Project Letter: EI-202

Here's another pastor's letter, this time from the center our Sukumar in India attends!

Greetings from our child development center!

I am Ranjit, the partner of the child development center that your sponsored child attends. Our center is situated in a remote village in Jharkhand.

We thank God for sponsors like you who have come forward and strengthened us to transform the community by caring for the impoverished children of our community. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love, prayer, and financial support that enables us to reach out to the needs of Sukumar. Currently, we have 183 registered children in our center.

We are serving among the Malto tribal community who inhabit the Rajmahal Hills of Jharkhand. The Maltos have a strong belief in supernatural powers. Traditionally they are animists. They worship the spirits out of fear by offering sacrifices. They believe their lives are controlled by demi-gods and the ancestral spirits, considered to be benevolent. Witchcraft is practiced widely even today.

The Maltos are economically backward. Culturally, the Malto people are warmhearted, lovers of music and dance, and addicted to wine. Their villages consist of small huts surrounded by trees on a hilltop, which have exquisite flora and fauna. The Malto people depend on forest products for their basic livelihood and are plagued by a number of killer diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, kala-azar, and meningitis.

Before enrolling in the Compassion program, one square meal a day was difficult for the children to have. Through the center, we are able to reach out to many children who have now learned to live a disciplined life. Children observe various national day celebrations that help them to learn about the significance of those events. They are encouraged to dream, make future plans, and set realistic goals to achieve those dreams.

Children are getting opportunities to enroll in professional courses and study in reputed colleges. They are also growing in their faith and sharing it with their parents and siblings. Some of the children have dedicated themselves to become theologians.

Compassion's Complementary Intervention fund provides added benefits during children's development by allowing them access to major health interventions, educational facilities beyond their regular tuition, safe and clean drinking water, vaccination against preventable diseases, and children's park for their recreation.

Awareness programs are scheduled by the program staff to address the issues of illiteracy and child labour. The center makes a huge difference in the lives of the children it serves. Our children don't face the challenges that children their age in the community daily battle with, because they are under our care.

I thank God for the children entrusted in my care because it gives me an opportunity to demonstrate God's love to them. Letter writing also demonstrates God's love to these children. Letters provide a bond between child and sponsor. A sponsor's love and care shows through the words written in letters.

I hope and believe that your prayer and support for Sukumar will not go in vain but produce rich fruits in time. May God fill your heart for the support you have been extending to your child!

If you are interested in sponsoring a boy in India like Sukumar, please consider sponsoring little Karri. He lives with his mom and he has special needs- he is visually impaired. Karri is 6 years old and his birthday is September 16.