Merry Christmas!

We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

This is one of the songs the children were singing during their own Christmas celebration.This year we celebrated Christmas at our new home, with our own made stable. The days before Christmas the children were all busy practising their songs, dances and of course the nativity play.
On December 25th, we were surprised by guests coming to visit our home. The kids loved it, because now they really had someone to perform to and they gave their best !

We are very greatful for everybody who is involved with us and  we are thankful for the people that came and visited and blessed us at Christmas time.  The children enjoyed it so much.

It is so good to know that God loved us so much that he sent His only Son.
And that's why we have reason to celebrate, not only at Christmas time, but all year long!

A big thank you from all of us at House of Hope.

Our new home!

We are so excited, in the first week of December we moved to our new home in Pimpri.

It was a long trip and not very comfortable for the children but the kids didn't mind at all. They really enjoyed the hour long trip for one simple reason: the excitement for their new house!

 Finding a new home for 15 children and staff is not very easy and it made Sangita and I worry a lot, while at the same time we knew things would work out well.It took us a little over a month to find our new home: a bright pink one..

A lot of work still needs to be done, but  that is no problem at all and will come in time. We love the house with 2 bed rooms, bath room, kitchen, play room and living room. We have a garden all around the house, wich is great. The children suddenly do nothing but playing outside. The first few days we removed all the plastic and other dirt from our garden and some children even started to paint the rest of the wall: wich the painters didnt finish.. 

 The children and staff worked very hard to make their new house become a new home. And here it is, we're proud of it. You should come and see!!

Tanmay, our new boy

This is Tanmay, the latest addition to our House of hope family. Tanmay is 7 years old and lived in another orphanage since his parents died a few years ago. Recently he got sick and when they got his blood tested they found out he is HIV positive. The orphanage decided not to keep him for this reason and send him back to his family. His family doesn't want to take care of him as well, so they decided to bring him to House of Hope, with only the dirty clothes that he was wearing, no clean clothes or something personal and obviously not taken care of for days.

Sangita told them firmly that they should at least bring him some new clothes before we really can keep him. Tanmay, on the other hand was not bothered by his family at all and started playing with the other children right away, without even looking back at his family.

We can only image how the family treated him while he stayed there. It is so sad to see that often the family of HIV positive children really doesn't care at all and just want to get rid of these unwanted children. They often are afraid of getting infected with the disease themselves and treat children like Tanmay worse then we treat our dog. Most of these children are not being touched, are not allowed to attend school or sit and play with other children. Often they spend the time with their family alone, wondering what they did wrong...

A new home!!!

Joshua our youngest boy doesn't need to worry about a new home, he already found one...

Isn't it beautiful to just look at the happiness on this little boys face? No worries at all, life is one fun adventure.I guess the bible is right where it says that we should become like little children and do not worry about the day of tomorrow.
But it is much easier said then done. Sangita has been looking for weeks for a new home for our House of Hope children. She literally travelled for hours in a hot and over crowded bus, searching for our new home.We both have had several sleepness nights and nights with intense dreams, not being able to relax, sleep but only worry...
To be honoust we both believed  we would get  a new house in time, but waiting takes so long that worries comes in very easily....
I have not seen our home yet,Sangita is the one making all these descisions on her own. Isn't that beautiful how she's able to do so? I still remember that she came to our house six years ago, a sincere lady  eagerly looking for a job to maintain her family, because her husband refused to do so. And now, she is able to be in charge of a complete orphanage. Sangita loves her House of Hope and is doing a great job,I am so proud of her!!!

Searching a new home

These lovely people are looking for a new home! The owner of the appartment we are renting now, wants to sell the  home, which means that we have to move mid November. For weeks we have been looking into new homes now, and we've seen quite some nice homes. But everytime the owner finds out the children living House of Hope are HIV positive he doesn't want to close the deal.They are so afraid that somehow their house will be infected and they might get aids as well. It is so sad that there's such a lot of weird ideas  and misconceptions about aids here in India.And so difficult to fight against it...

Sangita is seeing brokers every day, hoping and praying that this owner will accept us. Please pray with us for a new home, we only have 3 weeks left.

Diwali!!

Yesterday we celebrated Diwali in House of Hope. Diwali is one of the manin festivals in India - The New Year according to the Hinud Calendar.


Every year it is an incredible large celebration with fireworks, food and beautiful decorated homes. Lanterns, candles, flowers, and colored sand decorations on the floor all give the feeling of Christmas and New Year in the way we experienced in Holland.

Arriving at House of Hope we fun. All the children were dressed up with pretty saris and kurta pajama’s and all very happy to see us. The kids, staff and interns made up a group of over 30 people; all enjoying the party. After a buffet of Indian snacks and of course Biryani (rice with chicken and vegetables), we played games. BINGO was a great success and a challenge as well. False Bingos was pretty much the way it went and the kids had to perform songs when they made up their own winnings giving the evening a lot of performances!

We all had great fun. A few children won every round and their response was that they had been praying before every round and that’s why they won!

At around 9:00pm the area became a quite dangerous caused by the fireworks flying around. Amazing how the Indian people enjoy NOISE! My ears are still beeping, but the kids had a great time! The cool part is that we can do this twice a year… since December is on its way!

Missing Ganesh

With the death of Ganesh, House of Hope has had a difficult time. Everybody is missing his smiles. He was always happy even when very sick.

Some of the staff members wondered why they are taking care of the children when they are slowly dying. Even Sangita was about to give up as dealing with the loss of the second child was very difficult.

We explained to her the value of taking care of children thrown away by the society, even when they are dying. To give a purpose in the lives of the children helps to give them life back.

It is a big encouragement that everyone visiting the home notices the joy and happiness. Somehow people are not expecting children with HIV/Aids to have a hope for the future and live a normal life.

Our own children are dealing with it their own way. Nadine for example was wondering if Jesus has built enough homes in Heaven... Two of her friends have died so far.

The picture shows Ganesh the day before he died. It is the reality we have to deal with. Please stand with us in support and prayer as the children also deal with the harsh realities caused by HIV Aids.

Hello everybody,

Asha sadan is the Hindi name for House of Hope. It is an orphanage for HIV positive children in Pune, India. At the moment we have 14 children living with us in a 4 bedroom apartment. Asha Sadan is a place where children and ladies, rejected by their friends and family, find hope, love and acceptance again.

We have really sad news today. Ganesh, one of our boys has passed away at the age of 12. He had been sick for months and could not play anymore. All he did was just sitting on the sofa, watching the other children play. He could not go to school as well, because of breathing problems.

Even though we all miss him very much, we are excited to know that he is in heaven now, living a much better and healthy life with Jesus. We all cherish loving memories of him.

Welcome to House of Hope new blog!

Here we will continue to post our updates on the development of the care project for HIV affected children in Pune, India.

For more information: www.indiahouseofhope.org

Enjoy the read!