Hi all,
Happy Christmas and New Year. We had a very enjoyable, if slightly discombobulated, Christmas in Kolkata. We're working to catch up on the overdue blog entries, but in the meantime here is a quick update on what we've been doing.
We arrived in Kolkata on the morning of the 24th, after a train journey from Gaya that was a mere 13 hours late. We were met by a representative from CRAWL society, who drove us out to Khardah, around 45 minutes north from the centre of Kolkata. There we were installed in the flat for volunteers, which is basic (bucket showers and hard beds) but clean, and which has come to feel like home after a week or so. Our first visit was to the CRAWL school Christmas party, where we were greeted with a very enthusiastic "Merry Christmas" and a very touching Christmas card to "Uncle and Auntie" that one of the kids had drawn. There were around 20 kids there, who kept us smiling throughout with their songs and dancing (and a kind of pass-the-parcel game without the parcel). The kids were extremely sweet, and we were struck by what a great job CRAWL have clearly done already with these kids.
On Christmas Day we took the 5.45am train to Sealdah Station to help Boby, who was in charge of this CRAWL project, to distribute food to kids who sleep in the streets around the train station. The kids were again very sweet (at one point I had four tiny kids hanging on to one hand, each clutching a single finger), and it was both harrowing and rewarding to meet these 50 or so children whose broad smiles belied their unimaginably tough living conditions.
In the afternoon we traveled across Kolkata with Boby and Pia, one of the older kids from the CRAWL school, to the birthday party of the first child of Subhamita, CRAWL's president. This was a fantastically hospitable West Bengali celebration, and we particularly enjoyed the delicious food. We also made the very intimate acquaintance of lots of new friends on the indescribably over-crowded buses and trains of Kolkata.
We had Monday and Tuesday off to explore Kolkata, and took the opportunity to treat ourselves to a slightly more luxurious hotel, a miraculously peaceful oasis in the centre of the city, as a Christmas present to ourselves. Kolkata iself, as you could probably imagine, is chaotic and hectic but lots of fun.
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we spent the morning helping Gopa, who runs CRAWL's street kids project at Dum Dum train station. We took the 6.45am train from Khardah, and outside the station we set up a plastic mat for the kids to sit on. Around a dozen kids gradually sidled up, each of whom was given a page of a colouring-in book. Some of the kids were masters of the crayon, some had rather imaginative ideas of colour-schemes, but all of them clearly enjoyed the hour's entertainment and stuck to the task with surprising focus. In the meantime another CRAWL volunteer tended to those who had wounds (mostly on their bare feet). Finally they were formed up into a queue, smallest at the front, as Clem and I dished out the food (one sandwich each, plus a banana ("kola" in Bengali) on Wednesday, peanuts on Thursday, and the special treat of an egg ("deem") on Friday. We were finished by 9am on each day, so had plenty of time to explore the city or retreat to Khardah for R&R or trip-planning.
It has been a very moving experience so far, and we're rather sad that we only have another 9 days here before moving on. We'll be at Sealdah station tomorrow and Sunday, helping at the school (which has been closed for the holidays) from Wednesday until Friday -- time to prepare our teaching plans! -- and then at Sealdah again for our final weekend in Kolkata.
Many thanks again to those of you who have very generously donated to CRAWL. We have seen how well the money is put to use. For those of you who haven't yet had a chance to do so, any donations would be very much appreciated. See the link above.
Best,
Clementine and John
Happy Christmas and New Year. We had a very enjoyable, if slightly discombobulated, Christmas in Kolkata. We're working to catch up on the overdue blog entries, but in the meantime here is a quick update on what we've been doing.
We arrived in Kolkata on the morning of the 24th, after a train journey from Gaya that was a mere 13 hours late. We were met by a representative from CRAWL society, who drove us out to Khardah, around 45 minutes north from the centre of Kolkata. There we were installed in the flat for volunteers, which is basic (bucket showers and hard beds) but clean, and which has come to feel like home after a week or so. Our first visit was to the CRAWL school Christmas party, where we were greeted with a very enthusiastic "Merry Christmas" and a very touching Christmas card to "Uncle and Auntie" that one of the kids had drawn. There were around 20 kids there, who kept us smiling throughout with their songs and dancing (and a kind of pass-the-parcel game without the parcel). The kids were extremely sweet, and we were struck by what a great job CRAWL have clearly done already with these kids.
On Christmas Day we took the 5.45am train to Sealdah Station to help Boby, who was in charge of this CRAWL project, to distribute food to kids who sleep in the streets around the train station. The kids were again very sweet (at one point I had four tiny kids hanging on to one hand, each clutching a single finger), and it was both harrowing and rewarding to meet these 50 or so children whose broad smiles belied their unimaginably tough living conditions.
In the afternoon we traveled across Kolkata with Boby and Pia, one of the older kids from the CRAWL school, to the birthday party of the first child of Subhamita, CRAWL's president. This was a fantastically hospitable West Bengali celebration, and we particularly enjoyed the delicious food. We also made the very intimate acquaintance of lots of new friends on the indescribably over-crowded buses and trains of Kolkata.
We had Monday and Tuesday off to explore Kolkata, and took the opportunity to treat ourselves to a slightly more luxurious hotel, a miraculously peaceful oasis in the centre of the city, as a Christmas present to ourselves. Kolkata iself, as you could probably imagine, is chaotic and hectic but lots of fun.
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we spent the morning helping Gopa, who runs CRAWL's street kids project at Dum Dum train station. We took the 6.45am train from Khardah, and outside the station we set up a plastic mat for the kids to sit on. Around a dozen kids gradually sidled up, each of whom was given a page of a colouring-in book. Some of the kids were masters of the crayon, some had rather imaginative ideas of colour-schemes, but all of them clearly enjoyed the hour's entertainment and stuck to the task with surprising focus. In the meantime another CRAWL volunteer tended to those who had wounds (mostly on their bare feet). Finally they were formed up into a queue, smallest at the front, as Clem and I dished out the food (one sandwich each, plus a banana ("kola" in Bengali) on Wednesday, peanuts on Thursday, and the special treat of an egg ("deem") on Friday. We were finished by 9am on each day, so had plenty of time to explore the city or retreat to Khardah for R&R or trip-planning.
It has been a very moving experience so far, and we're rather sad that we only have another 9 days here before moving on. We'll be at Sealdah station tomorrow and Sunday, helping at the school (which has been closed for the holidays) from Wednesday until Friday -- time to prepare our teaching plans! -- and then at Sealdah again for our final weekend in Kolkata.
Many thanks again to those of you who have very generously donated to CRAWL. We have seen how well the money is put to use. For those of you who haven't yet had a chance to do so, any donations would be very much appreciated. See the link above.
Best,
Clementine and John
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