This year we have the pleasure of bringing you a firsthand account on the welfare of our children. We traveled to India and Sri Lanka to see the children.
In India, we were surrounded by children looking to see what we were all about, wanting to tell us about themselves, waiting to see what we had for them and excited to have our company. Our children in India are well taken care of by an incredibly dedicated couple and the staff that surround them. We cannot describe in words how committed, and determined the staff are to provide the best care possible to 26 very needy children. With your support and their hard work, the fruits of their labour is very evident in the children. Three more of our older children have joined vocational training courses which will enable them to have jobs/careers and become self-sufficient. One is doing computer science, another electrician’s training and the third secretarial training. All of the other children have successfully moved on to the next grade. Our youngest child had just began school in the English medium. When this child was dropped off at six months of age, no one expected her to live.
As we arrived in Sri Lanka, we made our track up the mountains to Central Sri Lanka to visit the children of the 8 families that we support. At first glance you are taken aback by the breath taking scenery but the rain showed us a very different side to life in this region. The drive up and down the mountains on narrow and windy roads was treacherous and where the van could not go, we had to hike to and from the very small homes. Some of the homes were leaking water from the ceiling while in other homes we saw the water soak up the mud walls. No electricity in some homes and in rain like that no livelihood either. What to us seemed unbearable and hopeless!
The children in this region need to make an incredible journey just to get to and from school, studying under lamp light, fathers unsure of where their next meal was coming from, and mothers trying to nurse fevers and asthmatic conditions. These are but a few of the problems. We were overwhelmed by what we saw and heard. So what is the money that we send doing you ask? For our children who are sponsored it means they don’t have to walk the miles on end to school, for our children it means books, uniforms, stationary, school fees and maybe some extra lessons and yes, for our children most times food each day. Education is their way out and our sponsors are providing that for their children. These families all said one thing to us and that was Thank you. Thank you for making a difference that you cannot even understand in the lives of their children. These children get to dream and hope because with their education they can strive to come out of the cycle of poverty that they are in. Thank you because these fathers who are Pastors can focus on their ministry and not worry as much about their circumstances. You helped lighten their load and for that they are ever so grateful.
Part of our goal was to see how we could create self-employment opportunities, what skills were need, what would work in the Central part of Sri Lanka, who would be the right candidates from among the families we already assisted and the members of their congregations as a starting point.. What it costs to live there and what life entails. We are happy to report that we have found some good projects and people to partner them with and we will continue to strive to help these families become self-reliant and in turn bless someone else in need.
As the war in Sri Lanka is over and rebuilding of lives, communities, towns and cities is taking place earnestly, we wanted to be apart of it. We will be teaming up with Assemblies of God Ministries in Sri Lanka in helping build homes in a city called Wanni in Northern Sri Lanka. This will be one of our goals at our fundraising event this fall.
Do continue to uphold these children, families and their communities in your prayers. If you would like to support any RoHI projects, please contact us. Thank you again for your support.
A Ministry of Church on the Rock International