Year 11 Pupil Conor Reid Visits India

Trip Schedule for Phase One – Monday 21 March to Thursday 24 March 2016

Well what can I say, our first 3 days has challenged us from traveling 23 hours all in. To get to our destination was tricky but as a group we were all good and ready for challenges.

Days 1/2 –  It was quite a relaxing and chilled day as we only had 2 hours sleep. We had to get some time to relax but even then the heat was almost unbearable, but you can’t go wrong with a bit of sun. Our hotel in Calicut, Kappad was brilliant. Straight away I had my first challenge with the lunch and dinner, as our luck dinner was an Indian dinner which was some sort of curry and white rice. I didn’t eat the lunch so i knew from then i’d have to give the food a go which I did at dinner and I found out the food wasn’t too bad at all and I actually enjoyed it. Later that day we went to the beach for a wee walk, and get close with anyone in the group your not too close with. But everyone knew each other well as we were like family. When we were on the beach me and Craig met some young kids, truthfully the most dead on kids about, we had a game of football which was brilliant. The kids were so easy to get attached to I could haved stayed and played all day.

Day 3 – We done some traveling as we came to Ooty which was an 8 hour drive up, but I couldn’t have spent the road trip with better people. We stopped off to get the foods and water we needed and we also got lunch in a small town that was class. Then we finally reached Ooty and got to the y.w.c.a which is more like an Indian hotel. We set our bags in and got ready to go to Daves where we got to meet his family and his wife made us some sloppy joes which were nice and we also got to play games with his children and the whole group got involved too which was brilliant. We enjoyed going to Daves and left about 8 or 9 as we had big day ahead of us so we had to get some sleep.

Day 4 – We got to meet the kids we sponsored which was unbelieveable to say the least, but ill give more into in my personal journey. This day has been unreal honestly the biggest experience I’ve been on in my life. We also visited the homes of the disabled, not one person was sad in that place, all the happiest people going and deserve the best in life.

Conor’s Reflection

Personal Journey – well what can I say it was mind blowing. Day four was when  we went to the slums to meet our sponsored kids, honestly I was feeling nervous going to meet them but its all about the experience. The boy at 13 was one of them that stood out for me as he’s had one hard life from getting told he had cancer, which had to get cut out of him and living in a shack. To see someone be so grateful and having a big smile on his face was brilliant. When me and Craig gave him the present he just couldn’t thank us enough, the wee man was just one of them people you could sit with all day and play with him.

Also meeting the female was heartbreaking to see a wee girl at the age of 12 cry broke my heart, let me tell you even worse the girls parents had left her so her grandparents took care of here. Her mother died, so for her to show us a picture of her mother and her the granda started to cry. It really hit you just keep yourself right and never take anyone for granted. To make the day even better we met the disabled, but there was a kid in there who really stood out for me. The wee man had a heart of gold he was a strong kid i don’t think i seen a smile come off my face or also his when we were playing.

The final guy we sponsored was the 16 year old who was in an orphanage home. He was a brilliant wee fella he had the ambition to go anywhere. He will make it far in life and hopefully makes it in the army like he wants to, but in my eyes he will 100 percent. Today was honestly unreal and will defiantly be an experience I will remember for a lifetime and hopefully see them a few times again.