Unlike Cain who killed his brother Abel and said, “Am I my brother’s keeper,” (Genesis 4:9), we need to be like John the disciple, who stood at the foot of the cross as a sign of comfort during the painful moments of Jesus. No wonder, Jesus entrusted his earthly mother Mary to him. Miracles happen in our society when we do our responsibilities to our fellow brothers and sisters who are in need.
The harvest (need) is plenty” is what I can say about interior villages in the Sunderban islands. Kids are not able to study properly for lack of good schools. But every good thing has to begin somewhere. So Charis Seva Mandal (CSM) has chosen this particular school to help.
The past visits my husband and I have made to this school have only increased our love towards it. The workers of this school have a high level of commitment. They live in houses similar to the poorly facilitated houses of the school kids. There are eight teachers who are graduates and three non-teaching staff. They do not get paid for their work. The school has no funds because it receives no fees from children. Cyclone “Aila” has devastated both the school building and the houses of the kids. There are 228 children, from class V to class X. Sixty percent are dalit children. They do not have an uniform dress for school. They do not have any mid-day meals program. Fathers of the children work as daily waged labourers and mothers work from homes by making and selling fishing nets.
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| "Aila" affected school building |
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| Poor facilities at school |
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| No wonder Aila swept this village! |
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| Fathers do such jobs |
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| Mothers make fishing nets |
Charis Seva Mandal (CSM) is working towards making the school a government recognized one so that the school can avail facilities from the government. It would also do the following side by side: improve the existing building with an attractive structure and pay a decent salary for the teachers and the staff. Though this appears to be a mammoth task, we know with God all thingsare possible. It is he who brings in human rope holders.
People are willing to pay fees for a well facilitated school. Since computer training centres are a craze in the villages in the Sunderban islands, CSM plans to have a computer training centre in this school which can help the community both in learning and it would also be a source of income to the school. The existing management is willing to give the school in its entirety to CSM. They have accepted to rename the school as “Charis High School.”
Charis Institute of LeadershipExcellence (CILE)
CILE is the training wing of CSM. The second leadership training took place in the NF centre, Dakshin Barasat during 16-18 April, 2011 with thirty participants. Rev Noel Prabhuraj is a proud addition to the resource team of CILE. The following courses had their kick-starts: Old Testament, Prayer and Life-style Evangelism. We had two translators for the three days. The first day training went until midnight! Having worked in West Bengal earlier for nearly ten years I can only say “It’s God’s time for the Sunderban Islands!” The curiosity of the learners was appealing. The way they learnt for the Bible quizzes in the book of Genesis and the gospel of Luke was encouraging. They have now taken homework to prepare for quizzes in the books of Exodus and Acts.
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| April training session by CILE |
Charis Churches
We also visited two house churches in the islands that are in need of a building. The locals have cheerfully donated lands for church buildings. The leaders of these house churches are getting trained through CILE.
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| A Charis house church |
CSM welcomes the readers to suggest ideas through feedbacks, pray for the work at both Charis High School and CILE. You may support the needs in the following ways or even more:
- Support a child in Charis High School for a year for Rs. 6,000.
- Make a one-time endowment to renovate the Aila affected school.
- Donate computers and other school needs.
- Sponsor a monthly CILE's Leadership Training for Rs.20,000.
- Sponsor to build a Church for Rs 300,000.
You may draw your cheques or DD’s in favour of “Charis Seva Mandal” payable at Coimbatore. For more information please feel free to contact us:
God Be With you all
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