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.
Here’s a wee video about the 2 abandoned widows that Vikki talked about in her post entitled “The Village People”.
The first afternoon we arrived at the orphanage we got the children to make animal masks we brought with us from Scotland.
There were Zebras, Lions, Tigers, elephants, Giraffes and plenty of little monkeys.
Each child took their turn to make a mask, the wee’er children got the easier masks to make whilst the older ones were making tigers and Zebras. There were bits of foam everywhere and glue was in hair, on hands and on the floor. Half way through the power went out and we were making the masks in the dark, thankfully they have an emergency light and that kicked in after a few minutes.
The children loved wearing their masks and making the sounds of each animal. I made a lion mask and the children ran around excitedly as I enacted out a “ROOAAARRRR”. The were chasing me and shouting “aunteee, aunteee” so that I would do the lion roar to them. The masks were great fun to make and by the end we had our very own zoo with lots of different animal antics going on.
It seemed an innocent discussion with Rae about where she had visited on her previous trip, a mention of Kennedy School sent Captain Thacker into a frenzy. Within half an hour Kennedy from Kennedy school had joined us for lunch and a visit to the school arranged for the following week.
Like “Royalty” I have heard some of you describe this experience wow what a welcome! We were whisked up on stage in front of 300 plus kids, entertained with traditional Indian dancing and presented with garlands before giving a speech to the children. Rae was called first and I thought I had escaped however no “we will now hear from miss Vikki” not exactly sure what I said, was not really prepared it must have been ok as I did get lots of clapping and whooping.
The children were a little disappointed however that we were not an extension of soul touch, yes many people we met in India were disappointed, what no singing no dancing? Lorna and Erica were definitely a hard act to follow!!!
We did mingle with the students who were eager to ask us lots of questions, get our autographs and be photographed. We then went on tour, they were eager to show us the computer suite. A small concrete dark room with 3 computers 2 of which were very dated in our terms. They were running old software and had no Internet.
I’m sure when we get back we’ll manage to come up with some way to help upgrade these computers which will benefit the students and their education. I will also be very excited to share this experience with my family on my return being from the “Kennedy” clan.
One afternoon we visited 3 of the villages where some of the now 225 widows come from there are around 6 villages in total. The villages surround the land where the new orphanage will be built. Grace told us the numbers increase monthly there were only 125 the last time Rae was here. Word is traveling fast.
The minute we arrived word quickly spread throughout the village and soon we had an entourage following us throughout the village. Mum’s and dad’s rushed to great us with their children in arms desperate to have their photo taken. Unknown to me “chapateeee’ was not like our customary “cheese” it was a term Shobha had used with the children of the orphanage to get them to smile, much to her amusement!
The widows we met were very happy to see us lots of hugs, kisses and thank you’s. Many remembered Rae. They all made us very welcome there was lots of laughter and smiles. It was quite an experience to see the very basic homes, cooking on open fires and preparation of vegetables and fish on flat stones outside their homes.
The husband of one of the woman who showed us around their village was very proud and was desperate to have his family picture taken including the goat, his teenage daughters had been rushing to change into their best dresses while we toured the village. One lady we met ages with ourselves who was supported by the project was not in fact a widow however had never married. She was crippled with arthritis and suffered from diabetes and was unable to work and therefore her family did not support her.
One of the saddest things we witnessed was an elderly lady with a broken hip. Her 3 sons live in 3 adjoining brick homes with their families, the mother is made to sleep in a grass hut opposite. She sits outside her home on a stone and drags herself in and out it is no bigger than a wendy house. She is unable to go to the toilet and therefore defecates herself. They threw her food like an animal. Shobha makes sure the lady gets provisions as she is unable to go to the project. She also gave the son’s a mouthful for treating their mother like a dog!
One lady we met was 110 years old she was in similar circumstances and is made to lie on a rock at the front of the home. She is very frail and blind. However still has her sense of humour and urged us to take her with us and go to America.
We would not expect anyone in our families to be subjected to treatment like this least of all our mothers and grannies. As you can see the widow project is very worthwhile and is an example of how very little can go a long way, it costs approximately £2.00 a month to feed a widow.
25 of the older children are now in pre school. Fundraising by Carrongrange School has helped to facilitate this. Each weekday morning the older children are all washed and smartly dressed in their school uniform, with socks and shoes, ready for school. (The older children are mostly 5 years old but there are a couple who are 7 years old).
They go to school for 3 hours each day. They are picked up by bus at 9:30 and return at 12:30. The group is split into 2 sections, a younger group and an older group. The younger group are working on their ABC’s and the older group spell english and tamil words and add sums. The school is run by Krupa Charitable Trust They are the same trust that works within the Leprosy Colonies.
There are 2 teachers who teach the children. We were able to spend the morning with the children at school. We were able to help the children with their english and arithmetic and the children taught us tamil words. It’s was fantastic to see the children learning and be so eager to learn. It kinda made us realise how much we take education for granted, we are lucky to have the system we have where everyone is eligible for free education.
In this photo the children are standing with Susheela, she has just been working at the orphanage for a week but has integrated very well. She is a qualified creche teacher so is able to teach the younger ones whilst the older children are at school.
I have been very encouraged by the faith of everyone we meet in India. ”Praise the Lord” “Alleluia” However, I do understand why they insist on praying each time they get in their cars! 
Every evening once the children have been put to bed the resident women gather for prayer, worship and bible study. We had the privilege of joining them each night while we stayed there. We may not have been able to join in with the Tamil singing however, were able to clap enthusiastically and the Holy Spirit amongst us was evident. Some evenings the children would get back out of bed and sit beside us, they would join in and knew every word, even the 2yr olds. It is the responsibility of the children to do the daily prayers before meals etc, they take it in turns to lead with the others following.”Alleluia”, “Alleluia”, ” Aaaalleeeeluia”.