MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I am very grateful for your support for Serve the Children during 2018.  Recently, I returned from a 15-day mission trip to India with April, Jeni and Noel.  One of the goals of STC mission trips is to become involved with kids and young adults on a personal level, and we had a great time doing just that. 

We want to empower people.  Empowerment is the process of helping people become stronger and more confident. We believe that the children and young adults we work with in India were created for more than poverty with no opportunity, so empowerment is a vital part of what we do in our two locations.

In Lasina, we are transitioning from a residential school to vocational training. We have closed the hostel and will transfer our students to other local schools, but we will continue to support them by supplying funds for their uniforms, school supplies and school fees. We started a vocational school on the campus and currently teach young people from local villages Microsoft Office and tailoring. For just $80 per quarter for a 3-month course, we can teach them a skill that can secure a good paying job.  Without these skills, these kids would probably end up as farm laborers earning about $3 per day.  Lasina is a very rural village and we are the only option for vocational training close by. In June, we plan to add two additional courses: mid-wife and nurse’s assistant. 

In Mumbai, we have two ventures empowering women and children.  The city is surrounded by slums and we work in one of the smaller ones.  In this area, children as young as 3 years old are left to fend for themselves in appalling conditions while their guardians search for work to scrape a living. Girls like the one pictured in class with me here, as young as 13 years old, are married off so the family has one less mouth to feed.         .

We give these children an opportunity to learn English and provide a meal for them, which is often the first meal for them that day and possibly the only meal.  Sponsored girls can attend a local full-time school and escape the risk of being married off.  All of these children were created for something more and we provide them the opportunity to reach their potential.

In a very poor area of Mumbai, we teach tailoring classes to groups of women.  After completing the course, they can use the certificate to get work in a local clothing factory or they can use their earnings to purchase a sewing machine and establish their own business.  We had the privilege of visiting the home of three sisters who have completed our program.  Two of them are in college and one is finishing high school.  They are able to pay for their educational costs with the money they make from tailoring.  They would not be able to be in school otherwise, since their family could not afford the fees. 

I invite you to join me this Christmas with a single gift of $80 to sponsor one student for a three-month computer or tailoring class, or donate $360 and change the lives of four people in 2019. They were created for something more, and with your help, they can have hope and a future.

Dr. Doug Collier
President of the Board