Of Weddings and Presidents

Posted on behalf of Nivedita Moitra, communications coordinator for Children International in India.

Spring is in the air in Kolkata and it is the wedding season. Houses are being spruced up and often the sound of the 'Shehenai' (a double reed wind instrument) carries in the evening breeze signifying that a wedding is taking place somewhere. One morning recently, I was standing outside one of our community centers, which was receiving a spring-cleaning, when a passer-by remarked, "is there going to be a wedding in this house too?" And it struck me that the excitement that was being generated inside the center was because a visit from Jim Cook is no less festive for our agency than a wedding would be for one of the families who live here.

All of us, the sponsored children, the families and the staff looked forward to welcoming Jim amidst us, but not without a touch of trepidation. It is not an everyday happening that the president of Children International comes to spend some time with us, and we wanted everything to be a pleasant experience for him; we wanted him to go home with pleasant memories. The tension was palpable but so was the excitement as everyone prepared to play his/her part in making Jim’s visit a memorable one.

I hope we succeeded.

Beginning tomorrow, join us as Jim recounts his recent trip to India.