Every child in our care has a different background, some so harrowing we and they don’t wish to revisit. Some were too young to remember much. Others carry the scars of abuse and neglect that no child should ever have to. Over the past seven years since we opened Bekind Boys’ Home, I have come to know each child so well and as their English improves, which is at a far faster rate than my Bengali, they confide in me and their carers and are able to express themselves much more.

Just before returning to Ireland on Tuesday 18th of December I had an emotional but very rewarding task to perform. In Hope Foundation Crisis Intervention Centre (CIC) were two very needy little fellows, both orphans who we were given permission to move to Bekind Boys’ Home. The younger of the two, lost his mother as she had complications arising from her HIV + status. His name is Raja and is only about three and a half. His mother spent her final days in Hope Hospital and despite every effort they were unable to save her life. She passed with her child close to her. The other boy named Arun is seven and has been in CIC for two years so it is well past time for him to enter a stable home environment. Arun was so traumatised by his earlier experiences that he had to be taught to speak again and also to express himself as he never smiled. Something struck me as I collected those children; I thought I was forgetting something expecting to be putting their belongings into the waiting car. Alas, they had nothing except for the clothes on their backs.