Dec.26 – Village and school visit – Ranthambore National Park Sanctuary-2018

Day 10 – Wed Dec, 26 – A day in the life – 2018

The hotels in the area are all full. There isn’t an empty room to be had. It is vacation time for everyone now.

The schools have all been closed and the teachers have been turned into game wardens. We will see the students in the village instead of the school.

Everyone in the village is related to one another. The women who have married into the village keep their heads and faces covered in front of the male elders. The girls born here must marry out of the village.

There are just over one-hundred people living here.

We talked with the children here on a big patio instead of in school. We sang songs and did the hokey pokey. We practiced our English with each other. We brought inflatable globes as usual and the children were fascinated by them. We showed them where we came from and where they live. Most schools can’t afford globes and the children only see the world on a flat map on the wall.

We walked through the village and met most of the residents and their animals.

The women made us tea and we took time to drink and visit with them.

We are traveling with OAT  again, and part of our payment for this trip and others goes to support schools and village projects.

The Chinese are at the root of the decline in the Tiger population in the world. Their folk medicine has foolish and unproven ideas about animal parts being used as healing agents. You can help stop this slaughter by writing the Chinese Embassy closest to you and mentioning that you might boycott their products if they don’t stop killing the worlds endangered species. The list is long, sadly.

We may not see the tiger on this planet for much longer. Make your thoughts known in any way you feel comfortable. You can make a difference.

TheWoman’s Cooperative – We went out to the Woman’s Cooperative today. These women live year round in the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve.

Their husbands and fathers were hunters of tigers in the recent past. There were tiger prints here in the dirt yesterday, so keep your eyes open.

The cooperative is training the people to make clothing and other items for sale to augment their earnings as farmers so poaching can be stopped. We will watch a documentary about a family of famous tigers here in the area tonight at the hotel.

We are eating alfresco again tonight. The nights are cold and we will have to dress accordingly.