The idea of a school was born 25 years ago. After a 10 day Vipassana Retreat led by Christopher Titmuss, people perceived a real need to leave something more lasting behind than tourist dollars. From very humble beginnings the school now educates over 500 children from poor families in Mastipur village and surrounding areas. One of the areas of real joy and pride is the children’s involvement in classical and modern dance. In the beginning, the teachers and sisters had to explain to the parents why dance would be very beneficial for their child’s development. There was a certain mistrust of the display and performance in public. Now dance is very much embedded in the school curriculum and every year a small and select number of students travel on scholarships to Varansi where the Sisters of the Queen of the Apostle have a training centre and school.

For our 25 year jubilee celebrations the song “We shall overcome” will be sung in Hindi, Bengali, English and German. I have been rehearsing the English and German version with Class 7.

the children help clean the yard and level the sand which has been shifted due to the building construction that has been ongoing for bigger class rooms.