Year: 2009

Today we made our way to the children of lepers home on the outskirts of Chennai. This amazing place is home to 34 children whose parents live in various leper colonies in the region. We were shocked to hear that in the state of Tamil Nadu alone there are 54 leper colonies. If these kids stay in the leper colony

The weekly medical clinic in the slum is the only health care many of the people there will receive. Men & women line up to see the nurse each Thursday evening. The R&R; staff provide the weekly clinic in addition to the other ways they help in this place. As Streams of Mercy staff we feel so privileged to work

One of our team members, Donna, met a lovely lady who lives right next to the preschool. She has 2 small daughters who attend the preschool, and a little baby who is 15 months old. Her little baby sleeps in a fabric cocoon hanging from her hut ceiling. It’s good she has this net type bed for her baby, since

We were quite a spectacle as we walked down the dusty road through the automobile parts market on our way to the Hut slum, home to over 6,000 people who live in utter poverty. The people were rounded up from the streets of Chennai by the authorities and relocated to a run down zoo area. They live in tiny rented

From Asha home we drove to the GS home in Lonavala, where many of the little ones eventually will transition to. GS Home is home to 130 kids and has been in operation for 12 years. Today we met some terrific kids and saw the results of years of being in a loving, stable, family environment. One of the first

A little after noon we walked in a tiny apartment where 9 sets of big brown smiling eyes peered up at us. The Asha home (house of hope) is the first step toward transitioning little ones from living on the streets to eventually landing in a permanent childrens’ home. The amazing staff, the joy in the kids faces and the

One of the dreams of Comforter team is to teach trades to young people in the red light district so they can have an alternate way of earning a living. One of the team members is very gifted in the Indian art of Mehndi. Henna (natural dye) is applied to the skin and worn for special events like a wedding

From the red light district we drove to the Comforter Childrens home, which is home to 27 kids (some are HIV+ and some are not). Dr. Ed is the director of both the project in the red light district & the Comforter home. She’s not just taking in kids who have no one else & giving them shelter, but she

Shocking doesn’t even come close to describing the red light district of Pune, India. In this tiny neighborhood there are about 6,000 prositutes. In the entire city there are an estimated 200,000. We wondered how do these young men & women get trapped in this terrible lifestyle. It was disturbing to hear that often times a father or brother will