The New Ark Mission Centre
Raja the Auto Rickshaw driver only ever studied to 3rd grade. He was a violent man, who used to drink and fight, but one day he told God that if He gave him a driving job, then he would serve Him. Both kept their bargain.
In the days when he drove his rickshaw in Bangalore, he saw homeless on the streets, ‘living like dogs, all skin and bones’. They had long, matted hair and lice and most people passed them by. But Raja decided he had to do something, so he started bringing individuals to his home and cleaned them up. They were drunks who had become beggars, people with mental problem or handicapped living in the gutters. Many were dying and ‘in need of a heavenly passport’. 100 people died over 8 years, but Raja ‘cared for them unto death’ and he smiled ‘I gave them a passport and a ticket.’
Whilst the work started in his home, it grew to a small shelter for 13 people. Now it is centered at the ‘Home of Hope’ (supported by Campus crusade of India) on the outskirts of Bangalore, offering a ‘comfort to the shattered ‘ for around 75.
Raja means king. ‘Like a king, I am keeping the people in my palace – but I am also a beggar for them. I wear the same clothes as my people. People bring us gifts of clothes. We provide them with food for body and also spirit food’.
One day he found an abandoned baby, with an eye hanging out. ‘I was riding my bicycle and I saw a bundle. I thought it was a dead baby, but when I opened the bundle she looked at me and laughed. Still that laugh is my heart. Now she has a glass eye and is going to school. She is called Gracie’. She is like another daughter to Raja. He already has a wife, 2 girls and boy. He sees this family just twice a week. He told God ‘I am a donkey for you, whatever you say I will do.’
They have founded their ‘new ark mission’, not for animals, but for street people who are treated like animals. They are building a clinic and have a dream of vocation centre. Only 2 churches are supporting the work along with Indian Campus crusade. They do not get any government support.
Raja only chooses the worst cases, although the police also bring him people. He showed a video clip of a man with foot that had been eaten away by maggots. He later died in hospital, but Raja had treated him with dignity and respect.
We met some of the people in the centre - a woman with bangles who was a street beggar, who came thin and emaciated. Now after a few weeks, she is ‘full fat’ !
I also met Dharman, an air force mechanic who was in a bad motorbike accident, which ruined his life. The skin grafting operations went bad and he ended up on the streets. When Raja found him, 20 maggots were removed from his leg. He was a bright man who speaks Hindi, Tamil and English. Now his dream is to help others, like himself.
I have visited many projects over the years, but was deeply moved by Auto Raja, as I saw pictures of him picking up social rejects, living in the most appalling conditions. He is a very ordinary man, but with a persistent faith that demands he does something practical in the face of helplessness. This is perhaps best expressed in the slogan written on the back of his ambulance or ‘rescue chariot’ as he calls it: Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living in this earth’
From your own correspondent
India Nov 2004
See www.newarkmission.org for an impressive interactive website
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