A Life Transformed

It was an autumn evening in the year 1980, Bishop C.K. Das, who in those days was working as Area Superintendent in my village church, enters our fence and calls out “ Mausha, Jayanta (my nick name) got selected for the CE Home at Balangir and thus has to appear for the interview in Balangir within the next two to three days”.

I couldn’t understand their conversation on that day, but still I had the knowledge that, being chosen out of many, and then being recommended to the prestigious CE (Christian Endeavour) Home in Balangir, is something remarkable. Truly, it was all HIS Almighty’s doing.

So, after 2 days I went to Balangir at the Diocesan Headquarters for the interview. And within a month just after my 5th class half-yearly exam, it was the greatest news on which me and my entire family rejoiced for days. For, I made it to the CE Home!

Little did I know that the next few years which I’ll be spending at CE Home will be some of the best days of my life. I truly value my time spent at the hostel, those memorable days of letter writing to my dear sponsor parents every Easter and Christmas.

Undoubtedly, CE Home has made me into the man I am today. Be it spiritual guidance or the lessons for life I learnt there. The many good friends I made there or the mentors I met there; I’ll always cherish these things. It was CE Home that has helped me thoroughly. For if it was not for CE Home, I wouldn’t have been able to build a life of dignity and prosperity for my family and for my siblings.

After the passing away of my parents, it was a difficult time for our family. I, a youth of 23, didn’t know what to do, about things like how to manage the educational expenditure and marriage costs of my brother and sister, but the upbringing at CE Home guided me and became the blazing light of hope at the end of the tunnel. I composed myself and ventured into the world, with nothing much extraordinary in possession but rather with the knowledge that God is with me. I doubted, but God did not. And yet again He helped me.

It was CE Home only, which granted education to that starry-eyed boy of 10, who was full of hope in his heart and a thirst for knowledge in his mind. Yes, CE home quenched that thirst forever. I come from a very marginalised farming family in a small remote village called Diptipur. A boy, who never stepped outside the gates of his village, CE Home opened the many gates, the many great opportunities for him, which he could never fathom. A boy who looked at the sky dreamily at the aeroplanes, and waved at them with childish jest, never dreamed of being carried in one, one day. A boy who hesitated at the thought of even buying an extra pair of trousers and a shirt for himself never thought that one day he would be very well relishing all the fruits of his labour. The boy never indulged in the many well-known habits of his youth, for the very fear of over-indulgence. For, it was the good code of conduct and the true spiritual upbringing at the CE Home which prohibited him from doing so.

The spiritual edification which began from Sunday school, the valuable mentorship by my house father, and the many occasions when I got the opportunity to present in front of the church congregation, like assisting to read the Bible or to pray, and taking part in bible studies and bible quiz, etc. Truly along with my spiritual growth, CE home contributed to my holistic development [made me] ready to face the world.

Throughout the years, I reached many milestones and achievements in my career growth by working in a Christian Mission Hospital, Tilda Chhattisgarh as Sr. Accountant, then in a different position (Finance Monitoring Associate, Group facilitator-Finance and Finance Accompanier-Grant manager) at the SBSS of CNI, Joined an International NGO called Welthungerhilfe (a German based NGO-Funding agency) in its South Asia office Delhi since 2011 and working in different positions as Finance officer, Team Leader Program Finance and Finance Manager. Now from January 2023 I have taken an international assignment for mentoring support to the newly appointed country Finance Manager of the Welthungerhilfe country office Cambodia and the capacity building on Finance management of its local partners organizations.

[My family] are settled in New Delhi. My wife Deepanjali, also used to be studying in Balangir Girls hostel and now is a homemaker, she takes good care of the family. Both of us have been blessed with two lovely daughters, Abigail (20) and Aayushi (18). Abigail is currently pursuing her Graduation in English Honors from one of the most renowned colleges for humanities in the country, St. Stephen’s College. And Aayushi just got done with class 12th and plans to study further in the field of Commerce. . I was fortunate enough to serve the Lord as Treasurer of St. Thomas Church, CNI Delhi. All this got possible because of Christian Endeavour Home and how it molded me.

CE Home is not just a hostel, but rather a saviour for many. For its true, I am most grateful to my sponsor parents, who sitting miles away, even not having met me once, were ever ready to look after me as a son. I enjoyed writing vivid letters to them with the utmost joy, [and] they also reciprocated equally.

So yes, trust me, when I say, that when you sponsor a child, you merely just aren’t sponsoring a child but rather those many dreams too. Dreams of attaining education, building a quality life for themselves and their family and eventually giving their due back to society. [Your giving has] enabled me to even write this testimony, this tale of success and transformation.