Sanctuary Home For Children

At the sewing machine shop in Tenali, we purchased treadle machines for training purposes at SH. The man in the cap is the shop owner; Isaac is the other seated man, and the tall man is Isaac's tailor, who came along to advise us. The brand of machine is Usha.

The big building in the center is the church building, and just to the right of it is Isaac's house, and then a neighbor's house. The concrete walkway runs along a ditch, and the children walk along it for about 5 minutes to get to SH. We were walking that route.

We arrived at SH as the children were preparing to go to school.

The school is very close. I'm not sure why some aren't wearing the uniforms.

Devaraj is going to school; the entrance can be seen in the top center of the photo. Every day before school he asks for one rupee, a matter of much amusement to the staff. Without his rupee, he doesn't want to go. When we asked, he said he liked to buy himself a chocolate.

These four boys are the new ones. Because it was near a holiday, they weren't enrolled in school until the following Monday. When the other children left for school, Ruth took these boys to hear a Bible story and do some art work with her.

This was the morning of the first day of their new lives - with food, safety, and education - and so much more.

These girls didn't need to be reminded to do their chores, and we never heard them complain. They're on the roof of Isaac's house, folding their clean clothes to be put away. From left: Rebakha, Durga, Divya, Levi, Sandyarani, Reetu, and Ramya.

The boy on the left had been abandoned by his mother. The man who found him in a train station knew of SH and brought him there. Because the man wasn't his legal guardian, Isaac couldn't accept him without potentially getting in big trouble. The boy struck up a relationship with Babblu, who told him no problem, there's plenty of room. Later, the boy asked, "If you won't feed me, could I at least sleep here?" The unfortunate answer was no. Isaac gave the boy enough money to be returned to his mother (in another town), and said that if she could bring him, then he could stay.

Rajanikanth cut up some goa fruit for the children. He is a splendid warden and the kids love him.

Rickshaws arrived that afternoon with the new sewing machines. They'll have a corner in Isaac's house until a space is made for them in the next door building - a future sewing learning center for the children.

Monkey in Telugu is koti, and we saw a troupe of them on the road between Tenali and Vijayawada. I think they're rhesus macaques.

Movie posters are everywhere, and Isaac stepped into this photo just before I snapped it - just to be funny. Strangely enough, we kept seeing posters for the Ben Stiller Museum movie mixed in with the Bollywood films.

In Vijayawada, after speaking at a church, we visited the preacher's house. The preacher is Isaac's nephew (I think); this is his family.

Shanti is the house cleaner at Isaac and Mary's; every day she sweeps and mops the entire house, among many other things.

The dog in the background is named Tiger.

Ruth met up with one of the widows at a church meeting, and was delighted to see that she had been using the oil pastels and paper.

There is no oven, no microwave, no toaster, no mixer or blender. They have a small second hand fridge, but it can't really be relied on since the power goes out every day for a time. Notice the stove: two gas burners; the fuel is in a metal tank like a propane tank, and the pipe comes through the wall. Each house is allotted a certain small amount of fuel per month, and excess fuel must be purchased on the black market.

Notice the closeness of the neighbors.

It's a good place for hanging up clothes and changing clothes.

The women have just received New Year's gifts of sarees.

While we conducted interviews with the children, they sat, talked, used their art supplies, and watched Jeevanbabu playing with a ball.

Kishore is Mary's brother, and two of his other siblings (Anil and Rajanikanth) work for SH. He is often around, helping. He is also an artist - he makes detailed impressions on paper using his fingernails.

In the background, Ray and Amanda interview a child; Rajanikanth translates.

Each of the older children helps to care for Jeevanbabu. They play with him, hug him, and watch him carefully.

The interviews took quite a long time. We asked each child their age and grade, what subject they liked to study, what games they liked to play, and how we could pray for them. We also asked if they could tell us about themselves. Then it all had to be translated.

Rajanikanth, Isaac, and Ellen took turns helping to translate.

Our final night included a marvelous skit by the children. The dancing girls are Levi, Malathi, and Ramya. They're dancing before King Herod (Anil) who is seated behind them with his guard on the left (Mahesh) and wise men on the right: Nagaprasad (I think!), Rajesh, and Ch. Gopi.

The boy tending the sheep is Prakash (I think!). The sheep are Pavan and Babblu. The shepherds are Srinu, Ramesh, adn Prabhakar. They did a great job!

The only adult in the skit - which was excellently written by the SH staff - was loudly applauded by the children when he entered the scene.

These little sheep knew all eyes were on them, and they Baa-ed continuously right through the group photo after the skit was over.

Front row: Babblu and Pavan (sheep), Rajesh, Ch. Gopi, and Nagaprasad (wise men), Reetu and Jansi (Mary and Joseph). I'm not sure about the shepherds, but I think they are Solman, Ramesh, Srinu, and Prabhakar. I believe the boy with the sheep is Prakash. Manova, in black, was Satan. The angels are Chamondeswari and Divya. Girls in the back center are Levi, Malathi, and Ramya (dancers) and Sandyarani (innkeeper). Anil and Mahesh were Herod and the guard. The boy on the far left is Isaac's nephew. The other adults, who helped a lot, are Jayrao and Kishore. I'm not sure which child is wearing the pink headdress.

Sunita is only eleven years old, and near death due to AIDS. We met her an a home for street girls and HIV girls. She smiled when she saw her own face on my camera screen, and then I took her photo again.

Mary is the principal's assistant at a large university in Tenali. She works full time.

Buying Sewing Machines