On November 23, 2017, the students of 2nd B.Com ‘A’ began their journey to Harobele district, Ramanagara District for a three day outreach program. We were warmly welcomed by Fr. Chinnapa and Maria Ma’am. We were given the auditorium of Harobele Educational Institute to stay for the next couple of days. We began our day with a walk to the holy mountain followed by exercise and meditation. After having breakfast we began cleaning a part of the mountain followed by a trek to the top of the mountain. The view there was simply serine. After having lunch and relaxing for few hours we headed to the nearby village for a street play and interaction with villagers. The students presented a wonderful play signifying the importance of girls’ education. We then interacted with the villagers. It was a nice experience. They were simple people with big hearts and they treated us like their children. We returned to the school with lots of contentment. The next day started with a nice jog in the village.

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way. We then engaged ourselves in cleaning of the village followed by playing with the school kids. We then learnt about sericulture followed by visit to the Arkavathi Dam. We then came back to the school, had our lunch and then went to interact with the villagers. All the villagers loved and appreciated Fr. Chinnapa and his services to the village.

We returned to attend a holy procession around the village where all villagers came forward with candles and sang prayers as we went about the entire village. It was a peaceful experience and then we had our dinner. On the following day which happened to be our last in that village, we cleaned the auditorium and toilets of the school and we left for Bangalore.

Overall, this trip was educative and fun. Initially it was uncomfortable to sleep on the floor and adjusting to the village environment but at the end we gained lots of good experience and this made us learn to value all things in life both good and bad.