Matthew

Today we are nearing the end of our journey.  We ventured out to one of the major slums outside of Hyderabad to visit The Opportunity Foundation, which was founded by a couple from Coeur d’Alene to help children who are living in the slums. 

There are more than 50,000 people living in this slum, and the poverty is immense.  These families live in shelters made out of basically anything they can find.  Tarps, clothing, tires ­– basically, anything they could find to provide shelter – were tied together into homes.  Some people were fortunate enough to have concrete houses, but not many.  We first arrived at the daycare/clinic that The Opportunity Foundation had built.  Many of the children were cared for and had toys and clean new clothes that were brought from the U.S., and proper food.  The rag clothes that were the children’s from their homes were washed, and when the kids went back home for the day, the old clothes had to be put back on them.  For only several rupees, which for many of the families was still not affordable, healthcare is available.  There is a full-time nurse on staff who is able to help many children and slum dwellers with proper care and medicine.  It is only a small step toward alleviating a huge problem, but the impact on the lives of the slum dwellers the foundation was able to reach was incredible to see.

After our time at the daycare, we went to the primary school.  The slum children were receiving a wonderful education from properly trained teachers, and they had the opportunity to learn English.   This was having an impact upon the whole slum, because adults were getting motivated to learn: If the children could learn English, they could too.  Many of the teachers stayed in the evening, teaching English to many of the adults.  It was The Opportunity Foundation’s first anniversary, so the schoolchildren put on a performance for us.  They sang praise songs and danced, and it was amazing to see the smiles on their faces and to hear them singing praises to the Lord.  They had the opportunity to learn about Jesus, and to take that to their homes with them, and roots were being planted that will spread throughout the slum community.  It was a huge step for a slum community so desperately in need of a savior and hope for a future.  It was incredible to see what The Opportunity Foundation was able to accomplish, and encouraging to see all that they had done in only one year, making a difference in so many lives in the slum!