Drops of Hope for the Children in Dholka, India

Dholka, a city in the Indian State of Gurajat, has been affected not only by the poor quality of cultivable land but also by the high number of children growing up homeless and in extreme poverty. Dholka Alliance Hostel and School has served this community for 117 years.

Amid all the poverty, a little drop of hope fell on children’s lives in the midst of India’s water crisis that communities have faced over the years. It started in 1904, in the wake of the drought in Gurajat, when Alliance missionaries from North America founded the Dholka Alliance Hostel and School. There wasn’t enough food and farmers lost their harvests – like several communities are experiencing in current days. During that time, missionaries and local leaders reached out to families with the desire to help them. What missionaries found in Dholka was a dramatic situation. There was no institute or school for the children and many of them were poor, orphans or semi-orphans, living out on the streets. With no one to care for them, children hardly never got the opportunity to study and have a better future.

The first thing the missionaries did was to bring children from the surrounding areas and provide them with food and a place to live. Today, there are many students from seven to 15 years of age in the Dholka Alliance Hostel and School. After they graduate, many hold high positions in companies and offices, and others are involved in church ministry. A rain of blessings is falling on the lives of these girls and boys for the glory of God. This academy year, Dholka Alliance School has more than 180 children enrolled.

The orphan and semi-orphan children are the very heart of the mission. There are more than 80 children staying in Dholka hostel, with all the facilities such as food, clothing and shelter. Though all come from abandonment situations, they are now part of this family, rescuing the value of their identity and being treated as beautiful creations of God. Along with their education, they also have lessons of morality and spiritual discipline.

Through one family whose children were staying at the hostel, an Alliance church was planted in a village called Agawada, on the Gujarat border. Around 8,000 people live in this village. Seventy-five to 100 people attend worship service on Sundays at this church, traveling from as far away as 25 kilometers. Five adult members have been baptized and another 25 adults are ready to be baptized. They look forward to visiting other villages from where the children come, and starting a church planting ministry.

Due to the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in India and in the state of Gujarat, management allowed children of Dholka Hostel to return to their homes so that they would be safe with their families. During this time, as part of the AWF Global Response to COVID-19, the school´s students and their families were invited to come to the school to receive care, food kits and a message of encouragement from the gospel.

They hope to be able to reopen soon and continue to help each of these children grow in their faith in Christ and follow their own unique dreams, passions and talents.