Nearly 140 years ago, a group of Oxfordshire nuns travelled to a remote and deprived region of India to set up three Christian schools.
Today, The Community of St Mary the Virgin in Wantage has dwindled from a community of 300 to just 14 sisters, but they still keep that link alive.
In January, a small deputation from the Wantage convent made the same journey to Pune in India to find out how they could continue to help the schools, and were inspired by what they saw.
Convent resident Sister Stella, chairwoman of the community’s trustees Baroness Judith Wilcox and PR man Nick Clarke spent two weeks getting to know the children and teachers.
Everywhere they went, the visitors were showered with flower petals, garlands and gifts, entertained with dancing and music, and treated to local delicacies.
But they also got to see the work teachers were doing to help some of the poorest children in the region to get an education which could transform their prospects.
Sister Stella said: “The direct contact I found was inspirational – we saw the enormous dedication of workers and staff.
“In one school we visited, all the children have come from some economically strained circumstances, but they are bright and they have skills.
“We watched a wonderful programme of dance and mime and one of the boys came down off the stage and did somersaults in the air.
“The school is trying to encourage that kind of craft and athleticism.”
Today, the Society of St Mary the Virgin in India (SSMVI) runs the schools as an independent charity, but the Wantage community still provides financial support.
The Indian society oversees the work of three all-age schools: two in Pune and one in Lonavala – a total of about 1,700 children, oxfordtimes reported.
The charity also runs a hostel for girls and young women aged between four and 16. Many are orphans, street children, the children of sex workers, or from broken families.
It also runs St John’s Home for Elderly Women, looking after 28 women and offering a base for a day care centre for pre-school aged kids..
Sister Stella said the purpose of January’s mission was to meet administrators and headteachers at the schools to talk about their needs and vision for the future.
For example, on the visit the group learnt the English Medium School the society runs is in need of a school bus, and the community is hoping to help fund that.
Sister Stella added: “We value keeping the ongoing link, supporting them, wanting to give encouragement, and they are enormously welcoming and appreciative.
“It is important that we encourage them to look forward: running those kinds of entertainments, those projects, is about keeping the show on the road.”