 Extracurricular learning
We are one
We are God
We are love
Love is one
I find love in everybody's heart and in God
Love is in the animals
Even in the smallest insect to the biggest animal
Our Earth is full of love, happiness and peace
Everyone is peaceful in their hearts and in their minds
~ Chini, Age 11
The lifestyle the children experience in Coorg is removed both physically and philosophically from their previous situation.
Our days are structured to give them the support they need to transcend the difficult circumstances of their birth.
In addition to appreciating their success stories, we teach the children to celebrate life's challenges. Daily life itself is a school, where they are continually encouraged to answer the following fundamental human questions:
Who am I?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
In this way, a painful experience becomes a chance to gain transcendental knowledge. They learn to see beyond the superficial and understand that nothing can hurt who they truly are - the Eternal Divine Self.
In The Children's Own Words:
Our Vegetable Garden
Our vegetable garden is improving and growing well. We planted almost every kind of vegetable and plant.
We water the garden every evening and the estate workers water it every morning.
We harvest leaves in the afternoon and make salad for dinner. We all get to taste our own lettuce and the
vegetables that we grew ourselves. We don't grow it with chemicals or any unnatural additives.
We mix cow dung and manure with the soil and plant seeds. We love our garden and planting.
~ Saritha, Age 14
We thought we should grow our own food. We planted cabbage, beetroot, pumpkins, lettuce, broccoli, chilies, brinjal, tomatoes, onions, garlic, etc. We worked very hard to grow them. Soon enough we found ourselves harvesting the vegetables. Uncle, Aunty and the children cooked the fresh vegetables and made salads every night. Boys helped the girls water the plants and made themselves a little garden with tomatoes, corn, peanuts and chilies. We all had a great time planting them. We loved it a lot.
Before we plant the seeds we chant mantras. We put some manure in the soil before planting.
~ Sushma, Age 13
Sri Sai Cooking
I know how to cook. I like to teach children how to cook and I know how to make sweets. I cut vegetables and fruits and I love to feed poor people.
I love mangos and tomatoes. I love to feed the dogs and I love to give food to guests. Everyone can cook.
~ Rajendra, Age 10 (boy)
Animals
In Coorg, there are many different animals. I love animals, at the same time I am afraid of certain animals.
There are dogs, snakes, cows, frogs, fish, cats, rabbits, turtles and birds.
We can find these animals in Coorg. Animals are like God and friends to us. Once they know us they will love us and guide us forever.
~ Sruthi, Age 14
Looking After the Dogs
We have nine dogs. Their names are Booboo, Lassie, Misty, Shambo, Shambavi, Durga, Daniel, Junnie and Winnie. The dogs like to be in nature. They like to play with us. They are friendly to other people. We feed them curd and eggs in the night. On the weekends we cook vegetables and rice and mix eggs and curd. They love us and we love them. They sleep with us. They protect us. They are the best dogs we ever had.
We love them very much. Junnie likes to play hide and seek with us. Dogs are beautiful.
~ Chini, Age 11
Snakes
Snakes are wonderful creatures. When I see a snake, I will be happy. I really like snakes but I am afraid to go near them.
When the children see a snake they will come to Michael Uncle and tell him that there is a snake. Uncle will go and catch the snake and show it to everybody. He will explain about the snake and tell us if it is dangerous. After some time, he will let the snake free and it will go far away from our house.
Sometimes Uncle will tell us not to hurt the snakes and how to stay away from them. In Coorg there are different kinds of snakes. We really enjoy it when we see snakes.
~ Ganga, Age 14
Dreams
Dreams are special to everyone. They can change our lives and we can learn so many things. Here are some dreams the children have had.
One of the girls had a great dream about Swami. She was sitting in Ashram and she was laughing. Swami came near to her and he touched her heart filling it with light. The light spread to her whole body. When she woke up she felt she had more energy and strength from the light that Swami had given her.
Chini had a great dream of Swami. Swami came to visit this school. There were so many Swami devotees sitting where the children play. Swami spoke with one of our visitors and he spoke with Chini. He asked her who she was and what she was studying. She said "I am fine, Swami, I am studying well", and Swami told her to tell Uncle to: "Build a temple for me and I will come and stay forever with you peacefully". Chini felt so happy to have a dream of Swami. She is excited to use a temple on this land.
I had a great dream of a snake. There was a huge and long snake in a village. We all went to catch the snake. Michael Uncle caught the snake and he brought it home. At first I was so scared to see a huge snake. As the days went on I wasn't scared anymore. We were friends. Uncle and the snake were communicating in a different way. I couldn't understand anything. All I can see is the light on snake's forehead. I asked Uncle what the snake was talking about. Uncle told me that the snake is not going to live on earth anymore. Uncle and me both started crying. I felt sad for the snake and I was happy to have this dream too. I wish I could have a pet animal.
~ Sruthi, Age 14
Field Trips
Big City Adventures
The Mall
A simple trip into a mall in Bangalore was an educational opportunity and we encouraged the children to use all their senses to explore the world around them.
Our girls dress in a modest, traditional Indian style, so one of the first things they noticed was what they called the 'style ladies', women in flashy dress. They intuitively remarked that it was not proper to show so much of the body in public because it could distract the people from their work.
None of them had ever seen an automatic door. Escalators were a frightening challenge and a chance to tap their reservoirs of courage, while toasters brought up wonder and laughter. We took them into a soap store where they were dazzled by so many scents, and a food court where they had to try and comment on every international cuisine. Department stores, music shops and computer stores were all filled with novelties and a chance to discuss whether or not the items were necessities or luxuries.
Other Bangalore Adventures
Over the years we lived in Whitefield, outside of Bangalore, the children have been to visit the ISKON Temple, the huge complex built by the group known overseas as the 'Hare Krishnas', a Shiva Temple and many churches. We also toured tech parks, the Industrial & Technological Museum and the beautiful LalBagh Botanical Gardens.
Coorg Travels
Coorg is a scenic tourist getaway and it's been a delight to introduce street children to the wonders of nature. Some of the children have written of their travel experiences in our new 'homeland'.
Trip to Golden Temple & Kaveri River
One day we went on a trip to the Golden Temple and the Kaveri River and it was so much fun.
In the Golden Temple we saw three big statues of Buddha and we also saw gardens. Then we went to the bus and on the way we bought some jackfruit that was peeled. Then we went to the Kaveri River where we saw some fish and we fed them some chips and biscuits. We also saw rabbits and I thought that rabbits wouldn't eat biscuits, but I gave one a piece of the biscuits. Do you know what happened? The rabbit ate a piece of the biscuit so I gave my whole biscuit to the rabbits.
Uncle bought ice cream cones for everybody. Then we played in the park. We climbed on the tree house and we saw the Kaveri River. Then we went to the river. The rocks were slippery. I was first to cross to the other side. Then Uncle and other students came to the other side. It was a fun trip.
~ Bharathi, Age 10
Trip to the Beach
I will never forget the expressions on their faces when they saw the sea for the first time.
~ TOM SHERRY, VISITING TEACHER
When we were getting ready to go to the beach a bus came to take us. On the way Uncle and Aunty gave us some ginger to put in our mouths to stop us from being sick. We went to Udupi[in Karnataka] and we slept in a big building [the hotel]. It was raining so we ate food and we watched some movies. We played many games. After two days we went to the ocean. When we got to the beach we were so excited to be there. There were many waves coming at us. One of our sisters tasted the water and it was salty. We went into the water and we were swimming while the waves kept coming at us. When the waves were coming we jumped into the water. When it was getting dark, we went back to the building. There was so much fun at the beach.
~ Reddykala, Age 11
Visits To Puttaparthi
Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh is hometown for most of the children and we travel there every year to join in the Christmas festivities at Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Ashram, Prasanthi Nilayam (The Abode Of Highest Peace). Our first classes were held in Puttaparthi and many of the long-term residents take great interest in CPT's progress. We hold gatherings almost nightly in our residence there, which gives the children a chance to perform songs and dances, in both Indian and Western style, and put on skits of their own creation for the guests. The children are delighted to have such a willing audience and spend hours planning the programs, music and costumes. Generally there is group devotional singing as well and everyone participates. For Christmas 2009 the older students performed dramas for our guests. The children fill in more details:
Christmas in Puttaparthi 2009
We had a great time when we performed a play for the visitors. At first we started to do brainstorming to get some ideas about how to do this play. We all came to one situation: that was a play about Jesus and some poor girls who help poor people who are even poor than they are. One girl, Lily, liked to help but she didn't believe that God would help her.
The first thing we did was to pick the characters. Dana was Jesus. Anitha, Ganga and Sushma were the poor girls and Anji, Maheswari, Saritha and Aliveli played the roles of Angels. Anjinamma was the Narrator. We all learned the lines and made costumes for ourselves. We chanted some mantras and did "Oms" before we practiced our play and it gave us strength to speak in front of the visitors. It also helped us to have confidence.
Finally for Christmas we performed this play for the visitors. They all enjoyed it and had tears in their eyes after we finished it. We also liked it too, especially when we said the last part, Swami's speech about Christmas. That is, "For love is the manifestation of God Himself."
~ Anji, Age 15
Puttaparthi Visit To See Sai Baba 2008
On 13th December 2008 in the morning at 9am we left our beautiful Coorg, which is surrounded by green trees, to go to Puttaparthi for vacation. Thirty children and four adults went. The small children stayed behind with the help of Anji, Rangamma and Ramanji to care for them. We took two buses; they both had DVD players and we took disks to watch movies. We also took snacks to eat. Some kids had fun watching the silver screen while the other girls felt ailing from the drive and therefore had to snooze. On the way we stopped to have our dinner. We reached Puttaparthi at 11pm. All of us felt so excited and joyful to be there.
On 14th morning we woke up and everybody took a bath, brushed their teeth and washed their clothes. After we had our breakfast, we cleaned everything. That afternoon, Dana, Ganga, Anitha and I cooked lunch and dinner for the children. Everyday we used to cook with the help of our three teachers who are from Karnataka. This is the first time that our teachers came to Andhra. They had a nice experience seeing Sai Baba. Everybody used to go to get Swami's blessings. Many people came to visit us. All of us had a beautiful time with them. Ladd Uncle and his daughter came to visit us. They taught us many good and excellent songs.
On 24th evening we went to the hotel called Gujarati. Everyone had a nice dinner. Every night we had bhajans and songs. On 25th we celebrated Sushma's and Julia Aunty's birthday parties. Some visitors danced and sang songs and the children performed a play for the visitors. On 26th we all went for the darshan because our Uncle (Michael) and Aunty (Aleli) performed a program in front of Swami. After all that was finished, Uncle gave an aarthi for Swami. The big children did a dance on 27th night in our home at Uncle and Aunty's flat. We stayed in Puttaparthi up to 29th and we came back to Coorg on 30th. Everyone had a nice and wonderful time.
~ Anjinamma, Age 16
Students must learn not 'by heart,' but for and through the heart. You must not have the consciousness that they are children belonging to others. Treat them as your own.
~ SATHYA SAI BABA
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