There is no more serious issue than that of Anglo-Indian POVERTY.

In fact the issue of poverty has always been a primary concern of the Anglo-Indian community. Anglo-Indians come from one of the poorest countries in the world and when an Anglo-Indian in India gets into financial trouble due to ill health, becoming aged or some other misfortune there is no safety net to assist them. A safety net that is taken for granted in most Western countries such as Australia, Canada, the USA and the UK. It is estimated that there are 150,000 Anglo-Indians in India about 15,000 to 20,000 of these people are in serious financial difficulty and are experiencing great hardship.

An International Anglo-Indian Poverty and Ageing Conference is being organised in Melbourne. The Conference has as its primary focus poverty among the Anglo-Indians. Unfortunately, many Anglo-Indians in India are experiencing levels of poverty that is of great concern to members of the Anglo-Indian community who reside in Australia, Canada, the USA and the UK. The Conference is a serious attempt to inform the wider Anglo-Indian Community about how to assist these desperately poor people in India and to a lesser extent to help aged Anglo-Indians in Western Countries.

While there are a large number of small Anglo-Indian organisations trying to assist Anglo-Indians in India, due to their small size these organisation fail to substantially impact on the terrible social conditions that many Anglo-Indians experience. Further, very few people know about the existence of these organisations and the work they do.

The Conference provides Anglo-Indians with the opportunity to attend and:

# See and hear about the actual situation of poor Anglo-Indians in India from people who have seen their condition first hand
# See and hear about what is being done to help poor and aged Anglo-Indians in India and Australia
# Listen to experts in the field of poverty and ageing and their solutions for helping Anglo-Indians
# Take the opportunity to make a personal financial contribution to help the poor and aged in India

For up to date information about the Conference and Presenters:
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~agilbert/poverty1.html

For more information about poor and aged Anglo-Indians and what is being done to help them:
http://home.att.net/~blairrw/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

The Conference will be held at the Carlton Crest Convention Centre opposite Albert Park Lake: http://www.carltonhotels.com.au/melbourne/