Yaakov's Light

Yaakov’s Light is the sixth Udayan Ghar home and the most recent boys home to open. The planning stages started in March of 2007, and boys have been living in the home for nine months now. We live in a middle to upper class neighborhood that is very nice and the home is quite large by India standards. Across the street from the Home is a small grassy park with a walking path and some playground toys, which is great for wearing off some energy and there is another larger play area a shorter walk away as well which is great for football (soccer) time.

Major Sud is the Chairman of the Home, which means he is in charge of the overall operations and has been heavily involved since its inception as he is retired and quite wealthy at that. His wife, Asha, as well as Anjana Jain are the two mentor mothers. They see to the overall care of the children. All three are quite committed to the home and usually try to stop by every day if possible.

Birendra and Rita Xana are the caregivers. They live right here in the home and are the ones that really make this place tick. They do not know english very well (we have been doing some grammar lessons for about an hour each day) which makes it a bit tricky, but they are an amazing couple who moved here to the Delhi region specifically to work in this home.

There are also several teachers, drivers, and volunteers that pour countless time energy and effort into making this place tick. It’s really quite incredible to see the outpouring of support that these boys have and the dedication present to enable them to succeed both at present and in the future. Note, the goal of this home is not to work towards adoption, but to equip each boy with the life skills needed to succeed here in India.

That brings us to the boys... Currently there are eleven boys: Gaurav, Mohit, Sandeep, Umesh, Ajay, Shivam, Manjeet, Vijay, Rahul, Praveen and Aryan. I never was very good with names to begin with, but it has definitely taken some practice to get all of them down! All of the boys, except for Aryan, have spent the majority of their lives on the streets and do not have any parents. Aryan is the youngest and is actually Birendra and Rita’s son, but lives right in with the rest of the children and is treated no differently (for the most part). They boys have their rough spots and are still less than a year removed from their former lives (less than for months in the case of Praveen). That said, they have made amazing progress under the circumstances and I am so thrilled to be here with them for a spell.