The shrill voices of children playing on the main railway tracks fill the air. Smoke from open fires drifts through the narrow cobbled laneways. Flies swarm as dogs scavenge through open piles of waste.

The stench is as overwhelming as the scorching 45-degree heat for fashion designer Trelise Cooper as she wanders the dusty alleys of the red-light-district slums of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), West Bengal’s capital.

The alleys come alive with people spilling out of their doors to gaze at the brightly dressed blonde visiting their community.

Cooper’s connection with Kolkata began four years ago when she visited the fabric suppliers who make her signature brightly coloured, highly embellished and intricately beaded fabrics. You can see from her choice of colours, textures and designs that she takes to heart the adage, “Pink is the navy blue of India.”

One of Cooper’s fabric suppliers in Kolkata is run by twin brothers Arup and Swarup Ghosh, who also work with international fashion houses Dries Van Noten and Kenzo.

The Ghosh brothers introduced Cooper to Tomorrow’s Foundation, a charity they established in 1991 in south Kolkata that educates and feeds impoverished children and aims to empower them to be independent of the poverty cycle.

Cooper recalls the trip she made to Kolkata in 2004: “Our fabric manufacturers encouraged us to visit them to see what they did. Their clients were amazing and they had an orphanage, whose children were beginning to work in the fabric business.

“We were totally touched by the gorgeous little faces of these children who were learning English and Hindi. They were so heartbreakingly sweet when they sang to us. We read their case histories, which were tragic. It really pulled at our heartstrings.

“Right from the start I could see that the guys running the orphanage were making such a difference to the kids’ lives that we just loved what they were doing and wanted to help.” That’s when Cooper began contributing to Tomorrow’s Foundation.

“The orphanage is a place of learning where the children also receive a nutritious meal – often, it’s the only meal they will get each day – but in order to get food they have to learn basic schooling,” she says. “Most of them come from the nearby slums, which we visited this time. It was heart-rending to see such tiny and poor children with absolutely nothing,” says Cooper of her most recent visit.

“When I first learnt about the foundation, I felt that we get great things out of India and I wanted to give something back,” she says. “It’s not a lot but it always surprises me what an incredibly long way a little money can stretch in India.

“This time we had no idea what we were going to experience. The kids just stole our hearts. They were darlings. They range in age from about two to 17 but they’re all connected by the fact that they have nothing.”

One of the worst cases Cooper saw on her recent visit was three toddlers living alone in a concrete pipe by the side of a road. “We managed to find out that they would live in the pipe until it was placed under the road. Then they would be back on the streets,” Cooper says.

“When I asked why someone wasn’t taking them home, I discovered they are children from migrant families from Bangladesh, whose parents had come to Kolkata and abandoned them. It’s a familiar story. People come for work and it doesn’t pan out, so their children end up being abandoned. What’s really disturbing is that you could drive past and not realise what’s going on.”

When I suggest that it must have been difficult to resist the urge to give money to these starving children, Cooper’s face falls. “It was hard, absolutely,” she says, “but we were told that if we did give money directly to these children, it would simply go to people higher up in the food chain in the slums. The hierarchy on the streets is horrible. If we gave the children anything, it had to be food they desperately needed, definitely not money.”

That said, the biggest challenge for those running Tomorrow’s Foundation is the resistance of illiterate parents to allowing their children to attend the orphanage to learn to read and write. The foundation now runs night school for parents to help break down the misconceptions many of them have. It’s a slow journey, though, dampened by the extreme poverty.

On her recent visit to Kolkata, Cooper was shocked not only by what she saw but also what she smelt, felt and tasted. “The heat is overwhelming because of the humidity. When it’s nearly 50 degrees, the discomfort is extreme. Add to that the fact that sanitation is nonexistent in much of Kolkata, and people have no food or very bad food, and you have a recipe for poverty,” she explains.

Another disturbing reality is the high number of railway fatalities. “Children live and play on the main railway lines and a lot are killed because the slums are right next door. Tomorrow’s Foundation now has a growing network of protectors who teach the children it’s not safe to play there. They also keep tabs on the children, because a lot of kids are being trafficked. Discovering that really made it hit home just how vulnerable these children are,” Cooper says.

In the four years since Cooper’s first visit, Tomorrow’s Foundation has grown. The main orphanage school has about 380 students and there are now 14 satellite schools with 25 students each.

Reflecting on the changes she has seen since she began supporting the orphanage, Cooper says, “The transformation of the kids we met on the first visit and saw again this time shows how resilient people are. Human life force is incredibly resilient, if you survive.”

HANDS UP

Tomorrow’s Foundation was established in Kolkata in 1991 by brothers Arup and Swarup Ghosh. The foundation works on the southern fringes of the city, targeting child labourers and children living on the streets and in slums, squatter colonies and red-light districts.

The foundation’s key philosophy is to give the children a hand up, not just a “hand out”. Education, vocational training, job placement, health, counselling, shelter and nutrition are intrinsic activities. For more information about this non-governmental organisation or to make a donation, visit their website.

Bay of Bengal

Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, a tributary of the Ganges, 154km upstream from its head at the Bay of Bengal. Kolkata’s river port makes it the most important city in eastern India. It has a population of almost 4.5 million and an additional 14 million people living within its greater boundaries.

The city is home to some of the largest slums in the world. Though well located for commerce, its low-lying swamps and humid climate make it far from ideal for human occupation.

The name “Kolkata” is possibly derived from one of the three villages (Kalikata) in the area prior to the arrival of the British in 1690. The city was the capital of India during the British Raj until 1911. Today it is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Its official English name was changed from Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001.

LIGHTENING THE LOAD

Trelise Cooper’s eco supermarket bags were introduced this year to Foodtown, Countdown and Woolworths stores throughout New Zealand. “By using and re-using eco-bags, we can all help reduce the number of plastic bags produced,” Cooper says.

“We decided that we wanted a bag that was attractive enough to be used for different occasions, not just for supermarket shopping. I hope people will find joy in knowing that each time they use these bags they are lessening their carbon footprint.”