Asha was once again glad to welcome, a team of 25 people from Ballymena, Northern Ireland from 4th to 18th October 2014. From students to builders to doctors to home makers, the team housed diverse talent across all ages and backgrounds, and did a wide variety of work during their time with us.
The entire team was divided in to four groups. One part of the team comprising mostly women held arts and crafts workshop with the Asha’s children’s group in Mayapuri slum colony. The children from the slum had a wonderful time with the team and learned a couple of English action songs. Apart from this, they also helped the children design photo frames with their own pictures that were clicked by the Ballymena team.
The second part of the team comprising a doctor and paramedics worked at Zakhira slum colony, running clinics and examining patients and prescribing medications and exercise regimes. The third part of the team comprising the Ballymena Builders was the team of builders and engineers from Northern Ireland, accompanied by family and friends. The builders took up the challenging task of renovating our centre at Anna Nagar slum colony while the last part of the team constructed a house for a slum resident, Rajendra Yadav in Savda slum colony.
Inspired by Asha values of gratitude and generosity, members of the children’s and women’s associations worked hand in hand with the team at each area. At Mayapuri, the women’s group also prepared a scrumptious lunch for the team in order to thank them for their invaluable contributions. On the last day of their stay, the community also gave the team a farewell amidst much warmth and teary goodbyes.
It was the 7th time that friends of Asha from Ballymena visited us, and each member of the Asha team and the community that the team worked with is immensely glad to have had the opportunity to meet the team once again. We would love to host them over and over!
