Village-based charity overjoyed at securing £100,000

The Lotus Flower Trust, run by John Hunt, 73, is now in its sixth year, and last year it completed seven schools and homes.

Now sponsors TFWA Care have agreed to pay £78,000 over two years to fund the Ambedkar Ardash Junior High School in Berinaag and the Ram Trith Fanya Vidvalaya School in Dehradun, high in the foothills of the Himalayas.

And the CBD Charitable Trust has offered £28,750 to build the Shivam Sundram Women and Girls’ Community Centre in the Rajasthan desert.

Mr Hunt said: “I am so thrilled with the kind donations from these generous sponsors of our work.

“Thanks to this money and support, many more lives will be changed for the better through education.”

Despite the good news Mr Hunt says funds are still desperately needed to build 22 much needed Anganwadi (kindergartens), in the very remote Himalayan villages of Ladakh, where education is not prioritised by parents.

More than 21 projects have been completed by the charity in less than five years, including a groundbreaking school and home for children with special needs in Ramnagar, called JSR School.

Mr Hunt said: “This school has become a catalyst across India, impacting on many people involved with improving opportunities for children with disabilities, most of whom are otherwise neglected, abused and in the very worst cases left on a train to who knows where to fend for themselves or die.”

Other projects completed include a school for the salt workers’ children of Gujarat (Ashram Shala Savada) built to increase low life expectancy through education where conditions are harsh and dangerous.

The trust has a new website, www.lotusflowertrust.org, featuring more than 33,000 photographs, thanks to Sixpenny Handley-based KFA, who dedicated hours of hard work to the task, much of it for free.

The trust also invites individuals, schools and businesses on life-altering trips to see the work it does in India. See the website for details.