Blog Layout
Sport April 2019
Brian Flanagan • 8 April 2019
From the streets of Kolkata to Lord's Cricket Grounds
In June, nine young student volunteers from Castleknock Community College, Dublin will travel to Kolkata to work with the poor.
As with volunteers who have travelled with Bekind
for the past decade, they will meet the children they have supported through their various fundraising activities. This current group will get to meet one boy who was placed in our care when Bekind
Boys’ Home first opened several years ago. His name is Tarak.
He once lived on the streets with his parents. His father deserted them, leaving Tarak’s mother working for very little money in the fish markets. She earned hardly enough to feed herself, let alone her son Tarak. The boy didn’t attend school and wandered about the streets of Kolkata. Hunger and malnutrition caused him to collapse and he was found lying on the footpath by a kind social worker and helped by the police, he was taken into the care of The Hope Foundation.
I got to meet Tarak and his mother in early 2012 at the official opening of Bekind
Boys’ Home. He bounced back to health and was rarely seen without a cricket batt in his hands. Over the years I’ve watched him grow and excel in his studies. I see in his nature a kindness for the little boys placed in Bekind
who were also from a life lived begging on the streets. Tarak always takes the role of a “big brother” making them feel at home in their new surroundings.
Now, like almost every child in India, his dream of playing cricket in front of a crowds in world class stadium has become a reality. He has just turned fifteen years of age and is one of a number of boys and girls on Team North India travelling to the UK in May. Tarak and his team members have never been outside their locality before nor flown in an airplane! The final will take place at the famous Lords Cricket Grounds in London on May 7th.
The first Cricket World Cup for street-connected children will take place ahead of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
The Street Child Cricket World Cup will unite street children from around the world to play in their own international cricket tournament to raise awareness and tackle the widespread stigma and negative treatment they face.
On the pitch, 10 national teams, both girls and boys, will represent their countries. Off the pitch, the young people will make their voices heard and make recommendations to help improve the lives of street children worldwide.
In this newsletter, Founder Director Brian Flanagan shares insights from his latest trip to Kolkata, with a group of students from CCC.
A charity concert of festive favourites in aid of Bekind Ireland
In this Christmas Newsletter Brian shares some updates following his return from India in December 2023.
Our friends at runa Yoga ran a fundraiser for Bekind on Wednesday 21 June 2023
After 11 years, the Bekind Boys' Home is moving!
In this newsletter, Brian Flanagan, Founder Director of Bekind Ireland, shares some of his experiences from his visits to Kolkata in April and November 2022.
Congratulations to Ricky Flanagan for completing the Dublin Marathon for Bekind
Asana Masterclass
Happy birthday Bekind Boys' Home
The saying “ absence makes the heart grow fonder ” has been uppermost in my mind over the past months. My regular Zoom or WhatsApp calls with the children in Kolkata are a help but almost two years have passed since being with them in person. I am amused by the deeper voices of some of the children as they enter their teenage years. The voices and the bodies change and a request for six new bunk beds was a reminder of how much the boys are growing. A very generous donation from a local person came just at the right time to cover the costs.
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(IRL) CLG trading as "Bekind Ireland" is an Irish company limited by guarantee (Company Number: 448441) and Irish registered charity (Registered Charity Number: 20067960), with its offices at 33 Woodpark, Castleknock, Dublin D15KP6R, Ireland.