| Alpha Care Update: Mumbai, India |
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A Small Beginning  We began our first Alpha Care Center in Mumbai, India this past February with 11 children taken from the slums of Mumbai. Although only a few months into this year we wanted to let you know about the progress in Mumbai. We constantly are amazed by the goodness of God in meeting every need. When we opened this new Alpha Care Center we didn’t even have enough money to purchase the food to feed the children let alone to pay the rent, hire a teacher, purchase teaching materials, school uniforms, school supplies, cooking utensils and pots and pans, etc. Yet we felt the time had come to trust God and move forward. Well it’s been 4 months now and each month we’ve been surprised to see how God provides. For example watching God move in the heart of a local Indian businessman who purchases school uniforms for all the children in our Alpha Care; then watching in amazement as another businessman contacts our Director, Olem Jamir, and presents him with funds to help with the set up cost of the Alpha Care – the purchase of the needed educational materials, school supplies, teaching aids, and equipment and utensils for preparing meals for the children; and then just last week Olem called from Mumbai excited to tell me of a meeting he had with an old friend who was in town for the weekend and heard about what he was doing through Crossroads and felt compelled to give to the Alpha Care Program. Over coffee at a local McDonalds (yes there’s McDonald’s in India, and Baskin Robbins, and Pizza Hut, and Pappa Johns, Domino’s, Subway, and TGIF Friday’s) this friend plopped down 2,000 Rupees for the Alpha Care Program with only the explanation that he felt compelled by God to do something. When we began planning this Alpha Care Center Olem had the idea of broadening our program beyond feeding the children, providing them with medical attention, an education, and spiritual instruction. Olem wanted to take the dirty and ragged clothes slum children often are clothed in and have them mended and washed while the children were attending the Alpha Care program each day.  He also wanted to provide a means for each child to shower before starting "school" each day, washing away some of the filth of the slums. This way they’d be sent home clean and in washed and mended clothing (children change into their school uniforms once they arrive at the Alpha Care Center). A practical way of addressing some of the diseases and sicknesses slum children are exposed to daily and a symbolic act of what Christ is doing by washing away their sins and healing their sickness. A great idea. The only thing standing in the way was the lack of funds for a washer. But as God will do He moved on the heart of someone who then provided the funds for the washer. As I said it’s only been 4 months since we opened our fist Alpha Care Program in Mumbai but already we are amazed by what God is doing. Moving beyond the confines of the Alpha Care Program we are working with this local church in building bridges to the families of these children, bridges which will in turn lead to conversations about Christ, faith, and the offer of prayer. Our desire is to be Christ’s hands extended to a lost world through acts of compassion coupled with an unrelenting presentation of the gospel of Christ and each individual’s need of salvation – child and adult. We like to call this compassionate evangelism. Our goal is simple - touch a heart, open a mind. For a Crossroads Alpha Care Program isn’t about miraculous provisions or gaining an education; it’s not about being a philanthropist or engaging in humanitarian efforts; it’s about changing lives! That begins by bringing the gospel of Christ into each child’s life and their parents lives too. We do that by acting compassionately addressing the practical needs of their lives with things like food, clothing, and an education for their children while at the same time presenting Christ and the gospel message. Beyond our partnership in the Alpha Care Program Crossroads is working with this local church in developing additional ministries which take us into the communities where these children live. Doing so gives us multiple avenues for presenting the gospel. In the brief stories below Olem Jamir, our Crossroads Director in Mumbai introduces you to two of the slum children whose lives are being changed through your gifts to the Alpha Care Program. After you read their stories our hope is that you will join us in lifting these children, and the other 9, up to our heavenly Father in prayer, trusting that one day soon we will hear them call him Father too. Story of Roopa  Roopa is five years old and comes from a Hindu family. Until a few months ago Roopa had spent her whole life living, growing, and playing in the dusty, sewage strewn ìstreetsî of one of Mumbai’s more notorious slums. There isn’t any ìSlumdog Millionaireî story here or any Hollywood producers who will come along and ìrescueî Roopa from the surroundings, smells, noise, disease, and violence of her life in the slums. That’s left up to people like you and me – concerned Christians who understand the Great Commission – ìGo into all the world and preach the good newsî {Mark 16:15} is joined with the Great Commandment – ìlove your neighbor as yourselfî {Matthew 22:39}. Her parents are not able to provide Roopa a home, food, or medical attention for her let alone an education. When Crossroads International met Roopa she didn’t even speak, not that unusual in the slums of Mumbai where children often suffer neglect and abuse. Now after four months she is slowly picking it up. She is enjoying the education she is receiving and also enjoys praying with her teacher in English. One day to the surprise of her teachers she was found sitting on the floor studying the newspaper and looking at it with great interest as if she could read it. It is amazing to us how hungry these children are to learn when given the opportunity and we at Crossroads are honored that we can be a part of fulfilling God’s purpose for these children. Story of Padma  Padma is a four year old girl Crossroads found living on the bustling streets of Mumbai. Being cute and adorable Padma was sent by her parents each day to beg for food and money for the family in the dangerously traffic clogged streets and roadways of Mumbai dogging cars, buses, and motor bikes. This is a familiar sight in Mumbai. Children sent to beg, choking on the exhaust fumes amplified by the extreme heat of Mumbai, peering into the windows of stopped cars hoping for a handout of some sort. It’s not unusual to see children as young as 3 or 4 begging, racing between cars stopped by the traffic light, with a younger sibling straddled to their side. These children not only have to beg in hopes of eating at the close of the day they must care for their younger brothers or sisters while they do it. There are no daycares to drop these children off at; if there was there be no money to do so. That’s where a Crossroads Alpha Care comes in. When Padma first arrived at the Alpha Care Center she was very quiet, overwhelmed by her new surroundings and dressed in clean clothes. We were worried if she would be able to adjust to a school environment, after all she only knew the streets of Mumbai. After four months we have seen an amazing change in her. She is very active and eager to answer every questioned asked in class. What’s even more exciting is that her parents have also witnessed a change in her personality and happiness too and no longer force her to spend her days begging on the streets of Mumbai. Looking back over the last few months we are reminded of what Padma was like when she first came to the Alpha Care Center but today this little girl is speaking and receiving the education and spiritual formation she so desperately needs to pull herself out of a future that otherwise will go no further than the slums of Mumbai, India. Join in praying with us about: • Our largest donor to the Alpha Care Program for India has fallen on hard times and cannot continue to support this program monthly. I’d appreciate it if you would pray that God, who is our supply, will make up for this shortfall of $350 per month in new ways. • We want to and need to expand the number of children we can include in the Alpha Care Program in India. We have room for 25 (14 more kids) but simply cannot afford to add them. We have all the equipment, teaching materials, and teachers for the program but not the money for food. So pray with us regarding this. • Pray for inroads into the lives of these children’s parents; inroads that open for us an opportunity to present the gospel. • Pray against the poverty and abuse these children are exposed to daily.  For more information or to see how you can help contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
