I retired in 2011, and soon after started a genealogy project to find my roots, which originate in India, from where my grandparents left to start a new life in Guyana (then British Guyana).
The project took me on a journey from England to Guyana and Trinidad, and following up leads, eventually to India.
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In 2012 I packed a bag with some clothes, and loaded it on a motorcycle, and with a map and some bits of information, set off searching through towns and villages in northern India where eventually I found the ancestral homes of my grandparents and some living relatives.
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There were some very happy and emotional moments on meeting my relatives for the first time, but I was shocked to find the poverty and lack of progress, even though it was more than 100 years since my grandfather left India.
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Since then I have been sponsoring the 4 children of the family through school, with the hope that education in the new generation will break this circle of entrapment of an impoverished living standard.
The children of the family have now completed one year in their new schools, and have shown great progress and when I visited them recently, to see their smiling faces and effervescent reaction was truly inspiring, they are on their way to a better future.
However, the really sad part is that other children of the village are not getting an education because their parents cannot afford the £1 per week it cost (less than the cost of a cup of coffee!) to send them to school, and without the chance of an education their fates are sealed.
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As I have said I am supporting 4 children and truly regret I cannot afford to do more, but I wonder, is there a way more of the 400 children of the village could be given a chance in life?
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Above is a picture of the village school with basic teaching facilities, This is one of the lowest cost school, and yet one third of the children who apply to go here cannot afford to meet the meagre fees.
For more details of fees and donations, please look at the other pages (FAQ and How You Can Help)
So I am setting up a charity in the hoping that others would help in my quest to support some of these children to obtain a better chance in life through an education. Can you help?