Bermudians know just how precious water is. When we run out, we sometimes have to wait days for the water truck.

Many people think this is a hardship, but consider having to walk several kilometres every day for water in the blazing sun.

Imagine that water is so precious that bathing or cleaning with it would be a tremendous waste.

Until recently this was the reality for people living in many drought ravaged villages in Bodhgaya, Bihar, India.

Now it isn’t, thanks to the work of Bermudian Diane Kirwin and her son Mark and many other generous Bermudians.

Mrs. Kirwin runs a charity called Privilege Sharing Bodhgaya and her son runs another charity called the Kirwin International Relief Fund (KIRF) which helps people in disaster struck regions.

The Royal Gazette recently spoke with Mrs. Kirwin during a visit home to Bermuda for an update on her work in India.

“In this region there have been two years of drought, and the local wells were going down to 80 feet,” Mrs. Kirwin said. “We were digging to 120 feet. There was rain this year, but in the summer it is over 120 degrees in the shade with no electricity.”

KIRF put in nine wells, many of them near education centres which Mrs. Kirwin had helped to start up.

“The people there are very grateful,” said Mrs. Kirwin. “This improves the health situation in the villages. The people are cleaner, and have more energy, because they don’t have to walk several kilometres to get water.

“The water is not always clean, but my son tested the water quality from the new wells, and it is sweet water. Sweet means pure with no bad taste.”

Mr. Kirwin started KIRF after he miraculously missed being killed in the Tsunami during a vacation in Thailand.

KIRF has since helped people in the Tsunami region, people in Tanzania and also Americans ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Mr. Kirwin is now the director of his mother’s organisation Privilege Sharing Bodhgaya, which recently helped to build a school in one village with $20,000 donated by a Bermudian benefactor.

“I am over 70 years now,” said Mrs. Kirwin, “It means that the work can continue after I am gone. It is still about sharing privileges with others and helping people help themselves.”

Over 450 students in Bihar are being educated thanks to the efforts of Privilege Sharing.

Students there recently received a shipment of uniforms sent by Saltus Grammar School students.

Several schools including Victor Scott Primary School and the Bermuda High School for Girls have held fundraisers to raise money for children in India.

“Now, when I drive through the countryside I often see little girls in Saltus uniforms,” said Mrs. Kirwin. “It is so funny to be far out there — and to suddenly see the uniform.”

Mrs. Kirwin’s organisation is working to make the community self-sufficient. Village women now act as social workers.

People in the community keep the school building neat, and hand out supplies and clothing to those who need it.

There is also a microcredit programme, where some of the women are given $1,000 and a goat to start up a small shop.

At the end of the year, they are expected to pay back the thousand rupees, plus one hundred so that the money can help someone else.

Now that Mrs. Kirwin is well established in the community she can quickly funnel charitable funds where they are most needed.

For many village children, the new schools and education centres are their only chance at getting an education.

When Mrs. Kirwin visited the new school which has only been in operation for about a year, she found students quiet, attentive and eager to learn.

Although classrooms are Spartan by Western standards, students were highly appreciative of the opportunity given to them.

Some of the children recently performed in a music concert.

“Our children are from the very poorest, the untouchable classes,” said Mrs. Kirwin. “They were invited to take part in a music concert in a nearby town.

“Many of these children had never been to a town. They had never seen a stage, and they had never seen an audience before.

“They were performing with people who had electric guitars and other expensive equipment. Our president said he hoped they would harmonise, but he feared they might be too afraid to sing.

“Not only did they sing, but three of them remained on stage and asked if they could sing one more song. The audience loved them. At the end, the president said he had moist eyes. It was such a huge thing for them to do.”

Mrs. Kirwin said that with the addition of the education centres and also the village wells, children in some of the villages she visits are starting to look better cared for. “They are more clean and they just look different,” said Mrs. Kirwin. “They have water now, right there. They also have hope. Hope is huge.”

Privilege Sharing Bodhgaya made a huge leap forward this year with the purchase of a jeep to be used as an ambulance.

“We have made another local partnership with the Root Institute,” she said. “They are part of the nearby Buddhist Teaching Centre. They have the only clinic in Bodhgaya. I have worked with this clinic for six years. The nearest hospital is over an hour away with the jeep, depending on traffic.

“We provide the jeep and the driver and the Root Institute provides the medical staff. Because of this, many people are getting access to medical care.”

One of the first things the jeep was used for was to help transport five adults and two children with AIDS to see a specialist in another town. “I just received a letter yesterday, that said ‘please thank the sponsors for saving the life of a certain man in the village. If not for our driver and jeep he would have died’. People sometimes ask me how do I know that I am really making a difference.

“I know I am making a difference when I see children smile who couldn’t smile, and I see children running who couldn’t walk.”

Privilege Sharing Bodhgaya has saved many children from a life of misery or early death due to health problems.

“One little girl was so tiny and had a really bad heart,” said Mrs. Kirwin. “Someone sponsored her. She was taken to a doctor and given a protein diet that is very good. She is developing now. She may have to have heart surgery as she grows, but until then she is being carefully monitored.

“When our children have a surgery it takes at least three months for them to recover because they are all malnourished. A year ago a little girl named Puja fell down the well and almost died. When we first saw her she was in terrible pain, and someone had tied a brick around her ankle to try to heal her broken leg.

“We took her to a clinic and got her fixed up. She was in a cast for some time. Now she is running all over the village.

“Seeing these children after surgery is huge. And seeing the children learning is also wonderful. All of these children had no hope.

“Is it worth it to educate them? It is. Now they have hope, and at the very least they will be able to read and write, and people won’t be able to cheat them.”

Mrs. Kirwin is a graduate of the Bermuda High School for Girls. The school recently awarded her the The Doris Trott Butterfield award for community service. It is the first time the award has been given for community work outside of Bermuda.For more information or to make a donation contact Walter and Mingo Cook at 236-5997 or go to the KIRF website at www.kirfaid.org.