Perthshire women put roof over poor Indian girls’ heads

Jul 9 2010 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

HAVING raised £30,000 to put a roof over destitute Indian girls’ heads, a group of Perthshire women now have a fresh goal.

The team, led by Rhynd single mum Mel Morris, have already covered costs of a new home for outcast girls near remote Himalayan village Kapkote.

Now they need another £15,000 to construct an adjacent skills centre to teach the young residents carpet weaving and sewing to safeguard their future.

All are victims of the rigid Indian caste system, condemned to a life of poverty by parents who cast their daughters out as they are too poor to care for them.

The project was launched late last year by Ms Morris after she visited a grim ashram housing the outcast girls with her teenage son Josh in October.

Ms Morris, who runs successful company W2 Training and has twice beaten breast cancer, embarked on the field trip to India with a group from Hampshire-based charity, the Lotus Flower Trust.

Landing in Delhi, they travelled to the Himalayan foothills in jeeps, trekking the final leg to an NGO (non-governmental organisation) office and ashram (communal house) – the first westerners to ever visit.

What they found there broke Ms Morris’s heart.

“There were 79 girls, all aged between three and 17, living in absolutely shocking conditions,” she said.

“They were sleeping on a bare concrete floor, sharing grubby blankets, with no heating. They’d get up at 5am as it was so freezing and wash in cold water outside.

“It was so sad. They had no privacy, no dignity, nothing, not even the basic fundamentals of life, whereas kids over here have bedrooms full of iPods and hair straighteners.”

Before leaving, the visitors bought the girls 60 mattresses, pillows and bed linen, and once back home, Ms Morris initiated the quest to finance a dormitory home on NGO-gifted land near Kapkote.

Now with the Akaash Ganga home – which means ‘River of Stars’ – under construction and set to be open by Ms Morris and a delegation in late October, the skills centre is in the pipeline.

“The idea is that the girls will be able to learn carpet weaving and sewing skills so that each one leaves the ashram with their own skills set so they don’t have to live in poverty any more,” she said.

One major fundraiser at Gleneagles Hotel on October 1, entitled ‘River of Stars – Changing Lives Forever’, will feature a panel from the worlds of politics, music, sport and business.

“It all ties in with our strapline, ‘changing lives forever’, and the celebrities will be interviewed by our moderator about who or what changed their lives,” Mel added.

The evening will include dinner, an auction and a raffle.

Other fundraisers are a 7.30pm ceilidh at the Bridge of Earn Institute on September 11 – tickets £15 – and a women only pamper evening at the Perth Charlie Taylor salon on September 14.

l For tickets and details, contact Mel Morris on 01738 783 558 or mel@w2training.com