Help disadvantaged Bengali children + young people

HATW volunteer, Lyn, reports on her visit to the New Life Centre at the end of last year...

My 7th visit to the New Life Centre in Sarberia began, as always, with being met by a waving & smiling Alindra, head of the Centre. I was delighted to see him and hear all the recent news about the school as we drove the 70 odd kilometres to his home town. There was still the chaotic lane changing, negotiating the traffic but a much better road surface so a slightly quicker journey. Noisy, dusty, busy, colourful, lively. This is India.

The students weren’t in school as it was festival time, but due back in 5 days so time to acclimatise & catch up with Alindra’s family and hear about the school’s development since returning from the Covid closure. Tess, the project coordinator, arrived 2 days after me and was, as she says, coming to her second home.

My heart was singing as we walked the few steps from Alindra’s house to the school on the Monday and were greeted with smiles of recognition from the older students who remembered us from our last visit in November 2019 and some reserve, coupled with unsure looks from the youngest children, some of whom had never seen white faces before. The teachers who’d been working at the NLC pre 2019, came to shake our hands with huge smiles of welcome and we were then garlanded and asked to address the school. Alindra translated. It’s always a joy to come and share in the life of this place, even if for a short time. It was so obvious that these children love coming to learn here and feel secure in this happy environment.

Our days filled with visits to all the classes, some singing games, helping in English lessons and talking to the children. We’d planned the visit to cover Children’s Day on 14th November and what a happy occasion that was. It included an art competition, parachute games, a football match, a quiz, a version of charades, great fun that was, dancing and eating. Rather a mammoth task feeding about 250 children chicken curry, dal, potato curry & rice all cooked on the school roof. We also visited 2 Government secondary schools that Alindra has established links with but unfortunately the students were all on holiday still.

Giving a hand was our aim for this visit as always. To support Alindra, to listen to his plans for the NLC’s development and share ideas. I leave the NLC feeling so pleased to be involved with it, to have learnt from it and to see how the lives and education of so many children have been enriched by their time at this caring, forward looking school.