RACHEL
TABITHA’S HEART
INDIA
India and her people has been Rachel's passion and focus for many years. As she worked with international non-profits and short-term teams in Calcutta, her eyes were opened to the desperate plight of the city’s street children and ministering to them became her life’s work.
Rachel began a weekly afternoon program to reach out to children living in nearby slums. But within weeks, their small venue was boiling with hundreds of street children. As the crowd grew, so did her understanding of their overwhelming needs. She learned that these kids lived in difficult conditions and sleep in crowded, make-shift shelters or on the ground, fewer than 2% attended school and they spent their days on the street begging, stealing, or worse. Many of their mothers are widowed or abandoned; their fathers, if present, are often alcoholics or drug addicts.
In 2006, after two years of building relationships and hard work, her small Indian staff and she opened Charisma House, a center focused on meeting the needs of street children and their communities. They began with basic vocational training for the women and Hindi literacy for the children and teens. Through literacy classes and the center’s simple routines and rules, they began to develop discipline and skills that would later allow them to succeed in school.
In the spring of 2007, they enrolled their first 25 street children into local primary schools. Against all odds, the children outperformed their peers and ranked consistently at the top of their classes! With a hundred more street children at the center ready and waiting for this same opportunity, in 2007, Rachel founded Tabitha’s Heart to help fund and support their work.
The work of Tabitha’s Heart continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Thanks to many generous child sponsors, they have over 500 children enrolled yearly in local primary schools! With the daily tutoring support they provide at the education centers, all of the children have done amazingly well. What they see is that these children need to succeed and thrive. With your support, Rachel hopes to expand their work, bringing hope and lasting change to more of Calcutta’s destitute communities… one child at a time.
PRAYER REQUESTS
Pray for single mothers who are starting small business training.
Pray God would raise up leaders.
Pray for a sewing class that started for teen girls with little education.