Adventures in Agartala: Meeting the kids at Anwesha home

We flew from Kolkata to Agartala today to start the second part of our trip:  visiting the Miracle Foundation's Anwesha home.  We are now in the North-East of India, just 12 kilometers from the Bangladesh border.  In India, there is a child protection services hotline that operates a little like 911 in the US (you dial 1098 from any phone).  The Anwesha home is the designated facility in this area for abandoned, abused or human trafficked children.   These kids are not just poor or orphaned, they are children who were hurt, broken or discarded. It breaks your heart because these kids capture your heart from the very first smile. 

Of course there was great pomp and circumstance to mark our arrival.  Naturally ... a marching band was on hand ....because no ceremony in India is complete without one.

All of the girls over the age of 14 were dressed in their festival saris and lined up to greet us with … you guessed it … flower garlands and bindhi blessings (the red marks they put on your forehead).

We then met the kids and were ushered to the front of the main room so we'd have prime seats for the "Welcome" dance.

There was some initial confusion as to  proper order but "E" and "L" finally got it straight.

Then everyone in our group was individually assigned a specific group of 5-6 kids who will be our “team” for the next three days.  Not to talk smack but my group – Team Elephant – is the BEST ... even though we have the slight handicap that none of my kids speak one word of English and my Bengali is non-existent.  Nevertheless, we are determined to shine.  Plus I taught them to say “Team Hartee (Bengali for Elephant) is #1” so we have a good motto and lots of enthusiasm. I feel success in our future.

Team Elephant also has some artistic talent as well as a true love of stickers

Next up… a tour of the facility … complete with playing with the home's rabbits

And visiting the kitchen (a/k/a tin shed at back of home) where the cooks sit on a dirt floor to chop the vegetables as well as cook in huge metal pots over an open wood fire.

But first they have to pump the water from a bore well and haul it up to the kitchen ... not an easy process (as our teens learned when they tried their hand at the pump)... it is waaaay harder than it looks.

After our tour, it was time for play.  Volleyball and dancing and basic tackle

As the sun was setting, we were told to put on white T-shirts for a special blessing.  Then – with much glee – the kids ran at us with handfuls of powered paint left over from the Holi festival, which was 3 weeks ago.  Everyone turned into a multi-colored mess.

The kids especially loved rubbing the different colors on your face and head

And they were so tickled to see us all colored-up

This evening we went to a night market where the teens bought trinkets  and Alex got authentic Indian eyebrow threading