April 2, 2020

We are so blessed to have been able to help purchase food to feed the children of Grace Children’s Home and the poor people of India, in particular the Dalits, or “untouchables”. 

An appeal for offerings was posted on Facebook and within a day or two enough offerings came in to enable us to wire money directly to Rev. Cornelius, a Dalit pastor.  (By the way, it took exactly 24 seconds for the money to travel from our bank to their bank in India and it cost us a little over $2 to send it.   If anyone reading would like to know how to send funds overseas quickly and economically, contact us by email and we will provide the information.)

 ~ Rev. Sikila Cornelius & His Church Bag The Food ~

Rev. Cornelius and a group of volunteers from his church went to market the next day and purchased a truck-load of vegetables to be bagged and distributed among the villages.  Just as it is in America, people in India are unable to work because of the lockdown.  However, the Dalits are limited to menial labor, such as house cleaning, street cleaning, cesspool cleaning, and work rejected by others of a “high class”. 

Even when able to work there is barely enough to survive on but it is especially bad when unable to work at all.   Before receiving bags of food, many of the people you see in the photos had not eaten in three days.  You can see the types of housing they must live in:  shacks covered with cardboard or sheets of plastic and thatched roofs.  No running water or electricity.  They are not permitted to drink from the same well as other people but drink where ever they can find water, sometimes in ditches or pools of rainwater.   We are hoping that in time we will be able to provide funds to dig some wells for the Dalits.  

~ Praying For Better Days Ahead ~

For now, we have these photos below.  One thing that I noticed is there are no smiles on the faces of the people even after receiving the food.  This does not mean they are not grateful.  Smiling for a photo is not common in India but I think these people are in a mild form of shock and depression because of the life they have and especially in these extraordinary times.   While we in America panic with thoughts of running out of toilet paper, these poor people of God live from hour to hour with shrinking stomachs and little hope that things will get better.   But God can make a difference and it is through your love and giving that in time, I feel they will learn to smile again. 

God bless you!