Testimonies
Names have been changed to protect the identity of the children
Never give up
John is a teenager and almost a young adult. He told us he has been abandoned by his family at the age of 3 years old. From the state of Assam he came to live in Howrah. According to what he said, he was sent to Government hostel. He calls that place a "jail". He has been transferred from one government hostel to other, as he grew up. From there he ran away. Since then, he has lived in different organizations and at the streets. He doesn't stay a long time in the same place, as he is drug addicted. In each institution he is known with a different name.
We've been praying for John. He came to us asking for help. We decided to help him. So, we admitted him in our Rescue House for a trial season. After two days living there, he stole two mobile phones from our staff and ran away. He didn't come back.
We are still praying for him and expecting to see him again. Some other organizations already gave up on him, telling that he is a trouble maker. But we believe this boy is special and loved by Jesus. If God never gives up on him so do we!
There is hope
This 9 years old boy is quiet and disciplined. Unlike the other boys, he is not strongly addicted to drugs. Months ago we have asked him if he wanted to come out of the streets, more specifically, out of the train station. He said yes, but then he was not coming regularly to our Rescue House. We continued to pray for him. After a month, as we went to visit the children at the Station, they found Philip laying down on the floor, with high fever and vomiting. We took him to the hospital and decided to take care of him in our Rescue house. After treating the stomach infection, we asked him if he would like to stay with us. His answer was yes.
We are very glad to have Philip with us. He is the first of many that we want to see coming out of the streets/station. We are praying for another place for the Restore House (boys hostel). While this is not possible, Philip is living with a Bengali couple, also Life Connection staff.
Philip is still very quiet and doesn't speak too much. However he is happy and his eyes glow while playing with us. We started to teach him how to read and write in Bengali (as this is his mother tongue) and we took him for a complete medical check up. We are still praying for God's direction for the next steps. In Jesus, there is hope for Philip's life!
Healing
One of the teenager boys came injured that day. His arm was swollen and he couldn't move it because of the pain. We took him to the hospital and the x-ray revealed his broken arm. Our supposition was right. But, we didn't expect that the doctor would admit him in the hospital. He said the boy needed surgery as he broke his elbow. If the surgery was not to be done, the boy would loose his arm's normal movements. We couldn't admit the boy in the hospital. As we decided to take care of him, we asked him to stay in our Rescue House until his arm was completely healed. We would find a way for him to have the surgery. But the boy ran away but he still comes back the days we have the program with the children. We continued to give him the medicine and advice. After some days we prayed with him and said that we would go together to the doctor to take out the plaster. But he didn't want us to help him. He went alone to a government hospital. As he came back to our Rescue House, he told us he was completely healed. He told us the last x-ray he took showed that his arm's bones were perfect again. He didn't need the surgery! We told him we've been praying for him and we believe that God has healed him! He acknowledged it and prayed in thanks to God.