Peace Gospel Blog

In Myanmar, our native team continues to work in response to one of the most devastating storms in recorded history, Cyclone Nargis which devastated the area in May of this year. It is estimated that over 130,000 people lost their lives as a result of the storm. The military dictatorship in Myanmar was deeply criticized by the international community for its delays in accepting foreign aid. Thousands of orphans have shown up on the city streets of Yangon. Our native team maintains an orphanage there and has taken in more children. However they must move slowly due to the military regime's frowning upon anything appearing to be well-organized outside of their control, not to mention financial considerations in meeting the needs of these children.

In a recent eNews edition we gave a detailed report on our Widow's Seamstress Business Initiative, now in its 4th year of operation. The popularity of the program is growing as a result of the success of our widows' businesses. Word of mouth is spreading the good news of the business model's overwhelming success, and thus more and more widows are showing up asking to be enrolled in the program. We hate turning them away, so we often allow them to observe the classes and jump in on machines when they are not being used, to get a feel for the work. However we're not able to sponsor all of them as there are simply not enough funds for this. (In this photo one of our students is holding up her workbook; they work out the basics in miniature before moving to the machines). If you are interested in sponsoring a widow's seamstress business, you can do so from our donate page.

We've started working with an organization called Free Wheelchair Mission to distribute wheelchairs to disabled in India free of charge. This is making a huge impact in areas where wheelchairs were before only an elusive luxury. People previously confined to literally crawling along on the ground are gaining mobility for the first time in their lives. According to a recent census report taken in India, 70 million Indians are classified as disabled which is about 6% of the population. Of these, only 2% are educated and 1% employed. It is our hope that by giving the disabled the gift of mobility, the statistics will not be so horribly stacked against them.

It's been a very busy summer for Peace Gospel. With our new school opening at the Hadassah Orphanage in South India, we've finally been able to fill the open capacity to bring in several more orphans. We're now up to 66 children enrolled in the orphanage. This has led to many more financial needs but the Lord has been good to us to provide as our needs arise. This fall we will begin some new projects to complete an expansion on the second level of the orphanage facility along with a new set of bathrooms and bathing rooms, among other improvements to the grounds. We're also looking to raise funds for new clothes, bedding, and schoolroom furniture to better accommodate the larger number of children.

We wanted to post some updated photos from our orphanage and Bible College facility in South India. The construction on the security wall has faced some setbacks due to property line disputes with neighbors. However this has been resolved and the work now continues. You can see a portion of the wall in the photo at right.











We decided it would be best to place the new school construction on the ground level, so the pillars on top of the existing facility will be used for future expansion. You can see the unfurnished construction of the school building in the second photo. We will soon complete the partition work to create five classroom spaces. The school is being constructed in the traditional Indian style.









In the third photo you can see the 40+ students who are registered for the new school year in our dedication ceremony. We expect 20 to 30 more students to register in the weeks ahead. Local government officials and several pastors were present at the dedication ceremony. We are very excited about this expansion of our main South India facility. Please pray for this ongoing work!

As mentioned in our previous post, we were able to grant some relief funds to our newest native team as we have expanded our ministry reach into Myanmar. We are happy to report that they have rebuilt their church and orphanage shelter, several local homes, and distributed several kilos of rice and other basic supplies to those affected by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. Please pray for our lead Pastor there, who must remain nameless online due to the government situation there. Also pray for the thousands who remain homeless, and the hundreds of orphans created by this disaster.

For the past 18 months we've been exploring a potential partnership with a native ministry in Myanmar. Before the cyclone hit there, we were in discussions with them to launch a pig farming micro-enterprise effort at some point in 2009. However due to the urgent needs they are facing as a result of the cyclone, we decided to accelerate our partnership with them by sending some relief funds. With these funds they will be able to rebuild their humble church and orphanage shelters. We'll keep you posted as the relationship develops, but know that we are very optimistic of the opportunities the Lord is opening up in Myanmar through this emerging partnership!