YMCA of Calcutta

My travels have taken me Ranaghat, India in the Nadia District of West Bengal. Ranaghat is the site of what used to be an affiliated YMCA of Calcutta home for boys. But these dormitories have since been abandoned and these days the site is home to 52 young girls of approximatly 1st to 8th grade. The Secretary of the Y, a very firendly Mr. Sampson, picked me up from the airport and rode with me the 1.5 hours north of Calcutta to Ranaghat. I have been greeted with much enthusiasm by several staff members and a beautiful flower lei that was draped over my neck as I exited the vehicle. My first three days on the 14 acre campus have been quite pleasent. Everybody is very concerned for my welfare and I can tell are concerned with my comfort. Food is an absolute non-issue. There is plenty of it, and the cooks have gone out of their way to make me many dishes according to my liking. Potatoes, vegetable soup, vegetable omelette, chicken, fish, bread, and the best honey tea I could ever imagine are on the menu regularly. The girls are in school all day learning many subjects including English class, Bengali, and Hindi. My time is spent with the girls in the afternoon for recreation time where we have had a lot of fun learning new games (elbow tag, spud, everybody's it, are favorites). I have been to the market several times which is a very eye opening experience and was able to purchase an electric converter and some bottled water, although we have filtered water in the kitchen that hasn't bothered me "yet". I am having lots of fun and next will come the task of learning all the girls names! The Ranaghat Y is hosting a christmas concert of sorts on the 13th in which the girls have been preparing some wonderful dance routines nightly. It will be after this time that I will start to venture out of the campus and into the villiages where Mr. Sampson and I will be starting some programming. All is very well! Check out the pictures, feel free to comment, Namaste.