Sue's mission to help women overseas
A Powys woman has raised thousands towards a trip of a lifetime to help women in India learn new skills.
Sue Michaels, from Montgomery, has been fundraising this year for her trip to Pune with the Trefoil Guild and Deep Griha Society, and has raised £3,000 - which was more than half of what she needed.
The rest of the money has gone to the Friends of Deep Griha, which raises funds for the charity, so they can buy a solar powered water pump for the community in Pune to use.
Sue climbed up Snowdon, hosted barbecues, dinners and a quiz to raise the funds for her trip, during which she will teach handicrafts to women to enable them to learn new skills and carry them forward.
The team of six, including Sue, will travel to India at the end of the month.
Sue said: "Every year Trefoil host an annual project abroad. Trefoil is the international guiding group for adults and anyone who was involved in girl guides during their life.
"This year we are going to Pune, near Mumbai in India. We are going to teach handicrafts to women in the slums area, like knitting, crochet and loom weaving.
"On past trips, volunteers have bought the women a sewing machine. The women there are really good at learning the basics and then taking it forward.
"They know make school uniforms and can then sell them on. We have sent out about 40 kilos of wool ready to use."
Motivation
Sue said the inspiration for her going on the trip is a young girl named Silpa, whom she met when she spent three months in Goa with her husband a few years ago.
She said: "One day a young girl came up to us on the beach with her mother trying to sell us something. I told her I had just got there so could not buy anything today but that I would soon.
"She came back and said she just wanted to talk to me.
"She was 15 years old and worked in the winter months on the beach selling things and in the summer she worked in the rice fields. She had never been to school but she spoke five languages fluently including Russian and English.
"I wanted to wrap her up and take her home with me, but I couldn't. So going to India now is my way of repaying something to her. She is my motivation for going."
