Abinaya

1. What do you remember from your life before coming to the CCH home?

My Name is Abinaya.  I am studying U.K.G (Upper Kindergarten).  Before I came to CCH home I use to play and I am not going to school.  I never obey my elders.  I used to watch T.V. 24 hours.  I hated God I never pray to him.  I used to yell and fight other children.  And I use to speak so many bad words.

2. What is the best part about living in a CCH home?

I was come to CCH through my church pastor.  When I joined as a new child, I feel not comfortable with other children and I don’t understand what I am going to do here.  But pastor was very encouraging me to stand on my feet.  Then I decided to study more. Then I use to make a friendship with others. When I started to make a friendship with other children, really I feel very happy and I never feel that I am not alone. I started to pray also. Now I become a good in my studies and my behaviors and I love God.

3. If you were going to describe God to your class, what three words you use to describe God?

• Jesus is good.
• You are never alone with Jesus.
• If you also believe him you will become good in your behaviors and you will get a good marks in your studies.

4. In ten years, how old will you be? What do you want your life to be like at that time?

At ten years I may get 18 years old.  When get 18 years, I want to see my life was beautiful and I able to stand on my feet.  I want to speak about God to others.  When I finish school, I want to be a doctor to help other children and bring them to CCH.

These Ponduru girls love to have their picture taken!  Their smiles are so sweet and so are their hearts!  Their home parents have two little girls.  Mercy is 2 years old and Blessing is just 6 months old.  These girls are great with their little baby sisters!   Please pray for their studies! 

Water balloons were a hit this summer!  We had water balloon tosses and they thought it was the greatest game!  They loved getting each other wet!  Sandhya in the back, in blue, is one of our volunteer staff members who helps CCH out when she is on break from college!  She is wonderful with the children!

These girls are girly girls!  When school started we gave them ribbons to match their uniforms.  Most every school age girl wears her hair in braids with ribbons tied at the bottom.  When we went to visit them in school, I noticed that they did not have their ribbons.  I asked them why not.  They told me that ribbons are not in fashion at this school.  They asked for clips.  I told them when they finished their 1st term exams we would give them clips.  The picture to the left is them doing each others hair after receiving the clips!  Gotta love the fashion!  :)

Lazar

1.  What do you remember from your life before coming to the CCH home?

My name is Lazar I am studying 5^th class.  Before I come to the CCH home I use to play on the streets.  I never obey my elders, and I use to speak very bad words to other children.  I used to go school but I don’t have an interest in school. And I don’t have a any vision for my life.  No one will care for my life no one is giving me direction to my life.  I always use to think, what’s going happens to me?

2.  What is the best part about living in a CCH home?

I came to the CCH home through my church pastor.  When I joined in a CCH home, a few days later, I feel want to escape from there.  One day my pastor made a prayer meeting in the church.  As I was praying, God showed me one small plant is growing very big like tree.  When summer comes that tree was never dry.   It’s getting very shining and then I don’t understand what it means.  After I finished the prayer I just told my pastor about this dream.  He explained it to me. Then I come to know Jesus loves me.  I come to know he never leaves me alone.

3.  If you going to describe God to your class, what three words would you see to describe God?

• Jesus is great believe in him.
• Jesus was died for you and me.  Will anyone died for you and me, “No”.  Do you know why?  Some people love us but no one will died for us. But Jesus loves us and he was died for us, so really He is great here.
• Jesus will give victory for our life.

4.  In ten years, how old will you be? What do you want your life to be like at that time? 
In ten years, I will be 23 years old.  I just want to see in my life will be good and that I able to help to CCH homes. Those who are struggling, I will bring the children and I will keep in the CCH home.  I decided to study well and I will get a job.  I will be an engineer.

This is Lazar at VBS reading part of the story of Jesus walking on the water.  He is a very good reader in Telugu (the local language) and he is also very good at reading in English!








These are the boys of NTR Colony.  They are some of the sweetest kids!  They are in the school store getting their first pair of shoes!  We have 2 sets of siblings in this home!  Three of them are biological brothers and then we have two others that are biological brothers!  Now they are all brothers together!

Visiting these boys at school is such a pleasure!  Their principals and teachers have GREAT things to say about them!  The CCH staff is very proud of how these kids are doing in school!  Two of them are the top in their class!  Yeah Adithya and Anil!  Keep praying for the NTR Colony boys and their studies!

The Best Christmas Present Ever!!

What a great time of year it is!  The holidays are here and we are so excited to celebrate with our children!  Today is Children's Day in India - not sure why they don't have that holiday in the States but here they do!  We had our 2nd Saturday celebration last Saturday and that was so much fun!  We were able to give blankets to all the children, it is winter here you know!  Here is Ravi Teja receiving his blanket!  These blankets are great quality and everyone was so excited to get them! 

Now we are on to thinking about Christmas!  There are so many ways to give this time of year and I would hope that you all would think about giving to one of our CCH children or giving to a whole home.  We have 200 hundred children in 20 homes!

For the girls - Beautiful Dresses

For the boys - Jeans and a collared shirt

When I saw this little girl in this outfit, I told Chinna, a CCH staff member, that I wanted to buy all the girls of CCH homes this dress.  He got a big smile on his face and said, "They will really be happy with that, sister"!  So, here we are, getting ready to purchase the cloth and make each one custom fit.  We had the girls measured by the tailor on Saturday!  

I asked the boys if they wanted jeans or slacks.  They said that jeans are more popular now.  Jeans it is!  We are so excited to get these children a personal gift!  We will be gift wrapping all 200 of the outfits and putting the name of the child on their gift!  They will be so excited!  Needless to say, these types of gifts don't come their way very often, if ever.

When we asked the home parents what they wanted for Christmas, they all said, electric mixers for the kitchen!  We are very happy to be able to give this to them!  They cook for 12-15 people 3 times daily!  Mixing by hand can be a bit rough! 

Here is what we need from you:

One child - $15 for the dress/jeans

One home - $150 for all ten children (dress/jeans)

One mixer for the home - $60 

Christmas Package (one home) - $210 

One outfit for every child and a mixer

How can you give, you ask?

Use paypal on the right side of the blog home page or

Mail a check to the address on the right side

Andhra Pradesh Children’s Homes Tour – Recap!

The CCH children are amazing!  Each with a unique story, a brilliant smile, and a bright future!  We are so thankful for all the pastors and their wives, the church members, and the CCH staff that makes this program run so amazingly well!

Here are some pics from the Northern trip, along with one beautiful story of Monika.

Somavaram girls in their bedroom

 

Some of the Domakonda girls enjoying the bubbles

Choppakatlapalem Girls with their school bags

Punukula girls with their finished puzzles

Saravaram boys loving the games

Monika's smile made our day the minute we saw her face...let me explain why.

In April when we went to see the facilities before the children moved in, we were able to meet Monika.  Her eyes were dark and she was a very sad.  When we were praying for all the children, I felt that she needed some extra prayer because I thought she might be having nightmares.  I talked with the pastor and we pulled her aside and were able to talk with her.  Indeed she was having nightmares and she was afraid to fall asleep at night.  We asked if we could pray for her again and ask God to protect her in her sleep.  She let us pray for her. 

This is Monika

When we saw her last week, she had bright eyes, a smile, and joy was pouring out of her.  I asked the pastor what changed.  He told me that she had run away twice in the night and that someone in the village had brought her back to the home.  He had a talk with her and asked her not to run away.  She said she wanted to stay in the home but felt like she needed to run away.  He told her to pray and ask God to help her stay in the home.  At first she would just repeat the prayer after him and then she was able to do it on her own.  She has not run away from home since, she doesn't have any more nightmares, and her face, when she prays, just lights up!  

Our God is so good and He loves these little ones so much!  Praise the Lord for the work done in Monika's life through this pastor and the CCH home!  This is why we do what we do! 

Tour D'Andra Week 2

Last week went really well.  We played games, told stories, painted, did puzzles, ate together, gave toothbrushes and school bags, and we had lots of fun doing it all!
Here are a few teaser pics of the last week (more details coming next week).

Kuderu girls playing with sidewalk chalk

Konderapalli boys playing with the beach ball

Gummalagunta boys putting together a puzzle

The Kamalapuram boys with their new school bags   

Somavaram Girls

The 2nd half of our trip starts about 3 hours North of Ongole in the district of Krishna.  These girls were a little shy the first time we met them so we will see how they feel now after 5 months of living in the home!  We will arrive just in time for lunch with these girls and then we will have fun in the afternoon!

Choppakatlapuram Girls

When we are finished at Somavaram, we will head North, about an hour, to the Khammam District.  Here we will have dinner with the Choppakatlauram girls!  The last time we were at this home the food was amazing!  These girls are lucky to have a mom that can cook so well!  We will spend the night at this church and have breakfast in the morning with the girls before school!  It will be our first "home stay", so we are excited!

Punukula Girls

After we go to school with the girls, to pay school fees, we will drive about two hours South, in the same district, to Punukula! These girls have a large play area in the front of their home, which attracts a lot of village children to come over!  I am sure we will have a house full of kids when we take out the beach balls!  We will spend the night at this home and then go to school with the girls in the morning!  Hopefully we don't have to get up too early!

Saravaram Boys

We will leave the Punukula girls at school and drive about 2 more hours to the Nalgonda District, where we will have lunch with the Saravaram boys!  We love going to all the homes but the boys homes have so much energy and just LOVE the games!  We will see if these boys can handle all the fun we have planed for them! 

Domakonda Girls

We will arrive at the Domakonda home, in the Nazimabad district, around lunch time.  We will be driving from Hyderabad, which is the major metropolitan city in Andhra Pradesh.  Domakonda is about 3 hours north of Hyderabad.  We will spend the day with these girls.  The CCH staff members have met these girls when they opened the home but we have yet to meet them!  It will be a great day of getting to know each other!  

We will spend one more day in Hyderabad before heading back to Ongole, about a 6.5 hour drive.  We are so thankful for our driver!  He is a very safe driver and he is great with the children.  Pray for our safety and our blessed interactions with all these precious blessings from God!  Thanks for your prayer support!  We can feel it over here!

Tour D'Andra Week 1

Over these next two weeks, the CCH staff will be visiting the homes that opened in May 2011.  The first week we will be visiting 4 homes in two districts.  We will be visiting their schools, meeting their teachers, checking up on the home details, and spending time with the children and the pastors.  We will also be bringing a nurse to do a physical check up as well as some blood work.  Please pray for safe travels and divine encounters with these children. 

Kuderu - Anatapuram District

Day 1: Traveling to the Anatapuram District, which is about a 7 hour drive from CCH headquarters in Ongole, Prakasam District.  Anatapuram is the largest district in the state of Andhra Pradesh.  Kuderu will be the first home we visit.  The pastor in this home just had a baby girl 4 months ago.  We are excited to see how this home is doing!

Gummalagunta - Anatapuram District

Day 2:  We will be getting up early and driving about 30 minutes to Gummalagunta to visit with these boys.  Boys love games and in this neighborhood there are TONS of children!  We hope to play some cricket with these boys if it is not too hot or rainy!  

Konderapalli - Kudapah District

Day 3:  We will drive from Anatapur to Kudapah which is about a 3 hour drive.  We will be arriving at Konderapalli just in time for lunch and an afternoon full of fun!  The pastor in this home just got married right before the children moved in.  We will see how he and his wife are adjusting to marriage as well as having 10 new children!  I am sure they will have some fun stories!

Komalapuram - Kudapah District

Day 4: The next morning we will drive about an hour and a half to get to Komalapuram.  This home is full of family!  The pastor and his wife have three grown children, who also have children.  They are not all living together but they are near. These boys not only have each other now, but they have so many cousins too!

The CCH staff is very excited to see what God has been doing in these homes over the past 5 months!  We look forward to letting you know on next weeks blog entry!

Aliya

What do you remember from your life before coming to the CCH home?

My name is Aliya I am studying 8^th class.  Before I came to the CCH home, I use to worship idols and I don’t know about Jesus.  I never obey my elders and I never went to school.

What is the best part about living in a CCH home?

I come to the CCH home through my church pastor.  When I joined in a CCH home, I never talk to the other children.  I always use to think, "why did they bring me here? What I am going to do?"  But when my pastor was sending me to school, I feel really happy, oh and I am going to study in English medium school!  At evening time we all used to pray, but I am not having interest to pray, I just pray with others.  So, one time when I was in prayer, I have seen one dream that was one cloud is coming slowly on me.  After I opened my eyes, I don’t know what happened exactly, but I feel some changing in my heart and then I am happy.

If you were going to describe God to your class, what three words would you see to describe God?

• If you receive Jesus in your heart, you will get a peace.
• Jesus is great if you ask anything from your heart, he will provide.
• Love Jesus 

In ten years, how old will you be? What do you want your life to be like at that time?

After ten years I may get 24 years old, and I want to be a teacher.  I will be able to help others.  I also want to be strong in God.

The Pernamitta girls have amazing home parents.  When asked how many children do you have - wanting to know how many he and his wife had together - he answered, "I have 12 children".  It was a beautiful and honest picture of the love that is shown in this home.  

These girls are full of smiles and hugs!  They enjoy being together and they have a kitten named Sweetie!  

Aliya is the oldest in this home and she loves helping her new sisters.  They look up to her and she is a good role model.  She is the top of her class and the teachers speak very highly of her!  As one of our oldest children, we are so pleased to be preparing her for college soon!

The Arts: Music, Painting, and Dance

Lavanya is in the middle smiling at the camera!

School in India is very important.  They study: English, Telugu, Hindi, Social, Science, Math, and Computers.  Electives are not offered.  So, we decided to bring the electives, The Arts, to each of the homes in order to provide them with a more well-rounded education.

Prim Kumar is teaching the boys the basic musical scale.

Our first endeavor began just last week.  We are bringing music into the homes through worship.  We have a 4-person team of worship leaders from Hyderabad, who have been through worship school training, teaching our children about the heart of worship and training them to sing and play the keyboard.  Each home will be visited twice in the next 3 months for 3 hours of training each time!  So far, the children are loving it!

Rakesh won "Best Young Artist".

In February we will begin our next "arts" course, which will be an painting/drawing course.  We are praying that God will provide a Christian artist to come and train our children in the techniques and artistic expression of drawing and painting.  We have so many children already interested and even one who has already won an award in his city for "best young artist."  We want to encourage and provide an outlet for the creative side of learning to be experienced and for these children to develop their unique gifts.

John Paul with his paintbrush.

In June our last course will begin, dance.  We hope to be able to teach our children how to choreograph and move to the music they are listening to.  Each month when our 110 children gather together they like to do some kind of performance.  Also at Christmas, the children prepare a performance for their church congregation.  We want them to develop these skills and use this as an expression of their love for the Lord.

Here Santhi learns which fingers to use.

All of these experiences will cost money. We need funds to be able to put these dreams into reality.  We have stepped out in faith and started the music training without any support yet, but believing God will provide!  We need to pay for transportation to each of the homes, dinner for the team of teachers coming to teach, and to pay the teachers for their time with our children.

Narsimgolu children doing their performance

Each home visit costs $23. So every week we are spending $46 to bring the arts to the homes.  The worship course is 18 weeks long and we assume that the other courses will be the same length.  We take the worship team to a different home each Tuesday and Thursday evening after school.  The children are loving it and feel so blessed by this opportunity!  Please consider helping us bring The Arts to each of our homes.  

Samuel

1.  What do you remember from your life before coming to the CCH home?

My name is Samuel and I am studying 3^rd class.
Before I come to the CCH home I use to study in Government Hostel, but I never go to the school and I use to play in the streets.  I use to speak very bad at the other children.  They use to gave us insect food for us, after we are eating that food, we use to get stomach pain.  No one will care for me.  I always use to think about my life, why God gave me this problem.  I feel some time to run way from there.  I was full of confusion in my life.

2.  What is the best part about living in a CCH home?

I came to the CCH home through my church pastor.  When I joined in a CCH home I really feel so happy, you know why? When my father was died no one was to pay for me to study.   My mother always use to think about me.  When I see her I feel so sad, but my pastor helped me a lot.  I stopped my bad words and I started to speak about Jesus.  I am so happy now.  I so thankful providing me every thing and studying too.

3.  If you were going to describe God to your class, what three words would you use to describe God?

• Believe God, you may receive Jesus,
• God is great.  Pray to him.
• Love the Jesus then you may love the others

4.  In ten years, how old will you be? What do you want your life to be like to at that time?

After ten years I may get 21 years old, and I just want to see in my life is very beautiful.  I want to become a pastor that I may help, those who struggling like me.  I just want to comfort them.

These are the Marturu boys!  They love to draw and these are their water color paintings! 
They also love their picture to be taken!  The pastor and his wife have 2 sons of their own and they have taken in 10 boys to raise!  Please pray for the pastor's wife - 12 boys plus a husband to care for - she has her hands full!






 

Here is a picture of Samuel at the beach!  These boys live 2 hours from the beach and none of them had ever been to the beach before!  The pastor and his wife, too, had never been to the beach!  It was a great day for everyone!

These boys are studying hard.  Some of them really struggle with school because before moving into the CCH home their education had been interrupted.  They have learning gaps.  Please pray that we can help them with these gaps and that the Lord can give them supernatural wisdom in these areas.

Joythi

1.  What do you remember from your life before coming to the CCH home? 

My name is Joythi I am studying in pre-school.  Before I come to CCH home, I just use to enjoy with my friends and I never go school.   I never obey my elders and my grand mother use to say, "You are so small you have to go school and you have to obey your elders", but I never listen to her.

2.  What is the best part about living in a CCH home?

I come to CCH home through my church pastor.  Actually I don’t like to go school.  But when I see CCH home children I was very interested to go school and study well.  So, I decide that I will study until I get to be an engineer

3.  If you were going to describe God to your class, what three words would you use to describe God?

• God was died on the cross for my sin.
• Jesus loves me so much.
• I will walk in Jesus way.

4.  In ten years, how old will you be? What do you want your life to be like at that time?
In ten years, I have 17 years old.  I just want to see in my life will be so beautiful.  And that I able to help others, those are like me.  And I love Jesus very much because, even though I don’t have father, I can feel that heavenly father is mine.  

These home parents have two children of their own and they have taken in 10 girls to raise and love and support!  Please pray for them!

Joythi is the smallest one in her home.  In the last 6 months we have seen her experience the joy of the Lord like never before!  She is truly loved in her home and where there is true love there is freedom!  She always has a smile on her face now!  It is so great!

This picture is taken upstairs in the church during our Vacation Bible School this summer.  Joythi loves to sing and dance and so do her sisters!  Please be praying for Joythi!

New Homes, School, and a Visit

These are the newest faces of Covenant Children's Homes.

These homes were open May 2011.

We are in the process of getting all these children their school uniforms, school shoes and school bags.

Choppakatlapalem

The bags are $5 each or $50 per home.

Domakonda

The uniforms are $6 each or $60 per home.

Konduvaripalli

The shoes are also $6 each or $60 per home.  

Medaramitla

So, you could sponsor a child for $17 or a home for $170!  

Or you could sponsor a home for bags for $50.

Or a home for uniforms for $60.

Or for shoes for $60.

Kamalapuram

We have sponsors for 5 of our homes totally covered already!

Gummallakunta

But 6 more homes need sponsors.

Kuderu

Our CCH staff will be visiting these children 
and their schools in October. 

Punukula

The estimate cost for the 2 week trip is $1,000.

Saravaram

 This money will cover transportation, food, and living arrangements for the 2 weeks.

It is about $75 per day.  Can you sponsor a day?

Somovaram

We are very excited to visit these children and get to know them a little better.
Then be able to share their stories with all of you!

The school bags will be delivered during this trip!  The children are so excited to receive them!

If you would like to help sponsor any of these needs, 

please donate using the PayPal button on the Home page!  

The children are so thankful to you for your support!