On a bright and busy morning at a Calcutta railway station, a ragged little boy pushed his way through the throng alighting from the local train. He was almost through the gate when a railway policeman grabbed him and carried him off to the guard room. There he was mercilessly beaten and relieved of the goods he had stolen.

It was not the first time he had been caught, and his little body trembled at the thought of the greater punishment that awaited him at the hands of the gang leaders. He would give anything to escape from the nightmare he was living. It had begun when he left home in a fit of anger at being punished for a childish prank. He now regretted his bravado, but it was too late. He could hardly remember his family, let alone their address. And with the depigmented, insensitized patch on his body, they would not take him back anyway. He was destined to live this life of petty crime, with all its paralyzing moments of pain and fear.

Elsewhere in the city, a boy was born to a young woman. Like every mother, she had fond dreams for her child. It was soon discovered that her husband had leprosy. Their world fell apart. He lost his job at the factory and the neighbours threatened them with dire consequences if they did not vacate their lodgings. They were shunned by their relatives and abandoned by society. They finally found shelter with a group of similarly fated people, living in a colony alongside the largest garbage dump in the city. Her husband took to begging, using his wounds to evoke sympathy or disgust, whichever brought the alms. The woman eked a living out of rag-picking and scrounging in the garbage heap. All the while the child grew in the filth and squalor of the colony. Only the uncaring flies saw him take his first steps.

On the 25th of March, 1970, eleven such children were brought to Udayan, a welfare home founded by John Gregory Stevens, or as his friends call him, James.

James had come to India with a French organization, Frères des Hommes. It was one of the many social organizations that were reaching out to the sick and the poor in India. While serving in a programme for children, James saw the trail of devastation left behind by the scourge of leprosy. He found that people either did not know or would not accept that leprosy could be cured. No one had even tried to teach them that and no one had given a thought to their traumatised families.

James found a number of these families living in isolated slums, bound to each other only by their poverty, by their deprivation, and by the mutilated bodies of their family members. Their children were being raised in dens of iniquity, knowing nothing of warmth, clothing, health and sanitation. Misery, like the dust, lay thick around them.

All of the children brought to Udayan suffered from worm infestations and malnutrition. Some of them had also contracted tuberculosis, malaria, amoebiasis, rickets, and skin diseases. But James and Dr Dhruba Sen set to work providing intensive medical treatment along with extra-vitaminised diets, and the results were spectacular.

In 1982, James met Dominique Lapierre, celebrated author of City of Joy. In him, James found a friend and benefactor. Moved by the work James was doing, Dominique set up a fund in France called the Dominique Lapierre Foundation - Action pour les Enfants des Lepreux de Calcutta. To this fund, he himself donates half of all royalties received on his book City of Joy.

In 1998, Steve Waugh, the famous Australian cricketer, visited Udayan. Like most of our visitors, Steve was profoundly moved by the experience and when he learned that Udayan wanted to make provisions for a girls' wing, he saw an opportunity to make a difference in many lives. Through the fund-raising efforts of Steve both in India and Australia, a new dormitory for girls was opened in 1999. There are now 84 happy, healthy girls who make our family complete.

It is through the efforts of Mrs Shamlu Dudeja of the Calcutta Foundation that Steve became involved with Udayan in the first place. Since that time, Shamlu has continued advocating for Udayan and has been extremely successful in bringing recognition to our organisation. In December 2000, she organised a grant from the Japanese Consulate in Calcutta to build a new classroom building for the children.

To read more about Shamlu Dudeja's involvement with Udayan, visit her website at www.shamlududeja.com.