Hello
 
My name is Pastor Jay and I would like to share with
you a bit about my life. 
 
When I was about 6 years old both my father and
mother died, also my two brothers died and it was
left to my grandparents to raise me. 
 
They took me to a Palm reader and he said that I was
a curse and that is the reason that so many of my family died. He told my grandfather that
they should kill me to remove the curse from them as well. My grandfather took me back to
the village and when he told my grandmother she was horrified, she pleaded with my
grandfather saying that I was old enough to beg and that he should send me away. 
 
I begged for a while but it was not a very good life so I went back to my grandparents and
asked if I could live with them again. They took me in but it was on the condition that
each day I would have to make a grass mat. It was hard work and most days I was not
able to complete the work, each day I didn’t complete a mat I would receive a beating, my
life was very sad and full of misery, it would have been better if I had died. 
 
Some time later when I was about 10 years old a Dutch man came through our village, he
asked if there were any orphaned children, very quickly my grandparents gave me to this
man. He took me to an orphanage called Bethel and it was here that I spent the rest of
my adolescent years growing up. 
 
It was the opportunity that I was looking for, I studied hard at school and after a slow
start got good grades, I wanted to become an engineer but the director of Bethel said I
should consider becoming a Pastor and I decided to take on this challenge. 
 
I was very good at being a Pastor I started 8 churches in Bombay and then in 1997 I was
asked to go to America to run a big Church. I said that I didn’t want to go and that my
dream was to start my very own orphanage. So in 1998 I did it! With my wife I started an
orphanage in a small rented house, we took in 12 small children, this number grew quickly
and now we run 3 centres: Eden Garden on about 15 acres with 200 boys, Salem Office
with 3 hostels and about 400 children and the Promised Land on 90 acres with over 1,400
children, and we also run 3 school and 2 colleges. 
 
Out of the 2,000 children about 600 have sponsors, we still 
need to find sponsors for the other 1,400 children.
 
I have 3 children of my own and they are being trained so 
that they can eventually take over after I retire. 
 
It is my dream to one day provide care for 5,000 children.