Skip to main content

Day 4 - 12/02/2025

On Wednesday morning, we were given the very devastating news that Therese unfortunately had to leave India early in the morning due to a family emergency. Although we were all very upset by this news, we tried to stay positive for our experience with the HOPE foundation. We started off the day with heading to one of 5 HOPE creches in the South of Kolkata. We were greeted with a dance from a little girl dressed in traditional Indian clothing. This was a very special way to be welcomed into the creche. The two teachers in the creche also gave us information about how the HOPE foundation has been able to facilitate many young children that come from difficult circumstances including children whose parents are incarcerated. This experience was very enlightening and it was lovely to see the work that the HOPE foundation do. 

Then, we headed back onto the bus and went to visit a learning centre in a slum area. This was a very positive experience in which we were able to play games and slightly get to know the children who went there. This education centre is essentially a homework club for students to attend after they have finished school for the day. 

At this stage it was already lunch time which meant we took a visit to the HOPE cafe and Life Skills Education centre. The food was a nice break from chicken curry as we all enjoyed sandwiches, chips and brownies. The woman that ran the cafe also gave us a nice tour of the different educational programmes such as beauty, tailoring and computers. Finally, we fleeced the HOPE shop and bought various ceramic elephants, elephant trousers and wallets. 





Our final stop of the day was the HOPE hospital. We were greeted there by the coordinator (and biochemist) of the hospital who gave us a tour. We were shown lots of different facilities that the hospital now has thanks to donations made by schools and brands such as Specsavers. The HOPE foundation's walls were also filled with photo boards of many groups that had visited the hospital previously. It was lovely to see a few friendly faces such as Ashlyn, Mr. McDermott, Therese, Ms. Dempsey and many more! 







When we finished off in the hospital we headed back onto the bus and were stuck in a 3 hour traffic jam (on a 12 Km trip). It was safe to say we were all exhuasted when we finally got home and headed to sleep after our evening reflection time. 

Many thanks to the HOPE foundation for their wonderful tour and all that they do to help those living in poverty in Kolkata.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1 & 2

9th and 10th of February Hello all,  We are glad to let you know that we have arrived safely on our journey to Kolkata. We had a long first day. When we got off the flight we were warmly greeted by the brothers who picked us up from the airport. The culture shock hit us immediately when we were passing the sellers on our bus ride chopping off the heads of chickens! We settled into our new home for the next ten days very quickly and had a short nap to keep us going. Later on in the day we wandered into the city to experience the busy atmosphere of the city. We got to familiarise ourselves with the metro system in the city, safe to say it was a very tight squish on the metro... After our eventful trip to the city, we had dinner and took a well needed early night. After a good night's sleep, we all got up and got ready for our day. We had a selection of teas and juices and toast to start the day off. We gathered our supplies and carried them from St.Mary's (Our accommodation) to t...
4 comments
Read more

Day 3 - 11/02/25

Starting off the day we got up, had breakfast and got ready to leave St. Mary's. Eight of us and Ms Kinsella and Ms. Ni Chairbre, took the metro to St. George's, where we greeted our class. It was lovely to see some familiar faces from the children we bonded with on Monday. Meanwhile the other group stayed in St. Mary's where they took part in various activities with the children with intellectual disabilities and they very much enjoyed their day. At St. Georges we continued with our lesson plans and sat in on a few classes. We enjoyed engaging with the children and teachers throughout the day. At the start of the day there was an assembly where two groups performed dances and presented us and the boys from CBS with beautiful bracelets and scarves for the teachers, which was such a nice welcoming.  After another class we played games in the yard with all of the children which was a lot of fun. Throughout the day, we took part in various activities such as English class wher...
1 comment
Read more

HCK India Immersion 2025

  "To act in solidarity with others for a more just world" Twelve students accompanied by three staff members will travel to Kolkata, India to live and work with the Christian Brother community in St. George's School, Bow Bazar and St. Mary's Dum Dum from 8th - 19th February, 2025.  They have undertaken an active and creative educational process to increase their awareness and understanding of the world we live in. They have engaged in a process of interaction, reflection and action. As part of this action project they have carried out an extensive fundraising programme. All proceeds will go directly towards education for the poor in Kolkata. Through this blog you can follow their journey.
Post a Comment
Read more