ALTRINCHAM man Keith Hyams has certainly shown what he has to OFFER during a mercy mission to Calcutta in India.

The former Oxford University student has given a helping hand to dozens of street children living in poverty - and at high risk of assault and abuse - in the city.

He became involved in SSSK (Student's Support Street Kids), as part of OFFER (Organisation For Friends, Energies and Resources).

Two years ago SAM featured how Keith, 23, accompanied by sister Abby, 22, (pictured) was setting off to India to work with street children.

Now SAM catches up with Abby - who has returned home to be a medical student at Bristol University - to see how he has fulfilled his aims.

Keith, of Bonville Chase, worked under OFFER as a volunteer for six months on a project for the Dum Dum kids. Dum Dum, a busy railway station in the north of Calcutta is home to around 150 homeless people, of which around a third are children.

These children are at a high risk on the platform, frequently suffering from beatings, rape and psychological abuse.

The OFFER project provides a two hour school for the street children every weekday, along with a nutritious meal. And last year it raised the funds to renovate a large building near to Dum Dum station, to be used as a permanent home for the children.

Since helping these children to a better life, Keith has moved away from the project and is travelling around Namada, India, involving himself in another charitable scheme. He is protesting against plans to build a dam that would flood the local villages.

It doesn't stop there though with sister Abby successfully setting up another SSSK at Bristol University, with students heading out to Calcutta this summer. On her experience of her involvement in the scheme, Abby says: "Seeing the events in Calcutta has given me more awareness of deprivation in the world, made me more charitable, and made me realise that money isn't needed to have an amazing life. I appreciate human relationships and what I have much more than I did before."