British man drives autorickshaw across UK for Indian charity

A 77-year-old British man, who wears a pacemaker, has embarked on an over 4,800 kilometre autorickshaw journey around the UK to raise money for an Indian charity that treats children with heart ailments in India and other Asian and African countries.

Steve Gibbs set off on the tour from the town of Wigston in Leicestershire yesterday. He will return to the town on August 6 after covering nearly 4,828 kms. He is raising money for the Healing Little Hearts charity. His aim is to raise enough funds for at least one Healing Little Hearts camp, which operates on approximately 12-15 children during a one-week tour.

Sanjiv Nichani, who works as a consultant at Leicester Children’s Hospital, praised Gibbs' efforts to ride his Indian auto-rickshaw around the UK on a three-week-long journey to raise around 6,000 pounds for the Healing Little Hearts charity.

"It is incredible that Steve, who has a pacemaker fitted, would set off on this journey to raise funds for the charity," said Nichani.

The charity, set up in 2007 by the Mumbai-origin doctor, was born as an urge to "give something back" to the country of his birth and fix the "hole in little hearts", among other heart conditions suffered by children whose families are not be able to afford expensive surgeries.

Healing Little Hearts has since hosted camps in Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Raipur, Srinagar, Puducherry and Vellore, besides cities in Africa and Malaysia.