AN INDIAN ADVENTURE 2
Tavistock resident Mary Budge has returned from Behala, on the outskirts of Calcutta where she has been visiting the Salvation Army Girls’ School, home to 120 girls, ranging in age from 4-18 years old.
The last visit was to the Salvation Army Boys home in central Calcutta. It is a poor place with only two small rooms and no play area, but the boys are well looked after. Mary then went to New Delhi and stayed with the man who founded and runs “Vision India”. He now has three centres for the children in the slum areas and is doing wonderful work. She saw and experienced many new things there and tried most modes of transport, even braving a local Indian train. She says, “Calcutta is an onslaught on all the senses, it is noisy, smelly and polluted and the traffic is mayhem - no rules at all - yet it is a vibrant alive place where you can get or buy anything. The trip was an amazing experience and I met some wonderful people who are demonstrating love in action in their work in very basic, poor circumstances. I was privileged to spend some time with them.”
Mary Budge
Mary reports that over £3,000 was raised by Salvation Army members and friends, and people of Tavistock, which was used to install gas into the kitchen which has revolutionised the cooking at the school. “Some of the girls are orphans, but most are from very poor and needy homes but they are delightful children, happy, and full of life,” says Mary, who lived at the school for 3 months. “Their day starts at 5.30 am, with prayers at 6am, followed by breakfast. School is a busy, noisy, friendly place and starts early, by 8am.”
Mary also visited four other Salvation Army childrens homes in very different areas.
“Kalimpong Salvation Army School for the Blind, right up in the mountains on the edge of the Himalayas where you can see the third highest mountain in the world was amazing” she says, “but the
saddest thing was that the children could not see the wonderful setting they were living in. It is a beautiful home, well run and the 40 children are very happy there.” A Salvation Army boys’ home in one of the poorest areas of India - Simultala in Bihar state - was one of the poorest places Mary has ever seen. There are no facilities at all and with no electricity available, cooking is done out in the open, but it is home to 30 happy boys. Mary says, “This is going to be my next fund raising project, their need is so great.”
Mary thrilled the 29 girls at the beautifully run Salvation Army Girls Home in Angul, Orissa by giving them each a Barbie doll all of which Mary had obtained or were donated. “They were so thrilled,” she says, “it was a joy to see - this was the first toy for most of them!”
Vision India is a British charitable organisation, started by Indians residing in UK with a branch office in India, dedicated to working for and with the poor communities, both rural and urban, aiming to create permanent solutions to poverty, disease and unemployment. The Charity is committed to supporting the most vulnerable members of society - the poor and marginalised who live on a basis of daily survival, who do not have any future to live for aiming to provide self sufficiency which will be a long term solution. A society in which everyone has the ability and education to build for themselves and their family, a future free from poverty. To find out more about Vision India visit
www.visionindia.org
www.tavistockdiary.com - go to the archive tab and click on the July 2010 cover, then turn to Page 6.
To read all about Mary’s first Indian Adventure, visit
Barbie Girls
The girls at the Salvation Army Home in Angul, Orissa were thrilled by their gifts - the first toy most of them had ever owned
4
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32