Our last day in India was peaceful and inspirational, giving us a chance to reflect on our wonderful journey. We met Brother Gaston at his Ashram out in the beautiful Bengali countryside where mentally challenged women and orphaned children are given a sense of equality and a chance to build their own lives. rnrnrnrnGaston gave us a guided tour, displaying his work and visions for the future. For example we were shown the multi-faith prayer room which facilitates all religions. rnrnrnrnBrother Gaston’s Ashram is self-sufficient growing hundreds of vegetables and bananas. We then had a discussion with Gaston where we were able to ask questions and hear his wise words. His determination and love for God inspired us to ponder and strengthen our faith in God. In Gaston’s words he said “you cannot love God without serving your fellow man and all people are your brothers and sisters”. Unexpectedly we were given a substantial meal which was enjoyed by all.rnrnrnrnWe returned to the Fairlawn in late afternoon having an opportunity for last minute shopping and a rest before our journey home. rnrnWe would firstly like to thank our readers and people who have posted comments whilst we have been in India. Your efforts have highly motivated us and kept us going through what has been an emotional pilgrimage. rnrnSecondly we would like to thank Trish, Caroline and Kathryn for making this trip happen and guiding us through this amazing journey. We hope they have enjoyed our company as much as we have enjoyed theirs.rnrnIf we were to say one thing about this trip it has been a truly life-changing experience for all of us.rnrnWe hope you have enjoyed following our journey and continue to support Udayan in the future. From all of us here in India Goodnight and God bless.rnrn

Over the past three days we have travelled, mainly by boat, around the Sundarbans which is a world heritage site and the home of about 250 tigers. The islands are located off the West Bengal bay. We have experienced extreme weather conditions ranging from monsoon rain to glorious sunshine. rnrnrnrnWe have been visiting various reserves around the islands trying to catch a glimpse of some of the exotic animals that India has to offer. On our adventure we have seen a great variety of animals ranging from the spotted deer to crocodiles and many of the unusual and colourful birds that have all made their home in the Sundarbans. rnrnrnrnOur accommodation is not the Fairlawn but nonetheless it is warm and comfortable as tents go! Unfortunately we have not seen any tigers but we understand this is not unusual. rnrnIn the evenings we have had the pleasure of sitting around a warm camp fire and taking in the Bengali atmosphere. rnrnrnrnrnrnThis morning our guide took us on a tour of some of the local villages located around the Sundarbans. We first went by boat to a small primary school and then hiked back to our accommodation walking through local villages seeing how self sufficient the people were. As we were watching and furthering our knowledge of the lives of people who live in the Sundarbans we were able to get a feel for the Bengali culture. Furthermore we were given a further insight into the many cultural differences between India and England, some of which can only be seen and understood by experiencing it first hand, which we have had the privilege of being able to do.rnrnrnrnrnrnWe have now returned to the Fairlawn for our penultimate night in India. It is Shane’s Birthday so we are off to celebrate Indian style!rnrnrnrnTomorrow we are off to visit Brother Gaston at his ashram. He is a highly inspirational man and has been the motivation behind many of the charities we have visited including the Asha Bhavan Centre, a home for physically challenged children. We look forward to reporting back tomorrow with news of how our final day in India went.

Photos have been added to the prevous article today.rnrnThis morning began with an early start where we attended Mass t the Motherhouse and visited Mother’s tomb to pay our respects. We all found it very moving and the Sisters’ singing was beautiful.rnrnLater in the day we were collected by Ramod, one of the original children from James’ first group of 11 little ones, to attend a celebration of our visit at Udayan. Also present were a number UK Friends of Udayan: John Coo, Justin and Caroline Coo, Keith Bashford, Anne King and Polly Pearce. We were greeted with garlands and a reception party of little children who took great delight in throwing flower petals over us as part of their welcome! rnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnThere was an air of excitement throughout the afternoon which ended with a concert comprising of dance, song and music. Their performances were interspersed with our contributions which included Siobhan doing Irish dance, Katherine and Grace singing, Shane doing Tae Kwon Do and everyone joining in to do the Macreana and Saturday Night! Photos to follow. rnrnrnrnrnrnWe are off to the Sunderbans tomorrow and not sure if we can keep a daily diary whilst we are there but we’ll try our best!

Today we visited the Asha Bhavan Centre, which a home for physically challenged children. We were warmly welcomed by the children and their founder, Sukeshi Barui, with a rose and anointing on the forehead with a tikka. rnrnAsha Bhavan CentrernrnWe were given a tour around the centre, looking at their classrooms, physiotherapy sessions and outpatients clinic. It was fascinating to see how artificial limbs are created – the process is amazing. rnrnAsha Bhavan CentrernrnAsha Bhavan CentrernrnIt was remarkable to the see the amount of care, love and attention the children received from their carers. The children entertained us with traditional dance, music and drama which was thoroughly enjoyable. rnrnAsha Bhavan CentrernrnAfter a delicious lunch we were able to spend some time with the children – you could see the happiness they felt by us being there. The staff gave us a short presentation about Asha Bhavan widening our knowledge on the organisation and what we can do to help. After the presentation we went to their workshop and were able to buy some of the wonderful gifts the children had created. We were then able to spend some more time with the children, playing games and taking photos. All our hearts were deeply touched by the children and not one of us wanted to leave. It is sad to see that these children who have so much love to give are shunned by the society they are born into. The centre provides them with a loving family network which we ourselves felt part of today. rnrnAsha Bhavan CentrernrnAsha Bhavan CentrernrnThe website for the Asha Bhavan Centre can be found in our external links on the right hand side of the page.rnrnWe are looking forward to another early start tomorrow as we are off to Mass with Mother Teresa’s sisters at 6am. We will be leaving the hundreds of candles we brought over from England for Mother’s tomb.

Our day began at noon after a very leisurely morning relaxing in the lounge. We travelled by taxi to Asha Niketan, a L’Arche community founded by Jean Vanier. rnrnAsha NiketanrnrnAsha NiketanrnrnIt is a home for the mentally disabled where they make handcrafts such as tie-dye, candles and gift cards. These men would be hidden under the stairs or living on the streets but for Asha Niketan which instead gives them the opportunity to live a fuller life and fulfil themselves. We enjoyed a challenge at lunch as we had to eat with our hands! Strictly speaking that meant we had to somehow manage with our right hand. Not easy with rice! rnrnAsha NiketanrnrnAsha NiketanrnrnAfter lunch we had a tour taken by Sankar where we saw the gardens full of fruit trees and a tranquil meditation room. Next we had the chance to browse the workshop and buy a number of unique gifts. rnrnAsha Niketan GiftsrnrnAsha Niketan Meditation ArearnrnOnce back at the hotel we walked round to the market where the guys bought their Indian style suits and the girls ordered their tailored salwars. Being Valentine’s Day we thought it would be fun to watch love movies on TV being romantics at heart!!!rnrnBy the way even though we said the Udayan children were good at football we actually won 7-6!

Today we have had the most remarkable day at Udayan. It began at 7am, when we had couscous for breakfast. We were then given the opportunity to help in a boys’ IT class, using the computers sent over from St. Joan of Arc. They are all greatly appreciated and are being used well. rnrnUdayan ComputersrnrnWe then attempted to teach the older children some English; however they were already very good so they decided to teach us some Bengali, which we were not so good at! rnrnChris with the older studentsrnrnOnce the older children had left for school, we went into the younger children’s classrooms and handed out the books and teaching resources that were kindly donated by St. Anthony’s RC School, Slough. We read the stories to the children and then helped them with the mathematics activities within the teaching resources. They seemed to really enjoy our company and assistance and we all found the experience thoroughly interesting and rewarding.rnrnSiobhan with studentsrnrnGrace with younger studentsrnrnAfter another fantastic lunch with James we were then taken to the Gandhiji Prem Nivas Leprosy Centre, which was the first centre set up by Mother Teresa for leprosy sufferers. It is now run by the Missionaries of Charity Brothers. We first visited the cloth factory where leprosy sufferers (recovered or undergoing treatment) are employed. If they did not have this opportunity they would not be able to find work anywhere else. We were also shown around the wards of the centre where patients were resting having received treatment. Furthermore most of the leprosy suffers who are staying with the Brothers undergoing treatment have sent their children to Udayan and were most honoured to have us and James visit them.rnrnrnrnWe then returned to our hotel for dinner and are looking forward to our visit tomorrow to Asha Niketan, a home that takes care of the mentally handicapped set up by Jean Vanier.

Our new tour guide, who will be our guide on our trip to the Sunderbans, gave us a tour of Kolkata. We first visited the Botanical Gardens which covers 273 acres of land and contains many exotic trees, including the Great Banyan tree which is over 250 years old and covers 1.5 hectares of the Gardens. It is the greatest attraction of the Indian Botanical gardens. After we went on to the Victoria Memorial which is a tribute to Queen Victoria built after she died in 1901. It took 20 years to build and was completed in 1921. It is also known as the British Taj. The building was beautifully designed and is a very impressive monument.rnrnGreat Banyan treernrnOur guide took us on to what is known locally as Potters Lane. This is where hundreds upon hundreds of statues are made out of straw then moulded with clay and then used in many of the religious celebrations and rituals (some stand at 30 or 40 feet high). Many of the statues we saw being built were in preparation for a religious festival in November. We followed this with a visit to the Jain Temple; this is one of the earliest forms of Indian religion known as Jainism, which follows very strict rules of vegetarianism and non-violence.rnrnWelcomernrnUdayan WelcomernrnThis morning was very special as we made our first journey to Udayan; we were warmly welcomed by James and everyone. James firstly introduced us to some of his main helpers telling us a bit about them. Many of them are former boys of Udayan who have returned as workers.rnrnJames then very kindly gave us a tour of the site taking us round to some of the classrooms where we watched the children being taught. We saw the newly built medical wing which much of St. Joan of Arc’s recent fundraising efforts have gone towards. As we walked around the site we saw many of the ways in which Udayan makes itself self sufficient, for example growing their own crops. We were shown the children’s dormitories which are separated into boys and girls. As we visited the girl’s rooms the children came out for their lunch break and we were able to have our first interaction with the girls playing clapping games. The girls were totally mesmerised by our digital cameras and all wanted to have their photographs taken. rnrnTeam playing with the girls of UdayanrnrnFollowing on from some tea and biscuits all of us enjoyed playing a football match with the boys of Udayan. The boys were in better shape than us, and used to playing football more so rang rings around us!rnrnJoan of Arc vs Udayan Football matchrnrnBefore the children went off to their studies they entertained us with singing from the English Choir and a violin recital given by two students. We now have some free time to settle into life here at Udayan, which will be followed by dinner and bed. The new day at Udayan will begin at 7 am sharp!rnrnWe apologise for the absence of pictures today, unfortunately the connection isn’t fast enough at Udayan to upload them! We anticipate to add them in when we return to the Fairlawn tomorrow evening.

This morning we attended a service given by the Reverend James Stevens (founder of Udayan) at St Andrews Church. As we write this message we are sitting in the tropical courtyard under the palm trees at the Fairlawn chatting to James and his wife Lallita. We are discussing plans for our time at Udayan and are getting excited at the prospect being with the children.rnrnLater on we shall be going for a tour around Kolkata visiting the Botanical Gardens and Tagore’s Museum among other places. It has now been decided that tomorrow we will be going to Udayan and spending the night there! We will be taking the reading books we brought over from England to use as the basis of our literacy lessons with the little ones.rnrnJames visits Group at the FairlawnrnrnJames visits Group at the FairlawnrnrnUnfortunately the internet café that we are using here to update the website shuts early on Sundays and we will not be back in time from our Kolkata tour to inform you of our afternoon’s activities. We will be posting all this information together with photographs tomorrow.

Boys with Trish, Kathryn and CarolinernrnLast night we travelled on the overnight train from Varanasi to Kolkata, an experience we won’t forget! We arrived at 9.30am and were greeted by our porters – it’s amazing how they can balance two of our heavy suitcases on their heads! You’ll be pleased to know the sun was back, which brightened our spirits even more.rnrnOn arrival at the Fairlawn hotel we were welcomed by the owner, Mrs Smith and her team. The hotel is unlike anything you will have seen, a tropical palace, the walls lined with famous faces all of whom have stayed here over the years such as Patrick Swayze and Felicity Kendal. It’s like stepping back in time.rnrnWelcome at the FairlawnrnrnIn the afternoon we went for a walk down to the local market, much the same as Bovingdon: bags, shoes and scarves! We also browsed around the shops near our hotel, and bought some presents for friends back home. After that we had time to relax and prepare for our evening meal. Tomorrow being Sunday we will be celebrating Mass with James Stevens. In the afternoon we will be touring Calcutta. We are all looking forward to meeting the children of Udayan on Monday.

We finally had a much needed lie-in this morning, before setting off to meet the Little Sisters of Jesus. We travelled there on motorised rickshaws and explored Varanasi along the way.rnrnCaroline and Neal on the RickshawrnrnWe were welcomed by Sister Lourdumary with chai and biscuits at the Jesu Ashram fraternity which overlooks the Ganges. Kathryn Spink, Mother Teresa’s biographer, gave us a detailed account of Little Sister Magdelene, the founder of the fraternity. The fraternity was set up 54 years ago and we were shown photographs of their golden jubilee celebration. rnrnGroup chat with the SistersrnrnWe also went up onto the terrace to admire the view. When departing we had an opportunity to buy Rosary beads which were handcrafted by Sister Lourdumary. They were beautifully made and she will be hard at work refilling her supplies!rnrnGroup with Little Sisters of JesusrnrnWe got back into the motorised rickshaws and visited a silk merchant. Here we were able to purchase duvets, tablecloths, pashminas and scarves. We were shown many different patterns and colours, every one as beautiful as the next. None of us left empty handed.rnrnSilk ShoprnrnWe returned to our hotel for a quick bite to eat and are now preparing for our overnight train. Don’t worry, we’ve packed our plastic pants and toilet rolls!rn