A New WCS Office in Columbia, SC!

It has certainly been an eventful week. We were in Columbia, South Carolina to help open a new office for Worldwide Community Schools.

It is truly a blessed, exciting event because it means that an increasing number of people will be working to help children around the world have an opportunity to attend a Christian school. Denis Yeo, Ervin Ott, and Steve Auld worked very hard to make all of this happen.

WCS built a beautiful, lakeside house and it became a featured part of the Parade of Homes, earning eight of the eleven awards that were given. The profits from this venture will be used for projects around the world, supported by WCS-Columbia.

Another part of the plan for Columbia is to have their own "CompRenew." CompRenew is a concept that has several parts: 1. Providing a place where business and school organizations can get rid of old computers in a way that won't hurt the environment; 2. Rescuing and selling computer components that still can be used; and 3. Providing instruction for inner city young people in caring for and working with computers.

It is such a great blessing to watch what is happening with this organization.

The Duty of Christians

We feel it is the duty of Christians to create the kingdom of God on Earth among our brothers. This kingdom will exist only when we all have enough to eat, when our children, brothers, parents don’t have to die from hunger and malnutrition. That will be the "Glory," a Kingdom for we who have never known it.

- Rigoberta Menchu
I, Rigoberta: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

Quoted in Sojourners.

60 YEARS - HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED!

60 YEARS - HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED ... AND KEEP CHANGING!

On July 25, 2007, a major milestone in India was laid when the people elected Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil as their 13th President. She is the first woman to hold that post. A conundrum ensued when the word for President in Hindi, the national language, referred only to a male. We are certainly not in the India of 1947, as the statistics below reveal.

SOME COMPARATIVE STATISTICS FOR INDIA

In 1947........................................................... In 2007

Population 300 Million............................. 1.13 Billion

Life Expectancy 31.4 Years......................... 64.7 Years

Literacy 14%................................................ 67%

Telephones 1.1 Million.............................. 218 Million

Doctors 50,000 ....................................... 554,000

Infant Mortality 146/1000...................... 58/1000

National Highways 19,634 km ................. 65,569 km

Per Capita Income US$204....................... US$735

Cheapest Car US$240................................ US$5,000

Defense Budget US$744 M.......................... US$225 B

On August 15, 2007, India turned sixty. In 1947, when India gained its independence from the British, many noted scholars, writers and statesmen didn't give the young nation much of a chance of survival. The great Winston Churchill, known for his grasp of history, said: "India will fall back quite rapidly through the centuries into the barbarism and privations of the Middle Ages." Well, he was quite wrong. India not only survived but survived as a thriving democracy.

India has done what Europe has been attempting to do without success for the last 50 years. India may be slightly smaller in size than the European Union today but has twice the population and is more diverse with many more religions, languages and cultures. India has a common currency, a Central government. In fact, Indians have been practicing the motto of the European Union "United in Diversity" for the past 60 years. The currency note in India describes its value in as many as 17 languages. Although English and Hindi are the first two, the presence of 15 other languages is an acknowledgment of the country's multi-lingual status.

Undoubtedly, it has not been easy. We've had linguistic agitations, separatist movements, sectarian violence, divisive politics and some abysmally inept leaders. We've had to battle poverty, centuries old traditions and superstitions and also paid the price for decades of socialist style economic practices. We have endured one of the world's most stifling bureaucracies and suffered the deeds of truly venal and hugely corrupt politicians. Former US ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith aptly described India as a "functioning anarchy."

Now that India is seen by the world as a youthful, energetic, emerging 21st century global power and as the world's largest democracy, it is easy to forget the underpinnings of this country and the struggles to achieve it.

Even so, the church in India continues to struggle for its growth and visibility.

The above is edited from a reflection Vinita Bhatia compiled from various printmedia. It appeared in the August, 2007, Seek Partners International newsletter. Vinita's husband, Dr. Sukhwant Bhatia, is currently a BGU Regent whose focus is assisting with the establishment of the BGU Indian education network.

Medical Care for Orphans

I try to understand how the young couple, Siani and Suphala, care for the 50 orphans along with their own two children. Recently I asked them that question. This is how Siani answered:


Regarding our medical situation: Our local hospital is 4 KM away from our orphanage. We have bought and kept the some medicine with us for the normal sickness such as fever, headache, stomach pain, ear pain etc. Suphala takes care of medicine and she knows how to give an injection, also. If children get serious then we either hire a taxi or by our motor bike( according to the situation) we take them to hospital and admit there. Though we face problems but we are able to manage up to this time.

We want to give a living example of how we face the medical situation. Once one of our children was going on the road and some one had gathered some dirty things side of the road and put fire on that. While our child was walking near to that place, all of a sudden something blasted from that dirty things. All the fire came up to our child’s body and affected her body. Her face skin was completely burned and she fell down there and her senses gave out.

We wanted to take her to hospital and tried to find out a taxi or ambulance but we could not get one. Finally, after about an hour we got a taxi and took her to the hospital. We praise God that she is healed completely now.

You can understand how we manage these many children. God is strengthening us to go forward and we are always happy to serve these needy children. We are in need of a small taxi. Please pray for the God’s provision. Many incidents take place but we are able to manange. Once you come and see our children's ministry then you will know many things. Therefore we request you to kindly make plan to visit us.

If you would like to help Siani and Suphala get a car so they can take the children for necessary medical attention, please contact Worldwide Christian Schools.

To Be A Christian

As Christians, we have understood that being a Christian means refusing to accept all the injustices which are committed against our people, refusing to accept the discrimination committed against a humble people who barely know what eating meat is but who are treated worse than horses.

- Rigoberta Menchu
I, Rigoberta: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

Tendency Learning

The following is from the new book, Living and Raising Children in the Fabric of Faithfulness," by Julia Stronks and Gloria Stronks.

After interviewing Christian parents and children we discovered that most of us would agree that the following tendencies are among those important for ourselves and our children to develop. The chapters that follow take up each of these topics:

• We want to develop the tendency to be people of strong Christian faith.

• We want to develop all of our God-given abilities and ways of being intelligent.

• We want to develop the emotional intelligence necessary for empathy for those who suffer.

• We want to develop the tendency to recognize and be outraged by injustice in any form. We should become willing to take action against injustice, and we should live with kindness and generosity.

• We want to develop the tendency to be curious about the world around us, to grow intellectually, and to become critical thinkers.

• We want to develop the tendency to be moral and of good character.

• We want to develop the tendency to live with gratitude and happiness.

• We want to be lifelong learners in God’s Creation.

If the teachings of Jesus Christ are to be taken seriously, then caring for others is what matters most. If we truly do love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves, our entire lives will be directed toward justice. If we truly do live with gratitude to God for our salvation we will be deeply concerned and unceasingly active about such issues as economic inequality, unequal schooling, and limited or no health care for some. We will work for a just American policy toward other nations and civil rights in a time when the nation is fearful about terror strikes. These are the things our children must learn from us.

But, how do we do this? Is it possible to make children care about the world? Raising children isn’t easy. Sometimes we have no idea what they are thinking. Sometimes we have all we can do to make sure they are safe, fed, and don’t hurt each other too much when they fight.

Parent: I bungled along and things went pretty smoothly until Sarah, the oldest, reached junior high. At that point she was mature enough to rebel in a way that caused me to call my parenting practices into question. I think I tended to follow a modified version of the parenting practices of my own upbringing: parents have complete authority; children are to be obedient without question. Thankfully, Sarah rebelled and I realized that I could not, and should not control my children. I learned to listen, to recognize my children as individuals, to respect their ideas and concerns. My greatest regret in life is that I didn’t learn this sooner. I don’t mean to imply that this was an easy transition, nor that I executed it flawlessly. It is, however, the single greatest contribution that shaped my ideas concerning parenting.


A central part of raising children in the fabric of faithfulness is helping them learn to develop the tendencies that are an important part of that commitment.

What is a tendency? A tendency is more than a habit. A tendency is something that one does without thinking. A tendency begins with a commitment that arises from a worldview. The tendency is a response to that commitment, practiced over and over, until it becomes part of one’s self. It is a commitment to a particular action that is practiced so often it becomes as natural as breathing.