Global Aid Initiative Network

LIFE Team cares for Indian residents at Mukti

Global Aid Network (GAiN) sent their first LIFE Team to Mukti Mission in India.

Tony Vanderwal, retired dairy farmer, spending time with the children during their play time Mukti is a “Christ-centered home where destitute women and children irrespective of their background are accepted, cared for, transformed, and empowered to be salt and light in the society.”

As the team of ten, which consisted of a nursing student, a farmer, four counsellors, a few helpers and GAiN staff, settled in it was evident that God has provided for this ministry in many ways in the last 100 years.

The main Mukti base where the team worked and lived for the two weeks is a community consisting of a church as well as both English and Marathi schools up to the 10th grade, staff and volunteer housing, a home for the blind (these ladies are completely self sufficient and they even cook for themselves), a home and school for the women and children with special needs, a hospital and nursery, a huge kitchen that works nonstop, a dairy and agricultural project as well as housing for the hundreds of women and children residents.

As the team toured around, Mukti’s staff continually repeated “every soul is important to God.”

“You could see this simple statement put into practice wherever we were,” comments Schacter. “The way the women and children were cared for, the servant hearts of the staff, the setup of the base…it was everywhere.”

The team focused on a variety of tasks from painting two of the older homes that needed a overhaul, visiting and helping at the special school, visiting the nursery, having a standing play date every evening with the kids to play soccer before dinner and a nightly visit to the flower families, which are groups of about 15-20 girls who live together and have house parents or a house mother and guardian.

The ladies on the team also spent time with the elderly and women’s residents, getting to share with them and spend some time washing their feet and pampering them. For many of these woman, this was the first time they had ever received a manicure or a pedicure. It was a special time for these women.

During the day, the retired dairy farmer spent time at the dairy and agricultural farms, working and talking with the management on ways to make the farms more efficient and productive.

The mini-team of counsellors undertook the important task of both providing training in much needed topics (like parenting, attachment, communication, addressing trauma) as well as counselling many of the women and staff. Each of the children and many of the women come from very difficult and often traumatic backgrounds. This makes it very overwhelming for the teachers at the school as well as the house parents who are caring for the children. “At Mukti there is a huge need for women and children to know their value and be healed from the impact of societal, familial injustice and abuse,” shares Faith Wilkes, clinical counsellor and LIFE Team member. “Volunteers were given a rich sample of the beauty and need of women and children in India.”

The trip was extremely positive for the team members as they were able to spend time loving on each person they encountered.