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The India Christian Mission Center (ICMC)
exists to serve India's orphans, widows, lepers and the
unreached, irrespective of caste, creed, community and religion
through the love of Jesus.
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Send
Christmas Cards to Your Kids
Now
is a great time to send a letter with a photo of you or your
family to your sponsored child at ICMC. You may include
Christmas cards, stickers, bookmarks, photos, coloring pages,
pictures your own kids drew...anything that still looks like a
letter and not a package.
Put
about $1.00 worth of stamps on it and mail it to...
 Your
child's full name
c/o Dr. S. Jayaraj Krishnan
House of Peace
Vasanthapuram,
Chinna Thirupathy PO
Salem - 636 008
Tamil Nadu, INDIA
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But
Can't I Send Them a Present...?
The best thing to do
is send an extra financial gift with your monthly sponsorship
amount. All of the children will have a special
celebration with Chicken Biryani and probably a parade or two at
Christmastime, and they will all receive a new outfit for their
present. In this way, every child feels special. It
costs $5 for each outfit, so any amount will go towards getting
outfits for all the children.
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Evening in September Results
 120 beautiful
people spent a beautiful evening in Arizona to generously
benefit the children at ICMC with an additional $21,000.
(The McFerron family is pictured above).
Here is Dr. Jay's response:
"Thank you for
your wonderful good news. The Lord answered your prayers
and your hard endless work became very fruitful and a great
blessing to the mission. Thank God for the generous gift
of your loving people. The good and precious Lord should
bless you all more and more."
The funds are
being used for . . .
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$6,000
The dam: It's almost finished and should be full with
the rains now. This will cultivate 10 additional acres
of rice and also be stocked with fish.
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$4,000
A Drinking Water Tank: To be placed on the fourth
floor, big enough to supply water to all of the Promised
Land buildings.
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The
rest, plus some sponsorship funds: A new
Sleeping Mat, Bed Sheet, Blanket, Towel, Toothbrush,
Toothpaste, Underwear and Nightgown: for each of the
1,600 children. (These need to be replaced at least
every year).
It reminds me of
the passage in Luke where it says, "When I was hungry, you gave
Me something to eat..." and (my imagination adds...)
"When I was cold, you gave me a blanket and a nightgown.
When I was dirty, you gave me a towel and a toothbrush.
When I was uncomfortable sleeping on the cement because my mat
was wearing through, you gave me a new one!"
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Vijay
Wins State Drawing Competition
 In
the drawing competition conducted by Airtel organization 40 of
the children of the House of Peace took part along with 1500
children of other schools in Taminadu state. Two children from
St. Basil Matriculation School, one from St. Neva Miller
Matriculation School and one from St. Graham Memorial High
School (Vijay is pictured above) received prizes on
29.08.’06 from the Airtel officers.
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Health Clinic by the
Team from Ireland
By Sarah McClure,
from the Irish Team who visited
in August
37
people, the majority of them teenagers and accompanied by a
pastor and a doctor, traveled from Campsie, Ireland at Omagh Community Church, to India and ICMC in early August.
For the past few
years, a “Health Clinic” has been carried out for the
children in the “Promised Land” by a short-term team from
Ireland.
This involved all the
children lining up to be registered, a translator helping
one of the team to note the child’s details and any
complaints they have.
The children were then
put through a variety of different health checks. This
year we checked; Weight, Body Mass Index, Temperature, Lung
Capacity, Hearing, Eye-site, Hygiene Aspects; showing them
how to wash their hands and under their nails properly and
also showing them how to brush their teeth and giving them
toothbrushes and toothpaste.
This was a chance for
us all to play a part in an important aspect of the trip.
We were able to really interact with the children and come
face to face with the many problems they face on a daily
basis. Problems like rotting teeth, severe itching, and
infected wounds. All complaints that seem a million
miles away from our lives and the lives of our
families-problems that could be so easily treated and most
importantly avoided if the resources and money were more
readily available for the children in the orphanage.
Dr. Alan Miller then
examined the children, one-by-one and with help from a
translator, was able to check out individual concerns with
each child. The final part of the medical line was
providing the children with what Alan had prescribed, from
worming tablets for all, treatment for head lice, to
paracetemol for high temperatures.
This may seem like
we’re putting a small sticky plaster over the health
problems of the children, but each visit a health clinic is
carried out, each child’s progress is tracked and
information is stored to help with the next visit.
At the end of the
health clinic, we provided prayer for the children and some
face-painting!
The team also painted two murals for the
children to enjoy at the Promised Land, managed to fit
in a church opening, a school opening with beautiful dances
from the children there and from the girls on the team, some
interesting Irish dancing, an “X-factor” night, a table
quiz, a few tears and lots of laughter.
Extra Note:
There have been
general improvements in the health of the children since
this team first started visiting in 1998. We believe
that much of this is because of the huge improvement of
living conditions and perhaps nutrition. We've been tracking
some basic health indicators for a number of years now and
our idea is to try to see if specific improvements in health
can be demonstrated.
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One of the Hardest Days - Lepers
By Sarah McClure,
from the Irish Team who visited
in August
 Pastor
Jay not only does incredible work with the children in Salem, he
also cares for the outcast community of those with leprosy.
However, it is not just those with the disease that are often
denied even basic rights in their communities in India, it is
the entire family unit that is despised, spat upon in the
streets and rejected by many in their country.
From what we experienced,
Pastor Jay and his team are the only people demonstrating
compassion and love for these people.
They were gathered in a
little shed, waiting for us to come and meet them, pray with
them and hand out a little rice and a minuscule amount of money.
Many of these people
were amazed as we reached out to touch them, hug them and pray
for them.
It may have been years
since they were touched, maybe they never have been touched by a
stranger in a loving way before. The feeling of helplessness
turned to anger that these people are allowed and ‘expected’ to
be treated in such a degrading and hated manner.
As the family units
left clutching their bags of rice, I found myself with a lump in
my throat, thanking God for Pastor Jay and the true love and
compassion God has placed in his heart.
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Ammu's
Story
By Sarah McClure,
from the Irish Team who visited
in August
 We
met 12 year old Ammu when Pastor Jay brought her into see Dr.
Alan Miller during the health clinic. Pastor Jay explained how
Ammu had been hit by a bus 4 years ago and had smashed her upper
left leg. She had an operation to piece her leg together but it
was not at all successful and is now left with an excruciatingly
painful leg, 2 inches shorter than her right leg leaving her
with a very bad limp.
After talking to Alan, Pastor Jay will now
take Ammu to an orthopaedic specialist who will advise him on
the next steps to give this young girl a better quality of life.
If it wasn’t for Pastor Jay and his vision
for these children Ammu could be in a much more difficult
situation . Ammu’s father was imprisoned 2 years ago, leaving
his wife to cope with 2 young girls. There was no possibility
that their mother could cope on her own and she had to leave the
2 sisters in the care of Pastor Jay just over 1 year ago.
Pastor Jay can give these girls a safe place
to stay, 3 meals a day, clothe them and provide a good standard
of education for them, which their mother could not have
afforded in her new situation.
Pastor Jay sees many children in need of his
help, just like Ammu and her sister, but he cannot do this all
on his own strength. He needs our help to financially back his
vision to be able to provide hundreds of children with hope and
a future.
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My
Experience in India...
by Mark McMakin,
part of the Irish team that visited in August
 Walking
down the main streets of Chennai you’ll see women in beautiful
dresses, successful businessmen with interesting ties, and even
the odd Mercedes prowling about. Stroll around the shopping
centres and you can haggle over wall hangings, salivate over the
golden jewellery, and submit to the tourist inside yourself by
ordering a McDonald’s. But wander ten feet off the path
affluence has beaten out and you’ll see the beggar children on
the streets, the rubbish that seems to cover everything like a
filthy blanket, and the shantytowns a stone’s throw from the
department stores. Welcome to India, the second most populous
country in the world, and home to some of the most glaringly
obvious disparities between rich and poor seen anywhere on
earth.
Our group was based in a town rather
ominously called Salem, an exhausting six hours away from
Chennai by train, which turned out to be much smaller and a lot
more rural than the city we’d flown into. Although it seemed to
have a lot of the same issues as Chennai, if not more, this
didn’t stop the people we came across being amazingly friendly,
especially the children. I’d always heard that kids who grew up
in the developing world were surprisingly happy, given their
circumstances, but I wasn’t sure if I believed it or not until I
met these guys. I probably wouldn’t have been able to stick the
disease and poverty that was all too commonplace for eleven long
days if it hadn’t have been for them. I’m not quite sure how,
but having “uncle” added to my name and being seemingly unable
to walk anywhere without at least five kids firmly attached to
each arm somehow made the situation the slightest bit more
bearable.
Pastor Jay, the founder of the orphanage we
were working with, was also incredible, and a total ray of
inspiration. Obstacles don’t seem to exist to this man; he just
sets his eyes firmly on a target and refuses to acquiesce until
it’s achieved. A lot of the children of Salem are better off
because of the immense work he’s done, and I couldn’t help
thinking about how the world as a whole would be too, if only
there were more people like him.
The first part of our trip was
mostly spent touring, all the while dying of the intense heat
and trying to avoid malaria. On the second day we visited a
place called The Promised Land, and on the third Eden Garden – I
want to give a medal to whoever chose these names. Both appeared
to be factories which produced insanely friendly children, all
too ready to jump on us and be fascinated by our cameras. Some
of the hardest moments of the trip were when you were having a
brilliant time just playing around with these kids, because the
realisation “Yeah, they don’t have parents…” would suddenly hit
you like a brick wall that came out of nowhere. A few days after
our first visit we came back to the Promised Land and did some
more meaningful work, like painting and running health clinics.
This was when I started to feel like I might be making the
smallest bit of difference. There were hard parts to this as
well though, especially when you saw the words that were written
on some of the kids’ health-check forms. My favourite little guy
of the whole trip was called Gopi, (pictured above) and I
couldn’t bring myself to look at his because of what I’d seen on
some of the others’. But despite these problems, problems so
easily treated in the West, the kids remained alarmingly happy,
and entirely inspiring.
Looking back on it now it seems so incredibly
surreal that nine hours on a hunk of metal with wings can take
you to a part of the world that you almost wouldn’t recognise. I
must admit I have felt somewhat guilty since I came back to my
safe little bubble of white wealth; like a disgustingly spoilt
Westerner who has copious amounts of everything and doesn’t
deserve any of it. But you really have no idea how glad I am
that I went, and how thankful I am for the things I’ve seen. I
think everybody should take at least one trip like this in their
lifetime, to truly appreciate what they have and what other
people in the world don’t.
And I hope the voice inside my head that keeps
screaming at me, “You have to do more! You have to do more!”
never shuts up, because I know that it’s right.
I’ll definitely be back someday.
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Update
from Mrs Christy - SEPTEMBER
“Thou are the God who does wonders.”
Psalm 77:14
We are so
grateful to the Lord for His mercy
towards us during this month.
September 5th is
celebrated as Teacher’s Day every
year. In every school of ICMC (St.Basil
Matriculation, St.Neva Miller
Matriculation, St.Graham Memorial
Primary and High schools and
St.Grace Lilian Teacher Training
Institute) teacher’s day was
celebrated and the teachers were
honoured. It was so funny that the
children of the House of Peace acted
as their teachers on that day.
All our
children had their Quarterly exam
during the second and third weeks of
this month. During the holidays
special classes were conducted for
Std. X and XII.
63
small children attended a children’s
camp at Danishpet (Where Dr.Jay was
brought up) for three days from 24
to 27.09.’06. This children’s camp
was a great blessing and wonderful
experience to our children.
During the Quarterly holidays some
children went home. On 25.09.06 a
Youth Camp was conducted at the
Promised Land. Mr. Samuel and Bright
our son were the speakers. The Youth
at the Promised Land only
participated in the camp. It was a
great challenge to the Youth at the
ICMC. On the very same day we had a
special prayer meeting remembering
Mr. Jack Scheepbouwer on his fifth
death anniversary. We thought of his
flawless love to the children and
the good deeds he has done for us
and prayed for his wife and 2
children.
On 26.07.’06 there was
also a Youth Camp at Eden Garden,
Periyasoragai. Youth from the Salem
centre and Eden Garden took part in
this camp. Both Bright and Mr.
Samuel were the speakers. It was a
great blessing to those who
participated in this camp. We could
not have the youth camp during the
second Saturday as it was
examination time. Our children got
much spiritual food from these two
camps.
We were busy
preparing for the inspection of
T.T.I and B.Ed colleges during this
month. In all our village churches (Ellayur,
Muthunaikkanpatti, Udayapatti,
Konanchettiyoor, Soragai) Sunday
worship services, and Sunday classes
were conducted for His glory.
Timothy school is
running with 125 students for His
glory. At Eden Garden repairing work
was done this month. Damaged walls
and roof were repaired.
On
29.09.’06 there was a one day
Seminar on “Foreign Contribution
Regulation Act 1976” by Home Affairs
Ministry in Madras, Dr.Jay and one
of our Timothy teachers took part in
this seminar. Bright, our son also
participated in this seminar on
voluntary basis. “In fact this
seminar is a useful one to run the
institution more effectively and
smoothly”, Dr. Jay says. We thank
all our faithful sponsors and
generous donors and precious prayer
partners for their loving support
for our Mission.
May the dear Lord bless you all!
Yours in His service,
Mrs. Jayaseeli Christy
Secretary
ICMC
Update
from Mrs Christy AUGUST
“O God, your righteousness reaches the skies. You have done
great things; there is no one like you” Psalm 71:19
We, the members of the ICMC family, are so
grateful to the Lord for the wonderful blessings He has
given us during this month.
On the 3rd of August the UK team of
six members led by Miss Dolly Wainwright who came to the
House of Peace on 30.07.’06, left Salem with burdened
hearts. On 02.08.’06 Timothy school was opened by Miss Dolly
for His glory. The 124 Timothy students were so happy about
it. Their visit was a great blessing to all of us.
On the fifth of August we were so joyful to
receive the Irish team of 37 headed by our dear Brother and
Pastor of Omagh Community Church, Rev. Dr. Brendan McCarthy.
It was so thrilling to have them with us at the House of
Peace. As usual they conducted medical camp at the Promised
Land (Every time the team comes we have medical camp). Many
of our children got benefited. We had a special program with
the Irish people at St. Basil Matriculation School on
08.08.’06. The Konanchetiyoor (St.Patrick Church) Church was
opened on 09.08.’06 by Rev. Dr. Brendan McCarthy. On
11.08.’06 the Irish team had a meeting with the lepers we
support time to time. The lepers were so happy to receive
some money and rice from them.
On 12.08.’06 St. Neva Miller Matriculation
School was shifted to the main road and it was dedicated for
the glory of God by Dr. & Mrs. Susan and Alan Miller and
Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Hilary and Brendan McCarthy. It was a great
day for all our children. The Irish team sang and danced
very beautifully. Their cultural dance they showed us was
really great. On that day Rev. Dr. Brendan delivered a
fantastic message. From 30.08.’06 we have been conducting
the school in the newly shifted building. The students and
teachers are very happy as this is on the main road. As we
had the school inaugural function on 12.08.’06, we could not
have the monthly Youth Camp. Instead we had a prayer meeting
for our children at the Promised Land with the CEF (Children
Evangelical Fellowship) on 19.08.’06. Children were taught
new songs and shown puppet shows. It was a blessing to all
the children who participated.
On 13.’08.’06 the team left for Madras with
heavy hearts. During their stay every night they prayed much
for our ICMC. Their visit is so memorable. 15.08.’06 was the
60th Independence Day of India. We had flag
hoisting in every school run by ICMC. At St. Basil
Matriculation School, Dr. Jay hoisted our national flag. It
was followed by children’s program (dance, song and speech).
All the children were very happy on that day. Prizes were
given to the winners of the speech competition. Many of the
prize winners were from the House of Peace, Salem.
The result of the 1st Mid-term
exam was published in the third week of this month. Most of
the children have done very well.
A new nurse was appointed at the Promised Land on 31.08.’06.
As you knew 23.08.’06 was a day of victory for us. The Lord
fought and won the battle for us. We had a thanksgiving
prayer meeting with our staff and children on 24.08.’06. We
are SO grateful to the Lord and to all the sponsors and
donors for their precious prayer for us.
Let His
name only be glorified by and through
us!
Yours
in His Vineyard,
Mrs.
J. Christy
Secretary, ICMC
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**This is
Bessie, a creative name I made up for one of the cows that
Rotarians in Seattle bought. She makes milk every
morning. Automatic donations are very regular, just
like Bessie.
Set up an
automatic payment for your sponsorship on the secure website now
www.icmcindia.org
using
your debit or credit card.
Or use your
online bank's BillPay to automatically send a check to ICMC
each month.
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Short
Term Teams
November 2006:
Warren Hall Crain
is hosting an International Tour for Rotarians to assist in the
Polio Eradication Programme in India and it's happening right
now. The team arrived in Dehli, toured the Taj Mahal, Khajuraho temples,
attended Charter Night of the Rotary Club of Khajuraho, and
traveled south
down to spend several days at ICMC over National Immunization
Day.
There
are around twenty people from New Zealand and the USA, mostly
rotarians. The interesting thing about Warren is that he
is a retired journalist who sounds English who lives in Seattle
half time and in India half time and speaks fluent Hindi.
wcrain@u.washington.edu
January 8, 2007:
 Busso
and Janette Lemme are planning their fourth vision team to
India. It is a two-week
trip to ICMC -- with an optional travel extension to tour.
The Lemme's are rotarians and members of Lake Forest Church in
Seattle. You will recall photos of their son Forrest (grey
shirt) who is the tallest person I ever met. Please contact Janette for more details at
jlemme1@aol.com
January 19-31, 2007:
 Jason Olcott
will lead a vision trip focused on the Timothy School (teaching
and video shoots) youth ministry, and medical care. Jason
is based in Phoenix with Spring of Life Christian Church.
(The only downside to traveling with Jason is he says he's a
jinxed traveler - last trip he got stuck in a snowstorm in Tokyo for twelve hours,
rolled up in a donated sleeping bag, next to a million other
Asians in a locked down international airport. FYI, he doesn't usually wear flowers). For
more info, contact
jeannezahn@icmcindia.org
September 2007:
 Marty
Isaac from Australia is planning to lead a team to work with the
children at ICMC. The upside to traveling with Marty is
that he's been to India countless times and knew Pastor Jay when
he was young enough to pull off these sunglasses as fashionable
wear. Please contact Martin for more info at
ratsack2@optusnet.com.au
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What
do you Think?
Do you like this format of
getting information from ICMC? You will get it each month
via email. Make sure to let us know email changes as this
saves on costs.
Let
us know your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, or problems viewing
at
jeannezahn@icmcindia.org
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Miss an
E-Newsletter?
Click here...
August 2006
July 2006
May June 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
All E-Newsletters are on the
website under About Us...
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Addresses
For sponsorship
checks:
ICMC
PO Box 530758
Henderson, Nevada 89053
For letters/cards
to children:
ICMC
Dr. S. Jayaraj Krishnan
(Your child's name)
House of Peace
Vasanthapuram,
Chinna Thirupathy PO
Salem - 636 008
Tamil Nadu India
It cost .95
cents in stamps and write "airmail" on the envelope.
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This is the
India version of "Mator" - I don't even think a little Rusteez
will help.
in reference
to Need Number One below...I think Mator needs to be
replaced.
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Updated List of
Needs . . .
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To cultivate useless land to useful land. We need
another tractor, it cost 13500 USA dollars.
Dining Hall for Boy’s – 700 children to sit and
eat. We need 15,000 USA dollars.
Benches and Desks for middle and high school of
St.Graham Memorial Schools. It costs 12,000 USA
dollars.
Timothy school needs a Van for outreach ministries
into various villages. It costs about 15,000 USA
dollars.
Children to buy new dress for all children for this
Christmas. It costs 10,000 USA dollars.
Elementary school has to be separated from the High
school. We need 60,000 USA dollars to accommodate
500 – 600 children. It costs about 60,000 USA
dollars.
We need a mobile medical van. It costs 15,000 USA
dollars.
We need another 50,000 USA dollars for St.
Basil Matriculation School land. ($50,000 is
already donated...)
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