Just a day away from reaching the end of their incredible adventure, the Petrucco family has arrived in Chennai after walking almost 800km from the west coast to the east coast of India in support of ChildFund. Dad Nick has been detailing every step of their walk on their Coast to Coast blog. Today his 13-year-old daughter India has agreed to share some of the highlights from her journal.
My Big Hairy Audacious Goal
So I’m sitting in Singapore airport with my family waiting for my connecting flight to Kochi, India and I am thinking, how the hell did I get here? How did I go from feeling sorry for the people living in poverty to walking 800km in 6 weeks across India? What brought me here? The simple answer is my Dad. He came up with the idea to walk across India to raise money for disadvantaged children and families living in India. He was also the all inspiring reason I was the first to sign up to be a part of the full-time walk team, the reason why I chose to give to others as I am given to myself. Another reason is that I am simply trying to make myself deserving of the wonderful and leisurely life I have been so kindly given. Another key piece of the puzzle is my amazing mutti (mum) who gets me back on track when it all becomes too much and I have a mental breakdown. She reminds me why I do what I do and puts me back together when I am broken and need fixing. She’s my rock and Dad’s my inspiration. I need one just as much as I need the other. So back to how I’m sitting in Singapore airport with my family waiting for my connecting flight to Kochi, as much as this is just a pointless moment out of infinity in time, it is the moment I set off for one of the biggest journeys of my life. I say ‘one of’ because judging by the conversations on our training walk, this won’t be the last (huge) adventure. This is the ‘Mooch’ signing off for now but not for long. I have 50 days of journal writing ahead of me! Gotta go catch a plane to India!
Blessing Ceremony – Day 10
I felt like a celebrity walking down the red carpet. ChildFund India had set up a huge hall filled with 500 people and flowers and candles everywhere. It was beautiful. There was a long red carpet going to the stage that we had to walk down as a family. The room was filled and the ceremony started. There was a prayer dance and the four girls who danced dressed in reddish, pink and orange dresses, with loads of jewels and make up, they looked extraordinary. There was a handing out of flowers and a few plays from other kids. Different people talked including the Bishop of Mysore. The best part was at the end when I got to do an impromptu speech and give out the bicycles I was raising money for. It was excellent seeing the extremely grateful look on the girls’ faces as I presented them with their bicycles. The press took photos of every single one and I cried because I was so happy and proud of it all.
From all of us at ChildFund Australia, we would like to say a HUGE thank you and congratulations to the Petrucco family, who truly have undertaken an extraordinary challenge in order to help raise awareness and funds for children living in extreme poverty in India. Together they have raised over $55,000. An incredible effort.
The Petrucco family are currently undertaking their Coast to Coast walk across India in support of ChildFund. So far the family has raised more than $50,000 for ChildFund projects in India. This blog is from Day 10 of their journey, when they arrived at Mysore.
Today started as all days with a visit from the monkeys and being chaperoned down to breakfast by the monkey herder with his slingshot. My daughter India received a visit from the Indian Tooth Fairy last night, having lost a tooth, and found a rupee under her pillow this morning.
As we sat and enjoyed our breakfast we had the outside restaurant to ourselves and Gus enjoyed riding his scooter up and down the path alongside our table spotting monkeys in the distance and entertaining the waiters. As a team we took some time to review the first leg of our journey and had a discussion about what has been working well, what hasn’t been working so well and ideas for the next leg. It was a fruitful discussion filled with many positive observations and some good ideas for the next leg.
Gus brought along his scooter and put on a show for the kids. We learnt how ChildFund, in conjunction with the local project office, work with the community to identify areas where government programs are not available and there is a gap in the provision of care for children. These centres allow parents to leave their children six days a week whilst they go to work (mostly as labourers) and the children are taught, receive nutritious meals and monthly medical checks. As always it was beautiful watching our kids interact so naturally with the Indian kids, they all had a great time together.
After the visits we had a quick 30 minutes back at the hotel before heading out to the St Teresa’s grounds and the project office. A presentation had been planned for us to be able to meet with the children who were going to be the recipients of many of the items we had been fundraising for.
Upon arrival we were greeted by many of the staff from the project office and the ChildFund India national office, including Antony and Prem. There was another journalist from the Indian Times wanting an interview and several photographers also present. We just can’t believe the level of attention our walk is getting from the Indian press. We are very pleased to be able to use our walk to raise the awareness to the wonderful work of ChildFund India and the many current needs of vulnerable children.
After the bikes, we presented new school bags and school kits to orphaned children. There must have been over 100 amazing kids who were called up to receive their brand new satchel from either Maggie or Gus. The children must have ranged in age from 3-4 year olds up to teenagers. One at a time they came up with the most beautiful and grateful look in their eyes. I just took the moment to kneel down and look into the eyes of each one of these incredible kids. I looked over to see Bec having a quiet tear to herself back at the chairs and decided to join her in what would have to be one of the most special moments of our lives.
Maggie then handed the microphone to Gus who was waiting for this moment. On stage, 500 people in the palm of his hand, and he was off. He talked about goats, he talked about helping kids, he talked about our driver Raju, he talked about all sorts of stuff. One hand on his hip, the other on the microphone. He had to get the wind up from India and Mags or he would probably still be talking now. Bec decided not to talk today and was happy to leave it to the rest of us to convey just how thankful we were for the experience we were sharing together today.
After our presentation the Bishop of Mysore gave a very heartfelt talk, including his thanks and appreciation for the commitment being made to the children of Mysore. After the Bishop it was time for another play from the children and then another highlight of the day, dancing from Veenai and his team. Wow, what a performance, he was spectacular – look out Bollywood.
The day was drawing to a close and after a few final words of thanks the presentation was over and we all adjourned to the school grounds for tea. As we were having tea all of the children were walking around with their new bikes or school kits, it was just amazing.
