A Brief History of HOPE

Hope Community Village is a home for children in Kerala, Southern India and was the brainchild of a local Halifax businessman who had business connections with the area. In conjunction with two close friends/business associates he recognized a need to provide a safe environment for orphaned and destitute children in the surrounding area and the dream was to provide a village environment, with homes and gardens and learning facilities to provide the children with as natural an environment as possible in order to thrive and grow into independent young adults.

This was over 25 years ago in 1995 and over the years a small band of trustees in the UK along with their counterparts in India have managed to achieve that dream and continue to develop it!

Hope Community Village now provides homes for up to 80 children. The Village itself has six houses with capacity for 10 children in each along with a House Mother and ‘Auntie’. In addition, there is a Kindergarten, an IT centre, a Cultural centre, a Library, a retirement home for the older mothers and a very new addition of a home for our girls over 18 years of age. In addition, we have a Boys Home on a separate but nearby site for our boys over the age of 13.

We also have an outreach programme, supporting local families in need of help with medical costs or education needs for the children.

The children at Hope all go out school and live the normal life of other children in the neighbourhood. They receive full support from the charity until such time as they can support themselves independently. Many of our children have gone to marry and have children of their own and many are a further education or have formed successful careers including nursing, hospitality, technology and engineering. One of our girls has recently begun her studies to become a doctor in 6 years time. (See our Hope in Education information)

WE have little or no expenses in the UK, as all trustees and supporters are volunteers, meaning every penny donated goes directly to the project in India. Our accounts are closely monitored and audited both in India and in the UK and joint decision are made on expenditure and budgets ensuring that all monies raised are spent wisely.

We need to raise over £8000 a month to continue the work in India and much of this is raised from sponsorship of the children, whether that is supporting a child as they arrive at Hope or sponsoring our Further Education programme.

Management Structure - Working for HOPE.

HOPE is managed by two appointed Boards of Trustees, one in the UK and one in India. We are registered and controlled by the Charity Commissioners both in England and in India.

The work of HOPE in the UK is essentially threefold:

               Fundraising                Control of monies raised                Support of activities

We see our objectives as raising money to fund HOPE and the provision of further funds in the future, to guarantee the smooth running of the entire village and its ancillary services.

In addition, we have a supervisory role in terms of supporting the final decisions on the direction and the focus of the village and the services provided through the Village.

It is our total responsibility to ensure that all funds are used sensibly and efficiently, in order to optimize the benefits for all concerned.

Please consider supporting us and help us continue to change children’s lives.