Although India has opened up many sectors of the country, the school and the children’s homes have not been allowed to open due to the dangers of having so many children together in close quarters. The virus continues to spread throughout India and there are now positive cases in Bapatla and the surrounding towns.

Babu continues to support an incredible number of people locally during these difficult times. The house parents and teachers are in contact with all the children and the homes are now providing supplemental food to 43 of the children and their families. During the months of May and June, food assistance was provided for nearly 200 families of the Yanadi tribe in villages surrounding Bapatla. In Bapatla, support was also provided for 40 truck-loading workers’ families and 32 printing and binding laborers’ families as well as 10 days of free lunch distribution in partnership with the Rotary Club of Bapatla.

Thank you all for your continuing prayers and support! Please continue to pray for the health and well-being of India, for Babu and Hepsy, and for the children.

Ten people from four different states arrived at the Children’s Home on November 2, to perform physical exams for all the school children, both those from the Children’s Homes and also for the students who attend from the surrounding community.

Included on the team were a medical doctor, a nurse practitioner, and a registered nurse who joined with several doctors, a dentist, and nurses from the local area to successfully examine nearly three hundred children. Some of the local nurses were recent graduates of the Elizabeth Barrie School who were excited to be able to return “home” to share their hard-earned skills with their younger counterparts!

Additionally, two members of the team were professional filmmakers who were able to capture many hours of touching footage and interviews that, when edited and shared, will help a much wider audience to understand more easily and fully, the scope of the mission at the homes and the school.

With an electrical contractor and a school maintenance specialist also on the team, several issues regarding day-to-day operations of the homes and school were also able to be addressed.

The remainder of the team was kept very busy assisting as needed. And, of course, all spent as much time as possible, talking, laughing and playing, with the many, and oh, so lovable, children they were surrounded by from dawn to dusk!

The sound of their young voices ringing out through the school during their daily English and Math drills, hearing them sing “Down in the Valley with My Savior I Would Go” (all the verses in Telugu and then in English) hearing them recite Psalm 23 (again in both languages!) and the sight of them all on their knees in earnest prayer every evening at 6 PM, was a sight to never be forgotten.

Seeing the devotion and dedication of the school staff and all those who assist in caring for the many children in both the homes and the school, from those who cook and clean, all the way to the founders, Babu and Hepsyba, helped the team, to realize at least to some extent, the broad scope of vision and responsibility that is carried by those involved.