Where our orphans come from?

We’re often asked this question. The children have varying backgrounds and come for a variety of reasons. Some are completely parent-less, others live in abject poverty and have no hope for a healthy future or education of any kind. These testimonies represent different children we’ve met over the years who live in orphanages all over India.

A brother and sister, ages 10 and 12, who lived in a very remote village in northern India, far from the orphanage. There’s no school in their area. When their father died, a pastor brought the children to the orphanage because their family had no means of support or income. The daily discipline was unfamiliar to the children and they didn’t like it at first, but now they both have smiles on their faces all the time. They’re both studying in 1st grade since they had never been to school before.

The 4-yr old daughter of parents who both have leprosy. They are beggars since they’re not able to work. Living in the orphanage instead of the leper colony will enable her to gain an education and grow up without the threat of contracting the disease herself.

A 5-yr-old boy born to an unwed mother. After his birth, his mother abandoned him, leaving him with her parents so she could marry someone else. Her parents were quite old and unable to work. Now her mother died, and her father is incapable of working or taking care of his small grandson.

A family with 9 children sent 8 of their children to live in orphanages because of the dire poverty in the slum area they called home. The eldest son is a pastor. The father has TB and isn’t able to keep a job. None of the children had the opportunity to go to school. If they hadn’t come to the orphanage, they (like their parents) would have a life of begging and scrounging to look forward to.

An 8-yr-old girl whose parents both died. She lives in a remote backward village that has no school. Daily she wanders from home to home searching for odd jobs to do in exchange for a place to sleep at night and perhaps a meal or 2. I met her at the village well, drawing water for the family who would care for her that day. She will be one of the first children to live in Partners In Hope’s Good Shepherd Children’s Home.