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WalesOnline journalist Jem King was unprepared for the emotional rollercoaster ride he experienced during a recent visit to “prosperous” India as part of a fundraising mission with the charity HEAL.
"They've got more money than we have, haven’t they? Thought they had one of the fastest growing economies in the world!”
A not uncommon, if slightly tongue-in-cheek response, from one of my potential sponsors as I went cap in hand to friends and family for yet another fund-raising venture.
Cycling 350km through the hills and backwaters of Kerala in southern India in temperatures approaching the mid 30s centigrade was, in some ways, no greater a challenge than the uphill struggle of raising £1,500 for my chosen charity, HEAL – a UK registered charity formed in 1992 which is committed to providing shelter, support, education and healthcare for more than 1,000 children in India.
Mention poverty in India to some people and they will react by reeling off a list of reasons why the giant Asian republic is a land of prosperity: its booming economy; its nuclear capacity; its huge investment in space travel.
It didn’t take me long, however, to arm myself with counter-arguments, backed up by a Save the Children report, released last month, which highlights the plight of those left behind as India’s galloping economy races ahead.
Suffice to say, more than a third of the world’s malnourished children live in India – unbelievably, that’s more than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.
And the UN has estimated every year more than two million children die before reaching the age of five – mostly from preventable childhood diseases.
But it wasn’t statistics, facts or figures which steered me towards my first involvement with HEAL (Health and Education for All) several years ago.
I came across a film made for Sport Relief where tiny children were forced to forage among a rubbish tip to find items to recycle or sell, simply to stay alive, while others attempted to eke out a living buffing passengers’ shoes for loose change in packed, sweltering train carriages.
The sight of a group of UK cricketing celebrities, including the normally ebullient Phil Tufnell and motormouth broadcaster Chris Evans, too choked up to speak to camera as they witnessed these pitiful, distressing sights, had a profound effect on me.
Call it an epiphany, or whatever you like, but I knew there and then I couldn’t sit back and ignore the plight of those children.
By the end of that day, I was the proud sponsor of a little girl, Anusha, at the HEAL Children’s Village in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
Little did I know then that I would one day get to meet her.
That came in 2010, when I made my first visit to India as part of a group of cyclists from Britain, India and the United States, raising money for HEAL’s projects in impoverished rural Andhra Pradesh.
Two years on, and I found myself back at the Children’s Village for an emotional reunion with Anusha, now 15-years-old, at the end of Cycle India 2012.
With excitement at fever pitch in the village, the children waited in the hot sun to greet their guests and put on a spectacular show, full of colour, song and dance, to celebrate their 20th anniversary under the HEAL umbrella.
I know from past experience that it is hard to part company with the children after such a visit but, leaving the joyous festivities behind, a small group of us decided to pay a visit to a neighbouring township.
We were not prepared for what we found.
HEAL’s mission has always been to give orphaned or underprivileged children shelter, healthcare and an all-important education, in an effort to break the vicious “poverty trap” cycle.
Many of the children live in cottages, accompanied by house mothers, within the school complex in Guntur, while others return home to their families each night.
Having witnessed poverty of varying degrees at almost every turn in India, it nevertheless came as a shock just how poor these people were, despite their outwardly cheerful demeanour.
Accompanied by fellow cyclists Vijith Puthi, Peter Tantram and Matthew Glover, HEAL’s head of UK fundraising, we were shown around one family’s home, basically the size of a large garden shed, constructed from bamboo and palm leaves.
Quite how they coped in such a confined space was hard to grasp, while the residents pointed to a hole in the corner where a snake had recently found its way in.
The cooking, sleeping and eating areas were pretty much one and the same, while toilet facilities consisted of a hole in the ground surrounded by plastic sheets. The only water available, from a nearby hand-pump, was stored in metal containers.
What came next was even more difficult to comprehend as we were led along a narrow alley to the burnt-out shell of another home, totally destroyed the night before by a stray naked flame.
The former residents, including a frail, elderly lady, picked pitifully through the charred remains of brightly-coloured clothing they had attempted to salvage from the fire, as a woman holding her tiny baby wept openly.
The devastated family had been forced to sleep on the open ground the previous night and we were told that although neighbours had tried to gather a few scraps of food to assist them, they barely had enough to survive on themselves.
Returning to the HEAL village and, as always, greeted enthusiastically by the kids, the four of us found ourselves lost for words following our visit, our sunglasses masking the redness in our eyes.
Now I knew why Messrs Tufnell and Evans had found no words for the harrowing scenes they had witnessed years before. There are no words.
So don’t talk to me about a wealthy, prosperous India. I’ve seen how the other half live.
* HEAL (Health and Education for All), now in its 20th year, is a UK registered charity, committed to providing shelter, support, education and healthcare for needy children.
All monies raised go directly to projects in India as all staff involved in the administration of HEAL are volunteers.
HEAL currently has a number of projects including the existing Heal Children’s Village in Guntur and the new Paradise Village, currently under construction at Thotapally, which will become home to 1,000 impoverished children.
Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2012/03/04/charity-heal-puts-education-first-to-beat-india-s-poverty-trap-91466-30447813/#ixzz1oCvxSHo7
"They've got more money than we have, haven’t they? Thought they had one of the fastest growing economies in the world!”
A not uncommon, if slightly tongue-in-cheek response, from one of my potential sponsors as I went cap in hand to friends and family for yet another fund-raising venture.
Cycling 350km through the hills and backwaters of Kerala in southern India in temperatures approaching the mid 30s centigrade was, in some ways, no greater a challenge than the uphill struggle of raising £1,500 for my chosen charity, HEAL – a UK registered charity formed in 1992 which is committed to providing shelter, support, education and healthcare for more than 1,000 children in India.
Mention poverty in India to some people and they will react by reeling off a list of reasons why the giant Asian republic is a land of prosperity: its booming economy; its nuclear capacity; its huge investment in space travel.
It didn’t take me long, however, to arm myself with counter-arguments, backed up by a Save the Children report, released last month, which highlights the plight of those left behind as India’s galloping economy races ahead.
Suffice to say, more than a third of the world’s malnourished children live in India – unbelievably, that’s more than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.
And the UN has estimated every year more than two million children die before reaching the age of five – mostly from preventable childhood diseases.
But it wasn’t statistics, facts or figures which steered me towards my first involvement with HEAL (Health and Education for All) several years ago.
I came across a film made for Sport Relief where tiny children were forced to forage among a rubbish tip to find items to recycle or sell, simply to stay alive, while others attempted to eke out a living buffing passengers’ shoes for loose change in packed, sweltering train carriages.
The sight of a group of UK cricketing celebrities, including the normally ebullient Phil Tufnell and motormouth broadcaster Chris Evans, too choked up to speak to camera as they witnessed these pitiful, distressing sights, had a profound effect on me.
Call it an epiphany, or whatever you like, but I knew there and then I couldn’t sit back and ignore the plight of those children.
By the end of that day, I was the proud sponsor of a little girl, Anusha, at the HEAL Children’s Village in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
Little did I know then that I would one day get to meet her.
That came in 2010, when I made my first visit to India as part of a group of cyclists from Britain, India and the United States, raising money for HEAL’s projects in impoverished rural Andhra Pradesh.
Two years on, and I found myself back at the Children’s Village for an emotional reunion with Anusha, now 15-years-old, at the end of Cycle India 2012.
With excitement at fever pitch in the village, the children waited in the hot sun to greet their guests and put on a spectacular show, full of colour, song and dance, to celebrate their 20th anniversary under the HEAL umbrella.
I know from past experience that it is hard to part company with the children after such a visit but, leaving the joyous festivities behind, a small group of us decided to pay a visit to a neighbouring township.
We were not prepared for what we found.
HEAL’s mission has always been to give orphaned or underprivileged children shelter, healthcare and an all-important education, in an effort to break the vicious “poverty trap” cycle.
Many of the children live in cottages, accompanied by house mothers, within the school complex in Guntur, while others return home to their families each night.
Having witnessed poverty of varying degrees at almost every turn in India, it nevertheless came as a shock just how poor these people were, despite their outwardly cheerful demeanour.
Accompanied by fellow cyclists Vijith Puthi, Peter Tantram and Matthew Glover, HEAL’s head of UK fundraising, we were shown around one family’s home, basically the size of a large garden shed, constructed from bamboo and palm leaves.
Quite how they coped in such a confined space was hard to grasp, while the residents pointed to a hole in the corner where a snake had recently found its way in.
The cooking, sleeping and eating areas were pretty much one and the same, while toilet facilities consisted of a hole in the ground surrounded by plastic sheets. The only water available, from a nearby hand-pump, was stored in metal containers.
What came next was even more difficult to comprehend as we were led along a narrow alley to the burnt-out shell of another home, totally destroyed the night before by a stray naked flame.
The former residents, including a frail, elderly lady, picked pitifully through the charred remains of brightly-coloured clothing they had attempted to salvage from the fire, as a woman holding her tiny baby wept openly.
The devastated family had been forced to sleep on the open ground the previous night and we were told that although neighbours had tried to gather a few scraps of food to assist them, they barely had enough to survive on themselves.
Returning to the HEAL village and, as always, greeted enthusiastically by the kids, the four of us found ourselves lost for words following our visit, our sunglasses masking the redness in our eyes.
Now I knew why Messrs Tufnell and Evans had found no words for the harrowing scenes they had witnessed years before. There are no words.
So don’t talk to me about a wealthy, prosperous India. I’ve seen how the other half live.
* HEAL (Health and Education for All), now in its 20th year, is a UK registered charity, committed to providing shelter, support, education and healthcare for needy children.
All monies raised go directly to projects in India as all staff involved in the administration of HEAL are volunteers.
HEAL currently has a number of projects including the existing Heal Children’s Village in Guntur and the new Paradise Village, currently under construction at Thotapally, which will become home to 1,000 impoverished children.
Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2012/03/04/charity-heal-puts-education-first-to-beat-india-s-poverty-trap-91466-30447813/#ixzz1oCvxSHo7
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