In November when Vikki and I were in India we filmed the little orphans wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. They had been learning the songs in english for their Christmas party.
Merry Christmas and thank you to everyone for supporting the projects in India this year.
Rae x
Good News… Paul and Grace have been given approval to go ahead with building the orphanage. This is an email from Grace:
“All glory and honour to our God……We got the government approvals to build our own orphanage.
For the past one year we have been struggling and fighting all odds to get government approvals to build our own orphanage for the children at the Sangita land. During this period many times we almost gave up… as the system was so corrupt and we could not stand up to it. Many of our close friends and well wishers have been praying for this and we only trusted in God and prayed to him to make this possible in His own time. Today we have the approvals and we plan to start the first building block immediately with the funds that we have.
We thank you so much for being with us and request your prayers that the buildings come up soon and that we find the favour and funds to complete the full project as soon as possible. It’s absolutely necessary that the children have their own home.
We have signed the contract with the builders and God willing will commence work on 20th Dec. The first block of the orphanage buildings are expected to be completed in 6 to 8 months time. We are happy the the children can have their own home in maximum 8 months time. The total costs for completetion of the orphanage project is US $ 320 thousand US $. We have with us 120 thousand $. In faith we are commencing the work.
We are all ecited and working hard to have a wonderful and memorable christmas for the children at the orphanage. we are glad that Peter and Shubha will be able to join with us.
Past. Raj is getting traditional silk skirts and blouses stitched for the girls and full length pants and silk shirts for the boys. The kids will be excited to wear these wonderful clothes for christmas. Thanks for all your love and support. We want these kids to have the best in their lives.
For His Services, Grace and Paul.”
This is a photo of the 11 acre piece of land they have:
At Sangita there are a couple of children who have special needs. They are 7 years old and whilst their peer group are going to pre school they have to stay home with the younger children because their special needs. This is a litle bit about one girl called Nagama…
She’s been at the orphanage for 3 years now and she was begging on the street until a couple found her and took her in, unfortunately they couldn’t afford to feed her because they are rat eaters, (very poor people) so she was brought to the orphanage. They come to visit her once every 3 months.
Nagama is a very happy and affectionate girl, she won my heart over and I’ve a wee bit of a soft spot for her. It is my hope that Martha and Carrongrange school will be able to advise the staff at the orphanage on how best to educate Nagama and the other children with special needs and hopefully provide some resources for them aswell.
Kind hearted people from Bo’ness have been donating money so that Mount Zion Church in India could buy blankets for the people who live in the leprosy colony. There are a few leprosy colonies in Tamil Nadu but Mount Zion church has been working in this particular one, providing regular food and spiritual sustenance to the people that live there.
Brother Franklin first started to visit the leprosy colony in 1981 and has been a regular visitor, preaching the word of God and befriending these people.
The lepers are very poor people and are outcasts in Indian society because of the disease they have. Many have to beg on the streets of Chennai to survive. The lepers live with their families in this community. Leprosy isn’t a hereditary condition so family members are born without the disease.
We were fortunate enough to witness the blankets being handed out to this community. The blankets will keep these families warm throughout the Indian winter and extra money will be used to help mend some of the houses that leak.