Samaritan’s Purse writer Leah Lohse traveled throughout South Asia to get a firsthand look at our work and its impact on the people we are helping.
The first story I wrote for Samaritan’s Purse was about two brothers from Shillong, India.

It was a sad story; the kind of story that makes me wonder why children all over the world suffer. A story that makes me hate injustice.

But it was a story that challenged me to increase my capacity to forgive.

I had been asked to find examples of how the Samaritan Children’s Fund was helping needy kids. So I called Samaritan HELPS, a Calcutta-based organization that has partnered with us since 1973 and whose founders, Rose and Wai Sin Hu, were some of the first people to accept Bob Pierce’s offer to join his new organization, Samaritan’s Purse.


After school, Suraj receives tutoring at Iingsara.


Sanjay is learning to read in spite of his eye injury.During our phone conversation, Wai told the story of Suraj and Sanjay, two brothers who moved into a Samaritan HELPS children’s home, Iingsara, after officials decided it was unsafe for them to return to an abusive household.

Seven-year-old Suraj joined the home with a white bandage wrapped tightly around his head.

Four months later, Dr. Mang, a local pediatrician who taught the boys’ Sunday school class, heard that their mother was losing a battle with tuberculosis. She took the boys to the hospital to say goodbye.

They went to her bedside, bowed their heads, and asked God to forgive their mother.

“After they prayed, she opened her eyes,” Dr. Mang said. “She asked for forgiveness from the children and asked forgiveness from God.”

This was an amazing story, and I wanted to know every detail. I reverted to my newspaper training and peppered Wai with questions. How many stitches did Suraj receive? Can you give me an example of the boys’ reaction to their new home? Why did they have such a boundless capacity to forgive at such an early age?

When I met Wai in person at the Calcutta airport, he said, “You asked so many questions; it was quite the ordeal.”

Sanjay and other boys from the home participate in Sunday School.

After making the long drive to Shillong, we joined the boys at Iingsara for dinner. It was strange meeting the boys for the first time after knowing so much about them.

Sanjay and Suraj shook my hand politely and said the few words of greeting they knew in English. Suraj showed me his school notebook, his lines of capital As and small ds. He was also learning to write his name in English characters.

I watched Sanjay, now nine, as he held a storybook two inches from his face, mouthing each word. His right eye had been so badly damaged from the abuse that doctors were unable to correct it.

The next day we returned to the slum area where the boys had lived with their mother. I saw street children washing cars and selling newspapers. We stood outside the door to the brothers’ old home, a one-room shack made from frayed wooden planks fused together.

Through the work of ministry partners like Samaritan HELPS, these children’s lives are different now. They have a stable home life, attend school, and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. They attend Sunday School classes where they learn more about Jesus’ life and teachings.

And although they’ll never know it, they’ve inspired people like me, on the other side of the world, to forgive.

To support the work of our children's programs, learn more about Eight Gifts that Bless Children with the Savior's Love.

Samaritan's Purse , India , Children's Ministry , Learning from Children