Sukrupa

Sukrupa is the name of the school where I will be volunteering several days a week. It was started by a Christian mother and daughter in 2002 to help underprivileged slum children escape a life of poverty and illiteracy. The name Sukrupa is a combination of the mother's name, Suguna and the daughter's name, Krupa (meaning Grace). Twelve children live at the home and about 200 others come from the surrounding neighborhood. They provide education and activities that help develop leadership skills and self-esteem. They provide training in practical skills like candle making, sewing and embroidery with which the older kids can make a basic living. They teach about basic hygiene and provide all the kids with 2 meals per day. As you can imagine, this is a huge undertaking.

Krupa spent over an hour with me this morning sharing her story and the work of the Lord in her life and in the school. She is an amazing person. She grew up in a modest neighborhood in Bangalore where her family tried as best they could to help the poor families around them. After she attended college she spent several years in the US and traveled extensively abroad with her job. She said that one day while driving in Pennsylvania, she was overcome by the beauty of all the Fall colors and felt incredibly blessed to have had opportunities to travel the world. Out of gratitude, she asked God what she could do to give back and bless others. He placed it on her heart to start this home/school and it has grown from 1 room and a few dozen kids to over 200 kids and a multi storied building. The children are adorable. They speak very good English and have the best manners I have ever seen in kids that age. I am very excited to be able to help at the school.

It is so amazing how God works and how he brought me to Sukrupa. I have been wanting to get involved with a school or charity since I arrived. Last Thursday, I attended an Overseas Women's Club meeting. Since I don't know many people, I was kind of wandering around and struck up a conversation with a women from Austin, Texas named Katherine. I discovered that she is a personal trainer and we seemed to have a lot in common. We talked for almost the whole morning. I mentioned that I was interested in getting involved with a charity and she said she had helped out at a school not too far from where we live. She took my email address and said she would contact me with some more information about the school.

As you know from Thomas' blog, on Sunday we went to a church called the Bangalore International Christian Fellowship. We got there a little early and when we walked in, there was Katherine! Not only that, Krupa attends the church as well and the 12 residential kids come also. Katherine introduced me to them and I was able to make arrangements to visit the school today. God is so faithful! I was so filled with awe that He had brought us all together.

If you want to find out more about Sukrupa, please go to their website at http://www.sukrupa.org/. I will be taking some photos of the kids and Tim will help them get the website spruced up a bit. My first day of teaching is tomorrow. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!!