Primitive tribes

We loved our first visit to India so much that we asked our guide, Suvo, to organise an interesting tour for our return in January 2007 & he suggested the tribes in Orissa.

This was to be a gruelling trip of 8 hours each day in a car, travelling along narrow winding roads full of potholes after the monsoon rains had eroded them away.

There were no fancy 5 star hotels, no restaurants or toilets, as we were in the middle of no where, visiting tribes very few people knew existed.

Tourism in this area had only started 20 years ago with about 12,000 visitors each year.

There were 3 different markets we had to reach, on certain days to see these tribal people walk miles to buy & sell goods.

The Bonda tribe was the most fascinating for me with only 3000 of them left, living in the mountains 1000m above sea level, untouched by modern civilisation.

We came across Dongaria Kondha, once infamous for their practice of human sacrifice, Kutia & Desia tribes with their tattooed faces & arms, & the Gadabas, with their brass or aluminium ornaments & large hooped ear rings.

Then there were the very colourful Santals with flowers in their hair or the Parojas with their silver pins in their hair, armlets & bracelets.

It was after we returned from this trip that I had decided upon the next chapter of my life – to set up a charity to help the beautiful children who, despite their living in poverty, were still able to welcome us with such warmth & happy smiles.

The next 3 months was spent researching charities, statistics & reading, as much as possible on the net.

It was very disturbing, depressing & very often I was in tears to read about what is happening out there, so very far removed from the comforts, safety & warmth of my home.

What a rude awakening to the privileged dream life in which I exist.

I emailed several charities in Kolkata making appointments to see them. This would my 3rd visit to Kolkata in 7 months. I was hooked.

I chose 3 projects to support & returned to London, fired up to start my charity, but having never entered the “business” world (my work was motherhood for the last 25 years) I couldn’t even fill out an application form to open a bank account!

To register the charity in the UK I had to complete a 30 page form whilst my son registered the charity in the USA.

We then set up a Foundation in the USA to underwrite all the charity expenses so that 100% of the public donations will go to the children.

This Foundation will also donate each year to the projects should we not be able to raise enough funds.

To minimise spending too much of the Foundation’s money, we tried to get as much done as possible gratis…Rian for design of logo, Tom for design of website, Michelle for the website as it stands today & most of all, the help from my husband & two sons…the list goes on.

In November we decided to take the Trustees to meet the grassroot charities we partnered as well as to meet & see for themselves, the children & the appalling conditions in which they live.

In April 2008 I was back to teach the teenagers living in the red light district & will return in Nov to teach them again.

In the meantime, read the next blog on my fundraising events….surely there must be easier ways to raise money???