India is facing an accelerating threat from HIV, with more people infected with HIV than any other country in the world. Introduce intense poverty, famine, drought, natural disasters, and malaria, and it is no surprise that there are an estimated 15-25 million orphans in India. The number of children in India orphaned by AIDS alone is approaching two million, according to UN estimates. The impacts of the AIDS crisis have not begun to emerge fully in India, and AIDS-related orphaning is not yet occurring at a large scale. Yet, India has the largest number of AIDS orphans of any country in the world. This number is expected to more than double in five years, and the proportion of orphaned children will remain exceptionally high until 2020 or 2030.
The Grace Academy School is a Christian school that provides much needed education to poverty stricken children in a predominanantly Muslim community just outside the Delhi border in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This slum community, which was settled by migrant laborers from east India and Bangladesh, has no sewage, no proper roads to allow vehicles access to the community and no other necessary facilities. The community is shaped by the Muslim culture, which does not allow girls access to the outside world. As a result, the children in this community do nothing as they grow up, especially the girls who are forced to live in seclusion from the outside world. For the past 12 years, Mrs. Shuvra Masih has been working in this community and has seen great progress; families have gone from living in thatched huts to single brick makeshift houses that they have built themselves. While this community has made great progress, Grace Academy is dedicated to educating the children living in this community so they will be equipped with the tools and skills necessary to break the cycle of poverty in this community.
The Grace Academy currently provides schooling to approximately 280 children through the 8th grade. They have applied for registration with the State education department and are hoping to get accreditation up to 5th grade. In order to get further accreditation, Grace Academy will need to show land and building facilities. Currently, the school operates from a rented facility; however, they have purchased land and are now praying for funding to construct a facility which will serve approximately 500 to 600 kids from nursery school through the 12th grade.
Ministry Opportunities
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Mission trip opportunities for construction and activities with the kids.
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Financial assistance for operations. Muneer needs monies for salaries of teachers and running of the school to provide a quality education for the students who cannot afford to pay for school.
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Financial assistance for building a permanent school, which would allow for more student capacity and long term programs for the children in that community.
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Pray for the leadership of Muneer and the teachers in the school. Pray especially that the Gospel would reach the hearts of these children through the school and the ministry of MuneerWelfare Society.
Santvana Children’s Home is run by Dr. Lalita Edwards and provides residential care and education to 25 children affected with HIV. Forty percent of the children who live in the home are true orphans; the rest come from single parents or situations where AIDS and HIV have affected the family as well as children whose parents work in the Red Light Area (RLA) in Pune. In conjunction with the Santvana Children’s Home, the creche was estabilished to provide evening care to the children of workers in the RLA.
There are approximately 35 children at the crèche from 5 pm to 10 pm, during which time they get to play, receive basic Bible teaching and enjoy learning and singing choruses as well as a snack. As a result of the creche, two young girls have been rescued from the RLA and have found shelter at the Santvana Children’s Home. In an effort to provide a home to 15 more children, renovations will soon be underway at Santvana Children’s Home. Dr. Edwards, who is well connected to the local government offices related to childcare, has been encouraged to apply for the FCRA approval from the government which will enable her to receive funding more easily in the future as the Home expands its ministry.
Ministry Opportunities
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Mission trip opportunities for VBS, construction, evangelism and outings with the children.
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Financial assistance for operations of the home to improve salaries, increase the number of children served and their living conditions.
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Pray for Dr. Edwards, her staff and the children in the home and the RLA. Pray especially for health, encouragement and wisdom in this ministry.
The Elwyn Parekh Home in Anand, Gujarat is run by Mainesh and Snehlata Parmar. This Home provides residential care to destitute and needy girls from nearby village communities. At present there are 12 girls living at the Home. Next month, an additional eight girls will be coming to live at the Home, three of which are orphans.
The Elwyn Parekh Home is currently in the advanced stages of receiving the needed government approvals and licenses to expand. They are now in contact with the local Child Welfare Committee and hope to get the final permissions soon. In addition, they have a goal to extend their care for orphans to include adoption and are seeking the guidance of Orphan Outreach staff to set up and begin facilitating adoptions in the near future. They are also well into the process of getting the needed FCRA approvals, which will make it easier for them to receive more funding. This project is at a very early stage and is looking forward to finding the best ways to help many more orphans and girls from the nearby communities.
Ministry Opportunities
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Mission trip opportunities for VBS and outings with the children.
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Financial assistance for operations to increase the number of girls they serve and improve their living conditions.
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Pray for the Parmar’s as they continue to serve and care for the girls and also for receiving the licenses so they can expand the program.
Suryodaya Charitable Trust is a home which was established to provide residential care and education to 76 boys recently displaced by the anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal, Orissa. The trust was created by a team of like-minded Christians who rallied together when thousands of Christians were driven out of their homes and communities and forced to live in refugee camps. A majority of the people chose to reconvert back to Hinduism to be able to return to their villages; however, a sizeable number of believers remain in the camps, waiting for the situation to revert to normalcy. This however may take years, and until then, these people have nowhere to go. Their children are most affected as they have lost access to education and have lost their homes and livelihood.
The goal of the Suryodaya Charitable Trust Home is to provide care and shelter to the boys displaced by the violence in Orissa.The older boys living in the home have been admitted to nearby schools while the remaining younger boys are being schooled within the facility. In addition to meeting the educational needs of the children, another necessary goal is to locate and reunite sibling and families that were separated during the persecution.
Ministry Opportunities
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Mission trip opportunities for VBS, sports camps, teacher training, and evangelism
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Financial assistance for operations which helps cover costs of caring for the boys
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Pray for the staff caring for the children, for reunification with their families and for the boys as they continue to work through the emotional difficulties of what they experienced during the persecution.
Your commitment to travel with Orphan Outreach allows the children we serve to know they are not forgotten. In ministering to these children you become the hands and feet of Christ and profoundly impact their lives as well as your own.
Your financial gifts to Orphan Outreach will help meet the physical, spiritual, and educational needs of children living in orphanages and substandard situations around the world.
Current Leader - Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh
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Compulsory Education - 6 to 14 years
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Literacy - 73% (male); 48% (female)
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Religion - Hindu (80%), Muslim (14%),
Christian (2%), other (6%)
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India is located in Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan.
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Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area, it supports over 15% of the world's population. Only China has a larger population.
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There are an estimated 35 million orphans (all of sub-Saharan Africa has 43 million). 9% of all children in India are orphans.
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No country can rival India’s children in need. Of India’s nearly 400 million under 18, over 70 million are child laborers, 10 million are bonded laborers (a form of slavery to pay off family debts), 13 million are homeless, 2 million are street children without families.
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There is widespread child abuse, and there is a deficit of 40 million girls because of female feticide — over 20,000 ultrasound clinics thrive on this illegal practice. There are 575,000 child prostitutes and there is a massive trade in Bangladeshi and Nepali girls sold into prostitution.
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Malnutrition affects nearly half of all children under age five.
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The adult literacy rate has a wide discrepancy between males – 73%, and females – 48% (2000-2004).
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Only 59 percent of boys and 47 percent of girls attend Secondary school (1996-2005).
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AIDS has spread rapidly in India and some estimates have said that by 2020 there could be 200 million carrying HIV.
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