Home of Hope
Children's Home in Southern India
“Home of Hope”, a Christian home for orphaned boys has been the salvation both physically and spiritually for the children of southern India for the last seven years.
Currently housed in a two-story rented house, the orphanage is home to twenty boys, but they will be forced to move out in the coming months. The Hindu government of India has decreed that all orphanages must have their own property and building or lose their license.
Brother Raju Samuel, NAMB Missionary, Director of Mission Galveston (homeless mission in Galveston, Texas) and native of the Kerala region of India has been obediently following the Lord’s leadership in India, founding “Home of Hope” orphanage and providing an annual Church Camp that hosts many other orphanages and children. (This year’s camp saw 175 children in attendance with sixty-one salvations, many from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds.)
But orphanage licensing regulations changed last year; they will no longer be allowed to rent a facility. In response to these governmental rulings Raju purchased land last year but there were no funds for a building. Now he must go before the officials in India and ask for an extension.
“I will promise them that we will begin construction by this December if they will allow us until next June (2011) to finish the building. It will be large enough to house fifty boys plus our staff and will cost around $106,000. But to get construction started we need $50,000.”
That means boys like Abue will still have a Christian home. Small, malnourished, and barely speaking, Abue came to Raju’s orphanage with little hope or opportunity in life. Now he is healthy, doing well in school, and learning about the grace of God from his “mom and dad”, the orphanage staff members that care for him with the love of Christ.
Or Kartiga, the weak and sickly orphan boy that would in all probability have died but for the intervention of God’s people. Through “Home of Hope” he has been provided with medical care, including the diagnosis and treatment of a life-threatening heart murmur. Now he is healthy, energetic, and at the top of his class in school.
Without “Home of Hope”, these kids would probably be on the street, fighting for survival in the slums, working in the rice fields, or trying to subsist on pennies a day doing common labor.
But thanks to the love, prayers, and support of God’s faithful people, the children of “Home of Hope” have a different life. In fact, they never say that they are orphans. You can see it in the way they walk, the way they talk, and how they conduct themselves. Their sense of identity is as children of God, and in their eyes they don’t live in an orphanage; they live in a Christian home. That in itself is a witness for the Lord among the Hindus and Muslims of India.
In fact, it is the reputation of our God that is at stake in India. The false religions are watching closely. Can the Lord of the Christians provide for His work, or does He need Shiva, Vishnu, one of the other three million Hindu gods, or Allah to bail Him out? If this work fails, what will that say to the Hindus and Muslims of southern India? What will it do to the lives and faith of the precious children who live in the “Home of Hope”?
But God -and Raju- have a better plan than failure. “We’re going to show them that our God is the true and living God,” he says. “God provided money to buy the property last year and I know He will provide money for a boys’ dormitory this year. We’re going to focus on putting at least one stone on that property by December. We will let people know that we are not just talking; we are taking action.” And the action he has already taken on behalf of these children is paying off in ways that can’t be measured in dollars or rupees. “I see my children wearing decent clothes, going to school, going to Church, and I know they are learning the Scriptures, reading the Bible and praying every day. So I thank God we were able to throw them a lifeline and help them have a much better life. We are also raising up native missionaries in this Hindu country. Nobody knows what plans God has for these boys. When they are older they will be able to carry the Gospel to their own people in ways that outsiders can never do.”
When asked what he would do if the money doesn’t materialize, he answered with a smile and a tear. “I made a commitment to those children,” he said. “ I gave them hope and I cannot turn my back on them. “Knowing what my Lord Jesus Christ has commanded me, and what I have promised these children, how can I walk away?”
Will you please help us rescue Raju’s kids? We must begin construction as soon as possible.
