Walking through the slums of India

Last month our HopeChest staff had the incredible opportunity to share God’s heart for orphans with thousands of young people at the Ichthus Music Festival in Wilmore, Kentucky.

With the help of an interactive walk-through experience, visitors to our tent were able to get inside the challenges faced by orphans and vulnerable children in India. They walked through the slums, they saw the brothels, they imagined the horror.

Then they came face to face with hope.

The Good Samaritan School. Delhi, India.

The video below is a home-made “walkthrough” of our Ichthus tent. It was shot on a cell phone, but gives you a glimpse inside the tent! The first room is a slum filled with trash. The next room contains a bed–to represent a brothel, and stacks of bricks and rice bags to represent child slavery. The third room opens into a classroom with 8 desks where students were invited to write letters to our kids at the Good Samaritan School. In the next room, we played a 6-minute video of testimonies from students at Good Samaritan School. As they exited the tent, students had the opportunity to start a giving relationship with a child.

About 1,600 young people took time to sit down and write a personal note to an child at Good Samaritan. We literally ran out of letter cards.

“We will most likely never meet face to face,” wrote one young girl. “I wanted to let you know that you are important to God and that I am praying for you….God is ready and willing to listen to you. Stay in school, I am proud of you.”

The response was overwhelming, and, we hope, a glimpse of what’s to come: a new generation rising.

Whether you’re a huge youth group, a small Bible study, or a Christian club in a rural school, you can make an indelible impact on children desperate for the peace and security you have.

Even if it’s only you. You can change the life of an orphan. That’s amazing stuff.

More notes from our Ichthus crowd…

“Dear Pooja, I wanted to you know that you are not alone, never forget that you are in the hearts of many. You are very beautiful and your smile made my day so much better.”

“Dear Taruna, I am 13 years old and I wanted you to know that you are never too young to do anything. I don’t know what troubles you have been through but God is with you every step of the way. He loves you, Taruna.”