There was a brief history and outline of the work of the Chiks charity in the December 2010 Highbury News, and its founder and co-ordinator, Robin Radley addressed the Highbury congregation last June. A synopsis of his entertaining update was that, like most charities, Chiks is struggling to meet the needs of our friends in India. Donations from Britain have dropped and prices of even the most basic requirements of life in India have escalated. Demands for help have also risen, so a vicious circle is in place.
Since 1999, through Chiks, one Children’s home, Karunanilayam, has been established and two others have been given great support. All three homes are in the state of Kerala, South India, a region also known as ‘Gods Own Country’ for its beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, beauty does not always mean wealth.
Karunanilayam, is run by Sister Mary Mathew, and currently over 30 children are resident. They are fed, clothed, educated and, most of all, are happy. I’ve been associated with Chiks since 2002, and seen expansion of the home from a single house to an extensive plot of multi-purpose buildings.
Likewise, the two homes in the mountain regions of Kerala, Little Flower Mercy Home and, even more remote, Carmel Matha Santhi Bavan have much to thank Chiks for.
Little Flower Mercy Home was started over 20 years ago by Molly and Mathew Manuel to shelter one hundred destitute and mentally-handicapped adults. Seeing a need for shelter for wandering children more recently, their scope has widened. Again, purpose built buildings have been erected, but already they are full to overflowing, partly because the Indian government has decreed that boys and girls must not share the same facilities.
Carmel Matha Santhi Bavan, run by Brother Joy Daniel, houses boys of all ages. The help of Chiks has also seen that home rebuilt and extended; and significantly, a large area of farmland purchased with a view to self-sufficiency. The land was already planted with banana, coconut, coffee trees and rice paddy.
Those are the successes. Now, the disappointments:-
Each month there are worries that bills will be met and food available. Meat has become a treat rather than a regular part of the diet.
At Karunanilayam, children have grown up, and will leave school. Then what? A training centre was planned to teach sewing skills and I.T. to the girls, also to be open to other girls in the neighbourhood. That project is now on hold, indefinitely.
Little Flower had an adjacent large plot of farmland on the market which would have been ideal for self-sufficiency. Chiks could not raise the asking price (which was hiked when the seller realised European finance was involved). However, a generous landowner has offered a smaller plot where a new boys’ home can now be built.
Carmel Matha Santhi Bavan farmland needs fencing to prevent theft of produce by needy neighbours. Again, insufficient funds are available.
If you actually see for yourself the happy faces of these children compared with the faces of those begging on the roadside, emotions are touched.
Some have horrific backgrounds ... death or illness of parents, desperate poverty leading to alcoholism and suicide. A boy saw his father step out in front of a train, another spent his first years tied to a table then was given away in exchange for a cooking pot. More recently, a boy raised in squalor with an idle drunken father saw his mother die in agony after being beaten and poisoned by the father. While the man is in prison the boy is now safe in one of the homes.
Children may be from unknown origins, could be Christian, Hindu, Moslem or Buddhist. All join in daily prayers to Jesus to give thanks for their blessings, for Chiks and for supporters in the UK. All the Homes are sustained by an abundance of love, faith and prayer. Need I say that more support is always needed.
India has great wealth but, thus far, no welfare system. It could be decades before cultural traditions, the caste system and dowries (both of which are technically illegal) and responsibility for the destitute change.
Meanwhile, children do not deserve to suffer, and Chiks is doing all it can to ensure that some don’t.
The work goes on. Robin’s regular ‘Letter from India’ is always cheerful and optimistic, but so often frustratingly disappointing that more cannot be achieved as fast as his aspirations would wish!
Sue Cole
