India Hyderabad

February 2010 Part one

compassion 4 kids international  

Written by Joseph Burke

►Learn About Street Children

On February 1, Joe left for Hyderabad, India. The first stop was in Houston, Texas and then a 9.5 hour flight to Frankfurt Germany. Leaving on February 2, he flew onto Hyderabad, India arriving at 1:00 AM,  a 10 hour flight. Joe is met by Solomon Raju Poju who took him to the hotel to get some sleep.

Solomon is the director of 130 churches, an IBC College, and a children's home. On the 4th we start our trip to visit a number of places. We initially stop at his father's house, visit a couple of churches and then onto two churches that Joe gives a Bible study. Then onto the children's home that Solomon also grew up. The children saw us coming and immediately went running to the others to announce our arrival.

They were kind of surprised as Joe got out of the car, being white and 6 foot tall. But they were full of smiles and happily jumping all around.

The building in front is an old church with flat rock slabs for the floor as seen in these pictures. The building is the sleeping area for the boys who use a woven mat to sleep on.

The older girls use an open fire place in a small room behind the church for cooking their breakfast and other meals. Rice is the main food item for the meals along with a hot sauce that they slowly mingle in with the rice.

When anyone uses the building, there are no chairs or pews to sit on. They enter without shoes on and when they leave they find their own shoes.

Below, behind the girls to the left are the boys mats for sleeping and are placed here after waking up and stored along the wall. This is done so that they can use the open floor for their eating area and later, Bible study and singing.

The sauce has different vegetables cooked in it. Sometimes there is some meat that is also mixed into it. Then they kind of make a small ball with their fingers and pop it into their mouth. When the meal is over, there is not many things to wash as there was no eating utensils used. Just need to wash their hands and aluminum dish and it is all done except for the pans the meal was cooked in.

In the evening, after the sun goes down, they have a Bible study and do some singing. Their only musical instrument is a drum that one of the boys use to keep the beat going. They sing with enthusiasm and joy in their voices as the volume grows for the many minutes that they let the neighbors know of Jesus.

Behind the church to the left is a 4 bedroom house where the girls use one bedroom for their sleeping area. They house is where the "mother" lives. Her and her husband started the children's home in 1978. They have had as many as 40 children. Her husband died a few years ago and so as the children leave the nest, none are added as the mother is now in her early 70s.

Solomon is now looking for a new mother to oversee the kids as their mother. The mother's two sons also died in the last 4 years leaving her to tend the children along with one young woman that helps during the day.

Solomon, as said before, oversees the IBC College. He is planning to move the children's home to the property the college is on. This is a large cost and would love to have you get involved to help make the move. Moving the home to the college property will save the cost of purchasing high priced property.

We, at Compassion 4 Kids International, want to help them do this for it will give them a better facility and also will cut down the driving for Solomon as it is a 4 hour drive from his home to where the home is at. The move will cut the travel time to less than an hour.

This is where you come in to help. With a lot of you supporting C4KII we will be able to make this happen at a low cost of $7,000 to $10,000. The new home will be housing up to 110 children (now 26) and also accommodating  rooms for up to 6 visitors or volunteers. It will be a 2 or 3 floor facility with sleeping rooms, modern bathrooms, and along with a large meeting area used for training and eating along with a modern kitchen. Your gift support of $25 or more will help us fulfill this move monthly or larger one time gifts. Monthly support will continue to raise the funds needed to do this as soon as possible.

Once open, you are welcome to come and visit these wonderful children.

As it is completed, we will have the smaller projects of bed, tables, eating and cooking house ware, chairs, tables and so much more. As the items are identified, it will take more and more of you to make this happen. We may try to use a tent complex system if others believe this will work. Whatever the method, we need your support to start now.

When we obtain enough support to start, we will be asking for volunteers to help with the construction so you can get involved, hands on. If you may consider it, please email us at volunteer@compassion-4-kids-int.org for more information.

Do not hesitate, email us at supportthekids@compassion-4-kids-int.org. We will answer all your questions and give you the forms and information so you know what your support will be doing.

As of this date we accept checks or money orders. To send support right away you can go to our contact page and you will be given information for how to make out the check or money order and the address you send it.

We thank you for you consideration and hope you choose to help street children.

compassion4kids@compassion-4-kids-int.org