our friends and well-wishers. Once again our team takes time to

reflect on all our activities. Economic times are difficult at the

moment. Every news item makes us feel gloomy and we seem to

be losing hope. However, I was back again in Calcutta in January

and was delighted to see that our people have not lost hope. They

are still joyful and happy. Perhaps the recession does not hit them

as they have always worked hard and go through seemingly

hopeless situations all the time. But what keeps them moving on,

without giving up is the hope that “Yes, We Can”, and “Jai Ho”.

Both Barack Obama and Slumdog Millionaire have become the

struggling people’s cry of hope. So I returned to Ireland positive

and optimistic that Bridge Foundation too can go forward with

the co-operation of our friends, both in Calcutta and Ireland.

Laeticia

The teachers and the children of the four centres are all working

very hard. Our Senior School students are now getting special

attention and attending Coaching Centres to get professional help

for the subjects in which they are having difficulty. A number of

the children were given medals and certificates in their schools

for attendance, responsibility and progress in their studies.

I was delighted to visit our village school with Mr & Mrs

Buckley, Finbarr, Melanie and Lydia. It was a long journey by

road. We were greeted by Nandu, the local co-ordinator in

Raidighi, the nearest town to the school. He than took us to the

school, where we spent quite a bit of time with the children,

teachers and parents. Each class recited Bengali rhymes, did

drill and performed the local dance for us. We saw a lot of

improvement in the school since our previous visit. My Irish

family was overwhelmed to experience the hospitality of the

people and the friendliness of the children. The school parents’

committee prepared a lovely traditional lunch, not forgetting to

add the boiled potatoes for the Irish people.

I conducted a meeting with the teachers and committee members

where we talked about how best we can improve the

school and help the children’s progress. Everyone expressed

gratefulness for the help we are giving. The teachers requested

games items for the children. We agreed and all the materials

were bought and given to the school. The school committee

also proposed the building of two new rooms for the school,

one to make a room for the Pre-Primary Class and the other to

make a school office. The existing Pre-Primary Classroom is

made of mud and the room is leaking in several places, making

it difficult to take class during the monsoon time.

We would like to thank John Joyce and Deirdre O Callaghan

for their ongoing support for this programme.

The New Flat is almost complete and we will take possession

of it in the Summer and work will begin there straight away.

The Fatima Centre Group

Joykrishnapur Village School Group

We try to make sure that the children in all the centres and their

families are taken care of in time of need. Besides their regular

food, the children get food packets on several occasions throughout

the year and medical care when necessary. We are grateful to all

our friends for their generosity which enables us to do this work.

All of the centres celebrated Teachers Day in the Autumn. The

children decorated the rooms, gave small gifts to the teachers and

performed for them. They cooked food and brought it to the centre.

Childrens Day was also celebrated. The children were all dressed

up. They sang and danced and had snacks. In Doctor Lane Centre

the bengali teacher, Sumita had organised a spelling, essay and

sentence making competition earlier so they were given their

prizes on that day..

Naina to Bandel Church for a picnic. Mr. Sandeep Jain and Regina

accompanied them. Sandeep arranged the transport for us. Tulsi's

mother prepared lunch and went on the trip at my request . Some

children attended the Mass and everybody lit candles. Before leaving

Bandel they went boating. The children enjoyed it all and had

a fun-filled day

St. Paul’s Mission School celebrated their silver jubilee year

recently and as part of the celebration they wanted their students

to interact with underprivileged children. A programme was

a.m. and 11 a.m. Children from all the centres prepared a Cultural

Programme. The school kicked off the celebrations of their

jubilee year with this interaction. 10 children from St. Paul’s

Mission School came along with 4 teachers and Mrs. Raha, the

principal. Each child in Bridge Foundation was given a food

packet, and clothes. We appreciate Regina, Mrs Lee and Mrs

Raha’s thoughtfulness in organising this programme.

The Christmas celebration took place in Fatima church on 21st

December. All the centres had the celebration together. Each centre

had to put on a performance . There were lots of games played.

The children were given umbrellas snacks and cakes and some

rations like sugar, rice and oil. We are grateful to Seán and Marie

Garvey for being present and for their kindness and generosity to

the programme.

The art sessions continue to progress. In the last 6 months some

of the children took part in local and regional level art competitions.

They are doing very well in fabric painting and have completed

some T-Shirts. We were happy to welcome Melanie and

Lydia to be part of our art sessions in January. They conducted a

class with the Art Teacher. The theme was Child Labour and the

children prepared a collage on this topic.

This year also there were many visitors in our centres. Sean and

Marie Garvey visited all the centres in December. They were

our guest at the Christmas celebration also. Denis and Maureen

Buckley visited all the centres in January including the Village

Programme. We were also visited by John & Mary Linehan,

Stan & Moya McEoin, Bosco & Lynette McShane. Mags O

Donnell is also a frequent visitor to all the centres and is a very

generous supporter of Bridge Foundation.

A number of staff and our friends lost close family members recently

and we would like to assure them that they are very much

in our thoughts and prayers at this time.

We are grateful to Katie Foley for organising a Day Retreat in

Burton Park, Churchtown. Laeticia gave a talk about Bridge

Foundation and the participants gave a very generous contribution

towards the work. We are also grateful to Mrs. Rosemary

Ryan Purcell for giving the use of her house for the retreat.

I visited all of the Bridge Foundation centres in January and I was

extremely impressed with the wonderful work being done. The

children in the city centres are getting a wonderful opportunity by

Bridge Foundation to progress in their studies and improve their

situation in life.

I visited The Bridge Foundation School in a remote village called

Joykrishnapur, quite a long distance from Calcutta where conditions

are very basic. 100 children are being educated by dedicated

teachers. The parents are living in quite poor conditions but they

gave us a wonderful welcome when we visited them. It is clear that

they are very appreciative of what is being done for them. The

children gave a wonderful display of singing and dancing and the

local people gave us a lovely traditional meal.

Maureen Buckley

Laeticia with the Committee and Teachers of

Joykrishnapur Village School

We would like to say a special thanks to St. Patrick’s Classical

School, Navan for the ongoing support and to Fr. Donal Neary for

his constant support and his help with our accounts in Ireland.

We would like to thank all those who contributed to the work of

Bridge Foundation by visiting us or donating money for the work.

Without the help of these people the work of Bridge Foundation

would not be possible.