Sanctuary Home For Children

Malathi, left, helps the milk woman carry in the milk. The milk woman has one water buffalo, and she goes every morning and evening to Isaac and Mary's house to sell the milk. We drank a lot of delicious hot tea; they boil milk instead of water. Milk in the US is cold, because we refrigerate it; milk in India is warm, because it's unpasteurized an must be boiled. Cereal in warm milk was different, but good.

This woman is a dhobi (washer woman) who often works at Mary's house. She was there on most of the days we were. She washes their clothes on the concrete slab on the right, and hangs them to dry on the roof. Here she is washing dishes. This courtyard is connected to the back of the house.

Kumari, the SH Housemother, fixes the girls' hair in the mornings. Ramya is on the left, Buddu is on the right, and Divya is having her hair combed.

The church building is on Isaac's property, only a few steps from his home. It is an unfinished building. This is the view from the second floor, where the church usually meets. Notice that there is no wall or railing! The thatched building serves as a chicken house, storage area, and garage for the scooters.

This photo was also taken from the second floor of the church building. The tents belong to tent people, also known as outside people, or migrant workers. Some of them come to the church, and some send their children to beg.

These SH girls were following us as we explored and took photos. This was taken on the second floor of the church building. The rooftop on the left is Isaac's house. The girls, from left: Rebakha, Sandyarani, Srilakshmi, Reetu, and Durga. The boy in the background is Mahesh.

From left: Divya, Sandyarani, Srilakshmi, Durga, Reetu, Rebakha.

Amanda and Ellen, both still in pajamas, talking with some of the SH girls. Ellen is an excellent translator; the children only speak a little English. We were only really able to speak with them through translators. Note the broom on the left.

Ellen helped us learn names of the boys, too. From left: Manova, Ch. Gopi, Srinu, Mahesh, and Ramesh. If they would be still and quiet, I might have been able to put names with faces, but they would eagerly tell me their names before I could think of them on my own. It got easier, though, and by the end of the trip, we could identify the children by name on our own.

These stairs need railings! The children are careful, but there's still potential for a tragic accident. Manova is in the green shirt. The girls looking at the camera are, from left, Sandyarani, Durga, and Rebakha.

From left: Ramesh, Manova, Prabhakar, Ch. Gopi, and Mahesh. Ramya is hiding behind Ch. Gopi.

At the front gate to church building, from left: Ramesh, Ch. Gopi, Mahesh, P. Gopi, and Prabhakar.

Ray, Amanda, and Ruth. Amanda is wearing one of Ellen's Punjabi dresses, and Ruth has been dressed up in one of Mary's sarees. Married women wear sarees; unmarried women and girls wear the Punjabi clothes.

At church, we were guests of honor, and were always seated up on the platform in the front. We still took photos, though; these boys are peeking at us from behind a table while they sing. Samson is in the front, Bhima and Solman are on the second row, and behind them are Nagaraju (I think!) and Babblu.

This was taken from the front of the church building, second floor, on a Sunday morning. The SH boys are seated at the front left; I think the girls are about halfway back on the right. The older man standing at the back center sometimes comes forward to shush the boys, or to separate them if they're too wiggly.

Front row from left: Sony, Chamondeswari, Malathi; Second row: Reetu, Durga, Jansi; Third row: Divya, Bhavani, Srilakshmi; Fourth row: Tirapathamma, Buddu. (The girl in pink on the right isn't an SH girl.) Satish is the boy inthe background.

They seem to roam freely, but they all have owners, just like the pigs and goats.

This meal was served to the children and church members after church on the first floor of the church building. In the doorway: Ray, Isaac, and Ruth. Serving food: Jayrao (Mary's cousin). Girls from left: Malathi, Sony, Chamondeswari, Durga, and Jansi.

Servers here are Ruth and Kishore (Mary's brother), and Prabhakar is the boy standing. Other children, from left: Durga, Jansi, Tirapathamma, Bhavani, a visiting preacher friend of Isaac's, and Manova.

Samson and Srinu are looking at the camera, and that's Rambabu standing on the right, but I'm not sure who the boy in yellow is.

Levi, the girl in pink, came with her mother and baby sister. The mother had come many times before to ask that Levi be taken in by SH, because she is unable to feed both of her children.

This hand water pump is just in front of the church building. Tirapathamma is washing her dish; Sathish is pumping water. Bhavani is waiting to wash hers, I think. The small woman in yellow is the dhobi (washer) at SH, and she is holding Jeevanbabu. Kishore is the man on the right.

This woman works washing clothes at SH, and she also spends time caring for Jeevanbabu since he is too young to go to school. He is four.

The children spend time playing in this area just in front of Isaac' house. The boys in the foreground, from left, are: Ramesh, Samson (I think), and Sathish.

Amanda (wearing one of Mary's sarees) and Ruth pose with the children and a sugar cane seller; he's the man with the yellow turban. The small girl in the front isn't an SH girl, so I don't know her name. The other children, from left: Ramesh, Samson, Prakash, Buddu, Sandyarani, Durga, Tirapathamma, Srilakshmi, and Bhavani.

The boys Ruth is posing with, from left: Samson, Babblu, Nagavijay, Pavan, ambabu, and Prakash

Front row only, from left: Ramya, holding a baby, Durga, Malathi, Srilakshmi, Sandyarani, Rebakha, Chamondeswari, Babblu, Pavan, Sambaiah, Nagavijay, and Manova (with the racquet).

The woman at left is Levi's mother; the baby is hers. Some of the tent children are in the background.

I'm not sure why this rickshaw driver was here, but someone wanted to take a photo, and the children wanted to be in it, of course. Jevanbabu is the boy with blue paper in his shirt pocket; the other children were all in the preceeding photos.

Two women are moving their water buffalo. In the background, the white car was ours for the duration of the trip; the driver is standing at the open door.

We saw these structures - houses - in one of the slum areas of Tenali. Everywhere, trash is simply thrown on the ground, and there isn't a good system for disposing of human waste, either.

Isaac took us to several slum areas to distribute food (a nutritious bean paste, boiled eggs, and rolls). The people, especially children, came out and lined up with their bowls or plates.

If a person hits a water buffalo with a car or other vehicle, it is always the person's fault, and the person must pay the owner. The animal can never be at fault, no matter what, because they're only animals. Several times we honked and drove slowly waiting for the buffalo (or pigs, goats, ducks, cows, etc.) to pass.

This girl is the size of an American 9 year old, but I don't know her name or age. We stopped the car to photograph her, very impressed with her balance and strength.

After purchasing the cotton sarees for the widows meeting, we went to see where they're made. These workers can each make about four cotton sarees per week on these looms. The looms sit on the ground, and a hole in the floor has the loom's pedals; the workers sit on the floor with their legs in the hole.

A tug on the tied strings makes the shuttle go back and forth. They work on a contract basis; it's a step up from field labor, but still not a very well-paying job.

Before bed, the SH girls gather on the front porch to sing and pray. They have beautiful voices! The girl at left is Tirapathamma, and those in the front row are Chamondeswari, Sandyarani, and Durga. Along the wall, from left: Malathi, Bhavani, Ramya, Srilakshmi, and Rebakha.

From left: Malathi, Bhavani, Ramya, Srilakshmi, Chamondeswari (rubbing her eye), Durga (in back), Sandyarani, Shirisha, Jansi, and Tirapathamma.

It's almost bedtime. After they sing and pray, the girls go through the door into the front room, where they will sleep.

Ruth poses with the girls before they play. They all look solemn - maybe they've just woken up - but just after this photo they were all laughing and playing. Front row, from left: Rebakha, Malathi, Srilakshmi, Sandyarani, Chamondeswari, Divya, Ramya, and Shirisha. Back row: Jansi, Bhavani, Tirapathamma, Reetu, Durga, and Buddu. They normally sleep in their clothes and change in the morning after playing.

Rebakha and Durga standing by the shoes; Ellen (Isaac's oldest daughter) jumps rope with Jansi; Bhavani and Tirapathamma watch on the right.

These girls are expert skippers and can jump rope for a long time! Ramya especially seemed to be jumping rope a lot.

We joined the girls in their morning play time: jumping rope, badminton, volleyball, and catch.

From left: Srilakshmi, Jansi, Reetu, Buddu, and Shirisha.

Mary came to watch and we threw her the ball. We were using this game to learn the girls' names, saying the name of the person you throw the ball to.

Normally the clothes are washed by the dhobi, but Malathi wanted her new dress washed before she wore it, so she did it herself.

This is where they live and everything they have.

Ray greatly enjoyed playing cricket with the boys, even though he ended up with a fat lip.

Boys from left: Ch. Gopi, Nagaraju, Jevanbabu (I think) in white, Babblu (in pink), and Manova.

This game was played in the field across from Isaac's house. We saw children and men playing cricket matches in fields wherever we went.

Named in the next photo...

Standing, from left: Prabhakar, Ramesh, Rajanikanth (the adult in back), Prakash, Nagaprasad, Navakiran, Ch. Gopi, Ray (adult in back), Mahesh, Samson, Yesubabu, Srinu (looking to one side), Manova, and Kishore (adult at right). Seated, from left: Pavan, Sathish, Nagavijay, Tirumalarao, Nagababu (in white), Babblu, Rambabu, Bhima, Nagaraju, Devaraj (in jeans), Jevanbabu (behind Devaraj), and Solman.

Isaac is on his front porch, wearing the Texas t-shirt we gave him and his lungi (traditional Indian male attire - some wear it all the time, but we only saw Isaac in a lungi for sleeping or baptizing). Note the cell photo - he gets a lot of calls!

Malathi and the Milk Woman