Each Bethesda Children’s home is literally the story of champions… living examples of courage, determination, resilience, selfless sacrifice… these homes house amazing stories.
Sadly there are thousands of utterly destitute children in Indian cities, and some suffer an untimely end. The children in the homes are survivors, they have hung on and by God’s grace been rescued to a new life. Here is one story from the Cuttack home…
Chandan Sabar is a 10 year old boy whose father died when he was 5 years old. After the death of his father, his mother left home and left the poor child to fend for himself. He had nowhere to go and no one to look after him. He roamed in the village and used to starve for days at a stretch. Seeing the pitiable condition of the boy, one the villagers who had heard of the Bethesda boys home brought him in. Today he is happy that he is part of a loving family and a bunch of friends. He is very happy here and is doing very well in school.
The key to the success of any home is of course the House Parents, who give of themselves generously and consistently to love and care for these boys.
Pastor M C Varghese and his wife Annie have been house parents at the home in Cuttack since its opening. They used to visit a tribal place called Kandhma, Orissa to bring help to the community from their church. During one of their visits, the condition of the children really impacted them and they wanted to help the children. At this time, founder of HFI, Dr Abraham was also praying about starting an orphanage in the State of Orissa. M C and Annie informed him about the condition of the children and they agreed to found the boy’s home in Cuttack to meet the urgent need. M C Varghese and Annie are also pastors of the local church in Cuttack and manage the community centre which operates in conjunction with the boy’s home.