A video has shone new light on the work of a Norfolk-based Christian charity with street children and elders in Indian slums over the past 27 years.
Rev Pat Atkinson, from Brundall, has run the work all that time. In the video she explains that the people being helped are either street children who live in slums or elders who have been abandoned by their families and are living on the streets. “These are people at the very bottom of the heap,” she said.
The Vidiyal Trust charity has a home which houses over 40 street elders and a community centre which serves lunch to another 50 or 60 every day.
“We have over 120 children who attend our tuition centre every day and we also look after a leprosy colony of 30 families who have advanced leprosy and with no-one to look after to them,” said Pat.
“We are also looking after 50 children who would not otherwise have had treatment for their cancers. If they don’t get help from us they will not be able to access any treatment at all.”
The charity operates with mostly Indian volunteers, virtually all of whom are children who were once part of the street children project and are now grown up and in their mid-twenties.
“We are taking God’s love and sharing it with those who are considered untouchable. We are trying to show them that there is a God who loves them,” said Pat. “They are the poorest people who Jesus himself would be among if he were walking this earth today.
“I am very proud that most of our support has come from Norfolk individuals and Norfolk churches. Without this none of the work done of the 27 years would have happened. As long as we are doing God’s work I am sure he will enable it to continue.”
Read our previous story on this topic.
www.vidiyaltrust.com
Click here or watch the video below.
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