Monday 2 November 2015

31st October 2015

Today was our last visit to Jeevan Nagar, it was our earliest start of the trip as we wanted to be there early so we could spend as much time as possible with the kids and Asha Staff. The team had recovered one of the wounded soldiers from yesterday but Delhi-belly claimed another leader as a victim.

With two leaders down we set off and headed to the slum; somehow we managed to miss the dreaded Delhi rush hour and made it to Jeevan Nagar in record time. On arrival all the kids were there to greet us with big smiles and full of anticipation as today was the celebration day!

The celebration started with a prayer and worship, today was particularly special as we had been teaching them My Lighthouse over the week and by now they knew all the words and dance moves; they looked and sounded amazing!!! After the worship the kids performed some great dance routines for us and the a couple of the students shared what Asha meant to them, this was very moving! We then moved onto the speeches, as predicted things got emotional and people started to cry. Joel, being an absolute gent, was on hand with a pack of tissues. Once the tears had dried, the music started and this meant dancing for everyone...not for the first time on this adventure Mr Talbot showed off his cracking moves.

At the end of the celebration we exchanged gifts with the Asha staff then began the awful task of saying goodbye. Even though we had only met the kids at the start of the week, we had grown to love them so leaving them opened the flood gates of tears and there was barely a dry eye in the group by the time we had left.

Now our work in Jeevan Nagar was done we had a free afternoon...which meant SHOPPING!! I think Beth brought one of everything she saw!

Later in the evening Kira and Freddie invited us round to their house for dinner and to watch the world cup final. It was really good way to what has been a fantastic experience.
Friday 30th October

Today was our last full day in Jeevan Nagar...with the painting still someway off completion we knew that we had a very busy day ahead of us.

Disaster struck first thing in the morning as two of our team were hit with the dreaded Delhi-Belly. Amanda stuck behind to tend to our wounded soldiers and the rest of us jumped in the taxis to once again brave the Delhi roads. We arrived safely and were given a heroes welcome from the children and staff. By this point we all have started building great relationships with all the children and so it is just so exciting getting to see them all.

We had a brilliant day painting, doing crafts, drinking the delicious Masala Chai tea and playing with the children. The girls (and Sam) all got Henna in the afternoon, which looked brilliant and then by about five o clock the painting was completed and we got to show everyone the finished product. It looks quite good if I may say so...

In the evening Dave and Lauren went hunting (in vain) for Mark Zuckerberg who they heard was staying at a local hotel, Joel hit up a random wedding he somehow got invited to whilst everyone else took the opportunity to relax and emotionally prepare themselves for the big farewell party tomorrow...