Party time with Charlie One

On Thursday morning Carolyn, Anna, Doug and myself (Christina) headed to Uluvadu to visit Charlie One. The mood in the village was brilliant, the group are all very close and welcomed us with open arms, eager to show us the houses they have been building and introduce the local families they have been living beside. It was Katie's 19th Birthday so we were lucky enough to celebrate with them and the locals with some drum and flute music (provided by the locals) and dancing (led mainly by all the girls!)

Katie & Amy

The birthday girl

Venturer Kim has written a description of their time so far.

Guest Blog – Kim Delamare – Charlie 1

Kim with a few of the locals

Charlie 1.2 arrived in Uluvadu armed with safety hats, goggles and gloves. Our challenge on this part of the phase is to complete the brickwork, roofing and hardcore flooring of five tribal houses. The village is tiered due to its position in this densely green Nilgiri Hills. The steep inclines and regular showers provide us with a daily challenge. The slippery dance the team has developed to move around the site is proof of Darwinian evolution at its finest.

The climate has however left us with some memorable moments. Amy slipping in the infamous long drop *(don’t worry - just up to thigh level!)* and showering in the rain with the locals are just a small insight into the daily episodes we have come to love.

The villagers are of Tribal decent. Their fun loving and quietly accepting nature has made us feel part of Uluvadu. Cricket has become a regular street activity, smiling eager faces await the boys as they appear with a cricket bat. Celebrations in the evening are a cultural exchange of musical instruments, songs and games. This interaction with the residents of Uluvadu makes the hard work more than worthwhile.

A trip to CTRD headquarters helped us to understand the importance of our work. A truly amazing charity, run by equally inspirational people. Their efforts to support and integrate tribal communities have helped not only their living conditions but health, sanitation and education. Our contribution is the first stepping stone to making Uluvadu a self sufficient and developing model village. Our hard work in moving two elephants worth of concrete blocks, three elephants worth of sand and four elephants worth of rock up through our village to the five plot sites, and seeing the houses grow over our time here is really quite moving; especially when they stand next to their current mud brick houses.

Caroline, Kavita & Hubertus having a quick rest 

Kim, Anniek and Katie 

Completing the 2nd roof 

The heart-warming moment of seeing the three-thousand roof tiles that had made their way up a Raleigh chain, become actual waterproof ceilings for the people and their happy faces, was so inspiring. Again, the contrast from their current tarp/banana leaf roofs was stark.

We have been truly spoilt here in Uluvadu. The experiences we have gained, the astounding scenery and our spectacular chef Rama, who makes basic Indian food taste like the best Indian food, have all contributed to our community phase. Katie and Robbie’s birthdays were celebrated in style with sugary treats and cake.

Our visitors from Raleigh field base have given us an excuse to show off our village and work making us realise how far we have come from our rainy arrival all those weeks ago. Uluvadu is a special place with special people. It gives us great pleasure to have worked on this project and to connect with a community that has excepted our presence with no fuss.

Phase three are in for a treat!

Phase 2's Charlie One

The newly completed roof became useful pretty quickly...

Messages from Charlie 1:

From: Amy Gannon

To: Family and Friends

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your messages! Hearing my name sung to the A-Team tune was brilliant. Glad you’re well. I’m just ending 3 weeks in a tiny tribal village of 25ish people, building houses and carrying bricks and sand up lots of slippery hills! The surroundings are amazing and I am happy. Looking forward to TREKKING next for THREE WEEKS!

Love to you all xxx

From: Kim Delamare

To: Home

Sean! Wow that went fast, happy anniversary-ish too!

Daddy and Mummy, I love you and miss you. Love to the family!

Izzy, Steph, Harry, Thank you!

Love always, Kim xx

From: Kavita Shah

To: Mum, Dad, Deep

Hey all!

I am in a tribal village in the Nigiri Hills at the moment building houses would you believe it! The drive here was like our drive to Mussori when we went last time – round and round and round and up! We are very high up! I am having a good time – going to a tea plantation tomorrow. Hope all is well, miss you! Pass my regards to everyone. Lots of love, Kavita xxx

From: Caroline

To: Andrea

BON JOVI!!! GET IN!! So excited about it. Hope you are well and in the festive spirit. Feels a bit strange here that I havent heard any Christmas songs. Love you loads, Caroline xxx

From: Caroline

To: Ben

Hey Sweetheart, hope all is well out there. I’m counting down the day to your R+R.

I love you.

Caroline xxx

From: Anniek Akerboom

To: Thuis

lieve familie, fyn om te horen dat jullie nog aan me denken ;) ik heb een geweldige tyd hier in Uluvadu. Nooit gedacht dat ik een huis kou bouwen. Hopelyk komen er snel meer foto's op de blog. over een paar dagen zyn we weer in mysore dus dan kan ik weer emailen.

maarten, zou jy myn kamernet emails kunnen verwyderen? nog maar 4 weken in India, dus jullie hoeven my niet zo lang meer te missen en ik jullie. maar het is een super ervaring hier.

dikke kussen. hou van jullie!!!

To: Nick

From: Eira

Hey Nick, Thanks for a blog message – lovely surprise! The houses are going well, all walls complete and we have two roofs on!!! Speak to you in a few days – love Eira xxx

To: Danielle Frattinger

From : David

Hey Tootsie girl, its fantastic to hear about your volleyball and a little bit of publicity never hurt anyone. I am well and will get a phone call this coming Tuesday.

Food aka the enemy is fine, although shockingly i have pretty well become a forced vegetarian with chicken 3 times and tuna from a can 5 times in the whole six weeks.. on that note yes i have lost weight and have been eating all I can to ensure i don’t lose anymore, but it’s been fantastic and the stories with plenty of photos will abound. Good luck with your endeavours till I return home. David

All Photos by Christina Ambrose