The road surely was not straight and paved. Like many roads in India, the one we traveled to build the Angel Home was bumpy and full of obstacles. But the end of the road is in sight! On April 18th, our Chairman of the U.S. Board, our India CEO, a handful of supporters from the U.S., many of our India staff, and just over 40 young boys will gather together for the much anticipated dedication of the Angel Home.

The Bethania-owned children’s home has been in the works for a number of years. Its beginnings date back to the year 2007 when the cornerstone was laid by one of our U.S. Board of Directors. The obstacles standing in the way were many, and ranged from meeting all the legal requirements, designing the building, to funding the project. However, with enough patience and trust in God, we are now just weeks away from providing the boys with their very own home.
Shortly after the dedication, the boys will pack up their belongings and head down the road to their permanent residence in the little town of Narendrapuram, right outside of Rajahmundry. They should be all moved-in and settled in their new residence by the end of this May. The home where the boys currently reside offers little room for them to play games and do all the adventurous activities that every boy between the ages of 6 and 16 loves to do.

Currently, the boys sleep on mats which they lay out on the floor every night because there is not enough room in the building for beds. They also sit on the floor of their room to eat all their meals. In the new Angel Home, there will be nine boys in each room, with each of them sleeping in their very own bed! Also, eating in their sleeping quarters will be a thing of the past because right beside their dormitories is a spacious and welcoming dining hall.

The construction of the Angel Home could not have been accomplished without the help of all our Bethania supporters. When it was first discussed, the Board knew it would require great faith to complete. You, our partners, have made the Angel Home a reality. Thank you for generously helping us build this home.

Their lives began with little hope of an education, a good job, or a happy future. They began with heartache, loss, and poverty. But this is not how their lives continued. Four boys were born into difficult situations, but by the grace of God were brought to one of our Bethania Kids Centers. From the moment they entered one of our homes, their futures were filled with hope, their hearts were filled with love, and their journey of faith began.

For Abraham, Leela, Oliver and Naga Raju, a journey to the United States of America seemed a far-fetched idea. While growing up in a Bethania Kids Center, they each knew that they were being supported by families in America, but the thought hardly crossed their minds that they would visit those families. Their Journey of Faith is coming full circle this May as all four of these boys board a plane and make their way to America to visit you the individuals, churches, and families who are responsible for changing their lives.

They will be visiting many different states on their visit, including Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Arizona (for the entire tour schedule, click here). At each of their stops, they will be sharing their testimony, telling everyone they meet what their life was like before joining a Bethania Kids Center,  what it was like growing up in a Bethania Kids Center, and finally, they are going to give their testimony of faith, hope, and love.

Please pray with us that the young men visiting will make it here safely, and that there trip will impact the lives of those they meet. There are still a few available time slots open if you would like the journey to make a stop in your hometown. Please contact us as soon as possible if you are interested in hosting our visitors.

800-993-5179

director@bethaniakids.org

Greg Gresens (pictured right) on his trip to India

Throngs of people walking through garbage-filled streets with the pungent smells of curry and the incessant honking of horns and blaring music is enough to overwhelm anyone who visits India. I was more than overwhelmed and hardly prepared for everything I saw when I visited India to teach English at a seminary. It was not until I made my way down to dip my toes in the Indian Ocean that the mass of humanity and the desperation of so many people in that country began to sink in. Every beggar I passed reached toward me and stared at me as I made my way to the beach. One particular woman caught my eye and caused me to stop in my tracks because she had the widest, most dramatic cleft palate I had ever seen.

This lady looked to be in her late teens. In India, girls are still very disposable because of their high cost. I have a daughter of fourteen whom I love, and cannot imagine throwing away, but it happens all the time in India. How much easier it must have been to dispose of a girl who was filthy and looked like ….that. I stopped for a moment, and thought to myself, “There is a soul that will not be in heaven unless she knows Jesus Christ as Savior”. For a moment, it seemed time stood still. And then, I moved on down to the ocean.

My heart breaks over my failure that day. It was a mistake I realized immediately, but I had all the excuses which were just as equally realized to be what they were. The next day I revealed this to my brothers in Christ at the seminary, encouraging them to never look down on the least of these. I pray for the opportunity to correct my wrong with that girl, or to make the lesson I learned there flow out in testimony to others about the saving love of Jesus Christ.

However, later in the trip, we were blessed to be able to witness a beauty that, quite honestly, would seem to only exist in a dream. An Advisory Board Member of Bethania Kids, Mike Raja, took us to see the Bethania girl’s home in Nagercoil. To see the hard work that the girls do in studying nearly four hours a day, and the way they help one another was amazing. To see the smiles on the girls in their wonderfully clean green and white uniforms that are worn with such pride was beyond description.

I thank God that I was given an opportunity to see this in person. I long for the day to come when I can witness and share this experience again. Each child is a wonderful creation of God. Each girl, or boy in these homes, laughs, cries, and longs for assimilation, just like our children. I can testify that the money we send to Bethania Kids is used and given to God’s glory.

Video taken from ABC News. To see the video and the entire news story, click here.

Sailing over 7,000 miles to live in an under-developed country with no one other than your family might make the average American in 1957 at least a little nervous. Not Polly Hennig. Excitement, not anxiety, filled her as she spent over three weeks in a boat on her way to India with the only familiar faces being her husband and four children between the ages of two and nine.

Polly turns ninety years old today (December 5th) and looks back with a great sense of satisfaction and joy at where life has taken her. As a young couple, Polly and her husband Al were both interested in mission work, so when their church asked if they would be missionaries to India, they agreed without a second thought. Shortly after, Polly and Al packed up their belongings and family, and set sail for India, not knowing when or if they would set foot on American soil again.

Polly and Al were tasked with teaching at a school for children of missionaries in the mountains of South-East India. Originally, there were about 30-40 children in the school, so Al taught the upper level classes and Polly taught the younger children.

“We certainly didn’t have all the frills that you would find in the public schools in America, but we emphasized the basics. I remember nearly all our students graduated from high school and went on to college in America,” said Polly. She recalls that being in a foreign country was itself quite a learning process, saying it was more of an education than someone could get from reading a book.

Upon first arriving in India, Polly recalls being “interested and intrigued by everything.” One aspect Polly found to be difficult was the amount of poverty she experienced. She remembers riding in a van through neighboring villages offering milk, rice and medicine to those in need. “There is no way you can combat all the poverty, but if you can just help somewhat, that gives you much satisfaction,” said Polly.

One of the saddest days of her life was the day she had to leave India. Her husband, Al, became ill forcing them to move back to America and eventually to Fort Wayne, Indiana where she now lives. She said that some people “take to the life and the work there more than others, and we just thoroughly enjoyed our work there. We found it very rewarding.” Leaving behind all the work they had invested in the school and children left Polly and her husband heart-broken. Little did they know, however, that their work in India had only just begun.

Before leaving India, Polly met a woman who had a passion for helping impoverished and orphaned children named Dayavu Dhanaphal. This woman gave poor children clothes and food from her back door but wanted to help the children in a more structured way. Upon returning to America, Polly and Al decided to help Dayavu achieve her goal of caring for impoverished children in India. The Hennigs met with the Granner family, who were missionaries in India the same time the Hennigs were there. Together, the two families started fundraising to build a children’s home in Kannivadi, India.

The original plan for building the home was to house twelve children in need. After a short time, the families created a charity known today as “Bethania Kids.” They now care for over 1,000 children throughout South-East India in twenty different centers. When asked what she thought of how much Bethania has grown over the years, Polly answered, “Well, I am just grateful. Someday I am going to be in Heaven with all those children because we not only cared for their physical and emotional needs, but because we took care of their spiritual needs also.”

Click here to make a donation in honor of Polly’s 90th birthday

A Dear Member of the Bethania Family Passes Away

Written by President of Bethania Kids, Todd Heidelberger, one week before Betty left this earth

For those of you who do not know Betty, she was a valued member of our board for many years (now a board member emeritus), ever a gentle but consistent advocate for responsible reporting and accountability from our Indian partners and a great lover of our Bethania Kids as well.

The child of missionaries, Betty was born in Gunter, Andra Pradesh in 1929. She spent much of her life in India and graduated from Kodai International School. She was also an archivist for the school for many years. I have seldom seen Betty without a scrap of paper or a pad in her possession on which she is always jotting notes to herself. I often joked with her asking what she was writing about in those secret files of hers. She would just smile and then tuck the pad in her pocket. Betty has always loved her tea and shared with me once that she preferred a little “nip” in it on occasion making Tea Time all the more enjoyable! She was quite a woman, traveling by train across India alone many times well into her seventies and eighties.

Never loosing her missionary spirit of adventure, Betty married Bob Granner later in life, in her late seventies! Bob has been by her side ever since and continues to care for her along with the hospice nurses during this time.

Betty passed away on November 21, 2011 at 10:00 P.M. with her husband, Bob, at her side. Please keep Bob and their whole family in your prayers throughout this Holiday season.  

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Parents Express Their Gratitude

“We like it 100 percent.” That was the answer given to one of our Board members when he asked the parents of children attending the Bethania Kids day care centers what they thought of the service we provide for them and their children.

Bethania Kids operates five different day care centers in Kodaikanal, India, each with a staff of four women. At each Bethania Kids day care center, every child receives a Christian preschool education, two full meals and basic hygiene care. One of the parents pointed out why they appreciate Bethania, “They have a clean home, good food and are studying.”

Economic times are difficult in India. In many cases, the economy demands both parents work in order to make a living. One mother told us that without a place like Bethania Kids, she would have to keep her child at home, forcing her to either stop working or leave her child alone all day.

Each Bethania day care center holds about thirty children. Each year, the spaces fill up quickly and there is always a waiting list for parents to enroll their children. When asked how she heard about Bethania Kids, one mother explained that a friend sent her child there in the past and recommended the center to her. The positive reputation of Bethania Kids has spread throughout Kodaikanal.

President of Bethania Kids, Todd Heidelberger, said, “The success of the day care centers is due largely in part to the leadership of Gethsy Jayapalan, and her constant concern and attention to the well-being of the children who attend.” Gethsy is the wife of a missionary pastor and has been the director of the day care centers for 10 years. She provides the centers with her wisdom and guidance by daily visiting each center to ensure that every child is being nurtured and equipped to change their world through Jesus’ love.

Parents of the children like that the centers are Christian-based; in fact, they would like more day care centers like the ones at Bethania. One child’s father summed-up his thoughts about Bethania Kids saying, “I am very happy with Bethania and the children are learning a lot.”

Keerthika Receives an Open-Heart Surgery

12 year-old Keerthika was born with a congenital heart disease called Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) commonly referred to as a “hole in the heart.” Many times, children born with this condition do not require any surgical attention as the hole closes on its own after the child’s first few years of life. However, there are some children that require a corrective open-heart surgery. Keerthika is one of those children. She was admitted to the hospital this past September to receive a surgery that would fill a hole in her heart.

While physically this may have been the first hole to get filled in Keerthika’s heart, there have also been many emotional and spiritual holes needing to be filled in her life. At only 2 months old, Keerthika’s father tragically passed away from a heart attack. When she was only 7 years old, her mother was also taken from this earth. Losing both of her parents at such a tender age left Keerthika devastated and wondering who would take care of her. She was sent to live with her grandmother, but being very old and fragile, her grandmother could not provide her with adequate care. That is when Keerthika was brought to Bethania Kids.

Since coming to Bethania Kids, Keerthika has been filling the deep holes left in her heart. The first hole to be filled was her loss of family. She is now surrounded by over 30 sisters at the Shalom Home in Kodaikanal and a loving staff and house mother who all care deeply about her. She also attends church every Sunday where she found a new Father to look after her and fill her heart with the love and affection that a young girl craves.

If Keerthika were not brought to the Bethania Kids home, the holes in her heart and in her life would have gone untreated. Keerthika expresses her gratitude to all those who support Bethania Kids in the video below.

Bethania Sends U.S. Staff Member To India

Director of Development for Bethania Kids, Austin Farinholt, leaves for India at the end of August to visit all the Bethania ministries and participate in the India Board of Trustees meeting. Farinholt will stay in India for two weeks, first visiting the Angel Home in Rajahmundry, then moving south through Kodaikanal and Kannivadi, and finally, spending a few days near the southern tip of India in Nagercoil. Bethania Kid’s Indian administrator, Godfrey, will join Farinholt for the entire trip.

This will be Farinholt’s first visit to India. He began working for Bethania Kids in May, 2011 and is anxious, yet excited about meeting the kids he has spent the past three months working for. “Not only am I going to meet the kids, but I am going to be building relationships with the administrators and staff in India,” Farinholt said. This will be the first time Bethania Kids sends a U.S. employee over to India.

Farinholt will document his experiences through his blog at www.austindia.blogspot.com, and through pictures and videos which will be shown on our website and social media outlets. This trip will be beneficial to Bethania Kids because Farinholt will be talking directly with our staff in India, learning more about their immediate and long-term needs.

August 30th is the scheduled date of departure for Farinholt. He will spend two weeks traveling throughout India and will return on September 14th. To experience India with Austin, follow along through the links below.

Blog – www.austindia.blogspot.com
Youtube – www.youtube.com/videobethania
Facebook – www.fb.com/bethaniakids
Twitter – www.twitter.com/bethaniakids