This lady, who lives near Jodhpur, is only 32. That is what working in an India quarry since a kid will do to you. She will most likely be dead in a few years, the silicon from the dust having shredded her lungs. The also do not have enough food to eat, or water to drink. Think twice if you are thinking of buying some nice Indian stone!

the kids take a lesson outside

A view over school in India

Rob putting together our solar cooker. Ed and Rob cooked with this twice daily while living in the village of the summer 2007. When put out in the morning, they had a fresh loaf baked by 11 am each day, which went really well with the wild honey they got!

On the hunt for a place to build our school back in August 2006.

Rob chills by the lake in Udaipur.

When it rains it pours. The ford near our school.

As in all societies, booze can be something of a problem. You will often find people brewing moonshine down by the river or, if they are feeling a little flusher, evidence such as this.

Lunchtime at the school

Ed having a meeting with the village, September 2006.

A room with a view: one of the school classrooms

Republic Day in India is on the 26th of January. Here some of our kids perform for the gathered dignitaries. It is all a bit formal and contrived these days, but we are working on changing all that.

What is this? Breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next few months for a family whose crops were destroyed by flooding. It is a weed that grows in the area.

An impromptu village jam session. We brought in some microphones and speakers for Republic Day festivities and the villagers decided to make full use of their opportunity by singing and playing music all through the night before. Needless to say they over slept and missed the flag hoisting the next day!

From left to right, Bhuvanesh, Ajit, Samiyaji and Babuji all preparing some multicoloured sweets in time for Republic Day (26th Jan) festivities.

A rendering of the underlying school wooden structure. We fell in love with our wood!

Our new office with a couple of storage cupboards underneath while under construction. The storage cupboards were supposed to be composting chambers for the toilets of the school, but some of the villagers objected to its location.

The inside of one of our classrooms. An Educate for Life school yet? No. But give it time...

Triangulating the site. We staked string into the ground, then highlighted it on the computer for clarity. Using this triangulation we achieved accurate dimensions and elevation differences for the site, with which we decided where was best to build the rooms.

The harvest comes in, in a traditional manner not seen in England for many a year.

A conceptual sketch of our school, march 2006.

Our teacher, nandlalji with our pre-primary children.

The dry season in the village, as seen from on the school site. You re not going to get many crops out of that.

Morning prayer in Bakhel.

The third classroom, December 2007

A classroom and a water tank at the school

Our home sweet home for 6 months. It is usually a cattle shed.

A motley crew of kids from Bakhel, in their happy days before we built the school.

Infected scabies. This infection is rife in the area and contagious. It is also the main reason for child absence in the school.

A taxi not unlike the one Ash takes to get the the school each day.

The kids take a lesson outside

Our kids and Nandlal, a teacher, captivated by Republic Day performances.

The kids finally do something a bit more fun and paint their classroom. This being Educate for Life, the kids made the brushes out of roots and sticks, and the paint is made out of crushed rocks of various colours.

One of our classrooms.

Home to two adults, five children and an assortment of livestock.

This is a school holiday- the children were not supposed to have come in, but I arrived at the school to find they had anyway, had got out some instruments and unprompted had started playing and dancing!

Ash (second in from right), the teachers and team in from of one of the classrooms, and office being built in the background.

Ash, Ed and Deepak, our coordinator, on the ride to work.

Our school from afar. It is the little cluster of buildings on the lump about a third of the way down the photo.

On site of the first school While the men build, the women ensure they have something to build with.