Every year, on November 14th, Children’s day is celebrated across India. The intention is to raise awareness about the rights, education and welfare of children. This day commemorates the birth anniversary of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who once said: “Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow”.
Probably not on purpose, but I experience that Hope House embraces and acts out this quote. Here the children are well taken care of, they can live a beautiful childhood and are built for the future. They learn that everyone should be able to use their voice.
Days before the 14th of November, the girls told us about the children’s day, and they were excited about the big day coming up. They cleaned every inch of the Hope House and decorated it nicely. Balloons, glitter and colourful chains of lights have made the building festive. The girls not only decorated the house, but also made themselves very pretty.
Now only one thing was missing: the guests. Various guests came, including sponsors of the Hope House. As they arrived, the program started. The girls had prepared some dances, songs and even a little speech. According to my observation, all the guests were thrilled and they really liked it.
But not only the children’s day was celebrated this evening but also the Farewell of one of the girls. Every girl comes to Hope House at a different age, but once they reach the age of eighteen, they leave Hope House and must go their own way. Soon, it will be time to say goodbye to a lovely girl who has been at Hope House for 7 years. Even if Magdalena and I got to know them only two months ago, this moment was really sad, and we were touched by the little speech this girl prepared. There is a ritual that is done every time a girl says goodbye. The girl who will go gives a candle to the girls who are the next who will leave the Hope House. Like that she passes the responsibility of being the oldest to the next ones. After this “farewell ceremony” we ended this beautiful day with a nice meal all together. Of course, the dinner was Chicken Biriyani for this special day.
After the guests left, we took a few photos together with the girls to capture the beautiful moments of today. This day reminded me of what a nice place Hope House is and what a large community it is.
