The orphanage may be out of sight, but it’s still very much in their minds.
North Vancouver travellers Emily Prosperi-porta, Sara Breakey and Sarah Simone spent eight days of their 2017 trip to India volunteering at Udayan Orphanage in Kolkata – and now they want to give something back.
The trio are attempting to raise $5,000 for the primarily donor-funded orphanage. The facility offers food, shelter and care for impoverished children taken out of leper colonies.
“We were met with such love and compassion over there,” Breakey says. “These people took us in and they cared for us greater than we ever could have imagined.”
They’d been looking for somewhere to volunteer, Breakey says, but most of what they found was either: “really sketchy opportunities or really expensive opportunities,” she says.
But the Udayan Orphanage turned out to be exactly what they were looking for.
The travellers quickly bonded with the kids, many of whom are “desperate for attention” given the ratio of 10-15 kids for every adult at the orphanage.
Prosperi-porta and Breakey both recalls the small children who immediately and literally attached themselves to the volunteers.
And as they taught the children, sang songs together, and just spent time in the presence of the kids, they formed a bond.
“It ended up being the best part of the trip,” Breakey says.
They also spent some time talking to the older girls who are planning to go to nursing school and treat lepers.
Besides being “incredibly inspiring,” those conversation also illuminated the importance of the orphanage, they noted.
As a low-profile, not for profit facility, the orphanage faces challenges, Prosperi-porta notes.
The orphanage’s playground “seemed like it was falling down,” she says. And while there were some good books, the kids seemed to know “every word by heart.”
She’s hopeful that money they raise could go toward new books and a safer playground for the kids.
The trio have so far raised $1,200 toward their $5,000 goal.
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