History of Little Lambs and Living Faith
Esther and Joshva have always had a passion for helping the abandoned children in their area. In the year 2000, this became a reality when they were able to rent a facility in their town for $100 per month. They took in 20 children (ages 3-12) who were basically abandoned by their parents; either because they were too poor to provide for them, or they had become addicted to drugs or alcohol. These children were left to wander the streets and beg for food, while sleeping in grass huts on the side of the road. Seeing the opportunity to meet a need for these children by providing life's basic necessities, they also used this as a tool for evangelism. Currently in India, Christianity is the minority at only about 3% of the population. The rest is predominantly Hindu (80%) and Muslim (15%). They are taking in children who have no hope and sharing with them the hope of our Lord Jesus. These children can one day be the catalyst for a Great Awakening in India. Their goal is to have these children stay with them through high school, unless they can be permanently adopted into a Christian family. Over the past 5 years, 20 of the children have been permanently placed in Christian homes in nearby towns. Each time children are adopted, they take other orphans off of the street to replace them.
Esther takes care of the children during the day; preparing the meals for them and taking them to school. She takes part of the day after school to teach them bible lessons. Joshva and his father take turns staying with the children at night. The Orphanage is currently housing 39 children, which is the maximum that they can support with the current space and funding they have.
Living Faith Sponsors the Orphanage
In September of 2002, a Living Faith member became aware of this ministry and decided to take up a clothes collection to send to the children for Christmas. We sent several boxes of children's clothes which arrived by Christmas time. We also sent a cash donation to Joshva and Esther so that they could buy gifts for the children as well. After receiving pictures back and speaking with Joshva and Esther, several families at Living Faith decided to start a sponsorship program for the orphanage. All 39 children were put up for sponsorship at our church for $35 per month; similar to the Christian's Children Fund program. Once this program was approved by church leadership, a presentation on the orphanage was given and several families came forward to sponsor children. Currently, 30 children are sponsored by Living Faith families and other families from outside of Living Faith, for a total of $1100 per month. All of the money goes directly toward meeting the children's basic necessities and to help pay the numerous bills at the orphanage.
We have also taken up extra offerings for enough mattresses and other bedding items for all of the children to sleep on (they were sleeping on a cement floor with blankets prior), clothes, Christmas items, air conditioning, hygiene items, school supplies, a moped for Joshva and Esther (mopeds are the most common form of transportation in India), funding to create a website for Little Lambs, and most recently, money for Esther and Joshva to do a mission trip with the children to a poor fishing village to provide a meal for the villagers and teach them about the Lord Jesus. Our goal at Living Faith is to have all 39 children sponsored.