Dear Friends,
Bye-Bye
Mrs. Sahu who has been with us for about seven years moved to a assisted care center in Kothanur as she needed special medical care. We all miss her but she is in the vicinity and we keep in touch with her.Meenakshi who worked with us for about two years also left us. We want to thank her for all her help.
Raju the driver left us after about five years of service. Our new driver is Bharat Kumar.
We regret to announce the passing away of Mr. Rao, our contractor in October. He has been very helpful in all the construction work. Our heartfelt condolences to the sorrowing family.
Visitors
We are happy that several continue to visit us, interacting with the members. Special mention must be made about the visit of a youth group of Banaswadi Orthodox Church. During Christmas Petra Park children and mothers, and the Bishop Cotton Girls School Students visited us. We are grateful for their gifts.
Peripheral Ring Road
In our last letter we shared with you a crisis situation we are facing on account of the Government's decision to build a road through our property, threatening to demolish all our buildings!! We have raised our protest and appealed to higher authorities to change the proposal. The situation has not changed. Proceedings for acquiring our land have been initiated by BDA. However, the implementation of the scheme will take place, we understand, only after the elections when the new elected government come to place. Meanwhile we ask your prayers. We also need to plan for alternatives.
Pre-school programme continues at Lingarajapuram and the building and premises need renovation.
Christmas
In spite of the uncertainty of the future, life in the Home goes on and celebrations are aglow. The Christmas celebrations were held on 21st December and we were happy some of the parents, friends and students from nearby institutions - Visthar and Kutumba were present. Our members were excited that everyone had a part to play in the drama they performed!
We had also gathered together for Independence Day and Onam. We enjoyed our independence day celebration.
Work Projects
Mornings are busy with Workshop and the products, especially the calendars which are well received. Seby and Anil both are giving good leadership. Marketing is a problem. We tried to sell them in the churches. Also two special efforts, one at the Petra Park and other at YWCA have yielded some good results.In the afternoons we are busy in the garden and this time we did succeed in growing some vegetables. We all worked hard and were happy with the result.
We are happy to inform that we are re-starting our Screen Printing Unit. Please support us in this project.
Parent Meeting
In November 9th we had Parent Meeting discussing the growth of the members as well as talking about future due to the Peripheral Ring Road. We thank all the Parents who took time to come and we hope that we will have more of these meetings in future.
Some Personal News
This letter would not be complete without mentioning some of the blessings we received in our personal lives. We made two visits to USA - one in May to attend a meeting in San Francisco on theological education and the other in October to attend the blessing of marriage between Ajit our son and Jennifer. We were so delighted to be present at Ajit's wedding. We welcome into our family Jennifer. Jennifer is from New York and she has masters in Global Education. Wedding ceremony was held in Mont Clair Presbyterian Church near Berkely where Ajit had worked as an International Associate. We want all friends to remember them in your prayers. During these visits we are happy we were able to meet several of the friends and well-wishers of Liza's Home.
An unexpected honour has come to me in July. Bangalore Corporation has chosen me as one of the recipients of the Kempa Gowda Award in recognition of my services to the mentally challenged. I accepted this, as an honour conferred not so much to me but to Liza's Home.
Sermon Book
A book of sermons by KC Closed Doors and the Risen Christ was published by Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore with the help generously received from Mrs. Elyamma George of St. Mark's Cathedral. All the proceedings out of the sale of book are donated to Liza's Home. We are indeed grateful to her for her gift.
A Reflection
During our visits to USA in interaction with the friends and relatives two concerns were brought up. One, the problem known as ecological crisis. The relationship between nature and human has assumed an alarmingly serious crisis. Global warming, the pollution of air, sea and land, the damage caused by the rising sea level and many serious problems that harm life in general - all these problems are highlighted in all our discussions.
Al Gore former Vice-President was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in recognition of his contribution in creating awareness about this during the time I visited U.S.A. and the media took this opportunity to have a wider discussion on global warming and other issues.Certainly, this is one of the problems that affect the life of the globe! It indeed is a global problem.
The second concern is about the crisis of family relationships. Divorce, broken-homes are all rampant. There was a time when Indian/Asian population claimed to have strong family ties. But today Indian community is not without these problems.
The crisis of relationship is experienced the world over. Life is sustained by a web of relationships. The relationship with nature and relationship in family are foundational. If these foundations are shaking and are broken, then life is in peril. It is against this background that we should see the relevance of family based programmes. The bond that is maintained in the family and the value of mutual responsibility and inter-connectedness should be celebrated. It is against this background that we see the relevance and meaning of communities of love like Liza's Home. Do these communities that celebrate caring love and inter-connectedness provide an alternative to our strife-torn and closed societies? Do come and visit us sometimes, you will surely be happy.
Thanking you all for all the support you have given us, your prayers and kind thoughts toward us which encourages us to do better and work better and be more productive and supportive to our society.
We hope that this NEW YEAR will bring many new friends to us and will bring our old friends more closer.From all the members of the community we greet you during this season.
-Molly Abraham
Greetings from Liza's Home!
Time is moving fast and we all at Liza's Home are happy to welcome this New Year with full of Joy and God's Love for all mankind. The year 2007 was a year of growth for us. We had 5 new members who joined us last year. Ramani is the last one who joined us on September 2007, she is from Bangalore. We warmly welcome her to our home.
A new addition our wider family is Sandhya the daughter of Jenny and Seby. She was born on 8th June and the cute baby receives a lot of attention by the whole community.
Bye-Bye
Mrs. Sahu who has been with us for about seven years moved to a assisted care center in Kothanur as she needed special medical care. We all miss her but she is in the vicinity and we keep in touch with her.Meenakshi who worked with us for about two years also left us. We want to thank her for all her help.
Raju the driver left us after about five years of service. Our new driver is Bharat Kumar.
We regret to announce the passing away of Mr. Rao, our contractor in October. He has been very helpful in all the construction work. Our heartfelt condolences to the sorrowing family.
Visitors
We are happy that several continue to visit us, interacting with the members. Special mention must be made about the visit of a youth group of Banaswadi Orthodox Church. During Christmas Petra Park children and mothers, and the Bishop Cotton Girls School Students visited us. We are grateful for their gifts.
Peripheral Ring Road
In our last letter we shared with you a crisis situation we are facing on account of the Government's decision to build a road through our property, threatening to demolish all our buildings!! We have raised our protest and appealed to higher authorities to change the proposal. The situation has not changed. Proceedings for acquiring our land have been initiated by BDA. However, the implementation of the scheme will take place, we understand, only after the elections when the new elected government come to place. Meanwhile we ask your prayers. We also need to plan for alternatives.
Pre-school programme continues at Lingarajapuram and the building and premises need renovation.
Christmas
In spite of the uncertainty of the future, life in the Home goes on and celebrations are aglow. The Christmas celebrations were held on 21st December and we were happy some of the parents, friends and students from nearby institutions - Visthar and Kutumba were present. Our members were excited that everyone had a part to play in the drama they performed!
We had also gathered together for Independence Day and Onam. We enjoyed our independence day celebration.
Work Projects
Mornings are busy with Workshop and the products, especially the calendars which are well received. Seby and Anil both are giving good leadership. Marketing is a problem. We tried to sell them in the churches. Also two special efforts, one at the Petra Park and other at YWCA have yielded some good results.In the afternoons we are busy in the garden and this time we did succeed in growing some vegetables. We all worked hard and were happy with the result.
We are happy to inform that we are re-starting our Screen Printing Unit. Please support us in this project.
Parent Meeting
In November 9th we had Parent Meeting discussing the growth of the members as well as talking about future due to the Peripheral Ring Road. We thank all the Parents who took time to come and we hope that we will have more of these meetings in future.
Some Personal News
This letter would not be complete without mentioning some of the blessings we received in our personal lives. We made two visits to USA - one in May to attend a meeting in San Francisco on theological education and the other in October to attend the blessing of marriage between Ajit our son and Jennifer. We were so delighted to be present at Ajit's wedding. We welcome into our family Jennifer. Jennifer is from New York and she has masters in Global Education. Wedding ceremony was held in Mont Clair Presbyterian Church near Berkely where Ajit had worked as an International Associate. We want all friends to remember them in your prayers. During these visits we are happy we were able to meet several of the friends and well-wishers of Liza's Home.
An unexpected honour has come to me in July. Bangalore Corporation has chosen me as one of the recipients of the Kempa Gowda Award in recognition of my services to the mentally challenged. I accepted this, as an honour conferred not so much to me but to Liza's Home.
Sermon Book
A book of sermons by KC Closed Doors and the Risen Christ was published by Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore with the help generously received from Mrs. Elyamma George of St. Mark's Cathedral. All the proceedings out of the sale of book are donated to Liza's Home. We are indeed grateful to her for her gift.
A Reflection
During our visits to USA in interaction with the friends and relatives two concerns were brought up. One, the problem known as ecological crisis. The relationship between nature and human has assumed an alarmingly serious crisis. Global warming, the pollution of air, sea and land, the damage caused by the rising sea level and many serious problems that harm life in general - all these problems are highlighted in all our discussions.
Al Gore former Vice-President was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in recognition of his contribution in creating awareness about this during the time I visited U.S.A. and the media took this opportunity to have a wider discussion on global warming and other issues.Certainly, this is one of the problems that affect the life of the globe! It indeed is a global problem.
The second concern is about the crisis of family relationships. Divorce, broken-homes are all rampant. There was a time when Indian/Asian population claimed to have strong family ties. But today Indian community is not without these problems.
The crisis of relationship is experienced the world over. Life is sustained by a web of relationships. The relationship with nature and relationship in family are foundational. If these foundations are shaking and are broken, then life is in peril. It is against this background that we should see the relevance of family based programmes. The bond that is maintained in the family and the value of mutual responsibility and inter-connectedness should be celebrated. It is against this background that we see the relevance and meaning of communities of love like Liza's Home. Do these communities that celebrate caring love and inter-connectedness provide an alternative to our strife-torn and closed societies? Do come and visit us sometimes, you will surely be happy.
Thanking you all for all the support you have given us, your prayers and kind thoughts toward us which encourages us to do better and work better and be more productive and supportive to our society.
We hope that this NEW YEAR will bring many new friends to us and will bring our old friends more closer.From all the members of the community we greet you during this season.
-Molly Abraham
