Published: Saturday, 24th May, 2008 6:00pm

Gran's Indian mercy mission

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SO CARING: Jennifer in India.

A GREENOCK grandmother is transforming the lives of abandoned babies and girls forced into prostitution in India.

Jennifer Gallagher, 61, spent three months visiting impoverished villages in the province of Andhra Pradesh with ministers in the Sylom Project.

She became a volunteer after being touched by the plight of girls in the area around Kakinada who are cared for in orphanages because they are seen as a burden on their families.

Jennifer, who is a member of St John’s Church in Greenock, has been raising funds to help educate the girls and teach sewing to young women.

She said: “I cried for two weeks when I went there. The area is very rural, there are a lot of villages, they have no electricity, water or sanitation and the people lack education and women have a child every year. Although officially the dowry system is outlawed in India, it still exists in these areas.

“It is a throw-away society where girls are abandoned at birth or left to starve or their parents use them to make money, selling them to the highest bidder for prostitution.”

A couple actually begged Jennifer to buy their daughters on a visit to one of the remote villages.

She said: “I was shocked when I realised what they were saying. The girls were nine and eleven years old and I bought them for £20. They are now living in the orphanage and getting an education. We also rescued an 18-year-old girl from a brothel and she is living in a girls-only hostel.”

Jennifer, of Wellington Street, has been welcomed into the heart of the community, especially by the Christian pastors who risk their lives by entering some villages to ensure children get at least one meal a day.

She said: “It’s perilous for ministers as some villagers threaten to kill them. They are risking their lives to help these people.”

Pastors were struggling to enrol children in school so Jennifer came up with the brainwave of opening up heir own school and in her honour they named the building, which is a hut, The Jennifer Gallagher Educational Institute.

She said: “I told them I wasn’t worthy but they said God was carrying out his work through me.”

After returning home, Jennifer helped to raise £2,400 within the church from a jumble sale and church concert which bought uniforms, books, pens and sweets. The cash also went towards enrolling a girl in college and two treadle machines so more girls can learn to sew.

To make a donation, contact Jennifer on 796082.