MARK McLAUGHLIN
Evening News (Edinburgh)
July 20, 2010, Tuesday
A BUSINESSWOMAN is gearing up for a 150-mile charity run to help out an old friend trying to make ends meet on the streets of Delhi.
Caroline Williams, 46, owner of The Massage Place on Rodney Street, whose only previous running experience is a half-marathon 20 years ago, is aiming to complete the run from King Robert the Bruce's Cave, near Gretna, to Denbighshire in North Wales, in just six days.
She hopes to raise more than £6,000 to buy an auto rickshaw - a motorised carriage known in India as a "tuk-tuk" for the noise it makes - for her friend Dheeraj Lal, affectionately known as Champu, a former street child.
Caroline said: "I first met Champu while travelling in Delhi ten years ago. I was walking down the road trying my best to ignore all of the begging street kids, as we had been advised to do by our tour guides, when this little guy walked up to me and said something that really made me laugh.
"I can't recall what it was but I was totally taken with him. He didn't ask me for anything, he just wanted to walk with me and practise his English.
"I asked him if he ever got jealous of the tourists who arrived with pockets full of money, and he said no because he worked a really good corner of the street and he felt lucky that he had a house when others didn't.
"We struck up a friendship and he took me to a lot of the local festivals, and took me to meet his family where I got the chance to take a look at this 'house'.
"It was a shack about two-thirds of the size of a double bed and he was sleeping in there with his parents and two brothers.
"Despite this, he was very proud and still refused to ask me for anything. He even paid the taxi fare to his 'house'."
Champu is now in his mid-20s, with three children, meaning there are now eight people taking turns to sleep in his tiny shack, and he is frequently arrested for offering his services as an unofficial tour guide.
Caroline added: "With the Commonwealth Games coming to Delhi this year the Indian government have started cracking down hard on the street vendors, so Champu told me he was saving to buy a tuk-tuk. He proudly told me he already had the equivalent of GBP153 saved up, but the cheapest second-hand tuk-tuk costs GBP3,000 with a new one costing over GBP6,000 so it would take him a lifetime to save up.
"That's why I decided to raise money to buy him one because the money won't just be helping him. All of the money he raises is shared amongst his family and the other members of his community."
Caroline has already raised around a quarter of the money she needs and is holding several fundraising events in the Capital ahead of her Trans-Britain Challenge on September 11, including a quiz night at The Outhouse on July 28 and a 10km "Tapas Run" ending at Tapa Restaurant at The Shore on August 8.
Entry to the quiz night and Tapas Run costs £5 per head per event. To donate to Caroline's Trans-Britain Challenge visit www.justgiving.com/whenpathscross.
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