2 years ago Karen and I spent 6 magical weeks exploring the West Coast of India, from New Delhi all the way down to Kerala.  We enjoyed elephant rides, boat trips and palace visits and ate probably some of the best food that has ever been put in front of us.

We also witnessed a fair amount of poverty, especially in Agra and Mumbai. It is the absolute dichotomy of humans that the largest slum in the world (Dharavi) is next to the most expensive house in all of the world (owned  Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani) .

We didn’t have enough time to make it across to the eastern provinces of India and visit Calcutta (Kolkatta). If we had we would have seen absolute levels of poverty.  The twin pressures of geography and lack of patronage from the major companies have combined to create one of the poorest metropolis’s in the world.

One of the NGOs attempting to make life more bearable for the people in Calcutta and with a particular focus on the protection and well being of the street children, is the Hope Foundation.

The Hope Foundation is a registered charity working with street and slum children in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India. They strive to  free children and poor families from lives of pain, abuse, poverty and darkness.

Every year my old school Midleton College, sends 6 students to Calcutta to volunteer on the Night Ambulance Project. Those students will have spent years fund-raising and have worked hard to get the chance to go over to help the children.

This year my brother, Cameron is hoping to be 1 of the 6 that will be selected to go over. If he is successful he has promised to write a special blog post about his trip so we can raise even more awareness.

If you would like to know more about the Hope Foundation and it’s great mission then please click here.