Introduce to you Chinari, a 12-year-old member of our family who came to us from a remote village called Putunuru.

From the time of her arrival at the age of nine, Chinari was a very sad little girl. Every time she thought of home, her eyes would well up and silent tears stream down her angelic face.

It was extremely hard for her to open up and unburden the dreadful memories that haunted her at first, but love, patience and understanding is a miraculous medicine.

Her village is located in an isolated, desolate, area of the West Godavari district. The nearest city is 100km away and communication with the outside world is minimal.

The people in her village, like many other villages in India, have no appreciation or understanding of what the wider world is like or the opportunities it has to offer. No one in the village – adult or child – can read or write. The children have little or no hope of a real future and are open to sex trade predators and many of the unfortunate succumb.

The landlords of the village have total control over the villagers like master and slave. They take advantage of their simplicity and ignorance and exploit them at every given opportunity.

People work very hard and long hours under the scorching sun and equally merciless heavy rain for take-home pay that barely meets the food bill of their family or the minimum standards set by the government, but here the landlord is king and master and workers are disposable at a whim. Life is cheap here.

The people suffer physically and mentally toiling on the land, literally until they drop dead.

Nature adds its own cruelty to their lives. There is no proper monsoon season that brings water to the tiny patches of land they have and many go hungry as a result.

Healthcare and hygiene are also major problems. There is no medical care available in the village, not even First Aid. Sometimes those sick with fevers will travel to the city, but find proper medical care is even more expensive then they had thought and return home to face death, or a miracle recovery, because they cannot afford the 50p, or less, medication.

The mosquitoes thrive and multiply in their millions in the stagnant, putrid poisonous water that surround them, but the poor people are much to ignorant to know, understand or do anything about the danger, so they forever live in the shadow of a tickling malaria time-bomb.

There is no proper sanitation or drainage so illness and death are common. Few people survive beyond the age of 40.

Chinari’s parents lived and died in that state of ignorance. She knows not what killed them and, in fact, very little about them. Although struggling to feed and raise his own family on his meager earnings, her uncle took her in.

His kindness was a blessing, but even then life was very hard for her.

Rarely did Chinari get three meals a day and was weak and wafer thin, but even then she performed heavy work that robbed her tiny body of essential nutrients and strength.
Nightly she cried herself to sleep with a rumbling stomach from sorrow, hopelessness and sheer exhaustion.

She suffered mentally and physically and felt alone and abandoned and without even a glimmer of hope.

She cannot recall ever having a pleasant dream during those years, just frightening nightmares that haunted her during her sleep and awakened hours.

The St. Mary’s Trust learned of Chinari’s plight from a concerned neighbour and no time was lost in rescuing her.

Now three years later, Chinari, has greatly improved, but the scars of her past are much too deep for a mere three years to erase, but we are getting there and she’s made remarkable progress. She smiles more now than she ever did.

For the first time in her life she’s experiencing a childhood. One filled with fun, games, laughter and love.

She had almost forgotten how to smile – a child’s most precious asset. Even that had been taken from her.

She has made many friends among the teachers and pupils at the Don Bosco Boarding School. Her results are not at the top as yet, but she works hard and now talks of having a career which is a vast improvement.

Chinari was neglected, unloved and alone in the world – a stray dog would have received better treatment, but all that has changed. Here she is loved, respected, protected and she receives all the care she needs for her mind, soul and body. The Trust is her family now and this family takes care of its own.

There are many more children like Chinari, some who are with us here and more in neighbouring villages who cry themselves to sleep each night hoping and praying that one day that someone like us will find them and rescue them from their living hell.

We do not think we are the solution to all unwanted, neglected, abused children in India, but when we glance at Chinari we are inspired to go on.

We know we are on the right track and with a helping hand and the blessings of Holy Mary we can and will succeed.