'Me No Like' and 'Neither Thin nor Brown'

‘Me no like’ (Bijoy – about 10 times a day when faced with some writing he had to do!) Alison

Having arrived home late on Friday I still feel as if I am in a dream - any moment I am going to wake up and still be in Kolkata. If only that was the case!

People had said before we went that Future Hope ‘sucks you in and gets under your skin’ and that’s it’s ‘addictive’. I can only agree..... we have had the most amazing time and if we could commute weekly we would.

The children are amazing – as Tim Grandage says, ‘they are not to be pitied but admired’. They have the most tenacious optimism I have ever witnessed. They do everything with gusto – sing in assembly, read aloud – and I mean aloud, play games, sing totally unaccompanied and without the slightest self consciousness, eat their lunch or ‘tiffin’ – always making sure that they have fed you first. I have never witnessed such generosity – these are children that have so little and yet they are so generous to each other – they never seem to squabble over anything – we never once heard ‘ that’s not fair’ or similar expressions. I will never forget the look of pride on an older boy’s face as he left the office with a pair of second hand rugby boots for a forthcoming rugby trip. It certainly makes the materialism of England in the run up to Christmas very hard to take.

We were treated with kindness and generosity by everyone we met – adults and children alike. People genuinely wanted to talk and find out about us. They all seemed to have time for a chat or a drink – people don’t seem to rush around so much but really take time with each other.

We have purposefully kept this blog light hearted – we did not want to share in some of the terrible things some of these children have endured – that is their story and not ours to broadcast but believe me many have suffered horrible things and have now been lucky enough to have people looking after them and loving them and giving them a real chance in life. If you have enjoyed our blog and felt you wanted to donate to Future Hope to help to continue the most amazing work it does then please follow this link – your help will be so appreciated.

http://www.justgiving.com/futurehope/Donate

We may repeat this ‘web site’ exercise when we go next year – oh didn’t I mention – we are definitely going back...........

Neither Thin nor Brown ( Toni - I thought I would be both at the end of a month in Calcutta...)

Three years ago, Alison and I had a ‘Gap Week’ in Thailand – it was brilliant, we had such fun and laughed till we were fit to burst. We decided that it would be fun to repeat the experience and I remember saying that I had always fancied visiting India... Alison replied that we could go to this place called Future Hope to work – full time... not what I had in mind at all... and now we’ve just returned – isn’t it strange how life works out!!

Our last day at Future Hope was one more rollercoaster ride of emotion – full of tears and joy at the surprises that were planned for us, the cards and presents that were given to us, the hugs and farewells that were made. I don’t know how many times we were asked not IF we were coming back, but WHEN. We are definitely part of the wonderful community that is Future Hope.

Being back in the UK is slightly surreal – absolutely wonderful to be reunited with our families, but our thoughts continually go back to Rowland Road (said with an Indian accent if you want to stand any chance of being understood by the local taxi drivers) and the wonderful children and staff we left behind. We have already had emails from some of them and I know that Alison has started scouring charity shops for shoes as there is always a shortage of certain sizes – I feel that Future Hope will never be out of our thoughts and after the four marvellous weeks we have had, I wouldn’t want it any other way!

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