The heat wave across most of North India - including Calcutta - has made life very uncomfortable to say the least. And there seems to be no respite in the near future according to the meteorologists. We are sustaining ourselves by drinking gallons of water...and there's a mismatch between demand and supply of cold drinking water dispensed from our refrigerator!

The boys and girls are attending a week-long Summer Bible Camp (daily) at the St. Paul's Cathedral Church from yesterday and there's a Grand Finale we are looking forward to on Saturday. These few days are providing them with the opportunity of interacting with other students from different Churches and schools besides engaging in creative activities and learning.

Anupam has been released from the government sponsored home and his folks have been pleading with us to make some arrangements for his stay and upkeep. Please pray for wisdom, guidance and God's leading!

And before I forget to mention, besides water, one big crush the children have this hot summer in Calcutta is a almost daily, routine diet of ICE-CREAM!

Ruth, Salomi and Moses - all the three who appeared for their High School (Indian Council of Secondary Examinations) graduation examinations in March this year (bang in the midst of all the turmoil) passed their exams successfully, results for which were announced yesterday! We rejoice with them for their achievement. Nothing very special probably for boys and girls from 'normal' family background...but these young people are special, coming from non-literate families with their fathers killed in two separate brutal murders...they have indeed come a long way from the poverty-stricken children we had taken in almost 10 years ago!

This morning all of the Hope Home Calcutta present family were able to go to the St. Paul's Cathedral for Sunday service (we have been going there regularly for the past five weeks)...they have a lovely lawn and flower garden. The Victoria Memorial Hall is just across the street and all of us indulged in ice-cream treat after Church! Leah, as usual enjoyed the most! We thank God for providing us with the Vehicle and we often end up squeezing in 10 people in our van :-(

Calcutta has been 'burning' with very high temperatures (highest in over a decade) and it often touches over 110 degrees (F) with a near 'perfect' 100% humidity...wouldn't advice anyone to make a visit to the Hope Home Calcutta or the city in the next few weeks of vaporizing climate!

Schools are closed for summer vacation and we are trying to engage everyone in various creative activities.

One of the biggest news is that we were able to make contact with Ranjit (Jonah) and Rohit (Noah)'s eldest brother and other relatives and they would all go to the authorities to appeal for their release from the government sponsored homes.

Continue to pray for our necessary license(s). God can do a miracle and intervene in 'impossible' situations and melt even the hardest of hearts!

Not much 'action' the past two days... we have been spending most of the time to settle down all the boys and girls, take stock of our inventory-both in the kitchen and also of all the clothes, personal items, bed sheets and pillow covers...much of the things were in disarray over the past two months and with Sumila and Grace taking charge of the upkeep of the Hope Home, things are both being streamlined and also organized. I truly thank God for our 'home-grown' staff...Peter, Ruth, Grace...it's amazing to witness their commitment and passion to the cause of the Hope Home Calcutta.

We were also able to take a van-load of people to the Sunday morning worship Service at St. Paul's Cathedral yesterday morning (an additional taxi was also necessary). One of our ex-residents, Santu (Samuel) also joined us. In the evening, we had our first 'full-house' gathering for our own time of praise and worship at the Hope Home!

Calcutta is hot, extremely hot at present with temperatures over 105 and a near 'perfect' 100% humidity! A couple of the children have heat rashes and Leah has developed a couple of boils on her face and legs...please pray for protection, health and God's grace.

Ooooooooppppsss...I almost forgot...Rachel made contact with us last night and mentioned that she had a fight with her family, brothers and relatives and want to come back to us soon. She has been resisting them since her release from the government welfare home on April 16 and has been subjected to physical and emotional torture by her family members, especially her brothers. We are not sure what would happen over the next few days....but please pray that God would intervene and Rachel would be allowed to return to us soon...

Leah arrived back last Friday along with Kezia and Leah's two older sisters, one of whom would be on staff at the Hope Home Calcutta assisting us in the everyday operations. It is difficult to comprehend that of the seven brothers and sisters in this family, none has ever studied beyond the third grade. As soon as they are 'old' enough - say around seven years old, they are herded to the fields to assist the older folks in working in the fields.

The Hope Home Calcutta family even arranged a cake-cutting celebration to celebrate her return! At 2 years 6 months, she probably suffered the most at the government sponsored welfare home for three weeks. Most of the children and staff present here were in tears (of joy) in seeing her.

We were all able to attend the Sunday services at the St. Paul's Cathedral last Sunday and it was a great experience to be all together. I ended up driving the van as our part-time driver failed to show up  -an usual occurrence in Calcutta :-( 

Sumila returned back with Lum and Joel on Monday. She suffered much as the government authorities refused to release her although she is an adult and on staff at the Hope Home - a gross violation of human rights in India. We have been advised to file a legal complaint against the welfare department authorities but then I am not too keen of unnecessary litigation that could complicate matters further...

We did have a mini-celebration in the evening and cut two chickens in-house for the feast. As the boys and girls and staff began to share their experiences over the past two difficult months, many of them wept while thanking God for His goodness, grace and mercy in bringing them back to the family. Our hearts go out for Ranjit (Jonah) and Rohit (Noah) still in the welfare homes for boys and without schooling and education. I am completely dumbfounded in the attitude of this particular government department in denying the boys the fundamental right to education...please do continue to pray...

Had a wonderful time meeting up with Benjamin (Lum), Kezia, Sumila, Naomi and Leah's sister in Dimapur yesterday...and the journey back to Calcutta was nothing short of being an epic! At the end of the day, there's hope and a future for four more children and a few more to come next week...amidst all the opposition, God has filled the hearts of people at the Hope Home Calcutta with joy!

At the airport in Calcutta on my way to Nagaland...in a couple of hours we meet up at the center of Dimapur city - Lum, Kezia, Sumila, Anjali, Lydia and Leah! Wow! part of the Hope Home Calcutta family meeting up in the North-East of India. Guess mobility and flexibility is the key to survival when there's so much going against you!

For the past two days, I have been able to meet up with some of the members of the community nearby the Hope Home and everyone keeps telling us why such evil was planted against the Hope Home that affected the children so severely. It is difficult to assess the motive(s) of all those who were involved including an ex-resident and an ex-staff (whom we were gracious to retain even after several complaints of physical and emotional abuse were reported against this individual). It is a challenged to guide everyone present at the Hope Home now to stay focused and look forward to the task ahead and not to seek retribution/revenge on those two individuals. We still have two boys under the social welfare department and want them to be released first before even contemplating any legal action - that is if we at all decide to go ahead (I am very reluctant).

We need prayers as three more of the Hope Home children resume schooling after almost seven weeks! We also need more local families to open up their hearts and homes and offer to house some of the children over the next few months.

Thank you all who have sent in notes of encouragement and help and prayers. We are blessed. In a little while, I hope to post a bunch of new photographs with a fresh blog post :-)

Had the first proper staff meeting in about 2 months at the Hope Home Calcutta. Was a joy and emotional experience to see three of our 'home-grown' boys and girls on staff in the meeting - Peter, Ruth and Grace! Such is the grace and mercy of God to lift them up from nowhere and being nothing to become productive, useful and talented individuals of the community, especially after all that they went through during the past month or so!

Arun and Peter were able to visit Jonah and Noah this afternoon carrying with them violin strings etc
The boys are doing fine and longing for the time when they would be permitted to resume normal activities, especially their schooling (incidentally the social welfare department is not interested in education for the children). Please do continue to pray.