Sam has just returned from a visit to The Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission in India. Here is an update from the orphanage team there about the construction:

Here at the Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission, we love what we do. Caring for a large family of once unwanted children is the kind of work that leaves your body empty and your heart full at the end of each day. It’s also the kind of work we cannot do alone. We are supported and encouraged by a much larger extended family all over the world, and we take these connections very seriously.

It’s not enough for us just to have good intentions. For our donors, we treat their donations with the utmost respect, using each dollar for the purpose it was given, and proving all results with photos and video. When we succeed, we share those stories. When we face challenges, we share those too. Accountability, transparency and trustworthiness are just a few of the old-fashioned words we live by.

In this spirit, we’d like to share a little story from the field, for everyone who partnered with S. Group to help fund our staff accommodation project.

As you may have heard: Upon receiving your funds (after doing a quick happy dance), we got to work. We hired a local contractor, cleared the site, and started digging the foundation. Concrete footings were poured. Structural columns were created. We knew the monsoon rains would stop us before long, but we were eager to get moving.

As it turned out, it wasn’t heavy rain that put our construction project on hold. It was a baseless lawsuit. For years, a few greedy individuals have been causing us problems, filing suits, hoping somehow to take control of the Mission for themselves. They care nothing for our children or our organization and seek only to profit from all the valuable land we have. Though they have lost countless times in court and have no probability of success with this latest action, still we have to react each time as do the local authorities.

This time, our adversaries are accusing us of unlawful construction, a charge the police are obligated to investigate and the courts are obligated to hear. Once again this is baseless and we are totally confident it is just formality that will resolve this. Until they do, we are unable to continue our work, and we wanted you to know that. We are currently working through the process and are expecting to re commence construction in March.

This Staff Accommodation project has long been our greatest challenge. Though S. Group and all of you and made the fundraising process all but effortless with your one night of generosity, we dreamed for years of creating a beautiful, respectable home worthy of our dedicated staff and their families. One day, This vision will become a reality, but it appears we need to wait just a little bit longer.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out for answers. This work is not always easy or smooth, but one thing is certain: We simply can’t do any of it alone.

Thanks for all your patience and support.