Today we went to visit the house of Ella, Vinod and Ashok. They were from the first batch of children from LHCH, since 2002, and are now studying in Pre University. The aim of the house visit was to let us understand the transformation of the children after they have entered LHCH as well as to understand the living conditions of their family.
The first house that we visited was Ella’s. The whole house was the size of my room in Singapore. It consists of a room where they sleep, eat and do work and an attached kitchen. The door separating the kitchen was just a crude opening on the wall. Ella told us about his childhood and how Pastor John came to his neighbourhood and brought him to the home. He also mentioned about his love for English and how learning English changed his life and his dream for the future. Afterwards, Ella’s mum gave us some desserts and biscuits to eat.
Next we visited Vinod’s house. Compared to Ella’s house, Vinod’s house was in a poorer condition. His house was basically a tent with canvas covered roof. It was small and dark inside. The house was about 4x4m and they eat, sleep and do work there. Vinod mentioned that the family of 5 would sleep in the house at night and when it gets too hot, some of them would sleep outside. Dhiraj explained that the parents were very grateful to LHCH for providing education to Vinod because Vinod would tell his parents about proper manners and hygiene habits.
The last house was Ashok’s one. Similar to Vinod’s house, Ashok’s house looked like a tent. The house was filled with a carbon smell because they have their kitchen inside the house as well. Ashok mentioned that the area where he grew up has many bad companies and he hated studies when he was young. It was at LHCH where he learnt proper manners and also realise his passion for soccer.
The house visits left many of the members shell-shocked and emotionally touched. During the reflection session, Alicia mentioned that she can better understand the background of the children from their living conditions and how far they have come from roaming around the area to studying in college. Jacqueline also said that she was very touched by the generosity of the parents that even though the parents earned so little, they would still prepare biscuits for their guests.
