In November 2015 we were honored to be nominated as on of Realex Payments chosen charities for 2016 and as part of their engagement with our work in Calcutta a group of employees from the company traveled to Calcutta in February to experience first hand the work we do in the city. The group arrived in the first week of February and had an action packed week in the city visiting the projects we support.

Our first stop on the first day of our visit was to our Khidderpore centre where the group spent time with our students and staff, getting to know the community and the different programmes we run in our centres. After Khidderpore we visited the office of our partner organisation Development Action Society where our programme coordinator Seema Paul gave an excellent insight in the work we do together. We then went on to our Tangra and Topsia centres to see the work we do there.

The group the went on to visit the project run by Friends of Kolkata’s Elderly (FOKE) where destitute elderly people are taken in, cared for and given a home. It was a great experience for the group as the home is located about 50km outside of the city in a peaceful village area called Maddhubati and getting to the home required using a whole variety of local transport methods.

The group continued to visit the projects we support throughout the week getting to know more about the projects we support in Calcutta and the staff and students in our centres. Towards the end of the week we distributed the admission fee’s and book costs to our older students in our three city centres as part of our student support programme. This support is essential in allowing older students to remain in school and complete their education.