This week we bid farewell to two dear friends, Eric and Nathalie Ajorque.
To call Eric and Nathalie just “Sharana supporters” would be to do them disservice. They have spent two whole years pouring in their time, their energies, their ideas, and their love into Sharana’s projects. Eric’s participation was the reason the VTC program has taken shape and taken off with such success. Nathalie found a market for our cookies, and infused the Bistro project with much-needed energy to keep it running (though it closed for entirely other reasons last year). Both have helped many a volunteer and guest feel at home in Pondicherry, and both have witnessed Sharana’s transition from small NGO to one that runs 8 independent programs, each one with several component parts.
Last week, Sharana social workers organized a farewell lunch in honor of Eric and Nathalie.
It was also a goodbye for Francoise, another good friend who has been a volunteer with us for 10 months–and we hope will come back to us again soon.
Eric was presented a mirror made by the VTC boys in his honor, with “thumbnail” photos of their time here in Pondicherry lined down the left and top, as a memento.
We will miss them and the buzz they fed into to Sharana’s daily activities tremendously–but wish them all luck in their new adventures, secure in the knowledge that they will now continue Sharana’s work in their new home in France, with Sharana France!
