Rajasthan is a land where the vagaries of nature have settled to co-exist with the good cheer of its people.  The architectural grandeur of royalty and the tales of valour and chivalry are the essence of its very spirit. Rajasthan is a destination that enchants the visitor with every little discovery that is made, because the more one discovers, the more is the urge to stay on or come back.  It offers a unique destination for anyone’s holidays.

Jaipur, the first planned city of historic India, better known as the pink city and the Venice of east is a perfect combination of old and modern architect of India.  Pushkar is your host for rural, religion and culture of the region. The Thar Desert tells a story of men living in harmony with a hostile nature.  It is not deserted but contains a complete philosophy to live with the nature.  Ranthambore presents an opportunity for viewing wild life as you can experience the first hand the habitat of the king of the forest the tiger.  The following ‘tour’ is in two parts but shows how you can easily explore parts of Rajasthan.

JAIPUR

Jaipur, popularly known as the Pink City, was founded in 1727 AD by the Maharaja of Amber Sawai Jai Singh. This remarkable city is considered a marvel of town planning.  Designed in accordance with ancient Hindu treaties on architecture, the Silpa Shastra, Jaipur follows a grid system and is encircled by a fortified wall.  The palace lies in the heart of the city and occupies the space of the central grid. The rest of the grids were cut across neatly by wide lanes, which divided the area into tidy, well laid-out rectangles of commercial and residential use. The fortified wall has eight gates (originally had seven) and was built for protection against invading armies and wild animals. Today the city has spread beyond these walls and reached neighbouring towns and continues to grow.

CITY PALACE

The city Palace complex is the most important landmark with its numerous outbuildings, courtyards, impressive gateways and temples.  Occupying one seventh of the walled city area, the city palace houses the seven storied Chandra Mahal (residence of the royal family), Mubarak Mahal, the Diwan-I-Am, and Diwan-I-Khas. The museum houses a rare collection of arms, carpets, costumes, paintings and royal paraphernalia. A notable exhibit is a pair of pure silver containers, which are the largest single pieces of silver in the world.

Across the road from the palace is the JANTAR MANTAR, one of the five observatories built by Sawai Jai Singh, this one is the latest and the best preserved. A collection of complex astronomical instruments chiselled out of stone – most of which continue to provide fairly accurate information to this day – is the highlight of the observatory.

HAWA MAHAL (PALACE OF WINDS)

This adjoins the outside of the palace wall.  Built in 1799 this pink seven storied building overlooks one of the main streets and also provides some excellent views of the city.  Dedicated to the lord Krishna, it is shaped like a crown, which adorns the Lord’s head.  It has over 900 niches and is quite an unusual structure the likes of which are not to be found anywhere else in the world.

AMBER FORT

Set in a picturesque location, Amber is a fascinating blend of Hindu and Muslim architecture.  Built in the 16th century by Raja Man Singh, it sprawls on the hillside.  Built in red sandstone and white marble, the palace complex has some very interesting apartments, the likes of which are not to be found anywhere else in the country.  Jai Mandir, Sheesh Mahal, Sukh Niwas, Ganesh Pol are some of the prominent areas of interest.  The old township of Amber lies at the foothills of the palace and has an Old World charm, a character of its own.

PUSHKAR FAIR (November)

Held at Pushkar near Ajmer once in a year, better known by the name of Pushkar Cattle Fair, is one of the most colourful festivals of India. Thousands of pilgrims come to bathe in the holy water of the Pushkar Lake. Legend has it that the lake appeared miraculously on the spot, where the petals of the lotus fell from the hands of lord Brahma. Pushkar has an atmosphere of an ancient town, peaceful and secluded but for twelve days of the month of KARTIK (Hindu calendar), it transformed into a spectacular fair ground.  The fair is an amazing sight to behold including street sellers showing off their dazzling range of wares in hundreds of roadside stalls.

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES

People come from different parts of Rajasthan to worship lord Brahma and take bath in the holy lake.  Pilgrims start coming in the early morning in groups singing the religious songs dedicated to Hindu gods to bathe in the Pushkar lake. The process continues throughout the day to turn into DEEPDAN ceremony.  The entire atmosphere reverberates with the ringing of bells.  At night, hundreds of small oil lamps placed on green leaves set the lake alight.  Shopkeepers keeps their shops open day and night for the last three or four days to keep the city alive.

CAMELS AND CATTLE

Worlds largest number of camel gathering is a spectacular seen that floods this area with thousands of tourist every year. The most spectacular site besides the animals is the day to day activity of the people who comes with the animals and spend the day and night under open sky. Horse races, camel races and other animal based events are organized by the organizing committee to choose the best animal of the fair.

If you would like to get in touch with Bhaghirath about touring Rajasthan, he can be contacted by e-mail on: vision21century@sify.com

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Volunteers wanted for projects worldwide.

India Project, Karmi Farm Clinic

Nomad Travel Store is now seeking voluntary doctors and nurses for our charity clinic in India.  The clinic is based on Karmi Farm in the foothills of the Himalayas on the border of Sikkim.  We have spaces throughout 2005.  If you would like more information please contact Cathy on: cathy@nomadtravel.co.uk  The website of Karmi Farm Guesthouse is: www.karmifarm.com

Kilimanjaro Medical help Required

We're running a trek up Kili in conjunction with Cancer Research next spring and are looking for a doctor and a nurse (or two doctors) to accompany the trek (12-20 Feb 2005).  Do you know a suitable doctor who might be interested (and fit enough).  They would travel free of charge.  Please e-mail: markw@adventurecompany.co.uk or see: http:\www.adventurecompany.co.uk

Project Monitoring with Help Argentina

Help Argentina is a unique non-profit organization that works in conjunction with hundreds of other non-profit and social development organizations with the aim of strengthening the social sector as a whole. Most of the work will be done in the field working with beneficiary organizations, conducting surveys, delivering supplies, etc. Work place and hours are flexible. mpazmm@HelpArgentina.org

Social Work with CIPPEC Argentina

CIPPEC is a non-governmental organization working to promote equality and growth in Argentina. CIPPEC aims to make public institutions stronger, to make opportunities equal for everyone and to better the social situation for all Argentineans. Volunteers can work on a range of projects. Volunteers will work for four hours a day. vweyrauch@cippec.org

Inca Porter Project, Peru

The Inca Porter Project is looking for long term volunteers with fluent Spanish to staff their new training and drop-in centre. If you are interested, please see:  http://www.peruweb.org/porters/

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Back in January 2004 Martin Wright, one the club’s most sociable regulars at the London Meetings, royally entertained a packed Crown Court with tales of his marathon cycle ride to Australia! Many in that audience will remember his great photos, distinctive narrative style and his thirst for adventure. Well Martin is at it again – this time he’s go back to the land down under to ‘pick up his bike and have a look round’. I think too many cold winter nights provided the motivation to get back on the road! This is the second in an occasional series, based on Martin’s emails, and charts his offbeat approach to the road ahead.

21^st June: Arrived in DENMARK early this afternoon after a great few days of cycling to reach here.  Even with the bloody wind in my face it was still enjoyable.  Less traffic and big bloody road trains to deal with and of course less of the grey ghosts towing their bloody caravans!  At any caravan park you are likely to see grey ghosts arriving during the course of the day and some of them are a real source of amusement.  Most of them cannot reverse their caravan into a bay so drive around the park looking for a way to drive in – sometimes they have to get other people to move vehicles or get another driver to reverse the caravan for them!  I think anybody towing a bloody caravan should take a driving test to prove they can reverse into a space.  If they can't do it they should f*** off around Australia on a bus or better still stay at home…  My bicycle is in good shape now I’ve had a few minor repairs completed.  Should be in Perth in about in about one week and will write again from there…

20^th July: Have finished with the south west corner and am now heading along the west coast.  Am at present in Kalbarri, a small town about 500kms north of Perth but will have to get a move on now as I will need to be in Darwin by mid September as my visa will be at an end and I will need to fly up for a renewal.  I spent far longer in the south west corner of the country than I intended – the weather was not at all good but the area is so beautiful I stayed an extra day almost everywhere I visited.  The big tree country around Walpole is breathtaking – I visited the tree top walk which gives a real idea of just how big these bloody trees are.  At Pemberton I climbed the Gloucester Tree, which is used as a lookout for bushfires and at 61 metres above ground you can see for miles!  Don't climb it if you are afraid of heights as one or two people went about 10 metres up, became stuck and it took a while to bring them back down.  Nannup was wonderful and I stayed at the 'black cockatoo' backpackers which was run by an interesting man whose fridge told his story…  It was here I met the three young ladies who teased me somewhat and left me very frustrated.  Visited Augusta for a spot of whale watching which was breathtaking and tried to hook a few but the line kept on snapping…

1^st August: Reached sunny Exmouth on Friday.  The journey up to Carnarvon and on to Exmouth was delayed by unseasonal heavy rainfall, which left me with a few short days of cycling.  As a result I had to camp wild or stay at rest bays, which were usually full of caravaners but I did meet a few interesting and generous people along the way.  On arriving at Nerren Nerren rest bay I was approached by an Aussie man, John, who presented me with a can of whisky and coke.  After putting up my tent John called me over to sit under his caravan awning where I was given another drink as we chatted about Aussie rules football or aerial ping pong as I prefer to call it. The next course of cheese and biscuits along with nibbles and dips ensured we then got on to talking about cricket, whilst soon after John’s wife Heidi appeared and presented us both with steak, sausages, vegetables and mashed potatoes; totally delicious!  Somewhat better than the two day old sausage sandwiches I was going to eat…

The following day I was held up by rain yet again and was plied with coffee from a 72 year old lady who has been travelling around Australia for the last five years with her pet shitzui.  For the next couple of days this lady passed me on the road and at the next rest stop would pull up and have a cup of tea ready for when I arrived.

I finally arrived in Carnarvon last Sunday and found that the roads were flooded in places and I had to wade through 18 inches of water.  At the caravan park I met a Dutch couple and together we visited the pub for a few beers – luckily they served Guinness, which was a welcome relief from the Aussie beer.  The ride onwards from Carnarvon was again interesting! I’d camped in the bush one night and was woken first by a truck pulling up at around midnight.  Soon after I was woken by voices and a torch shining on my tent – after this there were no more disturbances but I did not sleep at all well! 

Visited Coral Bay, a beautiful beach resort but the caravan park was expensive and noisy.

The next day took me to the very flat and uninteresting countryside of Exmouth, which is thankfully surrounded on 2 sides by the Gulf of Exmouth and the Indian Ocean.  On the ocean side is the CapeRangeNational Park and the Ningaloo Reef.  Yesterday I took a bus to Turquoise bay and hired a snorkel, mask & flippers and visited the underwater wonderland.  I saw a variety of colourful fish -  some big, some small and some which frightened the living daylights out of me!  I saw a turtle, a manta ray and a bloody great big leopard shark – indeed I spent far more time swimming than I realised and a great day was topped off by sunburn on my back.

Another rest day today and then tomorrow I am heading back to the highway and on to Karratha, which I hope to reach by next weekend.  Should have more news by then…

Which countries are represented by these flags? For the answers, see at the end of the eNews.

1	2	3	4	5

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When Tanganyika – as it was then – gained its independence it was praised for the devotion and priority it gave to education. Its then president, Julius Nyerere was known as Mlimu (teacher) and 40% of GDP was devoted to teaching. Things have changed with the passing of years and now Tanzania spends the least of all sub-Saharan countries on primary education.

The provision of all levels of education is woeful and unfortunately wealth and geography all too often act as a barrier. The standards of teaching are on the whole terrible as the teachers are poorly educated, trained and motivated as a result of extremely low salaries. This is exacerbated by a lack of teaching resources, textbooks and classrooms, laboratories and other facilities. For example only one school in Mikindani has an adequate, year round water supply. As a result of all of this the levels of education achieved are very low.

Mikindani as a political entity is made up of five ‘wards’ each of which has its own primary school. These are in theory free but actually are not. The nearest secondary schools are in Mtwara city, one of which is a fee paying state school  and there are also several private schools with higher fees and lower entry requirements. The catchment areas for theses schools are huge and the number of places available are very few in relation to the number of potential pupils. As a result of these factors and poverty not all children go to primary school and very few go to secondary school or beyond.

To try and rectify this there are three separate charities working in Mikindani and co-operating under the umbrella of the Mikindani Education Group (MEG). These are the Danish Schools Project (DSP), EdUKaid and Trade Aid – partly via its Gender Equality Project (GEP). Trade Aid has always supported the three main primary schools in Mikindani by volunteers teaching, the tree nursery and other projects.

Beyond this MEG is responsible for the sponsorship of individual pupils and supporting the schools directly. Primary school sponsors are asked to pay to provide essential items for pupils to go to school as well as providing building funds, resources etc for the schools. DSP have sponsored pupils and the primary schools of Mnaida, Singino and Mchuchu for several years. EdUKaid have just started supporting the outlying wards of Lwelu and Mitengo and their respective primary schools.

The cost of sending a child to secondary school is relatively high and so the three MEG members are also addressing this by paying for fees, desks, uniforms, transport, books etc. All have come from different viewpoints but the result is that all graduates from the Mikindani schools are guaranteed a place at secondary school. EdUKaid are responsible for all pupils from Lwelu and Mitengo, Trade Aid’s GEP deals with all female graduates from the three Mikindani schools whilst DSP deals with all the boys from there. Confusing with so many acronyms but it works fine on the ground under the stewardship of Mr Namadengwa, a teacher from Mikindani who acts as liaison and general worker for the MEG members.

We are still a long way from our respective aims but the benefits are already being felt and the gratitude of the pupils reflects this. If you would like any more information or are interested in sponsorship please contact us at the following:

• DSP: Aase Joensen via www.mikindani.dk
• EdUKaid: me via tim.dench@edukaid.com
• GEP: Matt Maddocks via tradeaid@netcomuk.co.uk

Country Statistics

Source: www.nationmaster.com

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Sally left the UK around two years ago to start a new life in Portugal.  She lives in a suburb of Lisbon, close to the sea and is now a TEFL teacher, teaching English to Portuguese children and adults.  So, if you are interested in a career in teaching English as a foreign language, here is an account of some of her work.

My children are still the same except one has now gone up a class so I am left with three – to be honest if I could shed this class I would, as it is not as enjoyable as teaching grown ups due to the fact that Portuguese children are not taught to read or write before the age of six – so, in a way I baby sit them twice a week.  We are making slow progress as Jorge (the four year old) tends to be disruptive when he is with one of the girls but fine with the other one!  I had to send him out of class to sit with the receptionist one week because he was so naughty.

Nuno, my other student, is still great fun.  His English has come on in leaps and bounds and he now proudly displays a sign in the front of the taxi he drives on Sundays in Lisbon, to say he speaks English.  He loves it when he gets an English passenger – he had one from Birmingham last Sunday so he had great fun chatting to him.  He is a Sporting Lisbon fan and very knowledgeable about them.  He is also very interesting and told me all about his upbringing in Cacem.  Cacem is not a very pretty place – mainly high rise flats and a lot of black people (I am not being politically incorrect – this is what they are called here).  He remembers it before all of this and is quite upset about the way it has become.  He lives in what was his parents’ flat (they died a few years ago) with his wife.  He went to university in Lisbon and did what all students did, i.e. drink and behave badly but still managed to pass his exams.  He is a strong family man and found Christmas quite trying and he still misses his parents and says although Christmas was at his aunts, it was not the same.  He is also very interesting about his childhood, playing in the cul-de-sac with his friends but says that he has lost quite a few to drink or drugs which has made him sad.  He is about 29/30 and still out of work although he has had loads of interviews – very like the UK, half the time he never gets a reply to either application or a reason for not getting a position.

I have also got two/three other students.  One, Senor Manuel, is a Graphic Designer who is going on a cruise on 21 March so needs some English to get by on it.  He has French and reckons he had no English but as usual he understands quite a bit.  We are getting on quite well and I think he will manage OK.  The other one/two is the husband of the Ambassador for a Caribbean country, and his daughter.  Both are lovely.  He has decided that he has to get his English sorted because his best friends over here are the UK Ambassador and the US Ambassador.  He is making swift progress.  His daughter just needs help with the reading and writing.  I teach the pair of them for two hours on a Saturday morning.

My Portuguese is coming along and I find that watching the TV helps.  Television is still dire but I am now slowly watching bits and pieces of Portuguese TV.  I got hooked on their version of Who wants to be a Millionaire – very entertaining as the presenter often gives them a clue!  I have been trying one of their telenovelas (soap operas) but it was so atrocious (think the UK’s Crossroads but worse acting and wobbly scenery) that I had to turn it off.  I am also getting much better at understanding the news.  Last week there was a wonderful piece on at lunchtime about a group of OAPS who had raided a disco in Abrantes (Pego Power Station) dressed up in glitter wigs, men dressed in drag etc etc to protest that dancing was for all ages and not just the young!  Some of the old men had grabbed very young, nubile young ladies and were swinging them round the dance floor much to their horror.  Good on ’em I say.  Great footage too of all the snow that has hit the north of the country and brought parts of it to a standstill.  Lorries trapped at the Spanish border, people stuck in cars for seven hours etc etc.

If you would like to ask Sally any questions about living in Portugal or teaching English as a foreign language, Sally can be contacted on: pethybs@hotmail.com

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