Karuna Leprosy Ministries

The last newsletter was the June- July newsletter. A lot has happened since then. I will briefly bring all of you up to date with what has been going on.
1. There was no rain till the middle of August and the on the 15th of August the Government declared the area a drought hit area. But on the 16th of August it started raining, and to say it started raining is to put it mildly, it poured and poured. The district of Gulbarga experienced the worst floods since 300 years. Farmers were the affected the most. Many not only had their fields & crops destroyed but also their houses washed away. We at Karuna were better of thanks to the mighty protection of the Lord God. The leprosy colony is situated just on the outskirts of the town of Gulbarga which did not get flooded though everything was terribly wet and murky. All the families in the colonies were safe and only a few got seriously ill. At the Abundance project the land on a height and is sloping, so the water just flowed out. Only at the bottom of the slope did it get flooded. We lost only a few trees that we had planted, although we did lose the cereal and vegetable crops. The Jatropha & colius plants did not fare well due to the excess water. Most of our goats survived though we lost a few due to water born diseases. The rabbits were however not so fortunate, with us losing nearly half the brood. But on the whole we did much better than most people thanks to THE LORD.
2. 14 were admitted to the Karuna hospital and 13 were treated and discharged. One person is still being treated, please pray that his wounds would heal soon.
3. 9 persons were admitted to the local hospital for various ailments. Thank God for the help and support we were able to give them and the families.
4. Thank God for the nutrition programme (where the children are given milk and eggs/bananas daily ) which helped the children to keep quite healthy during this difficult time when everything was damp all around. Please pray that God would continue to provide for this need.
5. Thank God also for the safe drinking water the colony had during this period because of the water treatment plant provided by WMI in league with Turbocam India. Please pray that we will be able to make this a commercially viable project by selling some of the water.
6. Education plays an important part in changing the mindset of people. With this in mind Karuna had put a few children in good English medium residential Christian schools so that they can have a good upbringing and come back to the leprosy colony with a changed. This has worked out very well so much so that we have the other parents worrying us to put their children also in similar schools. Please pray that God would provide us with the required finances to do so in the coming academic year.
7. Please continue to pray for Michael, Michelle and the Karuna team as they continue to serve these people.

Dear Friends,
Greetings to all of you in the Precious Name of Jesus!
We are sorry for not publishing the newsletter last month as we had a busy schedule.
The months of June & July have been busy months with lots happening on all fronts
(Medical camps, planting, sowing, traveling etc.). We thank God for the favor He has shown us during this time and would also like to thank all of you for standing by us with your prayers.

We want to thank God for:
1. The jobs got by the 2 boys who finished their computer course.
2. The children who have now settled and doing well in school in Goa. (Photos available in the Photo Section under children’ work)
3. Turbocam India who donated a year’s supply of chlorine tablets for the water filtration plant fitted in the Gandhi Leprosy Colony so that all the residents can now have completely safe water to cook and to drink.
4. The team of doctors who came from Kerala through Campus Crusade and conducted a free Medical camp at the Leprosy colony. (photographs are available in the Photo Section under the Clinic)
5. The successful eye surgeries (cataract) conducted by the St. Luke’s Medical Center on 2 of our leprosy affected patients.
6. The successful appendix operation on another of our patients.
7. The 3 new goat kids and 2 rabbits that were born in the last 2 months.
8. All the fruit trees we were able to plant in the last 2 months. (225 coconut trees, 35 lime trees, 10 fig trees, 10 mango trees, 5 sweet limes trees, 5 chickoo trees, 5 pommergrate trees, 5 guava trees and 5 custard apple trees.) (Photographs are available in the Photo Section under the Abundance project.)
9. The water in the new well that was drilled.
10. His provision & grace upon the Karuna team to do His work here in Gulbarga.

Please pray that:
1. God would continue to bless us with His provision & grace.
2. All the plants we have planted will be fruitful.
3. It would rain. ( we have not had a proper monsoon till now)
4. The colius and chilly plantation to be successful.
5. The animals would be healthy and multiply.
6. The children put in Christian schools by us would learn the right values and that their mind set would change hence bringing about a change in the leprosy colonies.
7. The youth on the skills training programme would continue and finish the course.
8. The general health of the leprosy affected people in the colony would continue to improve.
9. There will be a breakthrough as the monthly prayer meetings continue.
10. God would work a healing miracle in the lives of the widow with HIV and her 3 children(whom we are taking care of at the abundance project), 2 of which are mentally retarded.
11. Give much grace & wisdom to Micheal, Michelle & the Karuna team as they minister and continue to do His will.