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INSPIRED by success in Bahrain, a stalwart of one of the the island's favourite charities is returning home to India after 38 years and hoping to set up a similar organisation there.
Joe Isaacs, 64, came to the kingdom from Kerala in 1971 to work for the old Bahrain Slipway Company as a diesel mechanic.
Wife Merilla joined him and the couple have a son Craig, 35, and daughter Astrid, 32, who both now live in the US.
Mr Isaacs went on to work for Alba as a condition monitoring technical engineer and when his children left home found he had a great deal of free time on his hands.
He said: "I am a Catholic so I joined the St Vincent de Paul Society as I wanted to give something back then in 1996, together with some members of St Vincent and other churches, we formed the ECC (Ecumenical Conference of Charity)with the aim of finding and helping needy people in the kingdom."
For the last year he has served as president of the organisation before handing over to Mariam Jacob and this week the charity held a farewell dinner for Mr Isaacs and Merilla at which he was presented with a Bahraini dhow in recognition of his time in the kingdom.
He said: "I have loved our whole time here, Bahrain is a great place, over the years at the ECC we have worked hard to achieve our goals and one particular highlight is the Bahrain Community Project which is about uplifting and educating people - thanks to this project we have six people attending university.
"I have been luck to work with a wonderful team and it has been a please, I would like to thank everyone who has befriended me over the years and say God Bless to everyone.
"But now it is time to go home. I want to leave while I can still walk on my two feet rather than on a stretcher."
And the couple, who leave on Friday, have many plans for the future.
As well as visiting their son and daughter in the States, Mr Isaacs is also keen to get churches together in his native Cochin and form a similar organisation to the ECC to help needy people in his home city.
He also said: "I know that many people from Kerala would like the opportunity to travel the world but they lack the English skills to enable them to do so.
"I would like the chance to impart my English skills to them, free of charge."
The farewell dinner was attended by several past presidents and charity volunteers who all turned out to say goodbye.
