April 2017 was the 2nd graduation celebration program held for Anup Kumar and Shivam after finishing their 12th grade CBSE board exam. Expecting their results to be out soon and would be most likely last week of May. Coming to the final stage of Shivam and Anup Kumar was another milestone for Onesimus ministry again. Sharing life together with Shivam and Anup kumar during the last 13 years was a real blessing, and this will always be a missing in our family.
Starting the Year off at the Centre
In early January ( 9-11th) the Good Word Education Centre ran a three day contact class for the Recognising and Teaching children with Dyslexia 6 month course. We had twenty participants coming from Ooty, Coonoor, Gudalur, Hubli, Chennai and Dharmapuri. Some were teachers and others parents who have children with Learning Disabilities.
We are hoping that some of the trainees will become tuition teachers when they have successfully completed their course.
Community Development Pre-school Holidays Update
The pre-school children went back to their villages along with their parents during the winter holidays from Dec 23rd 2016 to Jan 8th 2017. It is harvest time in some of the villages so a few of the children remained back at home for longer with their parents but we hope that they will come back to school very soon. The pre-school celebrated Christmas and all the children received a small gift and refreshment. It was a meaningful occasion for the children, parents and the community.
Due to severe air-pollution and the onset of winter, some of the children also fell sick and we had to take them to hospital to receive basic healthcare treatment. It is mostly breathing difficulties, lung infections, coughs and colds that affect the children during this time. We are still seeking sponsorships to be able to provide care like this for the children when it is needed.
Winter for Grace Babies
Weather in North India becomes quite cold in winter, sometimes reaching freezing and there is no heat in the hospital buildings so we do a lot of teaching about keeping babies warm. Families are poor and often don’t bring clothes for the baby to the hospital. Hypothermia can even cause death for these babies, especially if they are sick or premature. We have appreciated the warm sweaters, hats and other woollens that have been sent from New Zealand and other places which have made a huge difference for these babies! The hospital staff are thrilled to see them arrive, and the parents so happy! We want to thank you all so much for knitting, transporting, sorting and sending all of these out to the widely scattered places where they are most needed.
Plans for the next few months include a lot of prayer for wisdom on how we can best encourage the hospitals to continue the training program and the implementation of improvements. This would include perhaps fund raising for needed infrastructure like warmers and monitors as well as helping them to evaluate the use of the newly learned protocols.
Vinod's Father
It was difficult to see Vinod's father still in Coma's state, though in one way It was good for Vinod to see his dad while having his breath at the same time.
I met one of the attendant doctor of Vinod's father "saying there might be possibility that his body can accept anti-biotic again and some changes could possibly happen. However to me it sounds only what they hope ," otherwise he only depends on ventilator's support and there is no physical/mental/emotion response I saw. Do kindly remember in prayer.
- Sam
Quick Update
Since June we have been teaching in Mountain Home School in Coonoor - part of a six month course we are doing with the junior school teachers there on recognizing and catering for children with SEN in the primary school.
We are running a teaching children with dyslexia course 11th-13th October and have also started tuitions in Stanes school with the boarder children
Woollens
We would like to thank everyone who is involved in organising, making and bringing over woollens for the Grace Babies project. Around about 50kgs of woollens are to be brought into the office over the next few months. If you would like to get involved in this project in anyway, please contact us. To find out more about this, head over here.
Good Kidz Update
The school gave summer holidays for all children and staff from May 20 to July 3rd and now they all have returned back from their summer vacation. Many children spent a wonderful time with their grand-parents. They all were happy to return to school on 4 th July. 0n 16/7/16, the school arranged a colouring competition for U.K.G, 1, and 2. They all showed their ability. On August 1st to 5th the school had conducted unit test. On 15th August, the school celebrated India’s Independence Day and the children received flags and refreshments along with the staff. It was a meaningful event for the parents and community.
Onesimus Update
Monsoon’s relief: It’s so cool of having the monsoon arrived after having long enough summer heat. It brings great relief as it goes with cold shower time to time and this makes us really feel alive.
Back to school: 4 boys, including Dheeraj Sachin, Sahil. Anup, and Shivam were back to school since beginning of July, and are in regular classes. They are busy to be back in a normal daily schedule, and engaged with lots of study works in the evening.
School starts in August: Vinod and Gospel are preparing to get back to their new academic year at MDIS next week (1 st week of August). Wow! Now Vinod will be 9th grade, and Gospel will be 6th grade. Meantime, it is good to have Vinod’s back this morning from his long summer break up in Shimla. He is tired as he travelled all the way from Shimla down to Delhi, about 11 hrs long road journeys. And this time he came back without his father’s dropping and he made it well, and done great job!.
Ankit: We are glad to hear from Ankit that he finds good college up in Bhimtal, his home town, for him to pursue his engineering course. His admission is in a process and expecting his regular class to begin by mid of August. Now Ankit is with his mother and 2 sisters in Bhimtal.
Shankar: Good to see Shankar finds a friend whom he can share a rented room in same locality where we are. Just a few days back we visited him and he seems to be quite happy about this new changes. Shankar needs continuous prayer supports.
- Sam
Manager's Update
I have had an encouraging time sharing about the work of Good Word Trust in New Zealand.
Sponsors have been able to catch up on the news from the projects they support.
I am still looking for people traveling to Delhi who could carry some baby woolens for the Grace Babies project.