About us
Who we are
We tried to help orphan children in some orphanages in and around Bangalore. But we knew that the Lord wanted us to do something more than that. Thus in September 1997,we met together and after much prayer decided to form a trust. On November 7, 1997 RAKSHAK TRUST was officially registered with the government of Karnataka.
The Vision:
The vision of an organization to take care of orphans, widows - in short anyone in distress - was firmly established in our minds.
The plight of destitute children had always been a matter of concern for many of us. We wanted to do something to alleviate their sufferings. But do what? This question was troubling us for a long time. As we thought about it, we went to the Bible to get an answer to this question. We found the answer in James 1:27 which says, “true religion is to look after orphans and widows in their distress”.
The Mission:
The mission of Rakshak Trust is to touch as many lives as possible with the message of a loving, caring God and to show them that love and concern in a practical way.
One of the promises that God gave us as we were praying about the orphanage in 1993 was from Isaiah 61:1-6. “…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour” (61:3 ) is meaningful in this context.
Our Milestone
The Beginning - 1
The Voice of the Downtrodden:
The plight of destitute children was always a matter of concern for many of us. We wanted to do something to alleviate their suffering. But do what? This question was troubling us for a long time. We wanted to do what God would have us do. When we were praying about it, the Lord spoke to us through several passages from the scripture. One was James 1:27 which says, “true religion is to look after orphans and widows in their distress”. This was towards the middle of 1993.
Rakshak Trust - 2
The years from 1993 till 1997 were experimental years:
We tried to help orphan children in some orphanages in and around Bangalore. But we knew that the Lord wanted us to do something more than that. Thus in September 1997,we met together and after much prayer decided to form a trust. On November 7, 1997 RAKSHAK TRUST was officially registered with the government of Karnataka.
Early concerns - 3
Official recognition to start an orphanage:
We knew that we needed official recognition to start an orphanage. So we decided to form ourselves as a Trust. We made some halfhearted efforts in 1994. But nothing materialised. The idea was left in the cold storage for about 3 years. Meanwhile we got involved with the Srilankan refugee children in Yelahanka near Bangalore. We regularly visited the school where these children were staying and helped them materially to whatever little extent we could. But we realized that we could not do much without official recognition.
Thus in September 1997, we met together and after much prayer decided to form a Trust. On November 7, 1997 RAKSHAK TRUST was officially registered as a religious and charitable organization with the government of Karnataka.
To Narainpur - 5
Pray about starting an orphanage in Narainpur:
Leslie and Sheila are missionaries working among the Gonds – a tribal people, living in the Bastar dist. of Madhya Pradesh. We have known them for over a decade. In August 1998 a tribal woman gave birth to triplets – two girls and one boy. All the babies survived, but the parents were asked by the witch doctor to kill the girls. Since the parents did not want to kill the girls, they took the girls to Leslie and Sheila because they had earlier also adopted unwanted children and were bringing them up. Leslie and Sheila gladly accepted the girls. Later one of them was adopted by another family and one is with Leslie and Sheila.
Leslie and Sheila asked us, in October1998 whether we will pray about starting an orphanage in Narainpur, because the need was very great. We prayed about it and felt led to it by the Lord. One confirmation was His provision. We calculated a budget of about Rs.3000/ per month. But at that time Rs.3000/ per month was beyond our means. Trusting in the Lord we took the decision to start the orphanage. The next day we got a gift of about Rs.1,00,000/- from a brother. This was the greatest confirmation that we were in the will of God. Thus in December 1998 the orphanage was started in Narainpur. Later, the orphanage was closed down and a hostel for school going children was started. We still look after orphan children, but we do that with the help of some relative of the orphan child, with our material and emotional support.
Confirmation - 4
April 1,1998 was a confirmation year that we were on right track:
Sangeeta was brought to our house on April 1,1998. She is a very smart, 13 year old girl. She ran away from home because of ill treatment by her brother. First two nights she slept in the bus stand and in a temple. It was God’s grace that she did not fall into the hands of evil men. After that, an old lady saw her and took her to her house. From there she was handed over to a farm owner. Here she was made to do hard labour in the garden. Finally after about nine months she landed in our house.
Initially she refused to tell us where her house was. We knew that she was afraid that we would send her back to her home. So we promised her that we would send her to a hostel and let her study. Then she gave some hints about her house. Finally we searched and found her house.
When we went and saw her house we felt sorry for her. Her father passed away a few years back. She has five sisters and one brother. Her mother provides for the family by ironing (pressing clothes). She said that she might get about Rs.100/- on a “very good day” if she irons from morning till late into the night. She is not able to send her children to school with this meager income. Six of them live in a small hut with one small room and a small kitchen. Totally her house may measure about 10’X10′. Her brother beats up all the sisters. One more sister had run away because of ill treatment from the brother. When we left her in her house we promised her that we would put her in a school. Her arrival was a confirmation that we were on the right track. (We feel very sad that we could not keep up that promise! We are still praying about starting a hostel in Bangalore so that at least some others like Sangeeta could be helped.)
Additions to Rakshak Family - 6
Vision from the Lord and heart for the tribal children:
Sheila Hamilton: Sheila was working with the Pandita Ramabhai Mukthi Mission in Pune for the past 17 years. When the Mukthi mission started an orphanage in Narainpur. Sheila was sent to Narainpur to look after the orphanage. Later when Mukthi mission closed down the orphanage, Sheila was asked to go back to Pune. But her heart was with the tribal children of Narainpur. So after much prayer, she decided to resign from Mukthi mission and stay on in Narainpur. Sheila joined Rakshak Trust as the warden of the new hostel from the 1st of July 1999. We really praise the Lord for an experienced and dedicated person like Sheila.
Andrea: Andrea is a trained nurse from Stuttgart in Germany. She came to India in response to a vision from the Lord. She was praying for the right opening to serve the people of India when she met Leslie at the beginning of 1999. Finally, she landed up in Narainpur towards the end of April 1999. She decided that Narainpur is where the Lord wants her to be.
