St Joan of Arc - Udayan

Our last three days have been spent at Udayan and we have had the most amazing time! We have played football, cricket, hopscotch and hand games with the children. They have taught us some Bengali and Hindi while we have concentrated on reaffirming Beverley’s spoken English programme by talking to the children and assisting in their different classes.

We were blown away by how self sufficient Udayan actually is. They grow their own vegetables, bananas, mangoes, papayas and keep farm animals. The rest of the food that they provide for the children is sourced locally. We are all aware of how much food is produced by the fantastic team in the kitchen who looked after us for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We were amazed by how much all the children, even in the younger ones, eat and the fact that they ate more than our human hoover, Joe!

The staff were extremely welcoming and were very happy to explain all aspects of Udayan to us, from aspects of their day to day life, to their own business schedules at Udayan. We must extend our thanks to the staff for making us feel at home and to the children for truly making us feel part of their family. Despite coming from backgrounds surrounded by such poverty they are friendly, happy and grateful for all that is provided to them which is emphasised by how much they treasure the little they do have.

On our first day there the boys also participated in a football match of epic proportions; including many goals (no one actually knows the final score) and much bonding between the two groups. The girls also spent time with the girls at Udayan being taught phrases of Bengali which the girls persisted in testing us on for the duration of our stay.

Yesterday evening began with a variety of performances from us and the children of Udayan with Jamie performing a solo, Millie and Dominic performing a duet, Sabina and Shaunagh doing a Irish dance, the group performing the ‘Pizza Hut Song’ with Joe concluding the show with his own solo. The children of Udayan stunned us all with their fantastic performances which ranged from gymnastics, traditional Indian dance to Beverley and the younger years reciting the English book ‘The Blue Balloon’ accompanied with actions. After the musical celebrations we headed to the medical block for our surprise dinner where a study room had been transformed, beautifully decorated with lights, pictures and flowers by Swapan and helpers and the meal was provided courtesy of the generous Father James and his wife Lallita.

Today was our last day with the children which we spent observing and participating in lessons and was filled with emotional goodbyes. Our time at Udayan has been life changing and unforgettable and we will cherish the children’s faces, love and caring nature for many years to come. We all hope to return again in the near future to continue the service that we all found so rewarding. From all the children at Udayan we would like to thank everyone who has donated money to Udayan, no matter how small, each penny you give can change their lives for the better just as meeting them has changed ours.