We've one more lunch, this time with the local Board. After that, we'll fly to Hyderabad, then after a brief overnight stay in a hotel, another flight to Mumbai. From there, it's Heathrow, and the drive home. Maybe 30 hours, all in all. It's beginning-of-the-end-time.
So, then... time to think about it all, and what it means for me, and for YMCA Colchester. What does it all mean? I don't know, yet. I've got a head full of ideas- opportunities for the young people we work with to help here, different funding models, membership schemes... I'll be talking to tenants, staff and Board about it all, and what it could mean. This I do know: I will be returning a slightly different person to the Jon who left. It's been a very affecting experience.
It's all been a lot to take in. The weather, the food, the chaos, noise, the poverty, the goodwill, the welcome... but most of all, the people. It's the people of India who make it India. We've been very well looked after, and I'm very grateful to those who've done that. I'm not going to name them all here yet, because I'd forget someone, and I don't want to do that. We're all very grateful to everyone we've met. Dealing with a bunch of stressed, tired, sweaty foreigners can't have been easy, but the YMCA people here dealt with us with smiles all round. Nothing was too much trouble. It's been all good, all the time.
I'm not sure how I'll cope with not being able to eat curry three times a day, every day. ;)
So, then... time to think about it all, and what it means for me, and for YMCA Colchester. What does it all mean? I don't know, yet. I've got a head full of ideas- opportunities for the young people we work with to help here, different funding models, membership schemes... I'll be talking to tenants, staff and Board about it all, and what it could mean. This I do know: I will be returning a slightly different person to the Jon who left. It's been a very affecting experience.
It's all been a lot to take in. The weather, the food, the chaos, noise, the poverty, the goodwill, the welcome... but most of all, the people. It's the people of India who make it India. We've been very well looked after, and I'm very grateful to those who've done that. I'm not going to name them all here yet, because I'd forget someone, and I don't want to do that. We're all very grateful to everyone we've met. Dealing with a bunch of stressed, tired, sweaty foreigners can't have been easy, but the YMCA people here dealt with us with smiles all round. Nothing was too much trouble. It's been all good, all the time.
I'm not sure how I'll cope with not being able to eat curry three times a day, every day. ;)
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