As part of our Transition Year, Alison O’ Connor, Jane Hannigan, Jessie Barlow and I, Sophie Sharpe, decided to get involved with an Irish charity called ‘The Hope Foundation’.

The Hope Foundation was established in 1999 to help the street children of Calcutta. They set up schools, coaching centres, hospitals, rehabilitation centres and life skill centres for the destitute people living in the slums. In order to go we had to raise €11,100 between the four of us; therefore we spent from September to January fundraising, primarily by bagpacking, selling chocolate bars, doing a sponsored hike and holding coffee mornings.

However strenuous the fundraising was, we knew we were doing it in aid of a great cause, and therefore were delighted when we ended up raising approximately €24,000 – more than double our target!

On Thursday 11th February 2010, we set out from Cork Airport with a group of forty-two students and teachers from around the country on our journey to India, receiving strict warnings before setting off not to drink the water, eat salad or have ice in our drinks…resulting in extreme paranoia for the first few days. Once arriving in Calcutta I was immediately struck by the poverty – even outside the airport people were already coming up to us and begging for money. The group was divided up into three smaller groups, who were bused each day to the different facilities run by ‘The Hope Foundation’.

Whilst in Calcutta we visited many homes for children. In these homes the children are not necessarily orphans, but their parents cannot afford to keep them. The children are educated and given a good quality of life. We also visited hospitals, rehabilitation centres, creches, schools, coaching centres and life skills centres. In each facility the children greeted us with such affection and kindness – I will never forget just how much happiness was brought to them by mere smiles and playfulness. We brought the children gifts such as colouring pencils, balloons and bubbles, and spent infinite hours playing, singing and dancing with them. Let’s just say I have never done the hokey-  pokey as much in my life!

We visited a lot of the slums in Calcutta, which was very upsetting to see. When we were with the children, it was always such a happy experience, because The Hope Foundation brought them so much joy and it was very difficult not to become attatched to the children and want to smuggle them home. However, when we would step outside and see the slums where they live, and will remain to live for the rest of their lives, it was heartbreaking. It’s just so unfair that anybody would have to live in such terrible conditions. I cannot describe in words how big and bad a problem poverty is in Calcutta. The shacks in the slums are made of corrugated iron, wood and plastic, and are absolutely filthy. Piles of rubbish litter every street, and the canals, which many people dwell beside, are also open sewers. Every day people wade through these open sewers in the hope of finding items to sell. The water in Calcutta is contaminated, therefore cholera, diarrhoea, dysentry and tuberculosis are extreme problems. Each day we would see people washing themselves in leaking pipes on the street, and tiny children rummaging through piles of rubbish trying to find things to use.

For me, one of the most profound experiences was when we went to the Red Light District. It was one of the filthiest places we went to, and the poverty there was simply horrendous. The people have nothing to live for, and when they get older they’ll have to become prostitutes like their mothers as they have no way of training to become anything worthwhile. And then you see the children, and they’re so happy and oblivious to the fact that somewhere out there, there are children who have it so much better than them; they’re just content the way they are.

I cannot describe in words just how incredible The Hope Foundation is – I genuinely am unable to think of a more worthy charity. Poverty in Calcutta is horrific, but The Hope Foundation staff are doing absolutely everything they can to help. They provide slum children with an education so that they can hopefully get a job someday; they give free healthcare to children; they set up life skill centres to teach the people of the slums skills such as embroidery, weaving, painting etc, so that they can sell their goods and generate an income; they take in children that have no home, and give them a good quality of life. That is just a small sample of the outstanding work that the organisation does. The Hope Foundation schools cost €2,000 a year to run – we managed to raise enough money to keep 12 schools open for a year!

The trip was a very personal experience, and affected all of us in different ways. It completely opened our eyes to how fortunate we are to have all of the opportunities in life that we do, and we would highly recommend anyone to get involved with the charity, and witness the wonderful work that they do.
Sophie Sharpe, Jane Hannigan, Jessie Barlow, Alison O'Connor.


Contact Person
Name: Conor McEvoy
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Mobile: 353861928073

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