Woman champions Indian kids

9:00am Friday 9th September 2005

A WOMAN is walking over 100 miles for an Indian charity after she visited the country and witnessed the plight of under-privileged children there.

Daphne Whitehouse, of Marlborough Road, Chingford, is walking from Assisi, Italy, to Rome over a nine day period this month, beginning on Monday.

She arrives in the Italian capital on September 20, and follows the walk with an audience with the Pope.

Ms Whitehouse is raising money for a children's home in the Kannur district of India and also for Elena Utton's Chingford-based charity Onelife, which helps orphaned and disadvantaged children in South Africa.

She said: "I travelled all around India last year and I was shocked at the deprivation many of the children faced. You see them going through the rubbish at 6am, looking for scraps to survive on.

"I felt I had to do something to help them and I thought this walk would be an ideal opportunity to provide them with some funds towards this home."

Ms Whitehouse has produced a CD which explores the personality roles we create for ourselves when we are children and how they develop into adulthood, and is donating a percentage of her proceeds from sales to the cause.

The cost of construction for the project comes to £18,750 and monthly running costs amount to £1,250. For more information on Ms Whitehouse's walk and how to sponsor her contact her at metasurfer@aol.com.

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