We traveled to Orissa from Delhi, landing in Bhubaneshwar. There are hosts were ready at the airport to meet us with beautiful garlands. Once we had collected our luggage we piled into the two vehicles and headed north to Cuttack. We are being housed in the Good News Hour building and guest house. There are nice rooms here, each its own bath. The two rooms downstairs are air-conditioned and all of the rooms have ceiling fans.
After we had settled in to our rooms and relaxed a little we were picked up to go to the Zion Boys Hostel. This is a hostel for high school boys that is now in its third year of operation. We drove to the hostel and were greeted by the some sixty residents of this hostel.
They live here and study in the local schools of Cuttack. The high school hostel has opened the door for high school education for the students who come up through the other SPICE hostels. The program in Oirssa previously only had children who were in grade school. This hostel, and one that is planned for girls as well, provides a place where students who otherwise could not receive the same education in their own home village areas, to receive education.
They each introduced themselves to us and then shared a delightful program including singing and drama. Following this one of our team told about what it meant for sponsors to be part of this program and how special each one of these students were to the people who are sponsoring them.
Part of the SPICE program is the opportunity for sponsors to give an extra gift for something to be purchased for each student. We happened to be here just at the time when they had the gifts purchased for this hostel and we were able to call out each name for the student to receive a pair of jeans and a shirt. The delight of the moment was mutual for all.
We returned to our lodging very satisfied with what we had seen and experienced. Truly the dollars given through SPICE are dollars that are well spent and give a multiplied return in the lives of people.
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