Today we have two more stories to share with you from families here in the slums of Chennai. Interviewing the children who are enrolled on the sponsorship scheme really does help to get an insight into the reality of life here.

Aagash (not pictured), one of the boys who is sponsored, suffers from Duchenne Muscular  Dystrophy. This is a degenerative muscle disease so he's slowly losing the use of his arms and legs. He is 12 and is already unable to walk. He still has some use of his arms but they are very weak.

Aagash lives with his parents and younger sister and brother in a room on the second floor. Every day, his mother has to carry him on her back up and down the stairs. Even at 12 years old he is bigger than she is so this is damaging her back and shoulders. Our hope is that the family will be able to move to a ground floor room very soon and we are looking into how we can help with this as the financial implications are huge for them.

Today, Aagash's younger brother Abinash registered for the scheme. He is only 7 years old but is already showing signs of the same illness; it is a genetic disease which mainly affects boys. Despite facing such difficult situations, Aagash is full of hope. His faith is strong and he was baptised at the church recently. At times his parents despair of the situation but Aagash encourages them to have faith in God and continue to pray.

At the end of the day today, we met a man who was coming to the church to say thank you. Just before Christmas, some of the church members were carol singing and came across him as he was attempting suicide. They took him in and have cared for him. He had been struggling with addictions and just come out of rehab but is now making a good recovery. We don't know much of the detail of the story, but this man was coming to thank God with life and hope in his eyes, just weeks after he had felt that things were beyond hope.

We have all been struck by how the church here operates as a family in the community. These stories are just two examples of how Kevin and Deborah and the congregation are sharing the hope and love that come from God in ways that are making a tangible difference to people's lives. It was a privilege to join with them at their weekly prayer meeting today. Please do pray with them, that more people in the slum would find renewed hope and strengthened faith.