And so it begins.  Arriving for my first day of the workshops is always the same and different. There is always an excitement, knowing that something new will happen — new kids to meet, old ones to see, wondering what changes will greet me. This is what I found when I first arrived at Anjali House:

Much of that was, happily, the same if not better. But one difference this year is that the first week of the workshop was to be held in the Young Adults House. This was a new initiative last year that I wrote about here. Here it is again, and here are some of the kids:

teaching each other chemistry

The outside of the building was the same, but the inside had one major change. What was last year an empty ground floor room with nothing but cobwebs on the wall and a dirt floor, is now a proper room with a table, chairs, a fan or two, a whiteboard, bookshelves with books and shelving full of school supplies. There is a second whiteboard outside the door which the kids also use.

Afternoon class at work

And here is the fruit of some of their labours, a group story about the pitfalls of travel, travel being our theme of this workshop.

So, the first week we brainstorm, we write group and then individual poems and stories. The second week we will edit, type in our writing, and then create or choose illustrations for the magazine. I can’t tell you how great it feels to be here and working with these kids again…or maybe I don’t have to.

The sign that was waiting for me when I arrived at my Guest House