The Power of Kids

​A pretty incredible day today for our group, as we visited two more organisations doing great work here in Kolkata. But first, I must give a bit of a sickness update: Leo Smith has fully resumed regular duties; Matt Illing, Sam Lindberg and Rowan Burns are almost there, and we hope to have them back fully by morning; Josh Roberts continues to soldier on, with another night of rest doing him no harm at all; and poor old Ryan Donovan has joined the list of those hit with the stomach bug, but is already on the mend as well. All spirits are nevertheless high, as you will see below:

Friday 8 December

7:45am - the boys are woken and make their way down to Blue Sky for their breakfast. Unbelievably, the kitchen was so fast we were able to all do another round of orders for those that weren't quite stuffed.

9:30am - the boys have their first experience with the great Indian Railway Company, if only the Kolkata Metro part of it. Hot and over-crowded, we disembark at Girish Park, and make our way into Freeset. This incredible organisation was founded by two Kiwis, Kerry and Annie, 16 years ago, and is a medium to take women 'off the line', that is, out of prostitution. In their words, they provide an opportunity to work with dignity, giving the women jobs in the creation of bags, jewelry, t-shirt and scarves. Importantly, their main markets are countries like Canada and the United States, which means they gather substantially more money for their cause than they would if they were just sold domestically. This year they have produced over 300,000 bags, for example, and employ over 300 women. A truly humbling and empowering morning for our boys. To check out their organisation further - http://www.freesetglobal.com/ 

12:00pm - the boys are set loose on the in house Freeset store, buying some awesome t-shirt and gifts for back home (not to ruin the surprise).

12:30pm - we head to the self-proclaimed famous Ricky's for lunch, and what a meal it was. Chicken kebabs, paneer curry, endless naan bread and garlic rice culminated in easily the best meal of the trip so far. Full credit to Ricky, his outstanding red backwards Billabong cap, and his mongoose (yes, the man owns a mongoose).

3:00pm - we set a hot pace as we are a little late for our afternoon activity, Future Hope School. This NGO both houses and educates orphaned and street children. The students, from kindergarten to high school age, are supremely intelligent, and are given incredible opportunities which they would otherwise likely not receive. Again, if you would like to find out more, follow the link - http://www.futurehope.net/about-us/

After a half hour walk, we arrive at their campus. Rehearsals of The Lion King Musical were in full swing, with almost the entire school involved. Six months of preparation has gone into this, with their two shows taking place on the 21st and 22nd of December. Everything from elaborate props, to dance routines, you name it it was present - this was one professional operation!

4:30pm - the group gets to hang out with the elder kids, play some football, get smoked at chess, and get shown around the school grounds by some of the senior students. From there, we broke off into two groups, with half going to the accommodation of the junior girls' and half going to the junior boys' area. Our boys were asked to help with homework lalthough 'helped' is perhaps a generous term, as even Zac Morrow was trumped in times tables practice. 

6:30pm - dinner was served the traditional Indian way, seated on the floor, legs crossed, and using only one's hand as cutlery. The boys were waited on by their junior companions, and didn't have to lift a muscle. Incredible, given the age of most of these kids was no greater than 8. The highlight of the day for most then ensued, as our boys (now affectionately being called 'uncle', a term of endearment to one's elders) become entertainment for the children (and no doubt vice versa). Smiles could not be kept off faces as the boys read stories, played games and were generally run about by a group of grateful and fascinated children. There is just something about kids!

9:00pm - Rowan Burns gave us all an exceptional Experts in the Field speech about Christianity and Mother Theresa, very appropriate as we will be making our way to the Mother House tomorrow morning. We then headed into debrief, the theme aptly being 'what can kids teach us?'. Boys centered predominantly on the joy and appreciation they saw today, and the power of opportunities. 

10pm - lights are firmly out as we have an early wake-up tomorrow. 

Thought​ - today the boys were shown immense gratitude from the children of Future Hope. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to spend some time with them, and the same clearly applied to them. As I've said, what was incredible was the extent these kids went to to demonstrate this gratitude through their actions. The clearest example was that at one point, a few of the group attempted to stand up and rinse their plates, only to be told to sit back down again and that the kids would do it themsleves. Too often, it seems, our gratitude ends at a 'thank you'. Whilst we got plenty of these, it was the actions of these kids which humbled us all. 

MVP - Josh Hamilton. In the midst of the madness that ensued post-dinner at Future Hope, this man stood tall. Now, Joshua is a strapping young lad, a rower of some repute, in fact. Clearly the kids had identified this, as they become eager to jump on his shoulders and be hoisted around the place. But, Josh did not stop here, and within minutes he had found an opportunity to slot in some training. With a child hanging off each arm, bicep curls were undertaken (3x12, with 30 seconds rest between each set, in case you were wondering). The man's ability to entertain and train simultaneously was second to none, and for this he deservingly is today's MVP.

Reuben