Australian man who spent a decade raising orphans in a small Uttarakhand town

“They starved themselves but ensured that we had enough food to eat..."

25-year-old Gail Joyer was raised at an orphanage by an Australian man and his wife in a small Uttarakhand town called Banbasa, along with several others. She came to The Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission (GSAM) along with her brother and sister when she was one-year-old.

“My father had died and my mother could not afford to take care of us. We had nowhere to go,” she said.

It was then that GSAM - an NGO that was working for orphan children in Banbasa under the leadership of a man named Rev. Maxton D. Strong - took responsibility of these 3 kids. However, soon it found itself running into losses and in 2004, the founder passed away. His son-in-law Rick Warwick Shipway or ‘Rick’ as he is known to most as, who was in Australia at the time sold his house, cars and business to return to India and run what he refers to as “The Mission”.

“There wasn’t enough food for us at the orphanage earlier. After Uncle Rick’s return, he changed our lives. We got proper food. He also built a school where we got education. His wife taught us everything – cooking, sewing, laundry,” said Gail.

Rick first came to India in 1976 to deliver an airplane carrying 198 pure bred Australian dairy cows for a cross-breeding program to benefit the poor. Mother Teresa personally assisted him in his work. During his stay here, he also visited Banbasa, a trip that changed his life forever.

“I fell in love with the country, its people and The Mission”, he says.

Rick raised nearly 100 orphans like Gail at the orphanage since 2004 along with his wife’s help. She passed away in 2010 due to multiple ailments.

The kids, however, continued to savour a good life at the orphanage. Gail moved out of Banbasa after she turned 24. She now works in Gurgaon and is also pursuing a BA course in an Uttarakhand college.

Another girl Hope, who Rick cutely refers to as ‘Hopie’, was 7-day-old when her parents, ashamed at the birth of a girl child, planned to abandon her on the street.

“I was lucky because the neighbours spotted them and advised to send me to GSAM. There was no looking back from there. They stayed with us in the same compound. We were all one big family,” she said.

Even Hope has moved to Delhi and works in Gurgaon. Others like them are either married or settled in England and Australia while a few have made their way out of The Mission to different parts of the country and are well settled.

A close friend of Rick tells us he visits his kids in the cities often to see if they are happy. He sleeps on the floor if there is no bed in their house. As for the kids who are grown up now, Rick is their only father who they visit in Banbasa during vacations and Christmas every year.