We proceeded to Liluah and arrived in time for lunch for the children and their Nuns. There were 15 children from the age group of 6 to 18 years. There were 7 nuns.

The children were very excited to meet us and we decided to serve them their lunch first which was:
1 Box of Chicken Biryani
2 Bananas
1 Guava, each.

The joy and happiness on the faces of these children reflected how much they enjoyed their lunch.

We also handed over to them small bags containing soap, a bottle of coconut oil, a tooth paste and brush and Mediker shampoo satchets.

They then proceeded to entertain us with songs and dances. The first item was a Welcome song by the girls. Then it was a few dances and the choreographer was one of the students herself, Sarita, and she was really good. This was followed by a solo song by one of the older girls who is in Class XII – this girl was in fact begging on trains with her mother and singing for some money. She is now happily settled in the Convent and preparing for her Class XII exams and has promised “Parivaar” she would endeavour to get 80%.

There was also a solo performance from Taare Zameen Par by Mrs. Aloka Biswas’s daughter. This little one also brought some colors, drawing books and cds for the children. This was truly commendable.

A new DVD (Hotel for the Dogs) was also handed over to the children to view.

We then asked the children to write down a few of their favourite things on sheets of paper so that we could gauge what they needed and try to fulfill their dreams.
1. Name
2. Age
3. Date of Birth
4. I love to wear ….
5. I love to eat……..
6. I love to become…..
7. My favourite colour
8. My favourite hobby.

Interestingly all the children wrote down that their faovurite food was Ice cream and we fulfilled this wish of theirs right away. The children enjoyed the ice cream on the warm afternoon and all members of Parivaar also joined in.

Sr Joemy, the Principal of the Convent informed that these 15 girls were mostly from begging families and lived under the bridge and near the flower market in Liluah, Howrah. They were fortunate to be in the Convent now and were studying well and learning good habits and values. We did notice that the girls were extremely talented and well mannered.

There was a vote of Thanks from one of the girls and they prayed for all of us and for our Company AESM too.

It must be mentioned that all this would not have been possible without the effort put in by Mrs Nandita Das who is a teacher in the Don Bosco School, Liluah. Mrs Das organized this visit for us and her choice of our first visit was excellent as the girls were truly deserving and needy and appreciated all we did for them – albeit in a very small way.

We wished the children and the Nuns good bye and promised to be back again to visit them and share some more happy times together.

It was a very satisfying and touching visit for ‘PARIVAAR’.