By Lyn Helyer, Volunteer
My 7th visit to the New Life Centre in Sarberia last November began, as always, with being met by a waving & smiling Alindra Naskar, head of the Centre. I was delighted to see him and hear all the recent news about the school as we drove the 70 odd kilometres to his home town. There was still the chaotic lane changing, negotiating the traffic but a much better road surface so a slightly quicker journey. Noisy, dusty, busy, colourful, lively. This is India.
The students weren’t in school as it was festival time, but due back in 5 days so time to acclimatise & catch up with Alindra’s family and hear about the school’s development since returning from the Covid closure. Tess, the project coordinator, arrived 2 days after me and was, as she says, coming to her second home.
My heart was singing as we walked the few steps from Alindra’s house to the school on the Monday and were greeted with smiles of recognition from the older students who remembered us from our last visit in November 2019 and some reserve, coupled with unsure looks from the youngest children, some of whom had never seen white faces before. The teachers who’d been working at the NLC pre 2019, came to shake our hands with huge smiles of welcome and we were then garlanded and asked to address the school. Alindra translated. It’s always a joy to come and share in the life of this place, even if for a short time. It was so obvious that these children love coming to learn here and feel secure in this happy environment.
HATW’s support of this school is certainly validated by its success stories some of which we heard first hand from older students who were now in higher education. Afsana, sponsored for her nurse training in Hyderabad by HATW, gave a motivational talk to the older students, speaking with great confidence & purpose, a real trail blazer. It was a pleasure to see how she has matured having first seen her as a pupil at the age of 6. Shushankar, another former student came to talk to us about his future studies, & was persuaded to talk to the older classes about his aspirations, even though he wasn’t that confident about it. Alindra’s aim has always been to encourage his pupils from this poor rural area to “come up in life” & maybe see a life beyond Sarberia.
Giving a hand was our aim for this visit as always. To support Alindra, to listen to his plans for the NLC’s development and share ideas. I leave the NLC feeling so pleased to be involved with it, to have learnt from it and to see how the lives and education of so many children have been enriched by their time at this caring, forward looking school.