I felt really humbled after reading the difference one woman has made to improve the lives of others following the catastrophic Tsunami.

This is a second guest post by Audrie who describes a charity she set up following a holiday to India.

This is her story:

Before starting my Social Policy degree as a mature student at ARU in 2003, I took a holiday to India and met Diana from Canada. When the Tsunami struck on 26 December 2004 she was back in India (on the east coast). Desperate messages flew back and forth asking for donations to enable her to buy stoves and ice boxes to help the homeless families.

The following year, on my 50^th birthday, instead of gifts I asked for donations for Tsunami victims and raised over £500. The following January I went to the village of Gingicalany to meet the villagers. After hearing and seeing the difference my small donation had made to so many families, I decided I had to continue fundraising.

We are now five Trustees running this non-profit, tax exempt charity. Diana and Sue who live in Canada and Alun, Hannah and myself who live in Cambridge. We became a UK registered charity in August 2007.

We support poor rural Dalit communities who receive little or no support from the Indian government or other NGOs. We act on need, working on a personal level and by conducting village surveys we find the households in the most abject poverty.

Since 2005 we have completed 21 projects, benefiting over 1,500 people in three villages. Our total spend has been £7,387. We have provided opportunities for long term sustainable incomes. For example 10 dairy cows and calves, a fishing boat and accessories, sewing machines and rope making equipment. We have also supported projects that benefit the whole community such as water tanks, bicycle rental business and pay phones, and through a micro loan scheme we started up businesses such as a general store, tailoring outlet and a barber shop.

During my trip earlier this year we donated school benches and shading for Ragavendra School in Auroville and ceiling fans and sports equipment for Pombur School. We also provided five more cows and calves and built cow shelters in the village of Pombur, Nr Pondicherry.

For 2009 we are focusing our fundraising to build school toilets and set up a community goat project to benefit groups of people, rather than individuals. BLESS our agent in India, has started discussing the building of eco-toilets with teachers and village leaders in Pombur.

What makes us different? VOS is unique in that we offer our time and skills voluntarily to realise the charity’s mission, and pay for our own flights and accommodation in India. I cut every possible cost – I manage our website, design and print brochures, portfolios and posters and even do the video production. All this, plus fundraising and presenting to schools and clubs certainly keeps me busy. My short films can be viewed on www.villageoutreach.co.uk If you would like a copy of the DVD, I can mail this to you.

You can help too. If you belong to a social club and would like a presentation or if you could display a poster at your place of work, then email your details to me at audrie@villageoutreach.co.uk

If you would like to make a donation or buy a gift certificate for a Christmas present visit our website ww.villageoutreach.co.uk.

‘Every donation, no matter how small, makes a BIG difference in India’