Ten years ago, my husband and I went to South India for a month to volunteer at a hostel for young people, called an Illam, a home of grace.

We had been financial supporters for some time, and the management were happy to accept our offer to help teach colloquial English to the children. We enjoy being part of this particular organisation because it’s truly ecumenical, with Hindus, Muslims, Christians and people of no particular faith, being involved. We had a great time living with the children in their basic accommodation, reading stories, acting out plays, helping with homework, hearing their stories and being part of their lives. I know we gained far more from them than we could have ever given in return.

The children were aged from about 10 to 18. They came from financially poor families in the outlying villages around the small town where the Illam was centred. They came so that they could go to school and receive a higher education than was available in their villages. Their parents could not afford the costs of transport, uniforms and basic stationery involved. Without education the hope of ever being lifted out of the cycle of poverty they were born into was, and still is, practically nil.

We arrived at the hostel on the same day as a young girl from an outlying village. She had been dropped off by her mother, and was sitting in the corner with great tears rolling down her cheeks. The other girls rallied round her, and after a few days she had settled in. She was delightful, eager to learn and full of fun.

During a routine health check, which all the children in the hostel regularly undergo, it was discovered that her eyesight was impaired and this was going to be detrimental to her learning at school. How she had achieved so much in her education to date was amazing. Fundraising by the Trust in charge of the Illam enabled the girl to have a couple of operations and be fitted with glasses. She was quickly back on track once again. Unfortunately, at later heath check, when she was nearly through high school and applying to go nursing, it was found that she had also developed hearing problems and was practically deaf. Again, with the help of the Trust and more operations, and the fitting of hearing aids, she was finally accepted for nursing school and training.

Recently we received a newsletter from the Trust to say that this special little girl had now graduated as a nurse. She had returned to the Illam to give her thanks and to donate her first month’s nurses’ salary back to the Trust for the benefit of the new children coming in.

I thank God for this beautiful miracle which I know will continue to grow and be repeated whenever and wherever we are working together for the common good.