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The kids of Kalimpong

Scots missionary John Anderson Graham had a vision of a brighter future for deprived children and he built a school in the Indian hilltop town of Kalimpong.

Thousands of children have passed through the school's doors in the 107 years since its foundation, and this week Scotland plays host to 31 of the choir from Dr Graham's Homes.

Most of the children had never travelled outside of India, but Scotland was already a familiar friend before they came.

Former pupil and midwife Vanda Fraser, 50, remembers being mesmerised by tales of Scotland as a child.

She said: "There was always a link. They used to say Kalimpong was just like Scotland because it was a tiny, mountainous place.

"Many of my teachers were Scottish and you could tell by my accent."

Dr Graham built the school out of compassion for the abandoned Anglo-Indian children wandering the tea plantations of Darjeeling.

The British workers who travelled to India went without their wives because it was considered too harsh an environment.

Many had relationships with local women but they had no loyalty to them or the illegitimate, mixed-race children they produced.

They discarded the women in a country dominated by the caste system and where Anglo-Indian children were considered neither Indian nor British.

Vanda's grandfather was Scottish and she knows little about him other than he was probably a big game hunter visiting the area looking for tigers.

Her mother was taken in as a child by the school which was then exclusively for Anglo-Indians.

She married an itinerant labourer and they couldn't afford to educate Vanda, so they took her to Dr Graham's Homes when she was two and she stayed there until 18.

Dr Graham, who was later to become a moderator of the Church of Scotland, wanted to create a home, not an institution.

The home has never been a Presbyterian prison but a place of warmth where children are encouraged to beseen and heard.

Full story at the Daily Record.