Day 6 - Tuesday

Day 6 – Tuesday

After a day of being “out of action” it was good to get back into the swing of things once more! And what a welcome back it was! Once again we were back in the yellow bus to shouts of “auntie! auntie!” and the most wonderful beautiful children – yes that’s right, I Emma Edwards former moaner whenever asked to do things with young people under the age of 11 am saying that I enjoy working with these children, singing with them, playing with them, teaching them and breaking up their frequent fights. But don’t get any ideas!

At the school we took part in the normal school day – wash the children, listen while they sing to us and then it’s our turn. This time we sang higher higher (than a mountain) and taught them Jesus says to me I’ll be your friend (they particularly like the spinning around actions in this song!) We then performed a drama of Zaccheus and surprise surprise as the shortest member of the team I got the leading role. This was followed by some lessons, Rachel and I taught English teaching them my, his and hers which the children seemed to grasp by the end. The children had some play time and ate lunch; we had bought bubbles, picture cards and some craft items which were greatly enjoyed by all. All too soon after a hot sticky day it was time to return for our own lunch – surprise it was curry.... again!

Having broken my glasses on the plane coming over and quickly running out of contact lenses Rachel and I went in search for an opticians it was nice to get some space to go out and explore only having to worry about ourselves. We soon found an optician with a small but passable selection of frames. We were told the eye test would be free if we made a purchase so after picking out some frames I had my sight test – (some things are the same everywhere) The frames cost 650r (about £7.55) and the lenses were 300r (about £3.40) so all together one pair of glasses have cost me £10.95 and ready to pick up in 2 days! – Perhaps I will stock up!

We ventured onwards to our favourite shop via tuc tuc and spent some more time browsing bags and scarfs. Rachel wanted to get a necklace with her name in Bengali so we asked one of the guys working in the shop if he knew of a place nearby. We were delighted when he said he would take us there and it was not far. Following him outside for what we thought was a quick walk he promptly showed us his motorbike.

We sensed it was time for a new adventure! And off we went! – Just a note for my mum: We went very slowly and were well secured on the bike at all times!

The traffic was very busy when we returned and getting back to the hostel via tuc tuc was very slow. So by the time we returned we went straight on to our next appointment – a visit to Entally girls home.

At Entally the girls are aged between 5 and 17 and are very friendly and loving. Like all our girls they enjoy giggling to each other, dancing, playing games and just hanging out. We brought over some friendship bracelets, nail varnishes and taught each other dance moves. We also discovered Rachel had a hidden talent for street dance!

More about what happened next in the blog to follow!

Once home we had an emotional bible study sharing God’s heart for the poor and the effect seeing such poverty had had on each of us. We cried out for the poor of Kolkata and prayed God would use keep igniting the passion for justice to be done when we get home and in our own community.

All in all a full and fun day! I’m loving this city and the vibe here. I can understand when people say it gets under your skin.

Emma x