SOS Sponsor Jean Datta (left) and SOS-USA Sponsorship Coordinator Ade Onadipe (right) in Vienna, Austria

I am sponsoring a little girl named Kalpana at the SOS Children's Village in Kolkata, India, through the USA branch of SOS. Although I am American, my husband is Indian, and he is now visiting Kolkata, so I loaded him before he left with a nice case full of colored pencils, crayons, felt pens and such, since I knew Kalpana enjoyed drawing. I also sent a children's book with an integrated jigsaw puzzle and a bag of mini Mars Bars for the children in her house.

My husband contacted the Children's Village and dropped round for a visit. He had some trouble finding the way, since the township in which the village is located has no street names and numbers, but his taxi finally succeeded.

Inside, he met the Village's Senior Secretary, Mrs. Swapna Banerjee, who impressed him as being a very nice and competent person. (She had already written me a very sweet letter in excellent English.)

Altogether, he was very impressed with the Village — neat, tidy, clean, in comparison to the hurly-burly of the Calcutta streets outside. The cottages were painted different cheerful colors and there were shrubs planted here and there. He noticed some boys playing ball. It was, he said, "not at all prison-like"!

Children play at the SOS Children's Village in Kolkata, India

In house #7, where Kalpana lives, he met the house mother, a kind and caring type of lady named Uma (I don't know her last name). Kalpana was sitting with a circle of children learning something from a tutor, but she came away to meet "uncle". I knew that her own little sister, Alpana, also lived in the same house, so I had told my husband to ask about her, and she turned up too. He is Bengali, so he could speak to the children in their own language, but he said they were very quiet. Perhaps the cat had got their tongues because it was a bit overwhelming to receive a visit from a strange elderly gentleman!

He found out that, although Kalpana is quite a big girl, she is in the first year of elementary school, so maybe she didn't have the opportunity to go to school before she settled in the Children's Village. Alpana has started at a kindergarten or pre-school near the Village.

My husband snapped a few pictures with his mobile phone, but, being members of the older generation, we haven't figured out how to make them travel. Kalpana also gave up one of her drawings for him to bring to me, so I am looking forward to receiving it and to seeing the photos when he gets back to Vienna. He says she has quite a good hand.

It was nice for me to know that the small contribution I can make as a retiree helps to give a little girl who might otherwise have been in a precarious situation the chance to live in a secure environment and go to school every day!

-Jean Datta
Vienna, Austria