Before we began our anti-trafficking work, Love Justice found its beginnings in opening family homes for orphaned and abandoned children in South Asia. Our mission for this ministry was (and still is) not only to care for immediate needs, but long term to help these children become difference makers for Christ in their nations.
One of these children, Binu, has reached adulthood now and decided to give back to her community by opening her own children’s home along with her best friend, Bhumika. They currently care for 10 children in their home, ranging in ages from 2–10. We are so proud of the difference maker Binu has become! This is her story.*
I came from a Love Justice family home, and my friend came from a more institutional type of home in Nepal. We both knew how it felt to live in a children’s home, and we also knew the rewards and challenges. We didn’t want any other children to grow up lonely and not receive love and care. I had already received love and care from my parents, so I wanted to give that same type of love to other children.
I am 22 and my friend, Bhumika, is 21. My mother started her home when she was 21, so I felt I could do the same. I watched her and I learned.
My mom was and is the best mom. I received lots of love and attention from her, and it made me want other children like me to get that same love and attention too. I talk about her all of the time! I talk about all of my sisters and brothers from my home. I love talking about them. (*Pictured: Binu growing up with her Love Justice family.)
My friend who is doing this home with me grew up in more of a large institutional type of home. They didn’t have parents but had what they called ‘teachers.’ She said they received love and affection, but it was different. She grew up in more of an organization, and I grew up in something more like a family. That is the one thing that has created some difficulties between us. When we started talking about starting this home, she didn’t understand what my home was like and how much it was just like a real family. She kept thinking we would be running it more like what she came from. But after talking to my mom, she began to see how much better it would be to run our home like a family.
I want to take all the good things I received and see if there might be some of those that we could improve upon. I guess there will always be things that you can do better no matter what you do or what you experienced.
If we marry, we would want to find husbands that would support these children like we do. Otherwise, we won’t get married!
All of the children come from different backgrounds. When they come to the home, everything is new to them; it’s a difficult adjustment. We allow them to continue to practice whatever religion they came to the home with. Once they are able to understand better and feel more comfortable with us and being in the home, we also invite them to learn about Jesus.
Our home receives a percentage of support through a funding organization, and then we are responsible to raise the remaining percentage from other donors and friends. If we are unable to raise the necessary funds, we have agreed that one of us will go abroad to work for up to two years to raise the money we need for the next several years. Then if we are still short of money, the other one of us will go overseas to work. We will do whatever we need to do to make sure this home will always continue and these children will always be loved and have a home to call their own.
I hope that we will be doing this for 40 to 50 years more. We want our children to hear the stories about growing up in a family home and then, one day, be able to share their own stories about growing up in this home with their families. That would bring us so much joy."
Interested in learning how you can help a child grow up to become a difference maker in their community? Visit here.
*Edited for clarity and readability
*All data and statistics current at the date and time of publishing. Names changed and some specific locations excluded for privacy and security purposes.