Economists are predicting that in the next ten years India will have one of the most powerful economies in the world.

But in many impoverished parts of the country, children have no access to education and will never reap the benefits of an improving economy.

That is why Bermudian Diane Kirwin and her son Mark, have been actively trying to help poor Indian children through their charity, Kirwin International Relief Foundation (KIRF) India.

Mrs. Kirwin, who now lives in Mount Shasta, California, gave an update for the many Bermudians who have donated to KIRF India in the last several years.

"Although we have been operating a school in Shekharwa district of Bodhgaya, Bihar, India for two years, we did not have an actual school building until this year," she said. "Nine months ago the children moved into our newly built school building. It is called the Kirwin James International School. We have about 100 children, five to 11 years old. Eventually, as the children get older we would like to add grades and opportunities for higher education."

Other than the school, there are few educational opportunities for poor children in Shekharwa.

"With this education, we are hoping that these children will be able to go to college and take advantage of the improving economy in other parts of India," said Mrs. Kirwin. "Things haven't changed in this part of India for over a hundred years, but the Indian people have to believe that change is possible or they wouldn't be devoting so much of their time to helping us."

She visits India on a regular basis, and said that since the school started she has seen a genuine change in the children.

"The children look so beautiful because they have been in school for two years now," she said. "They are clean. They behave better. At the beginning they were punching everyone, and it was a struggle to get them to sit down. If we started to give carrots there would be a riot. But now they are very nicely behaved.

"When people get hope, they come up. We have seen that in every village we have worked in. They feel proud."

She said that because some of the children are of a lower caste, they might have previously been chased out of the nearby town if they tried to enter.

"But because they are part of the school they begin to come up in the world," she said. "The school children entered a singing competition in Bodhgaya with a school association, competing with big private schools. They did it for the second time this year and they got three prizes. These children hadn't been into the big town before. We were really proud of them."

In the last year, KIRF India received a grant from the Hamilton, Pembroke and Sandys Rotary clubs to install or repair wells in villages around the school.

"We are also looking into repairing some damaged wells, perhaps digging deeper and we are looking at water harvesting," said Mrs. Kirwin. "It is slowly, slowly.

"One of the things the young girls do is scrub the pots with sand and dirt to get them clean. Because we have put in good water now, they can rinse them and they are really clean. In the past, they were often using infected water to wash or drink."

KIRF India has also installed a clinic on the school grounds. It had just opened when Mrs. Kirwin left India in February.

"The people that come to our clinic are mostly relatives of the children," said Mrs. Kirwin. "It is opened for about three hours on Saturday or until the people are served. About 60 people come every week. There is no other community health in our area. The people pay about one cent for their health care.

"We use homeopathic medicine to begin with. Western medicine is often too strong for indigenous people. The homeopathic medicine works well and is far less expensive. If they need more help than we can give, then we take them to a bigger clinic or hospital. If we could get the funding we would like to do more with our clinic.

"We mainly treat things like fevers, skin disease, malnutrition, and female infections. A lot of it is teaching nutrition and hygiene. But the people are very grateful."

She said a sewing centre project started two years ago is finally starting to bear fruit.

"Three girls have completed the two-year course and they are earning money in their village," she said. "The villagers bring the girls their cloth and the girls sew it into clothing. The girls range in age from 13 to 17 years old. This is huge because they would have had no way to earn money, otherwise. So we are very excited about that."

Every year when Mrs. Kirwin returns to India she visits children she has helped over the years, many of whom have received surgery for things like cleft palate, polio and other illnesses. One little girl had fallen down a well and broken her femur. She was sent home with a brick tied around her leg.

Mrs. Kirwin helped her to receive badly need medical attention. That little girl is now eight years old and running around thanks to Mrs. Kirwin's efforts to get her treatment.

"She is running around totally healed now," she said. "Last year her father died, and the family was very sad and very desperate. So we were able to help them in some ways. She is in a village school, far from ours.

"I keep in touch with those children. I can't do huge things for everyone, but I can do meaningful things."

One of the little things Mrs. Kirwin did this year was buy hats, scarves, sweaters and blankets for the children at the school.

"It was so cold in January that the government closed schools and we only had two days of school," she said. "The children had blue lips and they were shivering. We went into the market and got them each a sweater."

She said the children were so proud of their new winter uniforms that they had to be told to take them off again once it warmed up.

"I want to thank everyone in Bermuda who has donated to KIRF India for the miracles they have made happen through their generous contributions," she said.

For more information about KIRF, India visit www.kirfindia.org, call 293-1551 or 1-530-926-1441 or e-mail dikirwin@yahoo.com.