Ticket to Ride to India: Air BnB-ing in a School

On our trek through the mountains of Kerala, we camped. Three nights in hill stations above tea plantations and one night in a school. We waiting until school was out and the team pitched tents in the school’s sandy playground. The playground also become a makeshift health centre as two of our group took a tumble on a steep plantation hillside tripping over tea plant stumps. Contents of our well stocked medical kits were pooled to clean, disinfect and protect wounds.

We were able to use the school’s showers and toilets in the staff room and would sneak peaks in the classrooms. There was actually few rooms, but spaces divided by movable walls if anything. A person could walk the length of the school and pass a half dozen "rooms" with a few wooden tables and benches, posters on the wall for teaching English and maybe a black board. There was a so-called media room, locked, which intrigued me, and a few musical instruments placed above some cupboards at the back of the building. Otherwise there was virtually no equipment or books. A fee was paid to the school.

In the morning everything was packed up just as the students were arriving in their uniforms to start their day. There were probably 40 students from ages 5-11, shy and sweet, who all said hello in English and some even asked "What is your name? and then answered "My name is...." their first lessons in English no doubt.