Founder of charity for Indian street children honoured in her native Cork

The founder of an Irish charity which has helped tens of thousands of street kids in India has spoken of how humbled she felt to have a reception held for her at Cork City Hall.

Maureen Forrest, founder of the Hope Foundation, was honoured at the weekend for her work with the charity which, since its establishment in 1999, has helped tens of thousands of street children and women living on the streets of Kolkata.

“It is very humbling to be honoured like this – it can be a bit difficult when we are dealing with such poverty to get awards and honours because we are doing something that is so beautiful – I love my work but at the same time I appreciate that people honour us – it’s humbling,” she said.

A native of Mogeely in East Cork, Ms Forrest worked with NGOs in several African countries before setting up the Hope Foundation in Kolkata, then known as Calcutta. She said that the work the foundation does is simply a continuation of what generations of Irish people have done throughout the world.

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Irish saints

“I always look at the Irish and what we’ve done throughout the world – we spread the word, mostly through knowledge and we never used wars and weapons when we were conquering the world, we did it through our missionaries, through our now NGOs – we did it through kindness and love.

“When all the great Irish saints went and spread the word throughout the world, they did it with love and Irish people are still doing it. I did it my way by going to Somalia and Rwanda and by setting up the Hope Foundation, so the Irish mission and the Irish way of life continues strongly.

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“And for me, it is so wonderful to see how we can achieve so much with the support of wonderful people around us – no man is an island - and none of what I have done could have been achieved only for the most amazing colleagues and volunteers and students who have supported us.”

Ms Forrest travelled to India after a life-changing meeting with Mother Teresa in 1993 and horrified by the scale of poverty in Kolkata, she volunteered with an Irish organisation in the city assisting with the setting up of schools in the slums and getting mothers involved in the education process.

In 1999, she decided to set up the Hope Foundation and since its establishment, it has gone on to set up 10 child protection homes and a hospital, while also establishing 40 education centres and training initiatives to equip people for work in the IT, tailoring and service industry.

Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, who also honoured Corkman Denis Mulcahy, co-founder of Project Children which brought 24,000 young people from Northern Ireland to the US at the height of the Troubles, paid tribute to Ms Forrest for her selfless work with the Hope Foundation.

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Cllr McCarthy recalled her humanitarian work with various NGOs in Swaziland, Rwanda, Mozambique and Somalia before she created the Hope Foundation.

Small seeds

“We are in the presence of someone who’s worked to make the world a brighter place … Maureen works with the forgotten children of this world, the victims of trafficking, violence, abandonment, sexual abuse and severe neglect,” he said.

“Since its inception, Maureen and her charity have brought Hope to more than three million people in Kolkata, providing sustainable pathways out of poverty through the delivery of education, healthcare, nutrition, and skills building.”

Both Ms Forrest with the Hope Foundation and Mr Mulcahy with Project Children succeeded because they both believed that people can make a difference and effect change to make the world a better place and they rightly deserved to be honoured for that, he said.

“Both the Hope Foundation and Project Children started from small seeds, a sense of injustice, a sense of horror, and whether we witness that horror first-hand, or see it piped through our TV screens and smartphones, we all have the responsibility to do something about it,” he said.

“‘Everyone can do something,’ - this is a tall order but there are titans in our presence today in Maureen and Denis. We are here to say thanks to them both and while it may sound simplistic, we can make our city and the world a safer, more accepting and vibrant place - Maureen and Denis did.”