Home of Hope is a school and orphanage outside of Dhaka accommodating children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many are orphans. Some have only one parent and some come from homes of great need where sickness or other misfortunes have left their families unable to care for them. It was started in 1991 with 7 boys in two rooms – now has grown to 240 girls and boys on a campus which includes a school, aquaculture, agriculture, poultry farm, play grounds, technology labs, accommodation and dining facilities.

Home of Hope

Their shared goal is training children to be leaders in all aspects of life: business, religious, education, and family life. Building up the next generation of leaders, transformed in Christ’s name, with Biblical principles at the heart of what they do.  Children attend and participate in their own church and are taught to tithe from their allowance (from which the Pastors salary is paid) and also as a dorm room they decide how much they will contribute to the building fund.

The school caters for students from preschool up to year 10, they can then attend a transition training before continuing onto possible university studies. Students attend the school from Sunday through Thursday, 8am – 4pm and are also in “work” teams led by coordinators to sustain the operating of the campus.

The school day includes times of lessons and work and weekends enable sustained work on some tasks. Students are paid an allowance up till age 14 but some tasks are considered chores that just need to be done for the “family” – much like any other household. From age 14 students need to be more independent and seek work for their own income. One 17 year old student recently opened a computer shop.

Home of Hope School

Classroom

There are teams involved in work and maintenance tasks: agriculture and aquaculture, developing building components for kitset churches, operating a poultry farm preparing “fryers” and “layers”, doing garden maintenance, as well as all the chores that a typical family requires completing in order to function smoothly.

Biplob - rooftop gardens soon to be planted with lettuce

Biplob Bairagee, Co-ordinator for Food and Farm, leads teams of students in areas of gardening (from seed to harvest), poultry (1 day old chicks are bought and reared to fry or lay stages), aquaculture (two ponds grow fish up to 2lbs in size – choosing three different types of fish which live in varying depths of the pond).  Teams also are involved in food preparation (harvest/kill, prepare, cook), serving meals and cleaning up.

I was really impressed by the way the leaders are equipping and teaching the children to contribute by doing their part to keep the family running. Changing attitudes of dependency and reluctancy to work hard, by instilling into these children the understanding that God wants us to work and apply ourselves and take dominion over the Earth as God intended.

In “Truth and Transformation“, author Vishal Mangalwadi writes, “The consequence of Adam’s sin was that man who was meant to be the ruler became a slave on earth, not only to Satan and sin, but to nature as well.  The earth began to grow thorns and thistles, and man had to eat of the sweat of his brow.  In his struggle with nature , man ultimately lost, died, and became dust.  Physical creation won over its ruler – man. Death became the master. But by defeating death and giving eternal life to those who repent and believe, God is restoring to man his authority over the world”.

By working on practical tasks alongside learning, students are developing the understanding that they are contributors, creators and developers themselves, in God’s image.  Recognising that they have authority and dominion over the earth with the responsibility to manage it and enjoy its fruits -

He causes grass to grow for the livestock
and [provides] crops for man to cultivate,
producing food from the earth,
wine that makes man’s heart glad—
making his face shine with oil—
and bread that sustains man’s heart.

Psalm 104. 14-15

At the Bible College students also work and develop understandings and practical experience which they can then replicate in the areas they live in as pastors – able to teach and equip their church agricultural skills, building skills, technical skills. 85% of the Bible College graduating students are in ministry.

Aquaculture pond

Building concrete pillars for construction

By providing access to online tertiary education opportunities, these students can have an option of studying at university level in areas that they know well through their life experience and can use their learning to contribute to the transformation of their nation.

Students studying online degrees in aquaculture for example may have already been practically involved in rearing and harvesting fish under the leadership of older students when they were younger, and leading others when they were older. By increasing their knowledge through a university education with some of the best teachers available around the world the depth of their potential contribution to transforming Bangladesh becomes even greater.