On the 9th February 2016 we flew out to Kolkata with Fr Andrew, his Mother, and Mrs Moore. We arrived early the next morning (local time). When we arrived at Kolkata airport the Ambulance from the Ashalayam was there to greet us and take us to Don Bosco Park Circus School. DBPC is a school with two cohorts of children. There are day students, who pay for their education, and evening students living in the slums for whom the fees are paid by the daytime students. We briefly got to see some of the evening students on their way to class before getting shown to our rooms.

The next day we visited the Don Bosco School in Bandel. We sat with a couple of classes of our age-group for a couple of hours and discussed our differences. Two things that struck me was their friendliness and their pride in their school. It really hit home how much we take our education in the UK for granted, and more often than not we view it as a chore more so than a privilege. The boys in Bandel displayed their talents ranging from music to comedy. We had a surprising amount more in common than any of us expected. We would start a song for them to join in.

On Friday we visited some of the houses of the Ashalayam. We arrived at the first house to be garlanded with flowers. It was amazing, and impossible to put into words. We gave each of the boys we met at the Ashalayam a t-shirt. Their gratefulness was amazing, and I will remember it forever. They surrounded us and asked for pictures to be taken with us. These children have virtually nothing, yet their smiles were just priceless.

Each house of the Ashalayam we visited performed for us, and we performed back. One thing which I believe the entire group found amazing was just how talented they are. When we shared a show with them, the 5-year-olds from Asha Deep (one of the Ashalayam houses) were definitely by far the best.

I think the one instance that hit closest to heart and will continue to affect me forever was from the 5-year-olds of Asha Deep. We went into this "house" of the Ashalayam to find 17 nursery-aged children asleep on the floor under a single mosquito net. Mdrabbul, a student from the Ashalayam who cares for the youngest, woke them all up and we gave them their t-shirts. The joy in their faces, and the pride they took as they folded their t-shirts perfectly before they were put away was just unimaginable.

It will stick with me forever, just how happy they were for a single article of clothing which in England we would take for granted.

Robert Soane