Bethel Community Church is connected to Home of Love, an orphanage for girls only, through Martin Alphonse (http://www.multnomah.edu/bio/martin-alphonse/), a native of India. Dr. Alphonse is a professor of Intercultural Studies at Multnomah University, Portland and the founder of Home of Love, now in it's 20th year (established 1993) of providing a loving home and education to the poor and most under protected class of India...girls.
There are currently 87 girls, ages 5-18, residing full time at The Home of Love (http://www.homeofloveindia.com). So aptly named Home of Love, girls, that are either orphaned or from parents who are too poor to care for them, are given a place that is safe, nurturing, loving and Christ centered. Daily the girls attend school, younger ones on site and upper grades take a bus to school. Unlike most orphanages, when the children turn legal age they are not turned out to fend for themselves, they have college to look forward to, financially provided by Home of Love. While we were there young women who were raised at Home of Love and graduated into college were there. Their love of the younger girls and gratitude for the opportunities given to them at Home Of Love is evident by their commitment to return and serve as volunteers and even as graduates from college as teachers in the school on site, Providence Residential Academy.
The motto of Home of Love is "How do you change the culture of 1.2 Billion people? The answer is simple and yet so profound...One Girl At A Time." India is being transformed. Girls are rescued from abject poverty since their parent is not able to meet basic needs for food, water, shelter, sanitation and health care. America has been transformed too. Our team got the privilege of being God's hands and feet to these precious girls. Now we know them by name. Their beautiful black-eyes and happy giggles will forever be etched on our hearts. They are growing up as strong, confident women knowing that they are of value to God and to us. James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
None of us had ever been to India before. Seeing the poverty, filth, masses of people and the lawlessness all around was shocking to our senses. I came away with a renewed understanding of God's ways, expressed in The Lord's Prayer..."Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us."
Smack dab in the middle of all the chaos is a 9 acre plot of land, protected by a high wall, broken glass cemented onto the top, a gate and a security guard. The streets outside the fence were strewn with piles of rubble, trash of all sorts: bottles, bricks, broken cement, cans, human waste, rotting food, cows, dogs and birds feeding on the left overs. Buses filled to overcapacity, industrial trucks, thousands of motorcycles, bicycles, auto-rickshaw's everywhere, and Mercedes Benz' mixed in with people walking along side and dashing across traffic like the "running of the bulls" in Spain. Honking! Everyone honking! Yet, in the midst of it all is a small haven.
The gates open up and beckon us to enter. A peace not known outside the wall is immediately evident as we drive down a tiny dirt lane lined with little white bricks well placed in the land, pointing us toward a spot up ahead where a group of little girls await our arrival. There they are, the little ones we have been praying for, for months. Who is more excited, them or us? It is mutual. We unloaded one by one from our hired van and each one of us were enveloped by little arms and big smiles, some a bit shy but curious about this group of Americans that have come to spend nine days with them. Neatly dressed in their school pinafores, hair pulled back in a pony tail, clean, well fed, healthy and happy girls. Where God rules his kingdom is present. God's ways rule at Home of Love. There was peace, love, joy, security, cleanliness, order. God's kingdom in India, God's will being done by caring for the orphan. God's spirit ruling: 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
In the Hindu religion, with 83% of the population identifying itself as Hindu , what you did in a former life is either reward or punishment in this life. Little girl orphans must have been very bad. They deserve their lot in life...NOT according to the love, grace and forgiveness provided through Jesus Christ and his substitute sacrifice for us. God forgave us. His kingdom of forgiveness says these little girls need to be looked after in their distress. Forgive one another. In the cast system if you did something bad in this life you are rejected by your family and society and you become an untouchable. Untouchables sleep in the gutter and on the sidewalks. There is no forgiveness for their sin from their gods or their family. But in God's Kingdom in Heaven and here on earth there is forgiveness. Eighty-seven precious little girls, made in God's image, are living life in a place where God's Kingdom rules. A vast contrast to that outside the walls. "But Jesus said, 'Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.' "" Matthew 19:14
Thank you, Lord, for your Heavenly Kingdom come to us in Jesus Christ.
The main street outside the YWCA compound.
A street scene: a woman selling window shades walking between the trucks, cars, motorcycles and our van.
See the beauty, order and peacefulness of Home of Love. An oasis in the midst of chaos.
This is 14 year old Keerteka. She danced a traditional Indian dance in full dress for us.
Beautifully graceful. She also translated for me as I taught the littlest girls.
I left my heart in Chennai...this is 5 year old Roshini who is brand new to the Home of Love.
She did a lot of sign language because she is from a different state with a completely different language.
But love, hugs, giggles and singing crosses all barriers.
She calls me Mom.
In fact, she gave me the flower that morning upon my arrival.
I had the privilege of teaching God's word with a translator into Tamil.
Arts and crafts. See the reflection of her love for Jesus as she draws the cross within the heart.
