Welcome to St Joan’s Udayan Mission 2019
Pre &During Trip Article
Entries by Chris Mann
Our last night in India
Today is our last day in India before the long journey home tomorrow. We visited the Asha Bhavan Centre which is an excellent home and school for children that have special needs. Here we got taken on a tour which allowed us the opportunity to see the fantastic facilities that are on offer and for […]
Farewells at Udayan
It was an emotional farewell to Udayan today, particularly, with the girls in 12 Class (Pratima and Rosalie) as these girls won’t be around for the next visit of St Joan’s to Udayan. Both these girls will return home to study nursing at college if their higher exams (taken at 18) are good enough.
Fiesta at Udayan
Today was our last full day at Udayan and we had the opportunity to travel by bus with the Wesleyiane School students. On our return we were shown the administrative side of Udayan including the doctors office, dispensary, library, stores and computer room. We then had the chance to practice our dances for the evening […]
Our Return to Udayan
Following an early start (4:30 AM!), we made our way to The Mother House to have mass with Mother Teresa’s sisters (The Missionaries of Charity). Once back at the hotel we relaxed, packed and had breakfast. All gifts – including teddies, pens and nail polish – were taken to Udayan today to be distributed before […]
Touring Kolkata – Part 2
Today we went on Weldon’s tour of Kolkata which started with a visit to the Botanical Gardens. We saw the remarkable Great Banyan Tree which is over 250 years old, has 3,600 ariel roots and covers 1.6 hectare. We took a walk around the garden and lakes which was a nice change from the hustle of Kolkata outside.
Touring Kolkata – Part 1
Today we explored Kolkata as a group. We first walked to the Eden Gardens stadium; one of the largest cricket stadiums in the world. We then walked to the Ganges River where we watched people gather to wash, talk and be blessed. We then took taxis to McDonald’s where we had very authentic Indian chicken […]
Paras Padma
Today we visited Paras Padma – a home for physically and mentally disadvantaged children. rnrnWe were greeted with garlands and warm hugs from the children before Ebadat and Mina – the couple who founded Paras Padma. Ebedat spoke to us about their work over chai before giving us a tour of the amazing place they have built up since 2000. We were then shown around the dispensary and the rooms where they carry out physiotherapy and make prosthetic limbs. We had lunch prepared by Mina which was delicious – one of the best Indian banquets any of us had ever experienced.
Udayan & Titagarh
Today was our last day of our first of two trips to Udayan. rnrnWe taught the children their morning lessons in both English and Bengali. Isabella and Holly taught the children human body parts, Tasha and Sian taught geography, Ethan and James played bingo with the children and Fran and Kate taught animals. This was an extremely rewarding experience for both us and the children.
A Day in the Life
Today was our first full day at Udayan. We awoke to the local Mosque’s call to prayer at 5am to and went to join the children for their morning prayer. We then discovered that we were an hour too early!rnrn rnrnAfter finally beginning the day with the children and eating breakfast, followed by their private […]