Holy Cross Institute

Quepem is a quiet place most of the year, and our school sits right in the middle of it. The building has been here for a long time and you can see it in the walls and the old wooden doors. We spend a lot of time dealing with the damp during the monsoon months because Goa gets so much rain. The classrooms are basic with wooden benches that have names scratched into them from years ago. We have a playground that gets quite muddy when it pours, so the kids usually end up making a mess of the hallways. The staff mostly lives around the 403705 area, so everyone knows everyone’s business. It’s not like those big city schools with glass buildings. Here, we still use chalkboards and the fans hum loudly while the teachers talk. In the mornings, you can hear the church bells nearby, which usually means it's time for the first lesson. We have a small office where we keep the records in big metal cupboards. Sometimes the goats from the nearby houses wander near the gates and we have to shoo them away. It’s just a normal school day for us, nothing too fancy. We just focus on getting through the books and making sure the kids stay out of trouble. The canteen usually smells like local snacks around midday, which makes everyone hungry before the bell rings for lunch. It’s just a simple life here in this part of South Goa.