TRAINSPOTTING author Irvine Welsh has given his support to a small Scottish charity that has saved hundreds of Indian children from slavery, the sex trade, disease and death in the last 15 years.
Welsh spoke in Edinburgh last month to potential corporate sponsors of Scottish Love in Action, which he said was one of the best-value charities to which anyone could give their money.
Some 87 per cent of every pound donated goes directly to providing the essential services at the home in Tuni, Andhra Pradesh, where more than 500 children currently live. Many were living rough in rubbish dumps, foraging for food.
SLA built the home in Southern India in 2000 and has funded its running ever since, not only feeding abandoned children of the "untouchable" Dalit caste, but immunising them and keeping them healthy and offering them a future through education.
It has been so successful that it now has its first wave of children at university, a vital development that encouraged the bestselling author to support SLA.
Welsh said education was the key to changing the lives of impoverished children.
He added: "We have poverty in Scotland and growing up in north Edinburgh, I saw plenty of it, but it's on another scale in India.
"You find tiny children, left alone in places like railway stations. It's a heart-breaking sight.
"When you meet the children who have been rescued, you learn they want to be something, they want to have the skills that will help develop their society.
"Kids who arrive at an orphanage without literacy or numeracy have that voracious hunger for education.
"Apart from the obvious need to keep them safe, sheltered, fed and given access to healthcare - the basic things to keep them alive - the best gift we can give them is education because that gives them the tools to change their own lives and lift themselves out of poverty.
"Everybody wants to become the best version of themselves that they possibly can be, and it's no different for the kids in India. They know that with an education they can lift themselves up, get employment and inspire the next generation to change their lives."
SLA's focus on education has been so successful that it has achieved a 100 per cent graduation rate from high school in each of the last three years. That success, coupled with the fact that parents in the UK tend to support their children through higher education, encouraged the charity to commit to supporting the children beyond their school years.
Founder and chair Gillie Davidson said: "We made a commitment to these children and that commitment meant we couldn't just walk away when they were 18. They had no family but us to rely on."
SLA cared for 529 children in 2013-14, and managed to fund the building of another level on to its main building to create much-needed new sleeping quarters for the boys.
The charity needs to raise £400,000 a year to continue its work. It costs just £34 per month to provide all of one child's needs, with £7 of that devoted to education and £3 to health care.
Welsh said: "In India, a small amount of money can go very far."
More about SLA on http://www.sla-india.org
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