| Dear Friends |
March 2006
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| Dear Friends,
We are now building about 100 small houses for people from the lowest castes, in a village called Saruthupatti. These are people who were driven out of the village where they were living by richer people who wanted their land. Their present living conditions are shocking: miserable tiny huts made from coconut fronds hardly 5 feet high and a mere 6 feet by 4 feet on the bare earth with absolutely no facilities like water, electricity, toilets, bathroom, kitchen or furniture of any kind. These are homes for families with at least three children. Things like clothes amount to what they are wearing. Cooking is done outside on 3 stones using various waste materials or twigs that have to be collected. The only source of water will be a solitary handpump for the whole community and one needs to put that in perspective when you consider cooking, bathing, washing what clothes there are, drinking water, etc.. Life is as harsh as it can get. We know these people fairly well. We built a decent small school for their children, some of whom came to school in the minimum of ragged clothes, or none at all in the lowest class. One meal a day would be the norm. Life can be really harsh. |
| I wrote a poem some time ago and would like to share an abridged version of it with you now.
“THE LITTLE ONES CAME LOOKING FOR BREAD AND THERE WAS NO-ONE TO GIVE IT TO THEM . . . . “ (Lamentations 4.4)
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| [The technology of our website means that this poem cannot be laid out as it is on the printed page; but I hope the sense still comes across to you - Editor.] |
| Lord, the poor come to us looking for help,
often needing everything in life.
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| They come, looking for food for their starved bodies;
looking for clothes for their near-nakedness;
needing medicines and so much else;
needing so often, a home, a little place
in which to feel secure.
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| Often we feel the way the apostles must have felt
before the feeding of the 5,000 (see Mark 6:35)
when they faced that great hungry crowd
with a couple of buns and a few dried fish.
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| You knew quite well, Lord, what would happen.
But you did not tell them.
They had to find out for themselves
by trying to do the impossible,
by trusting You,
by going to the 5,000 with almost empty hands;
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| At least, Lord, let us begin to realize
that we can share our love with the poor who come to us.
We can share with them the warmth of the LOVE
which you share with us each day.
We can let them experience kindness and concern.
They must go from us with more hope,
comforted, listened-to, not rejected.
They must go from us feeling better,
feeling more secure,
feeling wrapped around in love . . . .
not spurned, or ignored.
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| Let us begin to believe that you will always fill our hands,
that YOU will always make our little, abundant enough;
that you will use our poor little loaves and fishes
to feed the many.
Help us Lord, to radiate your love,
Let us begin to believe that we can be
“a transparent window through which Your Face shines”.
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| This village of Saruthupatti is very far removed from the affluence one meets in a few large Indian cities such as Bangalore. We know also that the Indian Government spends astrological sums of money buying nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, the very latest military airplanes and all this, and much more, attracts the attention of the developed countries who are claiming that India is now no longer a Third World country. Let us assure you that none of this wealth is evident in the 1,000’s of villages, and we live in such villages, some of which are appallingly undeveloped, neglected and way off the highways of technological or any other kind of progress. Such is Saruthupatti, a remote, forgotten place and now among the many we are helping. |
| 80% of the population of India live in the villages, which are far removed from the glamour and beauty attached to Western villages. They are places to live in from day to day, to survive on whatever small income may be available, which is almost entirely agriculture. And with the long dry months, sometimes even years, there is no work and people somehow live from hand to mouth. I am aware that at such times income per month at best can drop to Rs.1000 a month (£12, $:22), and that for the luckier ones who can find some occasional work. |
| I would like to share with you some of the things we are doing in these poverty-ridden villages to alleviate partly the wretchedness, which is so evident. |
| Every Friday 360 old and sickly people congregate at our centre here to receive their weekly subsistence money – they could not manage more than a week’s money. Some also get 3 substantial meals every day. Some live close by, in rooms which have their own toilet and bathing place and a verandah to sit out on and be part of the village life. |
| A growing number of families receive what we call home sponsorship support up to Rs.1000 (£12 or $:22) a month. In this scheme the children must go to school and we help them to do so. There are 190 families on this and every month it goes up. If you consider 3 children per family and the adults, sometimes a grandparent(s), it will be evident that a large number of beneficiaries are helped in a small way. It is amazing that such little finance can go a long way. £12 a month in the West would be laughable and I would refer you back to my poem. I do trust that the Lord will always use our few loaves and fishes. Every month we have to look around for the needed cash for this programme. |
| And we have yet another subsistence programme for families where the parents are HIV positive, too ill and weak to work and whose children depend still on them. There are 45 such families in our care who receive monthly support. Again remember the 2 or 3 children. Of course they receive whatever medical care is needed and when they can no longer care for the children these can come to us in one of our four Children’s Villages. Very ill parents will be referred to a very fine hospice for terminally ill patients. |
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As I have explained in earlier newsletters, we never refuse admission for children from families affected by AIDS/HIV. Every month the numbers increase but somehow we find a place for them. These are truly the most unwanted of children in the villages. To date we have 240 such children in our full-time care.
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I am always amazed at the many thousands whose lives have been made somewhat better thanks to the constant outreach of Reaching the Unreached
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“Let me begin to believe that you will always fill our hands
that You will always make our little, abundant enough
that you will use our poor little “loaves and fishes”
to feed the many.”
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| Cordially yours, |
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| Brother James
Kimpton |
