HELP A POOR CHILD – 40th Anniversary
It all began in Bombay, India in March 1980 when an Indian nun, the late Mother Colombiere, Headmistress of St. Anne’s High School, challenged India to do something for the poor.
In the UK, the first fundraising event was not held until 25 July of that year at the Wheatsheaf Pub, Tooting Bec, South London, which had a maximum capacity of 150.
Tickets were priced at £1 and were all sold, with the “disco” taking place on the first-floor pub hall. At the time, the exchange rate was approximately Rupees 15 to £1, and a bank draft for £150, sent to Mother Colombiere, was exchanged for Rupees 2,250. These funds were used to feed some poor children in the slums and provide them with a bag containing clothes, books, and soap.
Little did we know that this small fundraising event at the Wheatsheaf Pub would lead the charity to helping poor children in different parts of Asia and Africa for 40 years.
1980 – 2011 – From Bombay (Mumbai), Goa, Calcutta (Kolkata), and Madras (Chennai) in India to Kenya, Sri Lanka – embarking on a variety of programmes to help poor children. Some included:
- food and goodie bag distribution programmes to the street kids in the slum areas
- prevention against sexual abuse programmes conducted in local girls’ schools
- sponsorship programme to send poor children to school
- child sponsorship programme
- wheelchair distribution programme
- school science laboratories built
- school wing built
- school hall built
- annual Christmas treats
2012 – Present – HELP A POOR CHILD Gambia
The charity’s flagship project – constructed in early 2012, our Colombiere School, currently has 193 children enrolled, with a teaching staff of eleven.
