Mother House & Return to Udayan
The day kicked off super-early with a 5:15am departure to head to the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata. This is where Mother Teresa spent most of her time helping others and founding the Missionaries of Charity. We celebrated English Mass at 6am with the sisters and volunteers. Liam did his deacon thing and was asked to preach. After mass we got to see Mother’s tomb and have a look around the small museum including many of her personal possessions such as her sandals, handbag and prayerbooks. Heading back to the hotel around 8am, gave us some free time to rest or have a last look at the city before the Udayan school bus came to bring us back to our new found home.
Arriving back at Udayan at 2:30pm, with smiles beaming, we were ready to get back to the children. Some of the team put their bags away and headed straight over to Nivedita Bhavan (girls wing) to see what they had been up to since we left. The others sorted their rooms and unpacking before being disturbed by Becky and Annabel washing their clothes in the bathroom.
The girls were straight back to their normal routine of hair braiding, dancing and discussing our adventures in the big city! The younger boys were also entertained with fun games led by Annabel which included a conga line, a game of tag, a Mexican wave and what seemed to be their favourite, What’s the time Mr Wolf. I’m not sure who had more fun though?
The evening’s activity was a film and as we all settled into our seats, we wished they had come with seatbelts! What a ride that was! Every genre of film was included in this Bollywood spectacular, and you really didn’t know what was going to happen next! Kept us on our toes… except for Erin, if she can sleep through a Hindi film it really proves that she can sleep anywhere regardless of what is happening around her.
A good night’s sleep is needed as we dust off the paint brushes to help brighten up this beautiful place.
