All of these heart-wrenching experiences will forever live in the memory of an Elgin student who embarked on a 10-month odyssey to India as part of a voluntary overseas aid programme.

Lynne Stewart (19) was deeply touched by the plight of poverty stricken communities in the sprawling state of Maharashtra.

Initially involved in a six-month placement with a Perthshire charity, which provided young people with opportunities to live and work abroad, she became so affected by what she witnessed that she returned on an independently funded project to offer further assistance.

During her extra four-month stint, the former Elgin Academy pupil helped transform facilities at a cramped adoption centre and thrill hundreds of kids by building a play park.

Now an administration and business student in Aberdeen, she is desperate to go back to India and is taking steps towards setting up her own sponsorship scheme which would create more openings for people like herself to enjoy a life-changing experience.

On leaving school in 2005, a shy, homely teenager, Lynne admits she was seeking some inspiration in her life – and found it while reading a story in 'The Northern Scot'.

The tale of a Keith girl's journey to Sri Lanka with Link Overseas Exchange, which sends gap year students abroad, led her making further enquiries. By October, the charity had accepted her application and she was given several months to raise just over £2,500, plus additional living expenses.

Paired up with Rosaleen O'Doherty, a trainee doctor from Belfast, Lynne was allocated to a project working at a hospital and teaching English in a boys' hostel in the south-western village of Vadala.

"Out of 30 volunteers, we had been sent to the most rural location with the most basic conditions," she said. "Others were close to westernised towns and better food while we were three-and-a-half hours from Pune, and were given buckets to wash in."

Originally designated work at a mission hospital, Lynne and Rosaleen relocated to a home accommodating around 60 boys between the ages of six and 18, mostly orphaned.

"One boy aged eight or nine had seen his parents shot right in front of him. He had psychological problems because he hadn't been given any sort of counselling after his experience.

"So to begin with he couldn't speak to us at all, but gradually we got words out of him and before long he was able to translate things for us."

It was Lynne's first foreign excursion and after one month she became desperately homesick, but a week's holiday time in Goa with other volunteers helped her to settle until she was struck down by illness.

"My mum wanted me to come home when I got tonsilitis in October and they threatened to take my tonsils out in an operating theatre which didn't have any proper facilities.

"Then I had kidney stones, which they gave me injections for to pass them naturally, but the toilets were absolutely disgusting so it wasn't pleasant."

Lynne overcame her initial difficulties and became immersed in the project, helping children who were confined to appalling conditions in the hostel all year round.

With her six months nearly up, she contacted her company to extend her stay because she felt there was so much more she could do in India. Instead, an alternative plan was drawn up with the help of her colleague's uncle back in Northern Ireland.

His generous donation of £5,000 allowed Lynne to return back to Scotland and renew her visa before jetting back out to India where she set up base in Ahmednagar, a town one hour from Vadala.

"I just felt 'what was the point in going back?', I knew I wouldn't be able to experience anything like that again. And it was better to stay on in India and use the money the way we wanted it used rather than leave it to the people there and not know what they would do with it."

Her sister Lorna, a mental health nursing student, took time out to join Lynne on her project and found that working with young children at the orphanage with similar problems to the ones she dealt with back home, was of great benefit to her course work.

Helping bring cheer to the lives of orphans in India is Elgin student Lynne Stewart (right) and trainee doctor Rosaleen O'Doherty, from Belfast.

"We were mainly working with babies in an adoption centre, and many of them had simply been dumped," said Lynne. "One boy was found dumped in a sugar cane farm in 40 degree heat, and they had been chopping up stuff all around him, so it was incredibly dangerous.

"He was only eight days old when he was found, so he was taken in and turned out to be a gorgeous wee child."

With their funding, Lynne and Rosaleen were able to make a huge difference to the people of Ahmednagar. The dingy grey walls of the adoption centre were transformed by a myriad of brilliant colours and Disney paintings, while cramped and buckled cots were binned to be replaced by bright and spacious alternatives.

And although the community did have a play area, much of it was damaged and, in the sizzling temperatures, bare metal swings were too hot for kids to sit on. So money went into designing a brand new attraction, a state-of-the-art park which became the centre of the universe as far as the youngsters were concerned.

"Something needed to be done," Lynne said. "Conditions were disgusting, cots were too small and there were bed bugs everywhere. We used lots of bright colours and gave them toys which they thought were amazing. We bought coolers, a colour television and educational games so the kids were much happier.

"When we built the park, they thought they were getting a swimming pool. It took two months but when it was finally finished, it was fantastic to see all the happy faces.

"Before long hundreds, even thousands were playing at our park.

"There were days when you did wonder why you had come to India at all because you really couldn't see the difference you were making.

"But once you did, it was very rewarding. Seeing four and five-year-olds communicating through games, and picking up on English words you had taught them, made it very special."

Lynne now wants to come to the aid of Indian people suffering from leprosy. Having witnessed first hand scattered communities begging to survive in squalid conditions simply because of social attitudes towards their disease, she believes there is so much work to be done to ease their suffering.

"People don't want to communicate with them in case they catch leprosy.

"Sufferers have been pushed away from the town and have to live in a community of their own. They can't get jobs, live in very poor conditions, and they or their families have to beg because they cannot afford to feed themselves.

"I'm hoping to raise enough money to buy cows or goats for them so that they can sell milk to make money."

With Link seemingly discontinuing their Indian placements to concentrate on a Sri Lankan project involving Dundee University, she wants to fund her own charity venture in the country which has become her second home.

"I've found two new orphanages which need help, so I would like to set up some sort of sponsorship scheme and help send out more volunteers there."

Planning to spend her six weeks summer holidays next year in India, Lynne already has her fundraising ideas in place, such as a sponsored tandem jump from an aeroplane – even though she is terrified of heights!

If anyone wants to make a donation towards Lynne's activities, or would like to talk to her about her proposed trip, she can be contacted on 07708 713809.

c.christie@northern-scot.co.uk

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