On February 5, 2015 the girls of the Deenabandhu Home for Girls spent ‘Evelin’s Remembrance Day’ on Bhavani Island in the Krishna river near Vijayawada. Since it was the 5th anniversary of Evelin’s death, we remembered her again on the next day in Haailand.

The program was again lovingly arranged and organized. In a bus the children drove to the harbor. On the ship, the upper deck was decorated in memory of Evelin with balloons, flowers and pictures, and there was a lot of talking about Evelin, singing and reciting going on. The children and we received a white shoulder scarf with Evelin’s portrait and the inscription “Remembrance Day of our beloved Evelin Christiane”. On the stage the same portrait was centered on the back wall, surrounded by a collage of various photos. A framed photo of Evelin and a wreath were placed on the stage and candles were lit in her memory. The girls sang and performed a few sketches. It was very festive and loving and touched us very much. The children and we let the balloons glide into the water and the flowers we scattered into the river in memory of Evelin and they swam behind the ship like a trail. The principal had intentionally organized it so lovingly, because we had told her, when she had visited us, that we lit candles regularly in churches for Evelin and that we annually scattered flowers into the North Sea at the spot where her ashes had been buried.

On the island we were served a delicious lunch in the outdoors.

Afterwards we walked with the children on the green island under shady trees and chatted with them. The pastor, whom we already knew, played various games with the girls, prayed and talked with them about their concerns; at the end he made them laugh again, as last year, when performing as ventriloquist.

Then it was time to take the ship back to the harbor, because the busses were already waiting there. Now everyone was looking forward to the second day of the ‘Evelin’s Remembrance Day’.

Unfortunately, our oldest foster child had to return this evening already to the teaching hospital, which was a sad farewell.

We stayed overnight at the Haailand Resort Hotel, where we had dinner and then the girls went to their bedrooms which the hotel had thoughtfully arranged for them. In two conference rooms mattresses were laid out for the girls. This was of course a ‘cool’ and adventurous experience for the girls.

The next day, after a prayer service and a sizable breakfast, the girls went to Haailand to enjoy all the rides. After lunch they could not wait to get to the pool and the raindance. On this hot day this was long awaited and a refreshing and fitting ending.

You can read more about our trip to India under „Our trip to India in 2015“.