One rainy Wednesday morning Maura Aunty, Bessie, Malini and I set off for the Rehabilitation Centres for Children (RCFC) in Gautam Uncle's car. When we left Vidyasagar it was raining heavily. The roads were very busy . When the cars passed us, dirty water from their wheels came through the windows and made our hands, face and dress all dirty. So we had to close the windows of the car. As we drove, I was imagining what I would see at RCFC. I imagined RCFC to be a new building, like a hospital. In my mind, there would not be many children, and I imagined their lives would be just like ours -- studying, going to school and playing. It took us almost two hours to reach RCFC
I was going there for the first time but Maura Aunty and Bessie had gone there before. When we got there, some kids remembered Maura Aunty and Bessie. I was surprised there were so many kids, more than 60 kids live at RCFC! I didn't know so many kids in our country had polio. I was also surprised at the building, it looked older than I had imagined. Later when I asked Maura Aunty, she told me that RCFC was 26 years old. It has been there for so long and neither I nor my parents had heard about it. A nurse from England, named Jane Webb, started the centre. She liked India so much she became an Indian citizen. Sadly, she died last year. Maura Aunty gave her daughter Malini Jane this name in honor of the work Jane Webb did for children in Calcutta.
Maura Aunty had a large bag with her, full of clothes, toys, and bed sheets which she hd collected for the RCFC kids. She gave it to Nandini. Nandini is a social worker and is in charge of the kids. The kids were very happy to see us. Maura Aunty, Bessie and I made some picture dictionary books with paper. The pages were all white. We helped the kids to draw pictures, write numbers and practice English by writing the English word next to the picture.
Maura Aunty and Bessie took some photos of the kids. It had taken us a long time to reach there so we could not do much painting with the kids, soon it was lunch time. When they were eating it was Malini' s lunch time too, so Maura Aunty took some sour dal and rice for Malini from the RCFC kitchen. Maura Aunty took some greetings cards to sell so that she could raise some money for RCFC.
When the kids were eating I asked some questions to them. The kids I asked questions were 'Sukla,' 'Dilip,' and 'Saikat.' Sukla told us she had come to RCFC from Madinipur. Some people in Madinipur were making a hospital like RCFC. They told Sukla's parents about RCFC. Dilip is a good painter. He came from Howrah. He came here two and a half months ago. His parents knew about RCFC.
Saikat told us their daily routine: They get up early in the morning, then they take a bath and worship God. Then they have their breakfast and go to school. After school they have their lunch. After lunch they take short nap. In the afternoon they do muscle exercises, and after that some of them play, others work. In the evening they sit a little and then have their dinner and go to sleep. They are happy to stay at RCFC.
It was late, so we could not see the whole building, including the school, hospital and workshop where they make the braces and crutches, we just met the children. Late in the afternoon we left RCFC and came home. I liked the kids there and their company.
I didn't go to my own school that day but I found out that you can learn many things without going to school!
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Front cover
Page 1
Cheese Balls Recipe by Tania Das
A visit to RCFC by Mini Chaterjee
Titans of the deep by Aparupa Biswas
Memories of being small by Miki Deb
Animal Corner: "Talk" to the animals ?? by Johara Shahabuddin
Craft Idea by Bidisha Das
Our Earth = A Garden Green House by Gautam Basu
Thank you
Back cover
Front cover
Page 1
Cheese Balls Recipe by Tania Das
A visit to RCFC by Mini Chaterjee
Titans of the deep by Aparupa Biswas
Memories of being small by Miki Deb
Animal Corner: "Talk" to the animals ?? by Johara Shahabuddin
Craft Idea by Bidisha Das
Our Earth = A Garden Green House by Gautam Basu
Thank you
Back cover