Besides the daily clinic for treating wounds and  ulcers  a medical camp was held in August for all the residents of the Gandhi Leprosy Colony.

2 persons were admitted in hospital while 7 persons were helped and given assistance in the local hospitals.

Hema a 12 yrs old girl is still in hospital in Mumbai, with severe pain in her side and a

water patch in a rib cage. Doctors have ruled out Tuberculosis but are unable to make a proper diagnosis still. Clinical `Investigations are continuing . Please pray for her.

• Padmavati the young widow lady had a normal pregnancy  and delivered a 3.75kg baby boy. Both mother and child are fine. Thanks for all your prayers.
• The clinic has been shifted to another location in the colony and fully renovated.

CHILDRENS WORK

• Daily nutrition continues with an average of 30-35 benefiting from a glass of milk, egg or banana provided to them.
• Children in the residential have done quite well in the first semester examinations with majority of them getting an A grade.
• A new Balwadi  Building provided by the government is nearly finished and we hope to open it by the end of November 2011. All the equipment is being supplied by Karuna .
  • It was a great joy to see  the children studying  at the Gateway International Boarding performing at a program in Bangalore..
  • It was also heartening to know that  10yrs old  Abdul who is studying  at El Shaddai in Goa wants to be a computer engineer, and  12 yr old Akash  also in the same school is learning to play the guitar.

Five girls between the ages of 12-16 are attending a training  conducted by the government through the Anganwadi worker appointed by the local municipality to work in the Gandhi leprosy Colony. This  worker a lady is a great help to us as she helps in community development and we don’t have to pay her the government pays her. We thank God for this wonderful provision.

DEVELOPING THE COLONY

The open area in front of the community hall used to get very dirty and in the rainy season all murky.  It also had a lot of pebbles which made sitting on the floor very difficult.

Karuna together with the residents of the colony is getting the entire 100 x 50 ft area tiled with a future plan of turning the whole place into a large shed which will enable the residents to hold all their functions in this shelter. There will also be a large stage at one end.

Also the small park that was built for these people is being renovated.

At present there is no proper record or data of the residents of the Gandhi Leprosy colony. Karuna now is in the process of gathering all sorts of information regarding each individual and family and building a database. This will give us at any given time a person’s photograph, martial status, no. of children, medical history of the last five years, and a copy of any documents they have at present like house papers, birth certificate etc.

A new computer has been purchased for this purpose and a good software has been installed for this purpose. Work on this will commence by mid December.

Evangelism

The  gospel was preached to the residents of the Gandhi Leprosy Colony and they got an opportunity to hear God’s word at least thrice in the last few months. Also during one of the meeting a puppet show was shown to them.

A weekly meeting is scheduled once the balwadi building is completed.

Pray that a Church will be formed.

In  the last few months we have had the opportunity to serve 3 fellowship meals to the residents of the Gandhi leprosy colony.

It was a joy to watch these rejected people enjoy these wonderful meals provided by kind benefactors who not only provided the meal but also served them.

Mission being acomplished
Giving the youth of the leprosy affected a trade was and is a priority for us. We started the skills training Centre in the Gandhi leprosy Colony, Gulbarga, about 5 years ago. All we could teach them was Computer DTP and Tailoring. Knowing this was not enough, last year we enrolled 3 school dropouts from the leprosy colony to the Don Bosco technical school at Hospet.

It was really a great joy to see Rakesh, one of the 3 boys we sent to Hospet complete his course and pass out.
Rakesh now has a Diploma as an electrician and Motor Winding, along with A certificate in Computer basis. With this skill Rakesh can now get a job easily.

Rescued and Safe
Saba a 12 year old girl was found by Michael and his family while traveling on the Mumbai-Bangalore train. She was part of a begging racket and had ran away from home. With the help of CWC and Childline we managed to trace her parents. Saba it turned out was a school dropout who was used by an elderly lady along with other children to beg at VT station and in the trains in Mumbai. One day she ran away and started traveling on the outstation trains trying to be far away from the elderly lady and afraid to go home because of an alcoholic father.

This how we found her and rescued her. After assuring her parents that she was well and producing her before the CWC who gave us permission to rehabilitate her, we got admission for her with the help of Mr. Nabi, a social worker in a school in Pune.

She is now in a proper residential school and we hope that she will have a bright future.

Summer Camp
A 3 day summer camp was organized with the help of the IET for around 75 children (aged between 6 to 14years), out of which 30 were from the Gandhi Leprosy Colony. The rest of the children were from the youth at risk proggramme run by Don Bosco’s.

The children had a lot of fun learning new games, songs, dances and bible stories from 2 experienced Sunday school teachers from IET who came all the way from Delhi.
The children were thoroughly blessed and enjoyed themselves all the 3 days.
The colony children have asked us if we could conduct proggrammes like this whenever there are school vacations.

Surely quite a few seeds were sown and we hope to water and nurture these seeds over the years.

Thanksgiving programme
On the 26th of May 2011 the Karuna project completed 7 years, to mark this wonderful occasion we conducted a small programme in the Gandhi Leprosy Colony to give thanks to our Great and Mighty God.
With the help of the local Church we attend, we had a small time of prayer thanking God for all His mercies.
This was followed ( for the first time ever) by a song and dance by the c children of the colony. It was really a treat to watch children from the colony singing Christian songs in Hindi and dancing to the same. These were the same songs and dances they had learnt during the summer camp.

What better way to thank God who has done so much to uplift these people.

Continuing to sow seeds
Every year we try to put in more of the small children from the leprosy colonies in good Christian residential school, where they could receive an English medium education along with Christian values.
The Good Lord has blessed us with good contacts in this area. We thank God for this and bless Him.
Like always this year we were able to put a few more children in such a school. We thank the Gateway International Boarding run by David & Theresa who admitted 6 more new children to their home.
This takes the total number of children from the leprosy colony going to Christian residential schools to 33. Praise God.
Please pray that these children would persevere and that some of them would becomes teachers, doctors, engineers etc. and be a boon to The Kingdom and society.

Help Required
Padmavati, daughter of leprosy affected persons got married a few years back to Shivappa despite him being severely affected by polio in one leg. His parents were and are also affected by leprosy.
A couple of months ago Shivappa fell behind his house one night and was discovered dead early in the morning.
Padmavati’s world shattered. She is at a complete loss for words and finds it difficult to come to terms with what life has in store for her.

She is only 23 years old carrying her third child(7 months pregnant).
She also has 2 other children both girls aged 6 and 4 years. We have been able to help her by putting both the girls in a residential school. We now helping her to do a Tailoring course and hope to set her up with some income generating self support.. We are also taking care of all the hospital expenses for her delivery.
We appeal to anyone who would like to help us in helping this young woman.

Some of the Activities of the last few months
Besides the Summer Camp for the Children a 2 day film show was held in the Gandhi Leprosy Colony showing them the Jesus Film, The Pilgrims’ Progress and other Christian films in the local language Kannada.
A 2 day Parental Guidance Seminar was held in the Gandhi Leprosy Colony for the parents. During this time we were able to the them how to bring up their children biblically. It was a wonderful time with the parents wanting us to keep on holding such seminars in all the time.
The children who were being sent for the first time to residential schools were kept in Michael & Michelle for a week so that we could toilet train them and teach them how to eat properly without wasting food. Besides this they were taught how to share toys while playing.
Renovation work has started on the community hall to change it into the new clinic on one side and the skills training centre on the other side. Hopefully the work will be completed by the end of July. Also the hospital is being given a fresh coat of paint and a few other changes.
A new small Bal Wadi (Kindergarten) Building is under construction in the Colony. It is being built by the local Government authorities but will be under our supervision. A teacher has also been provided by them. The children will also be given a meal at noon time. Hopefully the construction will be over We thank God for this provision.
Footwear, spectacles were also given to a few people. Besides this medical attention was given to 15 people at the local hospital and paid for by Karuna.
In the last few months we had 5 deaths in the colony . We thank all of you for your prayers for Mallappa who also passed away early this month.

Prayers Points
That God

• Would bless Michael & Michelle and that He would give them a double portion of anointing and wisdom as they lead the work.
• Would continue His provision for all work of the Karuna project.
• Would Bless the youth of the Gandhi leprosy Colony and provide good jobs for them as they complete their skills training courses.
• Would bless the children of the Colony and that the seeds sown in the children attending the Christian schools would bear fruit.
• Would provide us with Volunteers and like minded persons to help us carry out this work of the Kingdom.

We thank God for the successful ear surgery of Fatima(a 7 year girl, who father is leprosy affected).

Fatima is well now  and back at school.

We thank God for the 3 boys we managed to put in a vocational training school, with the help of Turbocam India, at Hospet.

And also for the 22 children in Christian boarding schools in Bangalore, Goa, Chitapur, Hubli and Thane.

2 persons were given aid so that they could be operated.

Saibana was given treatment for T.B., while 2 persons were given spectacles.

8 persons were taken to the hospital to be treated for various diseases.

Strategy for the success of the Abundance has been changed. A rain fed crop of red gram has been sowed.

Also a new breed of goats will be bought by the end of  Sept2010 and the animal husbandry project will be restarted.

This is the first newsletter of 2010 and we want to share with you all the exciting happening of the month of December with you.

The most exciting event that took place was the baptism of a couple of youth, a boy and a girl in the water tank at the abundance project. We praise God that He is using the project for His glory.

Sara and Aurol both brother and sister wanted to get baptized, their father Pastor Rathod who works among the gypsy community approached Michael asking him if he could baptize his children. Taking full advantage of the large water tank at the abundance project, Michael & Rathod baptized Aurol & Sara much to the joy of their friends & relatives.

Christmas Programme

God is a wonderful provider and when we are in the business of spreading His kingdom He will go all out to provide.

We were able to have an excellent Christmas programme for the residents of the Gandhi Leprosy Colony sharing the love of Jesus with them.

A children’s party for the children of the leprosy affected, orphans and rescued child labourers was held at the Gandhi leprosy colony which was attended by 152 children.

Games were held with prizes given to the winners. Cake and snacks were served to all including the mothers who came with the small children. Each children was given a gift. Toddlers upto 3years were given stuffed toys, while the older children were given toiletries and stationary besides a few sweets. The girls’ gift had hair accessories in them while the boys had balls/puzzles,etc.

The Love Meal

No celebration is complete without a good meal. Part of the Christmas celebration was an excellent lunch which consisted of Pullao rice, Chicken curry, curd salad and a sweet, served to all the residents(350+) of the Gandhi leprosy Colony. Our Lord the Great Provider provided for this wonderful meal through the Indian Evangelical Team.

Planting Seeds of the Gospel

A special Christian cultural proggramme was held where christian bhajans were sung in the local language by a troupe, followed by a group of school children preforming dances to christian songs. The gospel was then given by a member from the Campus Crusade team. Also honoured during this function with gifts were 4 youth from the colony who had taken up jobs and held them for over a year.

The Abundance Project

Work at the Abundance project is slowly progressing. Vegetables are now being grown with a small production which is being sold in the market.

Please pray that we will be able to grow more crops. And that The Lord will give us much wisdom to manage the crops and animals.

Prayer points:

Please pray that:

• God would provide for the projects in the coming year.

• The 5 elderly people admitted to the hospital can be shifted to the Abundance project. That the Lord would provide all that is needed for this purpose.

• The Lord would give Michael a good team to carry on the work.

• The Lord would give us a good christian doctor to take care of the medical needs of the Gandhi Leprosy Colony.

• The Lord would provide sponsors so that we can help put more children in good christian schools.

• We would see a spiritual breakthrough in the colony.

• The Lord would bless Michael & Michelle along with their children, that His protection would be upon their family and that God would give Michael & Michelle much wisdom and grace to carry on the work of the ministry.

Story of Nagamma

Nagamma the daughter of a leprosy affected couple staying in the Gandhi leprosy colony is a young girl of 22 stricken by polio in both legs. A few months back she approached us to help her to acquire a new pair of calipers so that she could walk properly as the calipers she had were broken and beyond repairs. In the February newsletter we had requested prayer  for her and her situation.

Last month we were able to provide her with a new set of calipers. A delighted Nagamma had no words to express her joy. Dr Pati who fitted the new calipers for her has also promised her a job in the new rehabilitation centre he plans to open in a few months time.

Providing Drinking water

Water is very essential and at the Abundance project by the grace of God we are able to bless many people by providing water to them. The abundance project is the only place for miles around that has water on its land. Farmers coming to farm their land now have no problem for drinking water for themselves and their cattle. The women feel very blessed as we have now lightened their burden as they do not have to carry pots of water for miles while coming to work in the fields.

A new beginning

Memboob is a young lad of 16 whose parents are leprosy affected. Memboob’s grandparents are also leprosy affected and are beggars. Memboob’s father works as an unskilled labourer. His mother approached us at Karuna to help him find a job as he was not interested in studying. Karuna managed to fix him as an apprentice in a garage where he can learn to be a car mechanic. He is now very happy as he is learning a trade as well as earning a little at the same time.

The work at the Abundance project is slowly picking up with replanting some vegetable crops. Below are some photographs of some of the white pumpkin and ridge gourd plants and their fruits.

The work of compassion among the leprosy affected in the Gandhi colony continues with 8 patients being admitted to the Karuna hospital. 3 of them are quite aged and have nowhere to go after their wounds and ulcers are healed. Please pray that God would provide a solution for these men.

Footwear and walking sticks was provided to 2 patients and a walker was added to the equipment at the clinic.

Please pray that the Lord would provide finances for all the Christmas proggrammes to be held in the Colony.

Please keep the 22^nd of December in your prayers as we are holding a gospel meeting with a fellowship dinner for the residents of the Gandhi leprosy colony. Also on the same day a children’s party for around 150 orphans, rescued child laborers and children of the leprosy affected will be held. We thank God for already providing the finance for the gift hampers for these children.

Please continue to pray for Michael, Michelle and their family, that God would protect them at all times and would give Michael and Michelle wisdom as they lead the work.

We want to thank God for:

1. The first goat kid that was born on the 28th of May. A young healthy black male.
( Photographs can be seen in the Photo section in the album Abundance Project)

2. The new batch of 5 girls who have joined the Tailoring Classess.
(Photographs of the girls training can be seen in the Photo Section in the album Skills Training)

3. The 30 odd children who attended the Kids Club at the Colony.
(Photographs of the children playing can be seen in the Photo section in the album Children’s work)

4. Geeta Basuraj who is only the second student from the colony to pass her SSLC exams and the first to get a first class with 78%.

5. The good clean drinking water that the community nows enjoys thanks to the water treatment plant installed last month.

6. The increased amount of water coming from the borewell at the Abundance project.

7. His provision which helped pay the school fees of 10 children.

Please pray for:

1. Good rainfall as the Abundance project needs rainwater as we plant the coconut trees, jatropha, colius and vegetables plants.

2. The children who are going to the christian residential schools in Goa, that they will get well adjusted to their new surroundings and study well.
(photographs of the first batch of 2 boys can be seen in the photo section In album Children’s work)

3. Ramchandra and Mallappa, both in their 80′s and now suffering with bad ulcers and pressure sores.

4. Mantesh that he would get a good job.

5. The 5 new girls on the skills training programme, that they may continue and complete the course.

6. Geeta Basuraj, that her parents would allow her to continue her studies.

7. To provide finances so that we can continue to help uplift these people.

8. The monthly prayer meetings, that we would see breakthroughs soon.

8. Michael, Michelle and the Karuna team that God would give much wisdom and grace to work among these people.

The month of April has been a month of pleasant surprises for us and also seeing the wonderful work the Lord is doing through us.

We want to thank God for the wonderful Water Treatment plant He provided the Gandhi leposy Colony so that the commmunity can now have pure drinking and cooking water.  This plant was given to us by WMI(water missions international) and installed by Turbocam India. We are grateful to both of them.

The Lord has been been good and helped us to get addmission for 7 children in 2 good christian schools in Goa. They will join in the last week of May.

Also we were able to distribute the Samritian Purse to the children.(photograghs under children work in the photo section)

Another financial year has ended and we want to thank and praise Almighty God for sustaining the Karuna Charitable Trust and all the work we are doing here in Gulbarga.
 We Also want to thank all of you who are involved with Karuna and are praying for us.
 As you all know The Karuna Charitable Trust now has 2 projects. One is the Karuna(compassion) project in the Gandhi leprosy colony and the other is the  Abundance project(an agricultural project) to help the leprosy affected.

A small update on the Abundance Project.

1. A few trees have been planted along with some seeds for vegetables.
Please pray that this will be fruitful.
2.Please pray for the health of the goats. 4 goats are pregnant.
Please pray that they will grow well and bring us much profits.

3.A cement tank which can hold 2500 litres of water has been erected

and will now make it easy to irrigate the land.
4. The rabbits are doing well.
5. Please pray for the 2 families (Devendrappa & his wife, Pandurang & his wife) working on the land, that the Lord would protect them at all times and bless them.

6. Pray for the Jatropha plantation that the plants will grow well and give us an abundance of seeds. We thank God for the first fruits that have already apeared on a couple of trees.

(Photographs available in Photos section the under the Abundance

Project.)

The work in the Gandhi Leprosy Colony continues by the Grace of God.

1. 65 persons were given dressing for wounds and ulcers in the daily clinic.

2. 53 persons were treated for various ailments by the doctor on his bi-weekly visits.

3. 3 patients admitted in the Karuna Hospital, 2 were discharged after been treated. Please pray for Sathappa who has been admitted with an amputed foot. Also pray for Sathappa as we take him to Jaipur to fit him with a Jaipur foot.

4. On an average 65 children were given nutrition daily.
Pray that God would continue to provide for these children.

5. The groundwork has been done to put at least 15 children in good residential Christian schools. Please pray that God would provide sponsors who would come forward with sponsorship so that more childrencould be put in Christian schools.

6. A monthly meeting has now been started with a group coming to the colony singing Christian bhajans (country songs) and praying.
 Around 35 people from the colony attended this month’s  meeting. Please pray that we will see breakthroughs and many people saved.

7. Please continue to pray for Michael, Michelle and the Karuna team that God would anoint them and give them much wisdom to carry out His purposes for these people and His Kingdom.
Also pray that God would continue to meet all the needs of the project.

The month of February has been a rather eventful one.
 We want to thank all of you who are involved with Karuna and are praying for us.
 

A small update on the Abundance Project.

1. A few trees have been planted along with some seeds for vegetables.
Please pray that this will be fruitful.

2.It was a dream come true. The first batch of 25 goats arrived on the land at last.

Please pray that they will grow well and bring us much profits.

3.The second borewell in now operational giving us about 650 litres of water an hour.

4. Some rabbits have also been acquired for breeding.

5. A 5KVA generator has been purchased to solve the electricity problem.
Please pray that God would work a miracle and provide us with an electricity connection.

6. Please pray for the 2 families working on the land, that the Lord would
protect them at all times and blesses them.

7. Pray for the Jatropha plantation that the plants will grow well and give
us an abundance of seeds.

(Photographs available in Photos section the under the Abundance Project.)

The work in the Gandhi Leprosy Colony continues by the Grace of God.

1. 56 persons were given dressing for wounds and ulcers in the daily clinic.

2. 45 persons were treated for various ailments by the doctor on his bi-weekly visits.

3. 5 patients admitted in the Karuna Hospital, 4 were discharged after been treated. Please pray for Sathappa who has been admitted with an amputed foot.

4. Please pray for Nagamma 22 years old who has polio in both her legs, that God would

provide the required finances to buy new caliphers for her.
Also pray for Sathappa as we try to fit him with a Jaipur foot.

5. On an average 65 children were given nutrition daily.
Pray that God would continue to provide for these children.

7. The skills training continues. The youth are happy now that they are earning a little money while learning. We thank God & you for your prayers, the training center have now started stitching material to sell in the market.
A total of 3 youth are now going for advanced computer training i.e. D.T.P. programming.  2 youth have finished their training, pray that they would now find jobs.

8. The groundwork has been done to put at least 15 children in good residential Christian schools. Please pray that God would provide sponsors who would come forward with sponsorship so that more children could be put in Christian schools.

9. A monthly meeting has now been started with a group coming to the colony singing Christian bhajans (country songs) and praying.
 Around 35 people from the colony attended the  meeting on the 12th of February. Please pray that we will see breakthroughs and many people saved.

10. Please continue to pray for Michael, Michelle and the Karuna team that God would anoint them and give them much wisdom to carry out His purposes for these people and His Kingdom.
Also pray that God would continue to meet all the needs of the project.

We thank all of you for your prayers and support which helped us in doing wonderful work for the Kingdom of God. Indeed it was a fruitful year for us. A year in which we have seen the faithfulness of God and His wonderful miracles.

The work on the Abundance Project is going on well thanks to your prayers.

1. The shed for the goats is now completed.

2. One of the borewells has been fitted with a Hand Pump. The water is clear and excellent, suitable for drinking. Praise God.

3. A few trees have been planted along with some seeds for vegetables. Please pray that this will be fruitful.

4. Please pray as the first batch of 25 goats arrive by the first week of January.

5. Please pray that God would work a miracle and provide us with an electricity connection.

(Photographs available in Photos section the under the Abundance Project.)

The work in the Gandhi Leprosy Colony continues by the Grace of God.

1. 87persons were given dressing for wounds and ulcers in the daily clinic.

2. 65 persons were treated for various ailments by the doctor on his bi-weekly visits.

3. 5 patients admitted in the Karuna Hospital, 4 were discharged after been treated. Please pray for Mallapa who has been admitted again for alleries and uclers.

4. 2 persons were admitted to local hospitals for treatment. Please pray for Mallamma who is 10 years old and suffering from acute Asthma.

5. one boy, Manthesh, 19yrs, was given a Christmas Gift of a new Calipher. ( See Christmas Gift Post) 

6. On an average 78 children were given nutrition daily. Pray that God would continue to provide for these children.

7. The skills training continues. The youth are happy now that they are earning a little money while learning. We thank God & you for your prayers, the training center has now started stitching material to sell in the market. A total of 3 youth are now going for advanced computer training i.e. D.T.P. programming. 2 youth have finished their training, pray that they would now find jobs.

8. Children are doing better in their studies due to the tutions that has been started for the children who want help with their school work. Between 10- 15 children take advantage of this facility.

9. Residential School fees of 2 children were paid. Please pray that God would provide sponsors who would come forward with sponorship so that more children could be put in Christian schools.

10. We want to thank you for praying for the Christmas programs. We had a wonderful evening of Christian Bhajans followed by an excellent Word and Altar call. A fellowship meal was than served to around 350 people.(photographs in photo section under Ministry)

11. 145 children attended the children’s Christmas party. Each child was given a gift hamper.(photographs in photo section under Children’s work)

12. Please continue to pray for Michael, Michelle and the Karuna team that God would aniont them and give them much wisdom to carry out His purposes for these people and His Kingdom. Also pray that God would continue to meet all the needs of the project.