Everest2: Future Hope School, Kolkata, India

About 2 years ago I attended a presentation at the Royal Geographical Society in London by former banker, Tim Grandage. Through a moving and inspirational presentation, Tim introduced the Fellows of the RGS to Future Hope, a school set up in 1988 to provide a home, education, medical aid and opportunity to some of the children of Kolkata who found themselves living on the streets of the city. These children suffer extreme poverty and have little or no ability to change their lives and more than anything they need the love and security of a home. Future Hope now runs eight homes where more than 200 former street children live and enjoy life.

Over the 24 years since Future Hope first began, thy have found sport to be one of the most valuable ways to help the children develop every positive aspect of their personalities In additional to the obvious benefits of fitness, teamwork and stamina, it helps build their character, self confdence and determination. This can be translated into self discipline and concentration in the classroom and beyond.
Further details about Future Hope can be found via this fantastic video (see below):



Thinking back to the presentation that first introduced me to Future Hope, I knew at the time there was something in the presentation that resonated with me and I subconsciously ‘filed’ it at the back of my mind. When I decided to develop an educational programme for students in conjunction with my 2011 climb, Future Hope School was an obvious choice..!

Working with Future Hope over the past few months in the planning of the programme has been a real learning experience and a reminder of how much we take for granted here in the UK and Canada. I’ve learned the importance of patience, communication and also to remember what the ‘world’ (from my narrow perspective) was like before we expected answers in 24-hours or less..! When I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by my ‘to do list’ in early January I called the school to start organizing programme logistics and spoke with a staff member named, Sayan, whose enthusiasm, positive attitude and willingness to help reinforced to me why I was doing this.

Since then I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know the Future Hope team – Jane, Paul, Erica and Tim (‘Uncle’)… and through them, some of the students with whom I spoke today…! A huge thank you to Javed Ali, Setaur Rahman and Pradeep Hazra for your fantastic questions. I hope that I answered them sufficiently and that you went on to enjoy a fantastic afternoon of cricket..! India certainly delivered quite the performance – you must still be celebrating..! ;-)

Some of the questions included:
Will you be using oxygen on Everest? At what height do you go on oxygen? 
What is the temperature in England right now? What will be the temperature on Mount Everest?
What do you eat on Mount Everest for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

I’m both excited and inspired to have the opportunity to work with the students over the course of the coming months. I look forward to traveling down to Kolkata to meet the students, do a presentation and answer any questions upon my return from Everest. Their enthusiasm, spontaneity and love of life has really inspired me and I look forward to blogging the results of my fieldwork and working with them as they follow me on our journey to the Roof of the World.
“Thank you, they loved that ....!” Paul Carling (Headmaster, Future Hope).