In the year 2017, Laymen Ministries India secured a building
and land in the far south-eastern tip of India in the State of Tamil-Nadu.
The facility was designed to be used as a community outreach center, training people from the poor local
villages — youth in computers technologies and women in tailoring and sewing
. The people who had this dream were never
able get the center up and running, and then the sponsor of the project passed away. The building was
offered to Laymen Ministries India, as they knew we are an organization that gets things done!
We immediately turned the facility into an orphanage for boys. Our director for this orphanage is Moses
Samuel,
who himself was raised as an
orphan. He worked his way though school and university, obtaining a business management degree. He had a
desire to help orphans as he had been helped. He had 25 years experience as an orphanage manager before
coming to work with us. He and his wife, Sonna
, along with a few paid helpers, set out to make this a model orphanage in the
State of Tamil-Nadu — and it is!
We began with orphaned boys first, as there were a number that were turned our direction as soon as we
started talking about opening our facility. We are not allowed to mix boys and girls in the same facility,
so only boys are housed right now. Our building first needed some remodeling to accommodate orphans, passing
very rigorous inspections from the government. The location
was wonderful as it was on acreage and in the country.
Much of this remodeling took place in 2017 when we opened, and also later in 2018. We added a 2nd
story to the building
with living areas,
a nice cafeteria and kitchen, indoor toilets (we had problems during rainy season with cobras showing up at
night in our outdoor toilets!) and dorm rooms. Plans are currently in the works for adding another building,
with cafeteria, kitchen and dorm for girls only. These plans are temporarily on hold due to the COVID-19
shutdown throughout India. The campus also has a small church
on it and people from the nearby villages come here to worship on Sabbaths
with the children.
There are currently 17 orphan and semi-orphan boys
in our “home”. Semi-orphans have one living parent who is not in
a position to care for the child — often due to mental illness, poverty, or abuse of the children. Some of
our boys have come from basically terrible situations.
The children receive a great Christian education at a nearby Christian school. A small mini-van
transports the children every morning and
evening. We really need a bigger van-type vehicle as we can only get 17 children in our van (packed in,
BTW!). This will become essential when we add on the girls’ facility. As it stands now, if we took in one
more boy we would have a problem getting them all to the school, which is about a 12-mile drive one way.
Local tutors come by the orphanage regularly and teach music lessons
and other skills. We also raise chickens and goats and have a large garden to
help support the children and to teach them responsibilities. They all do their part to make the “home” like
a real home! This kid are fed a a wonderful healthy diet and since they live in India they often get
to eat outside!
We want to thank you for helping these children. If you could spend time with them, I know your heart would be touched. Their stories are very sad, but now there is hope and they wear smiling faces. There are many challenges with taking a boy off the street and gaining his trust us, in helping him to understand the rules, and to really see what we are trying to do for him. When that light comes on, you can see it in each boy’s face!
Orphanage Costs:
• Individual orphan support: $100/month;
• Orphanage general expense: $1,200/month;
• Orphanage staff: $500/month
