HOPE-ful day!

Welcome back to the blog,

Today was a completely eye-opening and very different day compared to the other days we have had in India so far. We got a nice lie in (thank God!) till 8:30 am this morning and soon hopped on our bus to Chetla in the slums of Kolkata to interact with the kids in the Hope Montessori. This involved endless games of hokey pokey, ring-a-ring-a-rosy and the macarena, we also sang songs to them after arguing over song choice and  practising intensely on the bus journey over. We ended up singing Riptide and Lean on Me, which all the children loved. We all really enjoyed being with the kids, their beaming smiles radiated sheer happiness as did ours.

Following our visit to the nursery, we hopped back onto the bus and went to the Hope Cafe for lunch. We all devoured grilled cheese sandwiches and chips followed by yummy brownies and milkshakes. From there, we were showed around the Hope Life Skills Centre where the young people of the surrounding slums are taught important life skills, for example, sewing, tailoring and computer skills, to assist them in obtaining jobs in the future to better their lives. We all found this extremely interesting and it was amazing to see their enthusiasm towards learning.

We then enjoyed some free time browsing around the Hope shop, which we successfully cleared out, to purchase souvenirs, gypsy-pants and in Kaci's case, a full-Indian style dress! We got back onto the bus and travelled to the much more solemn Hope hospital. Although the hospital was of course extremely saddening to see the seriously sick or injured patients, their joy and bright spirits lifted the atmosphere.

We found today to be extremely informative as none of us had previously realised the incredible effects that the Irish volunteers and donors have had on the people of Kolkata over many years.

We enjoyed every aspect of today and are off into our three groups teaching in St. George's and St. Mary's as usual tomorrow.

Bye for now!
XOXO
Killiney girls