Tomorrow, the Miss India Hong Kong Pageant is hoping to raise enough funds for the charity, Future Hope, to upgrade its education, medical and recreation facilities and provisions.
Founded six years ago to look after a handful of homeless children by Tim Grandage - a Hongkong Bank employee before he left to run the charity full time - Future Hope is officially registered in Hong Kong, London and Calcutta. And the organisation has mushroomed.
'We started initially with three street children, then 10, then 19, now we have 131. We started off with two to three voluntary members of staff, now we have 24, 20 of whom are local Indians,' Mr Grandage said.
'We moved from a rooftop [accommodation] to a flat the Hongkong Bank had given me, where we housed 35 children. Now we have four dif-ferent homes where our children stay.' The charity's annual expenditure is currently GBP40,000 (HK$496,000).
Future Hope is now concentrating on improvements to its health care. Mrs Erica Grandage, who is the 'aunty', or matron, said she would focus more on preventive than curative measures.
'Three years ago, we had children suffering from infections like venereal disease, malaria and lice. It took a year to get them from the malnutrition stage to a stage where they are strong and healthy,' she said.
The 26-year-old trained nurse from Holland, who married Tim Grandage last July, recently upgraded the food served at the homes.
'That means I had to set up a diet to give children an optimum level of nutrition for a reasonable price. I hope with that the children's growth will improve.' Mrs Grandage said an immunisation programme was a 'hugely important' area: 'The only difficult thing is to find out which [immunisations] the children have already had and how to get the right medicines.' Besides medical care, Future Hope is planning changes in the education area.
Mr Grandage said: 'We started a new syllabus six months ago; we hope that within the next three or four years we'll be able to register [as a school].
'What we have now decided to do is to upgrade the level of our school, so that not only can we cater for the specific needs of our own children but we'll hopefully within the next five years be running a school good enough to bring in other members of the local community.' Schooling is not something that street children are used to. Mr Grandage said some children loved the freedom of their old lives and were claustrophobic within the four walls.
'The second thing they find difficult is facing a problem. If they have a fight with another child, it's much easier to run away than face up to the fact that maybe you should shake hands and get on with it.' And children do run away. 'It is a disappointment when you have a child who has been with you for a long time who goes. Normally you get them back, but two to three never came back,' he said.
Sports are also seen as a way of developing character and helping a child find a future. Peter Patterson, the 'uncle' in charge of games, said rugby was popular in India.
'We are in the process of developing rugby in Calcutta and in India as a whole,' the 24-year-old sports science graduate said.
'Rugby is an excellent vehicle to help the children to develop in terms of discipline, training and team work. Getting physically fit and strong, and confidence building are also important.
'I've seen so many children who lacked confidence going from strength to strength simply because they have succeeded in sports. A boy can score tries in rugby, something he has never achieved before.
'Suddenly, when he scores a try, everyone is applauding and you see the big smile on his face.' According to Mr Patterson, who joined Future Hope two years ago after he left Loughborough University in Britain, sport plays a big part in the charity. Children have to attend games every day.
'Sport is part of life. Also in India, sport is an excellent means of employment, if you are good at sports a company will take you on,' Mr Patterson said.
'I'm sure all children are good at some sports and if I give them the chance to try as many as possible, they'll find something which they can succeed in.' But not all the children were prepared for sports initially: 'It is difficult because they are not used to discipline, lining up, putting on the right shoes and playing in a disciplined manner,' Mr Patterson said.
'I'd say the biggest problem is trying to get them to understand the idea of team work, sharing, working together. They used to fight all the time at every single game. Now it rarely happens. They've come a long way.' Most street children rescued by Future Hope have made it their home. Six have already left the charity and gone on to good jobs. One is now holding a full-time job with a national company.
Mr Grandage said: 'Street children are survivors. They earn money for themselves, they get a place to sleep, they get clothing and food, but one basic thing they lack is love.
'The first thing we can provide is the love and care of a family environment. It won't be a family environment because we are not a family, but we can try to get as close to it as we can.' Cheques can be sent to Future Hope c/o Ms Alison Zanardi-Landi, Level 7, Financial Services Division, Hongkong Bank, 1 Queen's Road Central. Tel: 2890 3063
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