Life is unimaginably hard in the villages of North India, where many children live in poverty, malnutrition and disease. Worse still, they lack the opportunity to improve their lives, because there is no education or training in practical skills

An average village family income is $8 to $15 a month. Many children do not attend school. From a very early age the parents make their children work on the farm or at home instead of sending them to school. All villages do not have schools. Sometimes children have to walk 5 kilometers to go to the nearest school. The dropout rates from schools are very high. Given the motivation and opportunity of going to school, these children could develop vocational skills, which would enable their families to break out of the cycle of poverty forever.

NMM has opened Christian elementary schools that admit both Christian and non-Christians. These schools are very successful and are helping to raise a new generation of Christians ready to serve the Lord.

Since the devastating earthquake in Gujarat in January 2000 NMM team made several initial trips with relief supplies. We were looking for opportunities to do some long-term development work in the region.
In October of 2000 we were able to finalise a proposal to construct a school building that had been destroyed completely.

In December, the construction began for an 8 room school. By God’s grace we were able to dedicate it on the 18th of May 2002 “To the children of Thala village.” The whole village came together for the inaugural function. Minister of Urban Development for Gujarat state was the Chief Guest and several other dignitaries attended the function. We could not have done this without the help of our friends!!