Pondur

Church Orphan Home

When I was seven years old, my life revolved around birthday party cupcakes, bike rides, and Saturday morning cartoons. I did chores around the house, but I was always one step away from running outside to play or off to school. In India, an estimated 14% of children under 15 years old toil in hard labor instead of attending school. You can bet that hard labor doesn’t leave much time for play, either. More than 300 million children are growing up in what’s been labeled as one of the “World’s worst places to be a kid,”but the Pondur Home is a making a difference in these children’s lives.

On the street, orphaned girls are subject to the threat of kidnapping and trafficking. Here, they

are rescued from futures of fear and uncertainty. They are some of the most vulnerable in society, but at the Pondur Church Orphan Home, they find a home; they find security, love, and a family.

Orphaned girls find themselves in a precarious position. Once their parents die, they are left to fend for themselves, without access to the land they had owned with their husbands. Although women can now legally inherit property, in many areas, they risk ostracism or even murder if they claim what is theirs.

The girls are welcomed and local widows care for the children. Both the orphans and the widows have felt such deep loss; only they can understand one another. In each other, they find sisters and mothers. Together, we can sustain this home and care for this makeshift family. Won’t you join us?