With hope in their hearts

When a charity invited MICHAEL CARRto see the work it was doing in India, he met up with an inspiring group of Irish walkers

WHEN THE Hope Foundation first told me about its plans for a group of Irish people to walk almost 100km along the beaches of Goa, in southwestern India, earlier this year, I figured it had gone a little bonkers.

By April, when the annual 12-day walk takes place, the climatic rise towards the monsoon is well under way, so the thought of pale Irish men and women trekking along the sand in temperatures of up to 40 degrees, and almost full humidity, struck me as beyond the realms of dedication that even a kamikaze pilot would require.

This year’s walk was the charity’s third such expedition to India’s smallest state, and valuable lessons had been learned. A 4am rise ensured the walkers would hit the sand in cool morning air, with the bonus of seeing the sun rise over some of India’s most beautiful coastline. Then they’d arrive back at base camp before the mad dogs and Englishmen came out in the midday sun.

By the time I caught up with the group, outside Benaulim, in central Goa, these 15 walkers from the four corners of Ireland had established a firm bond. They had just tackled the first half of Goa’s longest beach, and spirits were high. They had each raised €5,200 to fly over and take part in the walks, which were the opening chapter of their trip to the subcontinent. Next they would fly on to Kolkata, to see how the foundation was spending their money to improve the lives of the city’s street children.

The foundation had asked me to travel to Kolkata from Goa earlier in the year, to take measure of the charity’s work there. In the 10 years since its inception, Hope has made a difference to the lives of thousands of Kolkatan children, many of whom are now emerging from almost a decade of care and assistance to strike forth on their own.

The most illuminating part of my stay was a long night travelling through the city in a night ambulance, the foundation’s first point of contact with many of the children it rescues, at places such as Kolkata’s Sealdah train station. Drug abuse and violence are common after dark, and at times the ambulance crew have to intervene and take a vulnerable child into care.

This begins the process whereby the child is sheltered while Hope tries to contact his or her family. Often the child will remain in the charity’s care for a lengthy period, becoming rehabilitated through care, counselling and education, until he or she is ready to establish a more normal life in what is one of India’s poorest cities.

Most of Hope’s several hundred staff in Kolkata are Indian – a sensible decision by the foundation’s directors, as those staff have crucial local knowledge to call on in running its boys’ and girls’ homes, educational projects and hospitals.

The foundation’s director, Maureen Forrest, was in Goa to take part in the walks. She said the beach marches were not the stroll in the park that some may have thought them to be.

“Most of the walks to date have taken place in the north of the country, in the mountains, but the walk in Goa represents a different challenge under different conditions. We found out early that there was no way we could expect people to walk long distances in the heat down here: it’s like walking through a sauna. Quite a few people on the first walk in Goa suffered from heat exhaustion, as opposed to the altitude sickness that you might feel walking in the mountains.

“Getting up at 4am and beginning the walk at 5am is a challenge in itself, while walking on sand is far from easy. I always thought we’d have a breeze on the beach at that hour, but unfortunately you don’t. The walk takes around five hours, and as the day gets hotter it starts to take its toll. But having the afternoon to recover, and then a nice relaxing evening, puts everyone back in the mood to start again.”

The Goa contingent included walkers from Cork, Dublin, Antrim, Kilkenny and Roscommon, and despite the fact that most were meeting each other for the first time, the dynamic among the group was refreshing, and firm friendships were being made. “The walks allow you to open up and chat to people who until now have been strangers – and spend time sharing their experiences of life with each other.”

Bernie Walsh of Weight Watchers in Northern Ireland, whose group’s fundraising paid for Hope’s first children’s hospital in Kolkata, among other projects, said: “The camaraderie built up has been amazing . . . We’ve all come here with a common purpose, which I suppose gives us something that binds us together even before the walks have started. The walks aren’t easy, but we owe it to all the people who have contributed towards our fundraising to walk every step before we go on to Kolkata – where, I think, the real part of the journey will begin.”

Another of the group looking forward to visiting Kolkata was Ger Cody from Kilkenny, who had made the trip with his 16-year-old daughter. A member of Watergate Theatre, he has an easy manner and a sense of humour. I asked if they had any trouble with wayward packs of Goan beach mutts. “No trouble at all,” he says. “Sure, they can’t keep up with us.”

From my visit to Kolkata, I knew that what was in store for the group would be something of an awakening after the natural beauty of Goa, but for now the walkers were fulfilling their physical obligations with good heart – and were under no illusions about what lay in store in West Bengal.

Their wonderful attitude and willingness to work in the projects were heartening to see, and as they were some of the first Irish people I had met in three months, they awoke no small feeling of pride in the land I had left behind.

“The walks started seven years ago,” said Forrest, “and the most important part is when the walkers see what can be achieved by an NGO in India, because I think a lot of people have really no idea what happens to the money once it has been raised.”

Go There

Next year’s Goa walk runs from April 4th to 15th. You can download an application pack from hopefoundation.ie. Hope also has a high-altitude walk in the Himalayan region of Ladahk, in August, and a trek through the foothills of the Himalayas in October. All of the treks include visits to Hope’s projects in Kolkata.

Michael Carr is a freelance journalist