Ray of Hope

FOR more than two decades caring mother of two Jill Ghanouni has devoted herself to the plight of children living thousands of miles away in India.

During those years she has raised thousands of pounds for the lepers and handicapped children who find themselves ostracised from Indian society. Now her 15-year-old daughter Amber is to travel with her to see the work of the New Hope Rural Community Trust.

Jill explained: "I never thought 23 years ago that I would still be involved with the charity and doing it with the next generation.

"I didn't want to assume it was something my children would be wanting to carry on, but Amber is very keen.

"She helps out a lot with writing letters and using the computer. I don't know what I would do without her.

"This is an opportunity for Amber to go out and see for herself - then she can make up her own mind about it," she said.

Amber, who attends Cantell Maths and Computing College, is looking forward to the challenge and is not even daunted by the two days of travel needed to reach their destination.

"The whole experience is going to be great. I am going to be seeing a totally different way of life.

"I went to Florida last year and that is the furthest I have ever travelled before," she said.

On August 10, Jill and Amber will fly to Bombay and then on to Hyderabad in India. They will then take a train to Vishakhapatnam where the charity's office is based.

From there they will travel a further ten hours to reach the New Hope Rural Leprosy Trust.

Amber will see the work being done with lepers and children who have contracted polio and others living with HIV.

"I'm going to see the leper colony and learn how they take care of the patients and rehabilitate them," said Amber.

Jill explained they would also travel on to a remote area to meet up with tribal people, pictured below, who are being helped by the charity.

"They live in the mountains and they are incredibly poor - their life expectancy is only 50.

"I visited them for the first time two years ago and it was amazing to meet these people whose lifestyle hasn't really changed for the past 400 years.

"The only problem they have is where modern-day life has encroached on them," she said.

Jill first became involved with the charity back in 1982.

"I went out for six months as a trainee health worker. I was due to train to be a nurse and I couldn't start straight away so I decided to do something useful with my time.

"I was supposed to go for a weekend to work at one particular leper colony but there was a huge monsoon and I couldn't get back for four months.

"I was 22 at the time and the whole thing made a deep impression on me," she said.

Jill came home and started fund raising for the charity in earnest - and she has never stopped since.

"She gives her time unpaid to the cause and, in more recent times, has applied for grants to boost their funds.

"I went back to India two years ago because I had to have up-to-date experience of the project to write the grant applications.

"In 1999 we were given £176,000 for monsoon relief work and this year a further £96,000 for civil rights empowerment.

"Any money we raise all goes to the project - we do not charge for administration because we do that as volunteers," said Jill.

Amber, who is studying for seven GCSE exams next summer, has her heart set on being a forensic psychologist but she is fascinated by the voluntary work her mother does for New Hope.

"I have always been really interested in going out with mum to see the work they do - it will be an experience of a lifetime," said Amber.

On her return Amber will file her own report detailing her experiences.

To find out more about the New Hope Rural Community Trust call 023 8039 4313 or e-mail jillghanouni@hotmail.com

Any cheque donations should be made payable to the New Hope Rural Community Trust.