Update from BHW India Partnership Facilitator

We haven't visited recently but receive regular updates from Pradeep. We intend to visit towards the end of 2025. 

Recent Events

Context

There is growing opposition at the national and local levels of government toward Christians, especially those who are propagating the faith. Young people who become believers and the children of poorly paid pastors find it difficult to obtain a good education. To get one, they need a sponsor to go to a private school and into further education. The churches of the network Pradeep leads has both types of young people and he wanted to do something about it. 

Several years prior to BHW finding him, he had an orphanage in Siliguri. However, the government made life very difficult for private orphanages and they were not able to comply, so they closed it down and managed to get all the children into homes. He kept in touch with the children and some of these ones now need help as they have completed secondary school. 

Pradeep and Merilo are hard workers. There is a lot happening around them. They have a Bible School where they train church planters to go out into rural villages. They oversee several churches and a growing church planting programme. There are constantly people at their door wanting help. 

They had a graduation for their Bible School on the 5th of November 2024.  

Scholarship Programme

This programme ticks over, and Pradeep pays the fees and costs for the young people in the programme. BHW used to send all the funds at one time, but it was difficult to carry funds over so on January 2025 we changed to sending the funds in two amounts to assist with managing the payments. 

Personal Stories

Arika Tamang

Arika is from Takdah which is a village 34 km away from Darjeeling. Arika’s father works as a carpenter, but he is old and working hard to meet the needs of the family and give education to two of their children. There is no college in Takdah and she had to come to Darjeeling to stay as a paying guest with someone for her study which is very expensive. The family is working hard to help her to go to college and complete her studies. Even though there are many struggles and many times she is unable to meet her needs still she is studying hard to complete her studies. She has a great ambition to become a teacher and not only complete her bachelor's degree but to pursue her studies to do Masters.

She wants to complete her studies and get a job to support her father to help the family. It is a great heart she has. Through the Angels Programme she knows that she will be able to pay her college fees on time.

Himanshu Rasaily

Himanshu is the only child in the family. He comes from a very difficult situation. His father is an unemployed person, a hermit and a drug addict. He was recently released from a rehabilitation centre to get help for his drug addiction. His mother is the only breadwinner, and she works in an area far away as a helper in a home stay at Munpoo.  Due to his drug addiction Himanshu’s father has been unable to go to work for many years. He goes to rehab and stays ok for some months then again slowly he will go back to the drugs, so he is unable to support his family.  

Himanshu is determined not to take drugs, and he wants to live a good life away from all bad habits. He is very sad to see the struggle of the family and the hard work that his mother is doing supporting his family and helping him to do his studies. For many months he was unable to meet his study needs and he had to take a loan which is difficult to repay on time. He was thinking to drop out from his studies and go for a job as a helper in construction, but we are encouraging him to continue his studies and complete them. For us, it is a great joy to help Himanshu.

Joyce and Jammima

Joyce (l) and Jammima (r) are two of the girls that were part of the orphanage that Pradeep and Merilo had in Siliguri which they had to close. All the children were put into the homes of Christians but these two came to live with Pradeep and Merilo. They brought them up as their own daughters. On our last visit there they were at home and finishing secondary school. They were the first two students in the Angel’s programme.

Jammima - Elderly Care Training
On the 4th of March 2024 Pradeep admitted Jamimma to Geriatric Nursing which is a six-month course at Darjeeling - three months theory and three months practical. She will be sent to Bangalore for a job. This training will come with job placement which will give a basic salary of 14,000 rupees which is a very good amount for a beginner. This job also has many opportunities to go to foreign countries to work. There was an opportunity to do a Hotel Management or Automobile course, but Jamimma selected Geriatric Nursing. 

Joyce is from Nagaland and was in the orphanage from the age of 3. Her father is a drug addict, and he has never been able to support or take care of the family. Her mother works as a caretaker of the village church from which she earns a little money to make ends meet. From 2014 she has grown up in Pradeep's home and completed her basic schooling. After 10th grade she was supposed to go back to her family but the family was unable to help her or feed her and take care of her, so she ended up staying at their home.

In 2023 she started a course in Hotel Management and completed this then went to a Hotel Management course at Jayshree Institute of Hotel Management. She completed her theory class there and was sent to Kewin Worth Hotel in Kolkata for her industrial training. Since then, she has got a job at Gatsby Hotel in Bangalore. She earns INR17,000 as her monthly salary. She wants to start supporting one of the younger girls in the Angels Programme. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

What is most observable is the change that is happening in the lives of the students and especially for those who are graduating and obtaining employment. They dreamed of having work as young people but could never imagine it ever happening. They are so grateful. 

Current Issues and Challenges

- Costs are skyrocketing. Every day the costs go up and they have to eke out a living while studying.
- Many of the families are very poor and have very little available for decent education, sometimes they struggle to even feed their families.
- The young people who are evicted from their homes are very vulnerable targets for bad people.

Prayer and Praise Points

1) That the young people are generally doing well in their studies and passing their grades
2) Several of them have become more involved in church and been baptised