Kolkata City Mission and the Soya Milk project

BMS Staff Team, staff at BMS guest house and the Kolkata Action Team

This morning ( Tuesday) after an impromptu photo shoot, Pastor Asis accompanied us to see some of the work of the Kolkata City Mission. We visited a small school in one of the slum areas where in a tiny classroom a female teacher had a class of around 10 - 12 children and was teaching them the basics in preparation for reaching the  required standard for school.

Pastor Asis with the children in the first school we visited today

Some of the lovely children we met

We also met Mangal Murmu who was a manager overseeing the work of schools such as these as well as teaching adult literacy and managing the soya milk project in Mundapara. The children sang to us in Hindi and one child recited the ten commandments in Bengali. We then sang for them and also prayed for them.

Hannah giving some sweets to the children in Mundapara

We then travelled on to Mundapara and visited another small school similar to the one before. Again we prayed for the children. It took a while to find the correct location as there had been so much building work done since Pastor Asis had last visited that nothing looked familiar. The government were funding houses for everyone in this locality and there was a great deal of building work taking place which was good to see.

Mangal then took us further into the village to show us where the soya milk was produced. The milk is provided free of charge to small children, pregnant women and the elderly in the local area  being extremely high  in protein. They are hoping to increase productivity so that more people can benefit. We were given some to taste and it was  actually delicious - hot and malty a little like Horlicks but not as strong. Mangal also teaches literacy skills to the four ladies who produce the milk.

The kitchen where the soya milk is produced

The straining process

One of the four ladies who work in the kitchen producing soya milk

The kind of scenery we passed on our travels today

Some of the building work taking place in Mundapara

It was really positive to see the soya milk project and encouraging to hear from Mangal that apart from an initial grant to set the project up , their aim was to be self sufficient. A very interesting morning.