Fr Frank's latest message:
Fr Frank sends his blessings to us all during these difficult times with a message of hope for the vaccine. He also quotes the words of Pope Francis from his audience this week reminding us of the importance of participating in the liturgy of the Mass, not just 'going to Mass', when we join online or are able to attend in person again. "A Christianity without a Liturgy, I dare say, is perhaps a Christianity without Christ."
May God bless you all.
Huge Thanks & a 'VIRTUAL CAKE SALE'
Petra wished to send her thanks to everyone who supported her baking project - she is so pleased with the amount raised.
(If anyone hasn't yet given Petra their donations, please find a safe time to pop it in an envelope and drop it into the presbytery.)
We are grateful for Petra and all who are working to raise money for, and working within, these important charities.
* 'VIRTUAL' CAKE SALE ~ Petra is more than happy to continue bake cakes or pies for people during this latest lockdown... if you are interested please give her a call on 9570239 to discuss what she is able to make for you and to arrange a safe handover for a donation to the project.
HAVEN HOME - NOVEMBER 2020 REVIEW
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| Photo taken during the 2016 visit by the parish. |
Prasant & Grace, Benji & Krupa at Haven Home, India are happy to share the annual review of how life has been during this difficult past year with us all. Please pray that God will continue to bless them and their vital work.
"Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus from all the children, staff and family of Haven Home. Hope this email of ours will find you all in good health and joy. We extend our heart full thanks for your sacrificial giving to Haven Home even in such a pandemic time. Your generosity towards Haven Home has blessed the children, staff and the family in a marvelous way. We continue to pray for God's protection over your precious families, health and over every aspect of your lives. We are also pleased to be able to submit this review after much prayers and fasting for your generous consideration.
• HOW THE COVID 19 LOCKDOWN AFFECTED HAVEN HOME: Due to the pandemic the Indian government ordered for a sudden lockdown of the whole country with a very short notice. Due to this orders our responsibility as Haven Home was to make sure that each child is handed over to their family personally no matter of any situations arising. This put so much pressure on the family and staff that we had to call the families to come and take their children but 80% of the parents who are from remote tribal villages did not have phone access and the remaining 20% of parents expressed their inability to come due to no transportation availability. So we had to immediately rush to the Collector (our district head) to take special permission to shuttle our bus to drop the children to their respective villages and homes. It was such a tedious process to get the special permission by waiting for long hours to get an appointment. Finally, when we got the permission we had to hire another private bus besides ours which charged us enormously due to the lockdown. After much bargaining, we stuck a deal that was still high but we had no other option. All the school staff along with me loaded the two buses with children and it took nearly 3 days for us to make sure that each child was handed over to their families in a safe manner. Praise to the Lord and thank you for extending your prayers support during all these situations.
• HAVEN HOME CHILDREN HARDSHIP IN THEIR VILLAGES: As we entered in the second week of the lockdown our staff members started to receive phone calls from the families of the HH children of their hardships they are facing due to the lockdown. They had no work in hand, no money to buy food supplies. Our children who are blessed to receive three meals a day while in HH are now starving for food at home. So we then prayed and planned an immediate meeting with our staff how we can address this problem of our children in their villages. As a family we mentioned to them that we have decided to support the child with the sponsorship money but all we need now is someone to go travel personally to the villages of the children to hand over the sponsorship money to them. Immediately two of our male staff volunteered to travel. Praise to the Lord for their willingness to do. Hence we are able to be a blessing to all our children even during this lock down. All this was possible only due to your never ending generosity to help these needy children.
• HAVEN HOME CHILDREN EDUCATION DURING THE LOCKDOWN: Our school staff was getting concerned about children's education as we have seen no sign of lockdown being lifted up. So as a family and all the school staff we planned for a meeting to pray and plan of how we can help the children in their education during the lockdown. Praise to the Lord for his marvelous ideas. We all agreed upon preparing for each student with booklets which will contain that particular month syllabus for all the subjects. On the front page of the booklet we provided phone numbers of the concerned subject teacher. This was give so that the child can call the teacher if they had a query in regard to any subject. This way all our school staff maintained constant touch with all the children in regard to their well being, health and education as well. Praise to the lord for such committed staff.
• HAVEN HOME STAFF SALARIES DURING THE LOCKDOWN: As most of you are aware that Haven Home staff are mostly women who are well educated and committed towards their work. The lockdown has really hit the families of our staff as well. The husbands of our women staff lost their jobs and some had jobs but no work no pay policy was adopted. This devasted our staff families who came to us sincerely requesting to help them during the cruel pandemic time. The Lord showed his mercy on Haven Home in such a great way through your generous donation that we were able to pay full salaries to all the staff which helped them to survive. Moreover, our school staff was working from their home by keeping in constant touch with all the children over the phone and reporting to school office once in a week. Moreover, all our non teaching staff came to Haven Home every day to clean the premises as they all live within walking distance from Haven Home.
• HAVEN HOME FINANCIALS DURING THE LOCKDOWN: As shared above, the Lord has enabled us through your generous donation to bless all the Haven Home children with monthly sponsorship and also pay all our staff salaries. We all are very grateful in this regard and we pray for the Lord's immense blessing to be showered upon you all. During this 8 months lockdown time we were able to cut down expenses like electricity consumption, generator usage, vehicle fuel and other miscellaneous expenses. A total of GBP2500 is not spent after meeting all the expenses. This fund has been ring-fenced and is open to be utilized based on any needs of the children. As a family, we sincerely request you all and with your kind permission that these funds be allocated towards children covid health and medication if necessary at any point of time.
• HAVEN HOME RESUMING BACK GRADUALLY AFTER LOCKDOWN: By the grace of the Lord and your continuous prayers for us the number of covid cases have gradually come down by the end of November 2020. Hence the government announced the reopening of boarding homes and schools in a systematic manner. We brought back all the grade 8, 9 & 10 children to Haven Home in the first week of November followed by grade 6 & 7 in the second week. At present we have 50 children back to Haven Home. Praise to the Lord. Moreover from 1st February 2021 the government has ordered the reopening of schools for grade 1-5 as well. So the children will be back to HH by the end of this week and we will have all the 100 children back to Haven Home. Please continue your prayers for the children's health, protection. Especially for older children who go to a local government school for further education.
We once again thank you and your precious family for standing with all of us here at Haven Home during this pandemic time. We are very grateful to you all.
With lots of love & Shalom
Prasant & Grace
Benji & Krupa
Haven Home
India
Resound Food bank
Please see the latest shopping list should you wish to donate items to the local foodbank.
See also the details of how and when to donate them.
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