Giving is the real spirit of Christmas. As we celebrate the festive season reporter Duncan Eaton tells the remarkable story of how a Hampshire village has brought hope to one of the most impoverished corners of the world...

SOME are barely three years old. The street pavements are their only pillows and many of them get their kicks from being high on glue sniffing.

These are the Kware street children who eke out a miserable daily existence scavenging for food in the dustbins of slums floating on a sea of sewage.

But in a leafy corner of Hampshire they are helping to bring more than a glimmer of hope to these street children and others who live in this disease-ridden suburb of Nairobi in Kenya.

Fundraising, spearheaded by St Thomas Church at Fair Oak, has brought about a modern medical miracle for one of the most impoverished corners of the world.

Yet not so long ago it seemed an impossible dream, for Kware's shanty-town dwellers were staring death in the face daily. Ten children were dying each month.

Now the death rate has been dramatically cut thanks to a remarkable turnaround in health care fortunes. In the last two years three babies have died.

It was more than six years ago that the Fair Oak congregation forged a link with the Kware slums through Benn Mugisha who trained in Britain as a state registered nurse.

Along with his wife Hellen, he has been converting the several thousands of pounds raised by the Fair Oak community into what has become a dramatic transformation in health care.

In a relatively short time about a quarter of a million pounds has been raised in a campaign which has now spread beyond the boundaries of Fair Oak and Horton Heath.

The seeds for the St Thomas Handshake to Kware project were sown when Fair Oak villagers raised cash to restore a second-hand ambulance which operated as the St Thomas Medical Health Service.

It became the first mobile clinic to visit the Kware slums and then in September 1995 a day clinic was opened.

Now major inroads are being made into health provision with the planned 200-bed St Thomas Hospital which will be built in phases.

The foundations are already being dug and the perimeter wall built. A plot of land has also been earmarked for a new school.

Fair Oak vicar the Reverend David Snuggs, has along with other parishioners made fact-finding missions to Kware.

He says: "Our work is already making a measurable difference even before the hospital has been built."

A shining example of making that difference is the lifeline that has been thrown to those tragic street children.

Every week a group of orphans who only have a sky for their roof and normally rely on the dustbins for their daily bread converge on the Kware clinic.

Benn said: " Every Tuesday about 50 children, aged between three and 20, are with us between midday and 2pm. Some of them have not eaten for days and they are very hungry.

"We give them a meal and they also have a shower because they are very dirty from living on the streets."

While they are at the clinic they are given clean clothing and a medical because some of them are suffering from the devastating effects of glue sniffing.

Cash aid from Fair Oak has helped to bring about this special service of care for the street children.

Benn spoke to the Daily Echo during one of his trips to Fair Oak where he has been visiting schools and other village groups to give an update on the work in Kware.

With a beaming smile which radiates every corner of the room, Benn says: "We cannot thank the people of Fair Oak enough for making such a big difference to the people of Kware."

He also thanked the Daily Echo for making people who live far beyond Fair Oak aware of the St Thomas Handshake to Kware project. The closely-knit Fair Oak community has taken the people of Kware to their hearts with fundraising ideas which have spread like wildfire across the village.

Instead of just dropping money into a box parishioners can see how their money is being spent to bring hope to a corner of the world which was in danger of being forgotten.

The work being carried out at the St Thomas Clinic has so impressed government inspectors that it has now been upgraded to health centre status.

A house has been built for Benn and his family near the hospital so they can oversee the next major chapter in the amazing St Thomas Handshake to Kware story.

Helping the Kware cause has not been without its drama. Three supporters from Fair Oak came face-to-face with a gun-toting gang during a four-day trip to Kware.

They lived to tell the tale and their close brush made the front page of the Daily Echo.

Their fact-finding missions will continue as Fair Oak helps to make a world of difference to the health care fortunes of the people of Kware.

KWARE FACTFILE:

THERE are 250,000 people living in the Kware slums in the south-east area of Nairobi and 75 per cent of the population are children.

The living conditions are some of the worst in the world.

It is not uncommon to see children playing in the streets running with sewage.

It is a stark contrast to Fair Oak and Horton Heath which has a population of about 9,500 and is an idyllic corner of leafy Hampshire.

But a unique bond of friendship has been forged between these two very different communities.

To get more information about the St Thomas Handshake to Kware Project log on to the website at http.//www.handshaketokware.org.uk