Habitat for Humanity @ Pondicherry day 3

The day started off with a wakeup call from the reception at 7:00 AM. We left the hotel around 8:30am to go to the village Marakanam. Upon our arrival we met the headmaster and the teachers who showed us the rooms that need to be painted and shared their problems with us.

Before we started our work, our guide and manager, Mr. Jason explained to us exactly what we were supposed to do, its importance, and its significance. We had to first scrap the walls with sandpaper to remove the oil and dust, then wipe the walls with a cloth to remove the peeling paint. We then repainted the walls black. After it dried we segregated the wall with white lines and painted individual slots for each student.

We painted the lower part of the wall using blackboard paint for the students use as slates because they find it hard to buy slates or books for a whole year. Hence, Habitat for Humanity is helping the school paint the walls. Not only did they not have the supplies but they also didn’t have the means to afford this on their own.

"By just moving one brick, we can make a huge difference in someone else's life." This is what we have done today, and it makes us feel proud and honoured to have done it.

After the exhausting and physically taxing activity, we came back to the hotel to eat lunch and rest till 4:00 pm, after which we headed out for shopping and sightseeing.

While roaming the city, we visited a famous church which was built in the 1800s. We also visited the Aurobindo ashram where there were many people sitting peacefully and praying. We chanced upon a nearby famous temple. After walking around a bit more we went to a local Tibetan shop and bought a few souvenirs. We returned to the bus around 7 and headed straight for dinner. After dinner we all retired to bed. It was a smemories forever.