Bonhill charity worker plans to sponsor an Indian child

Sep 26 2008 by Laura McLachlan, Lennox Herald (main ed)

A BONHILL charity worker who built 12 houses for disadvantaged Indian families was so affected by her time there that she plans to sponsor a child.

Future midwife Kirsty Knowles spent five weeks of her summer working with Lasallian Developing World Projects and Reaching the Unreached (RTU) to help deliver a brighter future to a poverty stricken Indian village.

She worked daily in 43 degree heat from 7.30am, digging foundations and constructing houses for the people in the village of G Kallupati in Tamil Nadu.

But that wasn’t enough for the former Our Lady and St Patrick’s High School pupil, who wants to do more work for the people she lived with.

The 19-year-old said: “This has been such a fantastic experience for me and I have loved every minute of it.

“I have met the most amazing friends in India – some of them Indian and some of them British. Tamil Nadu is my favourite place in the world, and I would give anything to go back there again.”

Her original trip required fundraising of almost £1500, so until she can save for her return, Kirsty has come up with another way of helping her new friends.

“I now want to sponsor a child there through RTU,” said Kirsty. “Seeing the amazing work they do and the lives improved by the kindness and generosity of Br James Kimpton, who founded and still runs RTU, has made me want to do something more.”

During her time in India Kirsty, part of a team of volunteers, experienced the true extent of the poverty levels in the developing country, where people are forced to do the toilet in the street because they have no running water and some families live in houses made from coconut leaves and twine.

She said: “I knew there was a lot of poverty but I had heard the big cities such as Madras were rich.

“But when I looked around, I saw poverty everywhere and at first I had trouble adjusting to the culture.”

However, the biggest culture shock for Kirsty, from Ladyton, came on her arrival home.

“You often hear of the culture shock you should experience when visiting a country outside your comfort zone but I found that the real culture shock was coming back to the UK and settling back into a materialistic lifestyle.

“I’ve been back for five weeks now and I’m still having trouble adjusting. I learned lessons in India that will stay with me forever.”

To donate to Lasallian developing world projects visit www.justgiving.com/kirstyknowles.