Businessman's Indian mission

10:14am Monday 19th May 2008

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A businessman from Rickmansworth has taken a break from his day job to help realise an ambitious project in rural South East India.

Martin Murray, who works for Rickmansworth-based DSH Financial Services Limited, spent a fortnight living and working with a charity that is hoping to build a home for 100 orphans and 50 widows in the next year.

Mr Murray said: "The charity currently looks after 48 orphans and 27 widows but they sleep on the church floor.

"A staggering 45 per cent of children in the village are orphans and eight out of 10 don't make it to adulthood.

"It costs just £20 per month to feed, clothe, house and educate one child.

The search is now on to find charities that can provide capital funding to build the home that will not only house the orphans and widows but will help them to become self-sufficient in buffalo milk production and also tailoring.

"Life is so different there that I could hardly believe that I wasn't on a film set," continued Mr Murray.

"The people are lovely but are mostly very poor, living in thatched roof huts, working in fields from 5am enduring temperatures of over 40C and doing their laundry by beating clothes on stones.

"It was not unusual to see buffalos, cows and goats wandering over the national highways. We had to return from our open-air meetings by 11pm to avoid terrorists, one of the risks of working in such a community.

"Building a home for 100 orphans and 50 widows in the next year is a tiny gesture but to the individuals involved, it is life itself. I am so glad I was able to be a part of this project and hope to return in the future."