Thanks to the generosity of Bermudian sponsors, two children living in one of the poorest parts of India will be able to stand on her own two feet, for the first time ever, after much needed corrective surgery.

They will also be able to attend a free school in their village for the first time.

Bermudian Diane Kirwin ? who lives in Northern California ? was on the island this month to help raise support for grass roots organisation Privilege-Sharing which provides assistance to people living in poverty-stricken areas of India, Latvia and other places.

Since Mrs. Kirwin was last on the island, funds from Bermuda and other countries, have provided much needed medical treatment, environmental projects such as the installation of a well, and the building of a free school.

It doesn?t take a whole lot of privilege sharing to help. One dollar feeds five children a nutritious meal. Four dollars buys a huge pot of rice to feed 200 people.

?People have responded very enthusiastically,? said Mrs. Kirwin shortly before she gave a speech at the Hamilton Rotary Club. ?This is really about awareness raising.

?We are grateful for all forms of support. Some people are unable to help financially, but we are in their prayers. Heart support keeps everything going. Prayers are vitally important.?

Mrs. Kirwin said she has already felt like her message of caring is getting home to Bermudians.

?I was at the Learning Academy Express school in Bermuda,? said Mrs. Kirwin. ?Later, I was at the Mount Saint Agnes Fair and I saw one of the students from that school. He was clutching a big dog that he?d just won. He was so happy with his toy. It was his favourite kind of dog.

?He said to me, ?you know when you came to talk at our school you changed the lives of everyone. You showed us what we have to be grateful for?. He said, ?I?d like to send this dog with you, but I know it is probably too big to fit in your suitcase?.?

Every chance I get when I travel, I have a 20 minute video which will be available for loan. It is really about letting people know how people in other countries live.

?It plants the seeds of compassion and the seeds of gratitude. The funds seem to just come. I don?t do any hard-core fund raising. It is really awareness raising.?

Mrs. Kirwin is a retired clinical social worker, and is a qualified addiction counsellor. She first came upon the town of Bodhgaya and the work of Privilege-Sharing several years ago during a backpacking trip across the state of Bihar which is in Northern India, bordering Nepal.

In Bihar, sixty percent of the population live below the poverty line. While visiting Bodhgaya she met a small group of Indians who were working with the poor.

Privilege-Sharing was started by a wealthy, world-famous Swiss photographer who had studied the work of Mother Theresa and Mahatma Gandhi.

?We are like a bridge between the east and the west,? said Mrs. Kirwin. ?We don?t try to westernise the people there. We try to enable them to do the work that they know has to be done. We believe that if everyone shares a little of the privileges that they have, everyone will be happier.?

She was drawn to Privilege-Sharing, by the honesty and compassion of the volunteers. Every penny raised goes directly to the people who need it. The organisation keeps very detailed accounting records.

Since then she has returned to the area every year for two months. When she is not in India, she spends much of her time raising awareness and funds in Bermuda, the United States and other countries.

Her labour has born much fruit. In October, a free school called ?Sishu Vihar Public School? or ?The Sacred Place of the Child? opened up in Jaunpur, an extremely poor village near Bodhgaya.

?One week ago our small school opened,? said Mrs. Kirwin, proudly. ?A few years ago, people in Bermuda helped us to buy a small piece of land in the centre of many of the poorest villages.

?Some people call them ?untouchables?, but we don?t like to use that, really. We refer to them as the ?Beloved Poorest? or ?the unlifted person?.

?But when we go into the villages we touch them, we feed them, we hold their babies. It means a lot to them.?

Government schools in India cost money to attend. In Jaunpur the only education available to the poor was a few hours a day sitting under a tree with an adult. The new three-room school house holds 150 very poor children, with classes held outside in the yard, and also on the roof.

?It is a tiny school,? said Mrs. Kirwin. ?I think people would be amazed at how many children go to it. The school is well built. It is sturdy. It is built with the same loving care with which the poor are served. It is just about equally boys and girls.?

She hasn?t visited the completed school yet in person. She will see it for the first time in January.

So far, the curriculum includes basic subjects such as reading, writing and arithmetic in Hindi and in English. On Saturdays students have a cultural day with music, dance and art.

?These children have never had that,? said Mrs. Kirwin. ?This is a whole new experience. We are hoping to serve them a hot meal everyday.?

One of Mrs. Kirwin?s many photographs depicts lunch being prepared to the school children. Each plate of food includes salad and, in some cases, a huge raw carrot. This is because many of the children are suffering from vitamin deficiencies, particularly vitamin A. Many people are so poor they all they eat is rice.

There is so much malnourishment in the village that the rate of congenital deformities such as cleft palate and club foot is very high.

Last January, Privilege-Sharing started a new programme to help find sponsorship for children with deformities.

?Some of it is genetic, but the doctor told me that it is mainly due to malnourishment,? said Mrs. Kirwin.

?The main problem is club feet, where the child?s feet are twisted.

?In surgery they try to straighten the feet. That surgery cost $350, sometimes more, but we can always help with that. Sometimes it is more for the shoes. Another problem is cleft palate.

?When we gave money for that, the doctor said, ?thank you for helping this child to smile again?. They can?t smile and they can?t kiss. So this was a huge gift.?

Mrs. Kirwin was particularly excited that in a few days, seven children will have cleft palate surgery.

?Some Bermuda money has funded everything,? she said. ?We have also had donations from the United States, Canada, Scotland and Germany.?

Recently, Mrs. Kirwin helped to find a sponsor to provide medical treatment to an eight-year-old girl named Puja. Surgery to correct her feet which were turned in on themselves, cost roughly $350, a staggering sum to her parents. After surgery, Puja was comforted by a little bear made by Janet Percy of St. David?s.

The government of India promised to help her, but after waiting three years her surgery was nowhere in sight.

?When we took Puja in for surgery, her father was weeping,? said Mrs. Kirwin. ?The people in the village are very superstitious. They told him not to let his child be operated on. He took her but he was very afraid. My friend read the information about the surgery to him. He signed with his thumb.

?Many people have said to me, why are you wasting your money and time on these children? Their life will be no better. They go on and on. I saw this man weeping, because of his daughter?s surgery.

?Already his daughter can read some in Hindi and some in English. Nobody will be able to take advantage of her when she is grown. She will also be able to do math, and she will be able to walk on two feet. It is lovely to see that happen.?

The hospital that conducted Puja?s surgery consisted of a few dirty rooms.

?The surgery is as clean as they can make it off a very dirty road,? said Mrs. Kirwin. ?For the surgeries we had to run out and buy everything she needed.

?After the surgery we were in the recovery room with her. I was terrified because I?m not a nurse. At first I was horrified, and then I was in awe of what they do with so little.?

She said Puja is progressing well after a lengthy and painful recuperation period.

?She will now have a normal life and have opportunities beyond previous expectations,? said Mrs. Kirwin. ?It is our hope that hearts may be moved to enable some of the poorest children to have the surgeries necessary for them to lead a normal life.?

Privilege-Sharing is also looking to help two children who are waiting for heart surgeries. The cost of a surgery like that would run into the thousands in Bermuda, but in Jaunpur it costs $700. ?A group may be interested in this as an outreach project,? said Mrs. Kirwin.

One day, Privilege-Sharing would like to raise funds to expand the hospital and also build an orphanage. After surgery the children are sent on a long and painful ride to a recovery clinic.

They have to stay there for three months, because at home their plaster casts would disintegrate in the dirty dampness.

Mrs. Kirwin said that Privilege-Sharing was dealing with a level of poverty that was mostly incomprehensible to people in western countries.

?When we feed in the villages, we take bubbles and coloured pipe cleaners,? she said. ?We give one pipe cleaner to each child, and that might be the only toy they will ever have. Then we play soccer.

A physician frequently accompanies the Privilege-Sharing team to village feedings. Sick people receive immediate treatment. If necessary arrangements are made for them to go to a clinic for the poorest or to a hospital.

A doctor enabled them to give worm medicine on a regular basis at village feedings where frequently 150 children are fed. This doctor also gives health talks concerning cleanliness, nutrition and family planning.

?It is such happy work,? she said. ?In the car, even when the doctor with us, he will say my heart is very happy to help these people. Someone else will say, no, my heart is more happy than your heart. Then another person will say, no, I?m more happy than you.?

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