T
ouchdown. After a 27-hour trip of
turbulent tummies and tiresome
teenagers landed ten exhausted, yet
exceedingly excited, sixth formers on the
other side of the world. Their mission:
three houses. Their deadline: two weeks.
Their location: Kerala, Southern India.
From touchdown to countdown, KCAP
2012 had arrived and was ready to go, to
spread a little love with their labour,
laughter and a lot of touristic-tastic
photosnapping, and to immerse
themselves in the spices, the smells and
the sensations of Kerala's community.
Following a satisfying (and much needed)
power nap and the arrival of two more
team members, a dozen bright-eyed and
blossoming boys and girls inhaled the
exotic aromas of India's tantalisingly
brilliant busyness. Managing to draw
breath around the dinner table allowed us
all to come back to the truth of this
fictional idyll. The enigmatic sunset
emanated rays of ethereal paradise as the
cormorants dipped into the lakeside and
the fish nibbled the water lilies that lulled
lazily on the oily blanket of water bearing
gorgeously green and gluttonous flora.
Philipkutty's Farm was a magical Utopia,
"beautiful today, perfect tomorrow"; the
peaceful Keralan backwaters enveloped
our secluded island, and the punts proved
to be the only lifeline to reality. Welcomed
by our hosts we were all bewitched by the
generous hospitality of India as the family
greeted us with warmth and tentative care
- we really did wonder just how a country
so beguilingly magnificent and
unfathomably friendly could be in such
desperate need of our help.
Breakfasting early, a delicious platter of
fried banana, flavoursome potato masala
and fragrant dosas was devoured and
washed down with lashings of freshly
squeezed passion fruit juice to energise
us for our inaugural day of work. The
temperature: hot. The humidity: extremely
sweaty. The enthusiasm: sky high.
Having been divided into groups of four
and allocated to our sites, mission KCAP
commenced. The local Vechoor site was
within a friendly five-minute walk or so
from the mainland punting port, whilst
Vaikom and Thanneermukkam were a
20-minute or so tuk-tuk ride away. The
former site's refreshing lakeside
destination and the latter's coconut treeencompassed
surroundings made up for
the slightly longer journey, whilst Vechoor
was located amongst a paraphernalia of
plants and a plume of people.
For the four of us who arrived at the local
spot, the cement-filled foundations had not
only been finished, but we had dodged the
herculean task of filling the groundwork
with tons of earth, which both other sites
were unfortunately yet to complete. But,
all was not quite picture perfect. Instead,
an intimidating mountain of breeze blocks
was proudly parked in front of our melting
expressions, and after meeting our fellow
workers and greeting the family whose
house we were helping to construct, we
set to work.
Eagerness and gusto kept us going for a
solid few hours of block shifting as we
formed a human chain passing the
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