I had the best sleep last night since arriving in Kolkata. The sounds of the horns is now becoming a norm and the loud music wasn’t playing last night. Normally it stops by 2am.

Today started at 7.15am and it was my turn to lead morning prayers. We had omelette, bread and a banana for breakfast. We are given bottles of water to drink which means it is safe but also means plastic waste. I have brought a water bottle with me with a built in filter so I can use tap water. This also means that I am not using as many plastic bottles.

Can you try to filter some dirty water? What could you use? 

After breakfast, we walked to the CRS where we got into the jeeps and started our 3 hour journey to Geonkhali. This is a rural project that CRS supports empowering women to earn money for their families by learning to sew. 

I visited the same place last year and it was lovely to see some of the same women there. 

As a class use google maps to locate Geonkhali.  How many kilometres is it away from St Paul’s cathedral in Kolkata?

Also see how far St Paul’s cathedral Kolkata is away from St Paul’s cathedral in London?

Are there any similarities between both cathedrals?

The journey, although long, went very quickly as there was so much to see. The final part of our trip was on tuktuk due to the roads being very narrow.

The air quality was so much clearer there and we saw people planting rice in the paddy fields. 

We had to wait outside this year as there had been a death in the village and a funeral was about to take place in the church. 

The children from the school waited very patiently for over half an hour, sitting on a mat outside while we were given a marigold flower garland  and had petals thrown in the air as we walked inside a small building. It was amazing to be able to look at the scrapbooks of needle work the women have created to showcase their skill. Once they pass their training the women can work at Nara Dana, making uniform or creating clothes for others to buy.

Geonkhali is a tranquil and peaceful place completely different to central Kolkata. We thanked the women by giving them gifts we had brought with us and we bought the children some chocolate. 

The hospitality of the people we meet each day is very humbling. We have so much, clothes, food, education, health care, toys, and houses yet each day we are given so much by people who have very little.

Before we left we were given lunch of rice, dahl, vegetables, mini roast potatoes, popadoms, fruit and an Indian pudding which was like rice pudding and water to drink.

An amazing day where I saw lots of animals too. 

Your class challenge today is to have pens and paper at the ready and write down the names of all the  different animal’s, birds and insects you see in today’s video.

Then choose one of them and see what you can find out about them in relation to Kolkata.