St Crispin’s Home, Pune

Contact Kate and David Gough for further details.

St Crispin's Home in Pune, India provides accommodation, health care and education for girls who otherwise, because of their home circumstances, would struggle to survive. Through the Derbyshire Churches partnership with the Church of North India we have established a link with St Crispin's; David and Kate have visited regularly over the last 20 years and keep us informed of developments there.

November 2024 News from St Crispin's Home     

  

               Some of the girls                                       Vishram and Alka                                                   St Crispin's Staff

Thanks to our regular Zoom meetings with St Crispin’s we are able to keep up to date with their joys and challenges. There’s lots of good news: efficient solar power, new qualified staff, 40 new ceiling fans (we helped pay for those!), a new nursery building to provide a creche for working mothers and sponsorship from Amazon India. This is proving very beneficial, not only have they provided new modern computers but are also mentoring the older girls and creating opportunities for them to safely experience life outside the home and explore different career choices. 

                                                                            

‘Vishram, who now manages the St Crispin’s has been finding more ways to secure the financial future of the home; it previously depended on government grants (which were rarely paid on time, if at all), charitable giving and rental income from the top floor and basement of the building.  All meals in the home, including breakfast for day students, are now fully sponsored for a period of two years and a new chapatti machine is working well, churning out 600 chapattis an hour!  It is hoped that ‘smart boards’ can be fitted in classrooms, something unimaginable a few years ago.        

                                                                                                                     

St Crispin’s Church, on the same compound, built at the same time as the first children’s home in 1900 is undergoing complete renovation as it is seen as architecturally unique! 

If you’d like to join us when we next chat with Vishram over Zoom please get in touch with us via the parish office.                                              

There are 150 girls living at St Crispin's - all with different stories. Tichnor,  the previous administrator of the home once said “St Crispin’s Home has survived through the last century only because of God’s infinite grace, mercy and love for the children in our care and His servants who serve in the home".