On Thursday evening after we ate dinner, Howard and I had a nice talk with Arun and Shobha, and during this time they provided us with a good description of their Caring Hands Program. In 1995, Arun and Shobha began their ministry, which focuses on the Devadasi system (this is the system of the temple prostitutes), and the children that come from the prostitutes. The Devadasi system involves Hindus who feel that prostitution is a religious process. For generation after generation, the daughters will follow their mothers into prostitution. By starting the Children's Home, which is one component of their ministry, Arun and Shobha are trying to break this cycle of prostitution by taking in the girls that are daughters of the temple prostitutes. The Children's Home was started in 1997 with 4 girls, and Arun and Shobha now have 67 girls in their home. They say that the ideal number is 50-55 girls per home, so they are planning to shift some of the children to the guest house where Howard and I are staying starting in June. The Children's Home desires to teach the girls three primary things:
Arun and Shobha encourage the girls to visit their mothers and for the mothers to come and vist the girls - visitation usually occurs during major holidays. However, regardless of each girl's family status, Arun and Shobha act as a lifelong father and mother for the girls. They also mentioned that it is in their long-term plans to start a similar home for the boys that come from the temple prostitutes, which would be an excellent addition to the program.
In 2001, Arun and Shobha started the Share and Care project, which is another component of their ministry. The Share and Care project is a two-hour after-school program for the children. The after-school programs are established in the local villages - all of the villages have schools, and the deal is that if the children go to school they can attend the after-school program. The enticement of the program is that in addition to religious training, it teaches hygiene and has sports. Last year there were 3,000 students in the program, which spanned 36 villages. This year, due partially to financing issues but mainly to persecution, the program has been cut back to 1,800 students in 20 villages. Arun is very sensitive to the feelings of the villages, and if they don't want the program, he will close it.
The third component of Arun and Shobha's ministry is Church Ministry, which started in 1995, and the first church was established in 1997. These churches are established in the local villages and take place in people's houses rather than in free-standing buildings. If a village already has a local church, Arun and Shobha will not start a new church, but will help the church that already exists.
There was a fourth component to the Caring Hands Program, which consisted of a sewing program for the girls and also for some of the temple prostitutes. Shobha explained that the sewing program is not an on-going program, but is more like sewing course. After the course has concluded, Arun and Shobha may not start another one for a while if they feel that they are getting stretched too thin because they don't want to lose sight of their true vision, which is to share the love of God and the religion of Christianity - it is good that they remain so focused.