Report from BHW India Partnership Facilitators Following Visit

Key People: Molay and Anita Kanti Das
Date of Visit: 5-6 December 2024

We visited Barasat, Kolkata for two days and spent time with Molay, his wife Anita, and their two children Stephen and Ananya. We shared two lovely evening meals with them in their home and on the second morning we visited the children’s programme in operation. We spent two hours at the programme, watching them sitting on the floor, learning and doing their work. At the end of class, they sang a song and were given a small snack. The children were happy and were all attentive and enjoying the class.

Recent Events

Context

There is so much poverty in this community - uneducated parents who do not value education, unemployment, relational breakdowns and addiction issues. The children have tough lives.

The community struggles with corruption and dishonesty. We heard of one story about a young girl that used to attend Barasat Child Tutoring programme, who ran away from home with a boy whom she had fallen in love with. The parents called the police into help and while the police were able to find her, she was murdered while in police custody. No one has been held accountable for this death, and the police will not investigate. The family are helpless to get any justice for her. We walked past their home, and they had erected a large silver sign over the door of their house with her name on it. So very sad. 

Programmes

The Barasat Child Tutoring Programme runs Monday to Friday from 7.30am - 9.30am and 56 children attend. They are all of Hindu faith. They come each morning and are taught basic English, sing songs, and have a short story with a biblical theme. There are two teachers, an older retired schoolteacher and a young lady who wants to be a teacher but cannot afford the training. She is getting married very shortly.

At the end of each session the children leave with a small snack. However, Molay would like to provide better food than they are currently able to.  

Each Sunday, Molay also runs Sunday School where 60-70 children attend, which BHW funds also help to run.

For Christmas, Molay runs a Christmas programme which about 85-90 children attend. Christmas is a great opportunity to do a special programme and invite the community in. The community expects the Christians to celebrate Christmas and so there are no barriers to this. The Christmas programme includes the children performing songs, dance, skits, games and Christmas carols. This past Christmas (December 2024) Molay was able to distribute blankets to the 56 children that attend the Barasat Child Tutoring Programme. They were also able to give gifts to the teachers. Molay had the privilege of sharing God's word and Anita cooked lunch for everyone. Some photos are included of the Christmas programme.

A Vacation Bible School (VBS) is run in the summer holidays and approximately 250 non-Christian children attend. It runs for one week, four hours each morning. The week is divided into three days for the younger children and three days for high school children. The VBS programme includes doing art and crafts, singing and Bible stories. This is run with the funds from BHW. 

Personal Stories

These three brothers are aged 10 (Avishya), 8 (Suvudee) and the younger brother aged 4 years old. Their mother is only 21 years old. She is married. The boys attend every day and always attend well dressed. The mother was so young when she married (11). She now works as a maid servant, as well as looking after the three boys and the household. The father is an alcoholic and does not earn any money for the family.   

The boy in the black hoodie sitting crossed legged has a sister who was 12 years old when her parents agreed that she was to marry a 27-year-old man. The parents believed she would be well looked after by him. However as soon as she was married, he sold her for money. The parents heard about this, and they contacted the police who were able to rescue her. However, as the marriage was unsuccessful this brought shame on the family, so the parents arranged a marriage for her to another man despite her still only being 13 years old.

The little girl in the red jacket comes from a very poor family. Her father left her mother, leaving them with nothing and no income. The mother then decided she would sell this little girl to get some money. The grandmother found out and was able to stop it but the mother abandoned the family and ran off with another man. This little girl is now living with her grandmother. They have very little, and she does not go to school. It is a relief for her when she comes to the Barasat Child Tutoring Programme every day.  

Priar, pictured in the floral dress, is very clever. Her father does not work, and her mother works as a maid servant. They are very very poor. Priar attends a state school but unfortunately the school is not good and does not teach her. The teachers at Barasat Child Tutoring Programme are trying hard to fill the gaps.

 The young boy in the navy-blue shirt lives with his aunty who is very poor. His father killed his mother, and the father is now in jail. This little boy now has no mother or father and is traumatised by this. He enjoys coming every day to the Barasat Child Tutoring Programme as he can be a normal child for a few hours. 

This little girl is very sick. She is 6 years old and has five holes in her heart. The medical advice the family has been given is that they should not operate until she is 12 years old. The operation is costly and very risky, and the family are unable to afford it. She loves coming to the Barasat Child Tutoring Programme as she can socialise with other children and learn – both of which she struggles to do as she is often sick.

This is Onousha (in the striped jersey). She attends Molay’s church and has accepted the Lord. She is helping teach dance at the Christmas programme. She attends the adult study class with 10 others, and they are studying the New Testament.  

Partnership's Influence within the Community

This is a great project and is having a huge impact on both the children and their families in the local community. The children love this programme and love having somewhere to come, learn and have fun in a caring environment. The families are happy to send their children to this programme, as they see they are receiving education.

Ideas for the Future

Molay is looking to start a Saturday drawing class. He will need a teacher for this and is hoping to get it up and running by January 2025. There are a lot of children who live in the area whose parents are working or not around, and so the children often find they have plenty of spare time on their hands over the weekend. He believes running a drawing programme on the weekend would attract and reach many children. The cost to run this new drawing class is US$650 for the teacher and drawing materials. He is hoping to have up to 50 children attend although has not yet decided what time of day it would be best to run this Saturday class. He is also open to the idea of running evening drawing classes for 1-2 hours.

Molay also discussed the idea of setting up a computer lab. He would also need a teacher for this, and computers. This would be for class 10 and 11 aged students, as the tuition programme stops at class 8 or 9. Molay's main focus is to share the gospel with these students and reaching families. Security for the equipment would be an issue so the building would need to have a secure cupboard installed so the computers could be stored safely when not being used. We suggested that Molay speak to another of our partners in India regarding this idea, as he has experience sourcing computers and setting up programmes like this.

Current Issues and Challenges

The building gets extremely hot in the summer months as it has a low iron roof. A false ceiling would cost INR80,000 (US$1,000) and if installed would help to keep the inside cool. Molay would like to do this should he have sufficient funds.

Prayer and Praise Points

1) After many years in the community, the Barasat Child Tutoring Programme is a valued programme in the community. The local families are welcoming of all that Molay does for their children and he is highly regarded in the community.
2) Pray that many children would come to faith along with their families.
3) Pray that the children would be protected from harm – especially the young girls who are at risk of trafficking.

Comments

The budget currently is US$4,510 per annum and we would like to propose a funding increase of US$2,750 for 2025. 

The proposed increase is for the following: 
1) US$100 for the small snack given to children:  Post Covid inflation means the cost of providing a small snack at the end of each session has doubled in price. Molay needs an additional US$100 to cover this and also provide better food than they are currently able.
2) New Funding for the Drawing Class: US$450 for the teacher’s salary and US$200 for art supplies
3) US$2,000 for a discretionary fund

US$2,000 was approved as a discretionary fund in 2023 for one year. This fund was given to assist with meeting some of the needs of those Molay serves through his ministry and church as their impact grows. He used the fund to help two blind families in his church and two widows. He purchased a sewing machine for one lady. He also used it to help support his ministry and the families that depend on him from his church and the centre, e.g. assisting with medical fees, mechanic costs, house rent, and school fees when needed.

A further discretionary fund of US$2,000 would be used to support similar needs in the future and could also be applied in part to install a false ceiling and insulation in the classroom to improve learning conditions during the hot and wet months.  

(Note: further to this report the BHW Executive has approved this budget increase)