SCHOOL
One of Bless India's pivotal ministries to the local community is the Christian school program. In addition to being clearly taught God's plan of salvation, local children have a chance to learn to read and write English, which will greatly expand their opportunities for the future. Without this ministry, these Hindu and Muslim families may never have an opportunity to hear the Good News.

 

EVERY DAY
The rumble of the bus is just barely audible in the distance, but the Dalit father calls urgently to his children.  He wears a turbin, and little else.  Next to him, his thin wife pokes the open fire over which she cooked the morning’s meager rice.  The children emerge from the tiny, thatched roof hut.  They wear a uniform provided to them by the Two Worlds Christian School.  The bus screeches to a stop in a cloud of dust, and the children run forward.  The father grasps his staff as he watches them board.  He and his wife will now spend fourteen hours in the fields, but with God’s grace, their children will never face such days.  When the couple got saved just a few months before, God gave them a hope they never imagined—hope for eternity in heaven, hope for peace and provision by His hand.  Now there is an even greater hope, one beyond their wildest dreams, that their children will get an education and escape the oppression of the Untouchable existence.  They still have barely enough rupees to stave off starvation, and yet, their children go to school.  

THE BEGINNING
The orphanage began in 1998.  Until this time, the orphans attended public school.  Most Dalit children do not attend school; those who do are often persecuted.  They are forced to sit on the ground din the corner, instead of at desks like the other children.  They are not allowed to drink from the same water bucket as the children from higher castes—they must open their hands and try to catch water that is poured to them by the teacher.  It was an oppression that Pastor Mekala knew only too well.  When reports of mistreatment came back from the public school, it was discouraging to his soul.  He and his family earnestly sought God in prayer, and a solution quickly emerged—start your own Christian school.  At the time they had 40 orphans, and just one teacher.  Over the years the school has dramatically expanded beyond the walls of the orphanage when Pastor Mekala invited local Dalit children to come to the school for free.  It became a wonderful tool for evangelism.  God blessed the ministry and provided buses to retrieve children from outlying areas.  Now, the school teachers more than 600 children with 22 teachers.   Pastor Mekala’s son, Sudheer, heads up the school ministry.

THE FUTURE
Pastor Mekala still has great ideas for the school, ideas to enrich the children after their spiritual needs had been met.  A library, computers, playground equipment, a Bible for every student—it is all part of his vision for a school that will continue to shine a light in the dark community.

PRAY!

• That every family touched by the school will come to know Christ!
• For dedicated Christian teachers.  The Mekalas have found it hard to find well-qualified teachers who are also committed to Christ.
• For improved supplies and equipment for the children