Personnel from U.S.S. Ford of the U.S. Navy, which is on a five-day port call here, visited the YMCA Boys' Home in Thrikkakara, on the outskirts of Kochi on Sunday, for an interaction with children and with volunteers of the Make A Difference (MAD) movement, that is engaged in empowering economically disadvantaged children through quality education.
The visit of the navy personnel was part of efforts by the visiting team to interact with local people and to foster closer relationship with them, said Anand Krishna, Information Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Chennai. He said that for most of the navy personnel present it was their first visit to India.
Jennifer A. McIntyre, U.S. Consul General in Chennai, spoke briefly at the beginning of the interactive session.
The children and the U.S. navy personnel were introduced to each other by the MAD volunteers. A presentation on the activities of MAD volunteers in different parts of India followed.
The children, who put up skits, strung their performances around the life of Mahatma Gandhi as Sunday was being observed as Gandhi Jayanti day.
Scenes from the life of the Mahatma, as a school student, as a lawyer in South Africa and his historic Dandi march were the focus of the skits.
Coconut saplings
Later, the naval personnel and Ms. McIntyre planted coconut saplings on the Sacred Heard College campus in Thevara as part of a community service programme conducted in connection with Gandhi Jayanti celebrations.
Hundreds of students of the college, most of them attired in ethnic costumes, and faculty members welcomed the ‘U.S.S. Ford servicemen', a mix of naval officers and enlisted men, in traditional Kerala fashion with sandalwood paste ‘tilak' and tender coconut water.
The students sang bhajans, including ‘Raghupati Raghava Rajaram' to the delight of the U.S. Navy crew.
Later on, a game of basketball was played between teams comprising the ‘servicemen' and the students.
Commander Donald M Foss, Commanding Officer of U.S.S. Ford, will call on Rear Admiral S.Y. Shrikhande, Chief of Staff of the Southern Naval Command, on Monday.
