Walsall woman Bernadette Suppiah sets up charity to send phsyios to India

Aug 24 2010 by Diane Parkes, Birmingham Mail

FROM childhood, generosity and charity had always been an important part of Bernadette Suppiah’s life. So when her own children left home she decided to hunt for a good cause.

And not one to be under-ambitious, Midlander Bernadette ended up setting up an entire charity to support projects in India.

Now the Suppiah Charity Foundation organises for health practitioners to travel to Goa and take up volunteer posts – helping children and adults of all ages.

Founded in 2008, the charity has links with homes for physically abused women and children, centres for the elderly and village schools and is able to provide them with skilled professionals including physiotherapists, speech therapists, psychologists and music and drama therapists. And it also offers placements to people simply wanting to help out with other tasks such as teaching English to the children.

And 52-year-old Bernadette says setting up the charity aimed to meet specific needs.

“When I looked to do voluntary work I was surprised to see that there were organisations which charge you thousands of pounds to do it,” she says. “I couldn’t understand why I should pay to offer my skills.

“With the foundation our volunteers pay their own flights but once they are there the food and lodging is all covered.”

A Hindu who converted to Catholicism, Bernadette of Pelsall, Walsall, works with organisations run by nuns and missionaries.

“The nuns usually make sure the volunteers also have a chance to learn a bit about where they are living so they will often organise for them to see other places as well,” she says.

Although of Indian origin, Bernadette and her family grew up in Malaysia, where her parents ensured she understood her responsibility towards others.