator and the children. They seemed less stiff and there was some playful banter in this group. It was also nice to see the children suggest things to the facilitator and not just defer to us. The children were also able to challenge me a couple of times on how they wanted to play a game in Kannada though I perhaps behaved a bit didactically and pushed them to do it in English. #### Hosamalapanagudi This centre happens in an outdoor setting under a tree. It was interesting to note that this centre mostly had younger children and most of them were still in uniform. Once again the children were sitting in a classroom style set up patiently waiting for us. It did seem as though they were not there by choice and were threatened by the facilitator with a stick. The children had a blast playing with us and warmed up to us quite easily. When we started saying the names of fruits or food items it was interesting to see some members of the community participate as well. One adult even went at the end and named the fruit that all the children had said. Some children did not participate in this game and it was disheartening to see the others simply skip them saying that "they don't know" without giving them a proper chance. The dance was a big hit as well with the children and they seemed to be quite comfortable following along. Of course it's hard to say if that was true of all the children and here again we see a bit of a mixed group. Many adults as well gathered around to watch and shared a lot of positive feedback. There's a deep respect for Sakhi in this community and it was evident before we even reached with one house giving me their bike keys to move their bike and allow our car to pass. I realised later why this was so comfortable when the family member asked me if we were from Sakhi.