On Thursday 23rd of October thirteen students and five teachers left Dublin airport to travel to New Delhi in India on an Immersion programme. This was the first Immersion trip in the school post-Covid 19.
The planning for this trip started in Spring 2024. Some of the students who applied for this programme were in third and fourth year at that time. The fundraising for the trip lasted for the full academic year from September 2024 to May 2025. During this time the team managed to fundraise over €40,000 for the programme. This involved table quizzes, bake sales, old clothes collections, non-uniform days and even personal fundraisers organised by each team member within their local communities. Some of the students participated in half marathons, charity cycles and bake sales in their Scout groups. The fundraising teaches key skills such as teamwork, communication and planning. All of these skills are crucial to an Immersion programme.
In New Delhi we worked with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) called PRATEK. This organisation works with the most marginalised and disadvantaged children in India and aims to provide educational programmes and creative Art workshops to develop their confidence and skills. PRATEK aims to support and develop child rights by working with the United Nations (UN) to encourage them to support the rights of children. We visited schools in New Delhi and met some wonderful children who are not much different from Irish students. We like the same music and watch the same movies and all carry smartphones. We did visit their homes and this made us realise how lucky we are in Ireland, and how much the Irish government supports education and housing in this country. The homes of these children were small, cramped and damp with no running water. Some have to queue up at water tankers twice a day to collect the water needed for each day. A lot of homes have no toilets and are forced to use community toilets with hundreds of others. We were gladly accepted into their homes, and they were proud to show us where they are from and how they live their lives on a day to day basis.
We visited schools in New Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra, and were lucky enough to see how the school day is different to Ireland. School starts much earlier in India but finishes in the afternoon and they even have school on Saturdays. We brought over a lot of school supplies to the students who were happy to receive gifts from Ireland. They were also eager to learn about Ireland and how we live our lives.
We were lucky enough to be invited to the residence of Mr Kevin Kelly, Irish ambassador, in Delhi. He told us about the work of the Irish embassy and how he became an ambassador. He explained to us how trade is developed between Ireland and India and that there are approximately 500 Irish people living in India. Considering the population of India is 1.4 billion people there really is not a lot of Irish people living in India. This showed us how small Ireland is compared to India.
New Delhi has a modern Metro system and we were lucky enough to travel on it as we visited schools in the city. The Metro is relatively new and a fast way for the average Delhi commuter to travel across the city. New Delhi is a bustling vibrant city with much to offer. We visited churches, temples and even managed to meet the Archbishop of New Delhi. Hinduism is the most popular religion in India followed by Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It showed us how people with many different beliefs can worship and live side by side with each other peacefully.
During our trip to Jaipur we visited the palace, monasteries and explored the Pink city and everything it has to offer. This involved taking a five-hour train journey from New Delhi to Jaipur. It was nice to see the countryside and watch the farmers work the fields and care for their animals. In Jaipur we learned about textiles and how important it is to the local economy. Clothes, bedsheets, jewelry and pottery are all made in Jaipur and exported abroad. This provides a lot of employment in this area.
On another trip we managed to visit the Taj Mahal. This is a white marble mausoleum that was built in 1653. It took twenty years to build and 20,000 construction workers to complete. We learned that between 40-50,000 people visit this site every day. A Mughal emperor called Shah Jahan built the Taj in memory of his wife. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the new seven wonders of the world. It was truly one of the highlights of the trip and a privilege to see such an iconic building.
Visiting famous monuments is important, but we were in India to immerse ourselves into the Indian culture, and help the most disadvantaged and marginalised children in India.
One of the highlights was meeting the children and making friends along the way. As an ERST school we are proud to have re-established the Immersion programme and we know that this will be the first trip of many to India in the years to come. To quote Blessed Edmund Rice:
"Have courage; the good seed will grow up in the children's hearts later on."
