Day 9

Today marked our penultimate day at Tigri: so we made sure it was completely jam packed! We kicked off with our trip to the slum (which took a little longer than usual) before arriving in the familiar surroundings of Tigri. We began the morning with a debriefing on how we as a team have found working with Asha and the challenges we'd faced. The students expressed their gratitude to us for our times spent with them however they still couldn't comprehend that their influence on us has been equal, if not greater. Following a serious paint-a-thon we managed to finally finish all of the murals on the walls; the centre looks so bright and colourful so all credit is due to the art team on their fantastic work. 

After lunch it was time for Rachelle's lesson on comparing Christmas to Diwali. It began with the contrast between the two festivals with photos, before moving onto labelling a snowman and feeling snow slime. The craft went down really well as all the children drew onto 2018 calendars featuring yours truly. Other team members were kept busy by playing Indian games such as pitchagram and cricket (obviously) with the kids and students. Some of the older students even brought some henna and gave all the girls (and the boys) amazing henna tattoos on the back and palms of our hands. It was another joyful day at the centre followed by our usual escort back to our taxis as goodbyes, hugs and "I miss you already"s in both Hindi and English were exchanged.

Rather than returning to the hotel immediately we took a few hours to wander around Dilli Haat market in search of souvenirs and maybe a few presents. There was a very impressive amount of bartering done (Erin says she hopes her dad is proud of the inner businesswoman in her), with some absolute bargains being agreed: tip is start low! Purchase of the day has to go jointly to Adam and Jonny who bought some exceptionally cheap and yet stylish woman's trousers, for themselves of course, which they both claim they will wear when they come home.

To finish the evening we are going to our favourite Chinese restaurant... China Garden!! With new trousers intact, we enjoyed one of our last evening meals together and of course ate as much as possible. No appetite has been lost since coming to Delhi!

Tomorrow will be our last day in the slum with Asha, which we look forward to as it means we get to see the children again. I think it's safe to say that nobody ever wants to leave. We predict that tomorrow will be a mixture of smiles and tears but there is nothing else we as a team would rather be doing.

Forever grateful for your love and prayers,

Erin, Laura, Aimee and Adam xxx

ps. we hope you enjoy all the photos tonight, the wifi was on our side for once!!!