DAY 2
We arrived at Udayan for the first time today to the warmest of welcomes from both the children and the staff. It was lovely to see just how important this trip is to them as well as us. We arrived to the children singing Morning Prayer followed by refreshments under a big banner saying ‘welcome friends of Udayan’. They presented each of us with handmade floral chains to wear, and soon after James (founder of Udayan) arrived to greet us. After being shown our rooms, we began the tour around the school. Each classroom we entered performed what they had learnt in song form, which they enjoyed performing as much as we enjoyed watching. rnrn
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rnrnLater on in the day, before dinner, we presented them with teddies, football shirts and bibs. Their reaction was one was we will never forget; the younger children loved their teddies and the shirts and bibs were most popular with the older children, who wore them immediately. rnrn
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rnrnWe got the opportunity to teach small groups of 14-16 year olds, in order to help improve their English. The language barrier was challenging but the students were all eager to learn, and we came out with a few words in Bengali, for example ‘Tam anam ki’ meant what is your name.rnrnAfter dinner we were grateful for an early night, after a tiring day. rnrn
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Oh my goodness, I have tears in my eyes, what a wonderful welcome and so emotional. My husband was delighted to see the football shirts he donated actually being worn!
Hi everyone.
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Looks like you’re having a wonderful time. The Sixth Form isn’t the same without you Miss Devlin and Mrs Weldon, but don’t worry everything’s under control.
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We had lots of lovely cake for Mrs Walsh’s last day – sorry Mrs W, I didn’t manage to save you any!
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I’m glad to see the football pump is working. That’ll keep you busy Luke!
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Take care and enjoy the rest of the trip.
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Mrs D’Urso