Hey guys, today was my first day at Bachte Shekha. To be honest, I was a bit nervous about how it was all going to turn out. My nervousness disppeared as soon as I got to see Angela. After I spoke with her, I got this sense of energy and my focus was reassured. She has so much wisdom and the more I listen to her and get to know her I am astonished as to how one person can be so selfless and giving.

I met another person name (let’s say) Rahim today. He’s been working at Bachte Shekha for about 11 years now (I think that’s what he said). He manages the handicraft section and BS Education Project and he seems very knowledgeable and skilled in the area. We had a long conversation around how he started working in Bachte Shekha and where he is from. Turns out he is from the same district as my husband and we had a good laugh about it. I was actually impressed by how fluent his spoken English was and I was thinking, well, if every staff member here speaks English this well, then I don’t really need to provide any training in this area.

Later, when I was speaking with Angela I mentioned to her about Rahim and that we had great chat. Angela shared a little story with me and I was amazed. Due to an unfortunate train accident Rahim lost both his legs, half way between his hip and knees. Rahim went to school up to year 10 and when he came across Bachte Shekha, Angela opened her arms to help him. She said, I helped him because if I didn’t who would? He would lose every opportunity in life because of the accident. She organised to have prosthesis made from Germany for him and even got professionals to train him to speak English. She said, when he initially just started walking using the prosthesis, she gave him strict instruction to walk only in presence of someone else. One day he went walking by himself and Angela noticed in the corner her eyes, Rahim was trying to take the stairs to go down, when he slipped and was falling. Angela said subconsciously she knew something was about to go wrong and when she noticed, she ran with all her strength and managed to catch his head just in time, which would have otherwise smashed against an iron grill.

I met another person called Ira today, who has been working there for the last four months. She took me around the premises. Bachte Shekha is like an ideal paradise, which is completely self-sustaining. They farm animals such as, cows, goats, chickens, ducks and even fishes. They also grow their own vegetables. The newest member of the Bachte Shekha family is called Raj Kumari (Princess) and she is a five-day old calf. Absolutely the most adorable thing ever.

Bachte Shekha, has a computer training centre, a women’s rights division, a physio therapy centre for disabled children, a canteen, hostels and accommodations, multiple offices and beautiful atmosphere. If you ever go there, you’d just want to stay there. It has such a great vibe in every corner.

I thought I might share some photos with you, and obviously there are heaps more to come.

I am super excited about what is to come and I cannot wait.