This photo was taken by President-Elect and now Secretary of the Darjeeling Rotary Club, Poonam Sharma, during the Spread the Happiness fete that the club puts on every year for needy children. The kids get a hot meal, an afternoon of fun and games, and a new suit of clothes. Since many of the children have never had new clothes, this is a real treat. The tradition, at Dassein, the biggest festival of the year in the Nepali parts of the world, is for each and everyone to get new clothes. So this is a great way for the Rotary to touch the lives of the poorest children in town.

This year's fete took place in some of the most miserable weather I experienced in Darjeeling, and was responsible for several deadly landslides as well. Still, for that afternoon, the students at the Himali Girls School made us all welcome, especially the children who came to play and eat.