On Monday afternoon we were given a lovely welcome by Pastor Asis and representatives of various partner organisations – it was humbling that these obviously busy people gave up their time for us and wanted to organise things for us – they gave us a lovely tea too!
On Tuesday we had our first day proper – which involved getting onto
what was a comparatively small old bus with street children to travel to the GNCEM ‘Mobile School’. There seemed to be far too many people for such a comparatively small vehicle and we were ‘mobbed’ (in a good way) by children of quite a range of ages from very small up to about 11 (?) who wanted to say ‘hello, how are you’, play ‘thumb wars’ and shake hands in various complicated ways! So we bounced along the streets with all this wonderful ‘ chaos’, welcome and joy – with little ones sat on our laps. When we got to the school, the children sang songs, we sang to them and played with them and then they had lessons according to age/ability. I sat in a Maths class (which tested my limited Maths ability to the limit when the children asked me to check their work!).
On Tuesday afternoon, we visited a girls’ ‘ hostel’ (boarding school). We were also joined by a group from Oxford and together we all sang songs, played games and chatted with the girls, many of whom impressed us with their excellent English. Again, we were amazed by their welcome and joy.
Today (Wednesday), we went to the mobile school again (similar bus journey as before), but when we got to the school, we were expected to get more involved and ended up taking lessons for the various age groups – I was given a piece of chalk and asked to teach English to a somewhat reluctant group of 6/7 year olds and subjected to them to writing ‘the cat sat on the mat’! Even with my feeble efforts, they very much appreciated praise for what they did.
We couldn’t get any taxis to take us the relatively short distance back to BMS, so we were led by one of the teachers through the back streets – it was a hot walk, but fascinating experiencing the sights, sounds and smells and people going about their daily lives.
In the afternoon, we were taken shopping by Anu (the Hostess at the BMS Guest House). This was something that the ladies on the team very much enjoyed, buying Indian dresses – I’m not sure the men enjoyed the shopping process so much (!), but it did allow us to see another part of Kolkata – some more ‘western’ style shops, but still mixed up with all the ‘packed in’ life we are starting to become accustomed to – street vendors, people begging, shop/stall holders touting for business and streets that seemed busier than ever with traffic.
I must just mention the food at the BMS Guest House – it’s been great – mainly various types of curries, but tonight we had noodles with sweet and sour chicken (?!) – very nice. The curries aren’t quite like we have at home, but in a good way – perhaps more authentic and it’s good to try new things. Well we need to try to get some sleep now – another ‘leap into the unknown’ tomorrow visiting another BMS partner organisation – here’s to more excitement and surprises!