Indian school children. (Hopegivers)
While all licenses have been reinstated, they continue awaiting the return of these children, says the Chief Operating Office of Hopegiver's Michael Glenn. "We lost (nearly)1,500 of our 2,000 plus students in the main orphanage in Kota. But, they're coming back and now we're over 700 there. And, we do have concerns. We don't know what happened to all these children and we know that they can be pushed into prostitution, or boys thrown out into the streets to be beggars or pick pockets."
This wasn't something Hogegivers wanted to happen. Glenn says, "They were kind of driven out by the opposition. They wanted to shut this thing down. So, they did everything to push these kids out or send them away."
While the number of people in their care has gone down, ministry wasn't diminished. "None of the pastors left and walked away. So, now we're just out there pulling these children back in," says Glenn.
Hopegivers is in the process of re-establishing their headquarters in Delhi, while maintaining a strong presence in Rajasthan. "We're finding out more and more that now the national government and other religious leaders are better aware of who we are and what we're about and knowing that we have to stand together strong to face the enemy of the persecuted church."
The crackdown by local radicals hurt financially. Glenn says, "We're going through a transition of trying to be more organized, more disciplined. We've had to downsize our staff a little bit. So, we do need the financial support, but prayer is the most important thing."
Hopegivers supports thousands of orphans, schools, 20,000 churches, a hospital, seminaries and more in India, Malawi and Haiti. Despite the persecution they continue reaching out with the Gospel.
