Christmas Collection for CHIKS Children's Homes in Kerala Statte

Chiks was created in 1999 as a charitable trust as a result of personal connections between a Christian Indian woman and a caring English gentleman.

Sister Mary Mathew had worked for many years as a nun with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. She later moved to take sole charge of a home for fifty disabled people in a poor community south of Madras.

Mary’s health was suffering severely when, in the early 1990s, it was decided to move the residents to a new, large, well-staffed home. This freed Mary to pursue a lifetime dream to rescue and care for the neediest children.

Through her friendship with Robin Radley, who offered support and fundraising opportunities, Chiks was founded

A cheap two-roomed stonecutters house was found near Chalakudy, Kerala. Work was undertaken to convert and extend it, and the first six children were welcomed in 1998.
The home was called Karunanilayam, meaning ‘Home of Mercy’ in the local language, Malayalam.

Over the years further extension with new buildings and purchasing an adjacent plot mean that now over fifty children are given shelter, are fed, clothed and educated in local schools.
Some are orphans, some from homes where parents are too poor or too ill to provide for them. All are victims of poverty.

A history of sadness, loss, deprivation may be behind a child’s arrival, but the fulfilment of their physical needs with loving care and compassion bring comfort, and then happiness.
Now, another two homes, in the hills of Kerala, have become dependent on the Chiks charity.
‘Little Flower Mercy Home’ near Chengulum, and ‘Carmel Matha Santhi Bavan’ in Wyanad district, both offer refuge to children permanently or temporarily.

The permanence will only depend on the goodwill and charitable donations raised by Robin Radley and his unstinting efforts.

Ambitious projects toward self-sufficiency had been an object, but the current economic situation has curtailed so many plans. Life has become very much ‘hand-to-mouth’ recently.
I am certain that, of any funds raised, every penny counts and not one rupee is wasted!
Any questions will be welcomed by Robin Radley when he visits Highbury for the morning
service on Sunday 5th December, or go to

http://www.chikschildrenshomes.org/

Sue Cole

November - Open the Book at Oakwood School

Not to be confused with our Thursday Bible Study, ‘Open the Book’ is a national charity that provides school friendly materials to enable members of local churches to go into primary schools and share the story of the Bible with the children. Open The Book offers primary school children an opportunity to hear the major Bible stories, presented chronologically, during one school year. It is a free service given to each school by a team of Christians from local churches, who present a series of stories. Each presentation takes a maximum of ten minutes and can be incorporated into a wider school assembly, or can stand alone.

All the Year One stories are taken from The Lion Storyteller Bible written by Bob Hartman, and give an overview of the Bible from Creation to the Ascension. There is a further two years of themed material for those schools (and teams) that wish to continue. Open The Book fulfils both OFSTED and SIAS (Church School Inspection) requirements for Collective Worship, and has been successfully used in a multi-faith context.

Open The Book started in Bedford in 1999 where a group of Christians first started presenting Bible stories in school assemblies. Word reached other schools and areas and so grew from a local initiative into a national enterprise. In Gloucestershire Open The Book has grown from six teams in 2001 to over 160 teams in 2009 – that’s more than 1000 local volunteers. Phil Arnold, Jean Gregory and I became involved as part of Hope ’09 as a way of working together with St Michael’s.

Money raised helps to buy the books we use and to help with props and costumes. We also need funding to train other teams. As well as this month’s collections you are warmly invited to spend money on coffee and goodies at the URC in Prestbury from 10 – 12 on Saturday 20th November. If you really want to know what Open The Book is like come to church on the morning of 21st November.

Open the Book is a registered charity, number 1120425

Mary Michael