One Purpose, One Passion, One Mission, Rescue the Children

Nagappatinah, India

Tsunami’s orphans face a bleak future – in an article by Deborah Hastings, The Associated Press. Deborah stated that an unknown number of children have been surrendered to orphanages. Children who lost both parents handed over by aunts and uncles too poor to take in another mouth to feed. Many ranged from toddlers to fifth graders. More than four weeks after the Tsunami, none has been claimed. There were 99 children crammed into one small house donated by a church. Many others have been sent to a government run orphanage. (Orlando Sentinel, Wed. Jan. 26, 2005)

From Gutter to Glory – by Pastor Thampy, Reach Newsletter Mumbai, India

There are over 300,000 children on the streets of one city in India, the city of Mumbai. Most of these children don’t know their parents and have no one to provide and care for them. Many of these children die due to starvation and malnutrition. Most of the boys are addicted to soft and hard drugs, such as glue sniffing and marijuana, by the age of 12. Many of the small girls are sexually abused as they find their beds on the pavements and railway stations. They have no sense of security and grow up in fear and insecurity. By the time these girls are 12 to 13 yrs. old they are forced into prostitution in order to live.

Pastor Thampy, with help and encouragement from his family and George Ridley in England started to feed the street children one meal a day and teach health, hygiene and moral values. They have been feeding over 300 children per day and have a goal to reach over 1,000 per day this year.

These street children are not able to go to school as they have no birth certificates or any documents required for admissions into school. Parents of other children refuse to send their children to study with the street children. Through the ministry of Pastor Thampy and his family the children will begin education, as the funds become available.

BETHESDA LIFE CENTER – Goa, India

Bethesda has 5 homes for orphans in different states of India. The children are orphaned and underprivileged…many are the children of aids victims and some from small villages where baby girls are not wanted. They have full time staff working in each of the homes, giving them the best of hygiene, nutrition, education, love and care. Their aim is to develop the whole person, focusing on their physical, mental, social and spiritual growth. One young mother came to the door with tears in her eyes and told Beena this heart-breaking story. The mother came from a state called Andhra Pradesh, where she worked in a matchbox company for 40cents per day (U.S.). Her boss told her he loved her and promised he would marry her. He took her to Goa and sold her into a prostitution ring. Most young girls are trapped into this racket. The young mother named, Sapna, got pregnant at 17 yrs. old and tested HIV positive. No one would keep the mother and child together and the young mother could no longer work. Over 1/3 of the children in the Goa orphanage came from this background.

INDIA’S STREET CHILDREN - Pastor Thampy, Bethesda Life Center

India has a child population estimated at over 300 million, with approximately 20 million nationwide that are street children. The numbers are not very accurate because the street children constitute a floating population. These street children have no ties with their families; they see the street as their home, where they seek shelter, food and companionship. They try to make a living on the streets for very low wages as petty hawkers, shoeshine boys, scavengers of raw materials, or even thieves and street prostitutes. They are always on their own, unprotected by adults.

People in society generally perceive street children as difficult children who are out to cause trouble. As a result society tends to be unsympathetic and indifferent to the actual plight of these children.

The children are considered outcasts, and are abused and exploited even by people in authority. This lack of acceptance is what pushes them away from the mainstream society and forces them to survive on the fringes of the social system. Pastor Thampy has been provided a large room in the main railway station in Mumbai (Bombay) where a large number of these kids frequent. They are provided a place to shower, wash their clothes and receive a meal each day. Most importantly, the volunteers use the little time they get with these kids to talk to them about their destiny in life.

The volunteers give the children encouragement, love and pray for their many needs. They tell them that there is a God who loves them.

Any support, your "one act of kindness" for this project, is greatly appreciated. God richly bless you for reaching out to change a life forever.