The India Connection Part 3

At Sam's funeral in October 2007, we asked our friends to make memorial donations to the Jobat Christian Hospital so that kids there could have a chance like he did. We raised over $20,000 which was enough to refurbish the whole children's ward and equip two pediatric critical care beds. The community decided to name the new ward after Sam. In January 2008, Sarah and her father traveled to Jobat with a delegation from the Women's Missionary Society. While they were there they helped to cut the ribbon at the new children's ward.

Slide show of WMS India trip January 2008 (4 minutes 46 seconds)

The WMS group toured the hospital and the school and the church in Jobat and also in several surrounding villages. Part of the school in Jobat is a hostel (dormitory) where children can stay if their home is too far away to walk back and forth each day. The children are provided with meals and a place to sleep, but the conditions are poor.

Sarah asked what the children eat. The only food available is a bowl of porridge each day. Sarah had some cash from Sam's memorial fund and she gave it to the principal of the school to augment their nutrition. The next day the principal told her "they had eggs today". An egg in Jobat costs about 2.5 rupees or about $.08 Cdn.

The children sleep on bare concrete with inadequate bedding, with sacks of food stacked in the room. There are no latrines in the building, and the school compound is a distance away, so children must walk up the street. In a province where Hindu extremists have targeted Christians, the safety of these children is a concern. The WMS representatives decided to start raising funds for a new hostel in Jobat.