Children were smiling on both sides of the world this week after an initiative to raise funds at Family Day at the Galway Races helped street children from Calcutta get the opportunity of care and education.
Volunteers attended the races to collect funds and to take pictures of Mad Hatter entrants to be used in a calendar to be published in October, the sales of which will help fund initiatives to help street children in Calcutta.
The calendar will be printed in mid-October and will be in local shops and newsagents by early November. The profits from each sale will go directly to feeding and educating impoverished street children in Calcutta.
One of those children is young Mamoud Shahid, whose education is being funded by money collected from the people of Galway. For roughly €100 a child can be educated and fed for a year in Calcutta.
One of those working with the project is Dr Sinead O Nuallain from Barna, who is pictured here with Mamoud.
After school each day, Mamoud returns to the pavements where his lived with his mother and siblings.
However, the prospect of education gives him a chance to escape that existence. The generosity of the people of Galway on what is a family day at Galway Races will go a long way towards helping him and countless others, achieve that goal.
