THE world has turned full circle for Betty Graver.
The former resident of an orphanage in England is now helping to build orphanages for impoverished children in India.
“The first time I went to India I cried and cried and cried,” Betty said of her 2005 trip.
“I got interested in 2004 and before that I asked (Brisbane lay evangelist) Jan Heath if I was too old to do God’s work.
“She said I was just the right age, I was 72 at the time.”
The president of the Mamre International charity was looking for people to go to India and Betty signed up.
Mamre Aid Incorporated is an organisation trying to help the “poorest of the poor” in India.
It helps orphans, leprosy sufferers and the people from the lowest caste in the Hindu caste system.
It was founded in 2000 by a retired couple and along with other members they travel to India for months and live, work, pray and eat in the same villages they give aid to.
Mamre now reaches more than 2000 children providing education, healthcare, food, clothing and social activities.
“I had to pray about it and I’ve been going ever since,” she said.
“The first year I did it, I came back and said ‘Good gracious, my life has done a complete turnaround’.
“I’m doing exactly what God wants me to do because I was brought up in an orphanage and now I’m looking after orphans.”
Betty said after her first year she realised she was caring for kids left in homes because there was no one to look after them.
“That’s how I started my life in a home for unwanted children,” she said.
“It was tough. I was told no one wanted me, told I was never adopted because ‘I was ugly’.
“But I turned out okay, thank God; now I try to help others.”
Betty was born in Crewe, in the north of England.
“I’ve only seen my family once in my life,” she said.
“That was when I was 64.
“When I went to England in 1993 that was the first time I’d met my sisters.
“I still haven’t seen half of them.
“I was brought up in an orphanage, my mother had me out of wedlock and it was a crime in those days.
“I’ve had a rough road and that’s why I love helping those kids.
“Even at my age I still say to people ‘I still miss a hug from my own father because I never knew the man’.”
“I’ve been to hell and back.”
Despite Betty’s hardship’s through life she has been dedicated to helping others through a career working in nursing homes and for many years as a governess in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Her decision to move to Australia was made easily.
“One of my friends said ‘I’m going to Australia’ so I said ‘Alright, I’ll come with you’,” she said.
“So I filled out all the forms and I got through and she backed out.
“So I wasn’t backing out and that’s how I came here.
“I’ve been in Australia for over 40 years and I haven’t changed my accent.”
Betty married, but unfortunately it didn’t work out, but she still remains friends with her husband.
Since retiring Betty has been raising funds for the orphans in India, but often found it difficult.
“It’s very hard to get any help,” she said.
“The St Patrick’s Church at Beenleigh have been fantastic.
“Fr Tony (Girvan) has been terrific.”
Betty said the trips to India, which last up to about two months, generated a range of emotions.
“If you’re there too long it can pull you down, because it’s very stressful what you see,” she said.
Tears welled in Betty’s eyes as she spoke of the plight of the children of India.
“The kids are beautiful children. We speak to them about God … then we feed them,” she said.
“The first year when I came back I was shook up because I thought ‘Kids here don’t know how well off they are’.
“Someone said to me ‘What are you crying for?’
“And I said ‘Look at those kids, they’ve got everything’.
“I know this sounds silly but they don’t have underwear in India, they can’t afford it.
“They have just a cloth to wrap around them and wash it at night if they can.”
Betty is planning to travel to India again in September to fulfil God’s will for her.
“I go every two years,” she said.
“I’d love to go every year, but being a pensioner I can’t do that.
“The journey we make is incredible. I can’t say the places we go to; they’re too hard to pronounce.
“We did a train journey for 18 hours … the seats were steel, we paid for a bed overnight.
“There’s only one toilet on the train and that’s right down the other end and it’s just a hole in the ground.
“Can you imagine it?”
Betty said Mamre had about 900 children in its care, taking in three villages.
“Then we have youth groups from five up to 10 or 11.
“Then we have senior youth groups.”
Betty said Mamre built another home last year and India and the organisation would continue to help the forgotten children of India.
“I’ll be nearly 80 when I go next year,” she said.
“I was told ‘Once you’ve been, you’re life will change’.
“I didn’t think it would, but it has.
“It stops you thinking of yourself and thinking of other people who need yourself.”
On her first trip to India Betty took $300 to help the orphans, but this year she will take more than $4000.
“Then I got a donation of $3500,” she said.
“That $3500 is worth about 77,000 rupees and that is enough money to build an orphanage which the people have requested.”
Betty is the only person from Queensland involved in the Mamre orgainsation.
“It’s hard work up here; I depend on St Patrick’s (Beenleigh) a lot,” she said.
“Fr Tony has been such a help, he always gives me a good plug.
“I’m hoping to raise $2000 this Christmas.”
Betty said the sight of Indian children crippled by the parents to make them professional beggars was heartbreaking.
“This is how some families over there make their money,” she said.
“When I saw some of these children who were crippled … it’ll never leave your mind.
“The first year I cried my heart out.
“Kids two and three years old, up to five, working to earn the equivalent of 10 cents a day working in the mines.”
Betty plans to continue her efforts in India for as long as she can.
“It’s up to the Lord,” she said.
“I’ll leave it in his hands.
“I have to rely on God, because I’ve got no-one else.”
To contact Betty phone 0439 791 133 or for more information visit www.mamre-international.aid.net
