From Despair To Strength

Many of you know that our primary ministry is providing education and a chance to learn about the Gospel for improverished children. Beyond the children, GSSK brings God’s word to adults in home settings with small groups of believers. Here, we share with you the impact that GSSK has had in our community.

Parvati
In Indian culture, girls are viewed as a burden. Parvati comes from a very poor family. Her aged parents arranged for her marriage at the age of 17. According to tradition, Parvati went to live with her husband’s extended family. There, she was tortured physically and mentally, beaten, and starved. One day, she was pushed into a barrel drum and left to die. On hearing this, her brother rushed to rescue her and brought her back to her father’s home.

She came to our school in total despair, asking for any job. We took her as a helper in our nursery section. She loved the job among these young children aged two to three years old. This helped her recover from the trauma she experienced. We helped her further her studies, even as she was working in our school. Parvati has since earned a Bachelor of Arts, then a Diploma in Education, and is now pursuing Montessori training which will be completed in 18 months. During the seven years since she came to us, her whole life has changed. Parvati, once very desperate and broken, now rejoices in her new life in the Lord.

 

Kajal
We noticed that one of our students, Kajal, became worried and depressed. As we asked her the reason, she confided that her father is an alcoholic, comes home fully drunk, beating up her mother and creating scenes. We counseled her and prayed with her during our morning prayer sessions at school. We all began praying for her father and, eventually, we began counseling him as well. In the beginning, he was very angry. Ultimately, he became more responsive. Praise the Lord – he got out of the clutches of alcohol! Now he goes around his community telling people about the peace and joy he found in Christ.

We thank you for your prayers and support that make reaching people like these possible.

Kerith Ministry – Rwanda

We are grateful for your continued support of our ministry. Because of your faithful giving, we were able to construct two additional classroom buildings last year, which allows us to provide life-changing education for more children. I would like to tell you about two of our students and the impact that education is making in their lives. It would not be possible without your prayers and assistance. Please continue to keep our ministry in your prayers.

Mary Among

Before joining Kerith, Mary was subjected to child labor. She would chase away birds in people’s rice gardens to be able to get a meal. Mary could not go to school because her parents could not afford to pay school fees and not even raise scholastic materials for her. Mary was sleeping on a mat with her four sisters and brothers, with nothing to cover themselves. Their parents were simply too poor to meet their basic needs. Mary led a miserable life and daily admired her friends that went to school.

Mary joined Kerith in 2009. Since then, she has been able to pursue her education with no delays and is currently in high school. In addition, she no longer uses a mat, but sleeps on a mattress with bed sheets and a covering, has access to clean water and medical care, and has made new friends that have made her more outgoing. She has grown spiritually and helps to lead other children at Kerith in the evening devotions. She is confident sharing the word of God!

Mary wants to become a surgeon and is working so hard to continue her studies. Your contributions help us provide the education that Mary needs in order to succeed. Please join us in praying for Mary and her future. We know that she will become a wonderful surgeon some day!

Barbra Kisakye

Barbra Kisakye is another one of the kids at Kerith home. She was born to a woman who used to attend our church. Her mum was so sickly. Little did we know that she was suffering from HIV/AIDS. Her mum came to Pallisa town after being chased from her home by her husband who accused her of infidelity, saying that was how she contracted the disease. Barbra’s father then married a woman who did not want Barbra living in the home and sent her away to live with her sickly, helpless mum. Barbra was not stable in school since her mother could not afford all the school requirements and school fees due to her condition.

Barbra and her mother faithfully attended our church. The Sunday School teachers took notice of Barbra’s vulnerability. Through our church, she was able to get her primary education. Sadly, Barbra lost her mum a week before her final exams in her primary education. She was left an orphan. Because of the way women are treated in our culture, we knew how difficult life was going to be for her. By this time, our congregation was very attached to this precious girl. It was determined that she would come to live in the children’s home. Without our intervention, she would have ended up living on the streets with no hope of a future.

Since she came to Kerith, Barbra has been able to continue with her studies and make friends with the other children. She has also grown in her spiritual life. She is in the music ministry at church and also helps with young children in their Sunday School classes.

By the grace of God, Barbra is turning 14 years of age and attending a secondary school in senior two (equivalent of 10th grade in the US). She is a very smart girl, loves her books, and puts much emphasis on her science subjects. Barbra is working so hard toward becoming a nurse.

Good Samaritan – India

Creating A Future For Girls

Girls in our area are seen as a liability. They need to be married off with a big dowry, whereas sons bring a dowry! The male members in the family eat first, and the females have to do with whatever remains. Girls are neglected and abused, even in their parental homes. Their plight gets worse still in their in-laws’ homes. They are even sexually abused by their male in-laws. Female empowerment remains an important part of our ministry. When you educate a girl, you educate a family! With this in mind, we have 138 female students, out of a total of 200, in our Kollukhedi Village School.

Payal, a girl from Village Kaliyedeh Gaon, has been with us right from nursery (equivalent to American preschool) onwards. At the age of 11, she finished her 5th Standard. Her parents said, “That’s enough! Let her stop her education, help with domestic work, and get married.” Like in all these kind of situations, we advised that she should continue her studies. We assured her safety as we provide transportation from her home to school and back in our hired 4-wheeler. Finally her parents agreed, much to Payal’s delight!

In March 2019, Payal will pass her 8th Standard and wants to continue her studies further. And her parents have agreed! Please join us in praying for Payal! It is through your help that we can continue to provide education for children like Payal. Only $19 a month provides a child with education from loving, Christian teachers, school supplies, uniforms, and a meal.

Kerith Ministry

We want to thank you so much for your continued support and care. As Kerith ministry, we would have completed so little without you, but we are so grateful to God for you. Your continued prayer and support has enabled us as a ministry to accomplish all the Lord has enabled us accomplish.

In the same way, we want to let you know about the projects that we are embarking on for the betterment of the community and our orphanage children.

School Block Roofing

There is a tremendous need for a primary school in the place where the ministry is located due to a large number of children. We have studied the expenses from previous years in terms of gas for transporting the kids to and from school in town, school dues, and health risks. As a ministry, we thought it wise to start up a school project to cut down all those expenses and meet the general community need of a school. God is faithful! Through your support and prayers, the first three-classroom school block was built and roofed, and it is already being used.

Most of the second phase, a four-classroom block, has been completed. We have a great need to roof this building which will enable us to accommodate the anticipated number of children in the next academic year, which starts in January 2019. We are believing God for a total amount of $3,800 to have that project completed so that we see the school being used at full capacity.

School Furniture

With the increasing number of children in the school, there is a need for more desks. We would like all of the children to be able to have a place to sit with their books to study. Currently, we have a need of about 20 desks. Each desk costs $25 for a total cost of $500.

Skills Training Center

In the past, we successfully trained 14 women in tailoring. They are currently using that skill to earn a living and sustain their families.

Our community is faced with a large number of young adults who have had access to partially attend secondary school, but have not had money to take them for higher education or to attain a skill which can take them through life. This makes the young people opt for early marriages, which has resulted in having irresponsible young parents. Because they have no skills or way to support their family, we have a substantial number of street kids in the community. Our ministry has observed this need and started up a skills training project where we are equipping people with tailoring skills. We started with four sewing machines. There were so many that wanted training, but we could not meet the number of students needing training. Because of limited sources of funds, we are finding it hard to pay the trainers on a consistent basis. This results in a lapse in the training and increased time to complete training. It will cost $100 to pay for the trainers for one semester. Due to number of students, we would also like to add five more sewing machines which would cost $600.