Early in September 2019, I arrived in Mangalore to attend the FSL India orientation week at the Training Centre in Kundapur, before I would continue my travel to Bangalore to settle at my project. In the early morning, I was warmly welcomed by several children who just attended their daily prayer and yoga session. I was not surprised by their hospitality towards me, but still, being welcomed like that gave me a feeling of comfort.

The shelter I stayed at is occupied by 150 children, as well as about 20 staff members. Talking to so many children on a daily basis sometimes was challenging, since everyone wanted to know the same things. For example, where I was coming from, and what my family life looks like. So, me introducing myself to the children didn‘t really stop until 2 weeks after my arrival. During my time, my tasks included helping the children get ready for school, doing administrative work in the mornings, and helping the children with their homework during their evening classes as soon as they arrived from school.

A lot of times I also just spent time with them outside talking or playing games that they enjoyed. On our weekends, there was often times a program where we either left the shelter and went to a function, or we received guests who would organise activities, or just looked around our shelter. During those times, it was my duty to document everything by taking pictures and afterwards, writing a report. Since some of the children have to present a science project, one of my tasks also included helping them create a model that they later on could present.

Living together with so many children taught me once again the importance of accepting everyone individually in order to have a peaceful and accepting environment. One remarkable experience was the Deepavali celebration that brought so much joy to every single child. The whole atmosphere during the days of celebration kind of reminded me of Christmas time when the family gathers. We had special food and a lot of fireworks. Not only the festivities, but also experiencing the food, the village life with all its fruit and vegetable stalls as well as bakeries and the bus rides that are not the same at home in Germany, brought a lot of joy to my daily life.

After 3 months, in November, it was time to say goodbye to all the people I met and the life that I lived in India. Happy to looking forward to see my family I, at the same time, was really sad to leave everything. I had an exciting time that makes me want to travel to India again in the future.