Dr Lalita Edwards at Santvana children’s home in Pune, India

I couldn’t believe it when at the end of July our landlord told us we had to be out by 1 September!

Our contract said we had until the end of December. How were we supposed to find another home for 22 HIV infected/affected children, plus staff, in so little time?

We were all still reeling from the sudden death of five-year-old Rohan, just a day after we celebrated his birthday.

The tears had barely dried on my cheeks as I started frantically making enquiries about new premises for Santvana (‘Comfort’) Home, to no avail. The landlord kept calling and I kept asking him for more time. One day I said to him, “My God will surely give me a place and soon.”


Donate to help CMS work around the world Towards the middle of September I received a call from a friend who runs an English-medium school; she wanted me to do a health check for her kids as I did last year. “I’ll have to wait until after Diwali,” I said, and told her what was happening. “What are you looking for?” she asked. “Five rooms, a kitchen, four bathrooms and room for the children to play,” I replied.

She told me about a guest house next to a church that she thought would be suitable. When I saw the place, I wanted to jump up and down – it was exactly what we wanted! How can we not worship and serve a God like ours!

The children love the new place. As for our old landlord, after all that hurry, he is still looking for a buyer. I’m so thankful; if he hadn’t asked us to vacate so quickly we wouldn’t have found our new home.

Praise God for providing for Santvana’s needs and pray for new children at the home, especially Subodh, an orphan who was kicked out of school when his teacher found out he was HIV+.

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Published: 18:40 01 January 2009  |  1599 views
Last updated: 31 March 2009
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