Other TOG Projects: July 2014

Friends of ours have friends who have taken up the word of the Lord to India. They met Austin and Feyon in Mumbai, India while they were volunteering with the International Justice Mission (IJM) in rescuing children from brothels. Austin and Feyon have started an orphanage with the goal of education children. We share this letter:

Dear brothers and sisters,

Slowly we see ourselves settling in and seeing things through the eyes of our Lord each new day in a completely new direction. Much through some anxious moments we sensed Him being so near us all the while. These have been times of mixed feelings, my dearest sister- in- law who introduced me the Lord has gone to be with Him, though it’s very painful to part, we know that is our ultimate destination, she who served Him very joyfully, always sharing His love with her gifts and a radiant smile.

One facet of His ministry the rural school has started admission, many parents wanted to remove their children from the govt. kichdi ( rice meal ) schools and admit them with us, they said they have seen our children and want their children to be influenced by them, which really struck us at our Lord’s doings. We clearly stated in a meeting that we were here to share the love & message of Jesus Christ by also caring for their children’s future and help them build their lives. Though we have restricted ourselves to begin with kindergarten only and slowly increase the class level that will give us time to build up a proper system and allow teachers and students adjust to the new system, we will have coaching class in the afternoon with our own curriculum. We fully understand the frustration of parents when we also can’t find any school for our kids in this area.

There are two famous schools in this area. One famous school runs by Catholics was originally funded by an Italian family dedicated it to the poor tea garden children mentioned on a stone tablet. Ironically not even one tea garden child can be found as they only give the seats to rich people who can give a big sum of donation to the school in order to get admission. When we went to meet the principal, we were brazenly told that the children belonged to army officials and big businessmen. Another one is Public Army School that is reserved for Army children. While writing an admission test, our kids were asked whether their parents were from the Army. They could only offer one seat to us. Then the third choice was yet another school. After having the admission test, our kids can’t wait to tell us how the teachers behave, chewing tobacco among other things. All of the private schools request a sum in the form of a donation while not maintaining their standards. It is a demand to have a school that really caters to the lower income people.

Building toilets for our immediate neighbors, now even the distant ones have requested us to build for them, torn down by poverty, nearly everyone has a sad story to tell, all sorts of sicknesses and filled with distraught how we wish they come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nearly this whole belt defecates in the open, it really breaks our heart, how can we not help is our concern.

Banu Begum a very young girl who was given in marriage recently. She complained about her eyesight, and the parents don’t know how to take her to hospital due to the formalities there, so we took her to the hospital to investigate the matter. The findings were really shocking she has lost complete sight in one eye beyond repair, while the other one needs an operation immediately, so an appointment was given to her by a team of doctors for a week after. *Please uphold her in your prayers for a miracle and that the family may respond to the call of Jesus as we share His love and also His message.