Earth Mother

Tomorrow is a special day for mothers everywhere but here in Guernsey one woman's adopted child lives thousands of miles away on the other side of the earth. Anne Woodington is 'mum' to a little girl in a tribal village who she has helped sponsor through an Indian charity, as Ann Chadwick reports Anne Woodington holding a photograph of a pretty, seven-year-old little girl with huge eyes and a wide smile. And it was her name that sealed her fate.

When Anne decided to help the Goodwill Children's Homes in the South West Coast of India she thought they would put forward a child for her to sponsor or 'adopt'. But in the end she picked her from a line-up of 12 expectant faces.

'I thought, ?How do I choose??' said Anne, who has recently returned from her second visit to the area she first visited two years ago. She decided she wanted to mark the birth of her grandchild by helping a child in India. It was something she had done with African youngsters when her own children were born and she wanted to continue the tradition for the next generation.

She said she wanted to help a tribal child after witnessing the poverty in a tribal village.

'In that village, if you looked at the children's eyes they were dull. They had no hope, no future.

'In other villages they had nothing, but their eyes were brighter. The tribal children had even less then those with nothing.'

She ended up with three youngsters and couldn't decide what to do next. 'They were all looking at me with hopeful eyes. So I asked what their names were and I picked the one whose name I could pronounce: Kanchana.'

It is unusual to travel to a country to sponsor a child. Most people would go through a UK charity. But the opportunity came to Anne, a keen photographer.

'A friend had done a specialised holiday for photographers. The organiser of the trip sponsored a child in India and decided to combine the photography with a chance to visit the child. There was a space going and I had 24 hours to make up my mind. I thought ?Why not?? It all fell into place. So I went.'

As well as her love of photography Anne's motivation stemmed from her commitment to charity and her own beliefs.

'We in the West have a very privileged lifestyle. I thought it would be nice to do something for an underprivileged child without those advantages. It was just the idea of another child benefiting with your own.'

The trip was a huge culture shock. Her photographs reveal basic living conditions and it was a three-night drive to reach the Goodwill home in Tamil Nadu.

Its policy is to take on children who are destitute - often orphans or tribal children. Those who do have families usually come back from their holidays thinner than when they left the school, said Anne.

The centre cares for and educates the children until they are 17. Then they are sent to learn a trade or, if they have academic potential, to further education. The philosophy is to teach people to help themselves. 'Education, for example, can improve the girls' marriage prospects. Without a dowry you can't marry well,' said Anne. 'If they have a skill, a good job, then a man will accept that in lieu of a dowry. It brings them up the social scale to help alleviate the next generation's poverty. It's giving them a better future.'

Anne is passionate about the charity because she has seen its work first hand. Looking at the pictures of Kanchana two years ago, the difference today is striking. She is pallid, her eyes sad, and there are sores around her mouth. Two years on after life at the home, she sparkles.

India is a country known for massive poverty and the school receives 500 applications for every 50 children it takes.

'It's very difficult to describe, to see people who are so poor. You see people begging because they have deformities. There's very much a caste system. You can see people at the bottom are really, really struggling.

'There are so many poor people in India, if you give to one you're surrounded. They see Europeans as someone to ask, which is not necessarily a good thing. It's better to go through an organised charity. But I find it extremely difficult to be approached by someone totally destitute and not want to give something.'

The Goodwill home is dedicated to caring for children from rural communities, irrespective of caste or creed. The staff are Indian nationals, which helps local employment. Seven of the housemasters, Anne said, are former Goodwill children. They care for more than 800 students and, as the focus is on education, it is possible to sponsor a teacher for something like £80 a month.

'A whole village community can benefit. It gives them a future.'

Without education, they rely on hard labour to earn a living.

'A tribal person might walk barefoot for six miles to pick coffee for a day and earn 50-60 rupees. (There are 80 rupees to the pound.) It's not a lot to raise a family on.'

While there, Anne became fascinated with capturing the everyday working lives of the Indians. And her interest in its people shines through.

'Because in India people live by the side of the road, you will see them at their occupations: metalwork or welding. So all of life is there.'

Anne is hoping her portraits of these people will help raise awareness.

Her own home is big: the garden boasts a vegetable patch, towering pine trees and a vast lawn. It is abundant, spacious and luscious, something she appreciates even more after her travels.

'You come back realising what a wonderful place Guernsey is and how well off we are compared with people who have so little,' said Anne. 'Even poor people who don't have very much have a good standard of living compared with the poor in India, who don't have a roof or food, never mind TVs and everything else.'

Anne hopes that in time she will be able to exchange letters with Kanchana and follow her through her life to see the future she has helped grant this destitute child.

'It's a drop in an ocean,' said Anne, 'but if I can do it maybe someone else will be interested too and help will grow.'

Spoken like a true mother.

* For more information about how you can sponsor a child contact Goodwill Children's Homes, 5a Moor Road, Broadstone, Dorset, BH18 8AZ. Telephone: 01202 699 72. Or e-mail: admin@goodwillhomes.org.uk.

Anne is also willing to talk to anyone who wants to find out more. You can contact her on 238384.