Cuttack Sunday 2024

Cuttack Sunday

2024

Cuttack Fund

Thank you for your support!

The video of Bishop Nanda and Revd Dan was made on our recent visit and expresses something of the Bishop’s hope for our ongoing partnership.

Background to the developing partnership between the Plymouth and Exeter Methodist District and the Diocese of Cuttack, Church of North India:Links between our two areas began as a friendship in 2012, and gradually over the last 12 years, has developed into a more formal, mutually supportive partnership.

Autumn 2011

a ‘chance’ meeting over breakfast

between Rev Alison Richardson, and the then Bishop of Cuttack.   During the conversation Alison was invited to visit the Diocese to ‘encourage the women of the Diocese’ about education generally, and raise confidence among women who wanted to explore ministry in the church, and encourage them to engage in theological education.   Alison asked a friend Rev Deborah Kirk to accompany her.

Following a conversation with Steve Pearce, who was the Asia Co-ordinator of the World Church, the Methodist Church agreed to fund our flights as they were interested in establishing a link with the Church of North India

January 2012

Alison and Deborah first visit

January 2013

  Alison and Deborah return visit

and in October of that year, our District had the opportunity to send some financial support to the Diocese, in the aftermath of Cyclone Phailin, which inflicted severe damage around the coastal areas.

In 2014,

with the support of the District World Church Committee

, we arranged a visit for the Bishop of Cuttack and his wife to the Plymouth & Exeter District.  This was a lengthy visit, (3+ weeks) hosted by various guests in different parts of the District, and culminating with the MWM Conference in Swanwick.

After this visit, significant issues were raised, there was a pause in the relationship, and a subsequent change of office holders in Cuttack.

Rev Graham Thompson joined the District as the District Chair.

In 2017,

Alison and I decided to return

to our previous hosts and dear friends we had stayed with in 2013 – the directors of a Children’s Home in Puri.  That was a more ‘unofficial’ visit, with a localised experience, and no opportunities for the wider travelling that had been a feature of our previous visits.

Also in 2017,

the new Bishop of Cuttack, Bishop S K Nanda visited UK for a Conference, and stayed as the guest of our District Chair, Rev Graham Thompson.  This proved to be a turning point.  The Bishop and Reverend Graham were committed to reviving the fledgling relationship.

In April 2017,

Rev Graham brought a proposal to the Spring Synod on behalf of the World Church Committee that we would form a partnership between the District and the Diocese of Cuttack, with a focus on

Prayer, Learning and Friendship,

and some ways were identified as to how we might take this forward:

• set aside one day each year in the District for each church to acknowledge and celebrate the partnership, offering worship resources and information to assist the leaders of worship – Cuttack Sunday, the Sunday before Lent was identified, and this has been marked variously across the District each subsequent year, even during lockdown. (you can see this on YouTube.)
• explore the possibility of exchange visits
• to establish a Cuttack fund – to resource exchange visits
• continue to nurture the links already established, and to support one another through informed prayer
• explore links between the English-medium schools in the Diocese and our Methodist Schools in this District

In 2018,

there was a further visit to the Diocese, by Rev Graham Thompson, Mr David Clitheroe (Synod Secretary), Rev Alison and Rev Deborah which marked a more established and ‘official’ foundation for the partnership.  Up to that point, we had been individuals meeting other individuals, making friends, laying foundations.

It had taken several years to build trust and relationship, to discover the best way to demonstrate partnership, and to work through the difficult issues of communication, expectation and process.

Now we wanted to support Bishop Nanda as he explored the openness of his Diocesan Officers to deeper partnership.

In 2020,

there was another visit to the Diocese by a team of 6 from the District: Rev Graham Thompson, Rev Liz Singleton, Rev Stuart Innalls, Mrs Anne Browse (MWiB), Miss Shannon Beveridge and Rev Deborah Kirk.  The aim was to embed the partnership in the life of the District and expand the team of those directly involved, for ongoing sustainability.

It was on this visit that we learned of the threat to the survival of the Christian Hospital.  The District World Church Committee felt that it would be appropriate to ask the Synod in September 2021 if the District would support a fundraising effort to help towards this significant but vital work among some of the most vulnerable people.  Synod agreed, and the District churches and MWiB embraced the vision, and began to contribute towards the work.

July/August 2022

saw a visit from the Bishop of the Diocese, Rev N K Nanda, and his wife Jyoti, to the UK to attend the Lambeth Conference.  Following the Conference, the Bishop and his wife were able to meet with Rev Graham and Alison Thompson in London, and then spend 4 days in the District, hosted by Rev Alison Richardson in Crediton. Alison arranged a lunch in Exeter to enable them to meet with several friends from the District.

In February 2024,

a team from the District, with Rev Dr Daniel Haylett, District Chair, Rev Jane Sperring, Deacon Debbie Marsh, Anne Browse, Bronwyn Nott, Tobias Loraine, Eunice Halliwell and Rev Deborah Kirk, visited the Diocese again.*  The aim was to strengthen our partnership agreement after the hiatus caused by the pandemic, and identify next steps with a redefined focus on mutual prayer support, sharing in learning and fellowship, and creating opportunities for exchange visits.

During this visit we were privileged to be able to participate in the inauguration of the completely refurbished Christian Hospital in Berhampur.  The visit also included meetings with various churches, projects, a Christian nursery school and the Orissa Christian Theological College.

We, and our partners in the Diocese, are keen to develop ways which will deepen relationships, and lead naturally to exchange visits – e.g. finding opportunities to link over zoom for shared prayer, worship, conversation.  As well as the hospital, college and nursery school, there are individual churches where this could be possible – particularly where the pastor is able to help with translation.

Thank you for your prayers for and your interest in the partnership.  *If you would like anyone to come and speak to a group or church, please do get in touch with one of the people named above.

Rev Deborah Kirk

May  2024

A prayer from Revd Mohanty

Puri Kindergarten School

Puri Kindergarten School is a unique school situated in the coastal town of Puri district of India where children of poor and needy families study without making any payments. This school is managed by the Christian Organisation for Development and Education known as CODE and school is financially supported by the Foster Parents of different countries. From the year 1985 till 2016 CODE was managing two Children’s Homes. One for the poor tribal girls and another one for the poor tribal boys. In 2016 due to new rules passed by the state government the two Children’s Homes were closed down and this Puri Kindergarten School was established in the year 2017 to provide education to the poor and needy children of Puri town of Orissa state in India. This school was inaugurated on 10th February 2018 by Mrs. Soyomi Matsumoto who is heading the Foster Parents Program of Japan, in the presence of a delegation of foster parents from Japan including Dr. Yoichi Kobayashi a retired professor of the Seinan Gakuin University who has been associated with the work of CODE since 1988. This inauguration ceremony was also attended by several church congregations, delegations of various schools in the town, social organisations and parents of the students who were enrolled in the school. Funds for the school is received from our foster parents from Japan and the United Kingdom. The foster parents from Japan are mainly from the Baptist Churches and the foster parents from the United Kingdom belong to the Methodist churches.

A total of 75 poor and needy children study in our school. Majority of the fathers of our children are manual labourers , rickshaw pullers, life guards who help tourists take bath in sea, barbers, fishermen, room boys in hotel, wash clothes in hotels, helpers to plumbers, building painters and some of them sell beads on the beach. The mothers of the children of our school either work as daily wage labourers or do their own household work. Almost all the parents of our children are uneducated and usually they don’t show any interest for the education of the children. This is because they want that once their child will attain the age 8 or 9 they can also help the father and earn money for the family. There are three sections in our school namely Nursery section, Lower Kindergarten section and Upper Kindergarten section and in each section 25 children are admitted. There are two teachers and a teacher- cum- principal of the school who teach the children. Besides the teachers there are two Ayas and a gardener-cum-attendant also work in our Puri Kindergarten School. Our school is open from Manday to Saturday every week. The timing of the school is from morning 7 AM to 11AM. Every day when the children come to school, they gather in the playground for school assembly where children, teachers and staff of the school gather to pray. During this prayer time they also listen to different stories with morals. Soon after the assembly children go to their class rooms where they are taught English language reading and writing, mathematics, rhymes, local language Odia, second language Hindi, drawing and visual classes. Every month children appear their monthly examinations and besides that they also sit for their midterm and annual examination. All the subjects in the school are taught in English. The school focuses not only on academics but also on extracurricular and co-curricular activities. Taking their age in to consideration the school provides plenty of opportunities to the children for indoor and outdoor games. For that reason, the school has fixed swing, slide and other game equipment on the playground and besides that school also provides enough time to the students to ride tricycles and play cricket, football and other games. For indoor games children are given enough toys and other games. The school also conducts dance classes, physical exercise classes and musical instruments to play. Once in week children also learn to do gardening like watering the plants and to plant flower plants so that from their childhood they learn to take care of the environment. The school seeks to develop the whole child; physically, spiritually, emotionally, academically and socially.

Puri Kindergarten School is a charitable school and therefore the children who study in our school do not pay for admission, monthly tuition, examination and other fees. The school also provides books, notebooks, school uniform, shoe and shocks, school bag, pen and pencils, crayons and colour pencils, drawing sheets and water bottles to the students free of cost. The school also serves breakfast to the students every day.

Annual events such as annual sports, annual picnic, Christmas celebration, annual day celebrations and national events like Independence Day and republic day are also organised by the school every year.

Our school observes some of the important annual events of our country like Independence Day on the 15th of August each year. During that occasion and the occasion of the Republic Day of India on 26th January each year the school organises special programs in the school and parents of the children also participate on these events. In India teachers occupy a special place in the hearts of every Indians and all over India, especially all educational institutions like school and colleges observe 5th September as the teachers Day. During that day our school organises special events to honour the teachers and staff of our school. Likewise in India November 14 is observed as the Children’s Day. On that occasion special program is arranged where the teachers bless the students.

The Annual Sports of the school is organised every year in the month of January and due to lack of space it is held in the Naomi Building campus of our organisation situated in a different location of the town. When the children arrive at 8 o’clock in the morning they eat the breakfast prepared by the school and after that they participate in the sports events. During the sports children participate in different sporting events such as running race, jumping race, Spoon and Potato race, ball and bucket race and other events. Our school tries to include parents of our students in the school sports. Separate sports events are conducted for the fathers and likewise for the mothers. Prizes for the winners of the annual sports are given during the Annual Day Celebration of the school.

School picnics are organised for the children and staff of the school every year in the month of February. Due to their age and risk involved in taking them to a picnic spot usually we take our school children to our Naomi Building campus where they eat breakfast and then spend time in playing games, dancing and having fun. At the end of the picnic children eat lunch and return to their respective homes with their parents.

One of the important annual events of our school is the Annual Day Celebration. It is usually arranged in the main hall of the Naomi Building and during this celebration a public gathering is arranged where people of different churches, social organisations, people who are associated with the work of our school and the parents of our school children attend in large numbers. This is the occasion when the principal of the school presents the Annual Report of the school and then prizes for different competitions held during that school year like sports and games, fancy dress, highest attendance in the school, securing highest marks in annual and other examinations and cleanliness are given to the winners. At the end children of various classes present different cultural programs like solo dance, group dance, drill and small skits.

During covid 19 pandemic and on regular intervals, nutritious foods along with soaps and towels are distributed to the children. Because all our children belong to poor families, in the event of any natural calamities and pandemics our school gives grocery items and other necessary items to the families of our students.

Dear friends,

although India has made reasonable progress in the field of education it still holds the world’s largest population of illiterates. We are extremely thankful to the Baptist churches Japan and Methodist churches in the United Kingdom for their wholehearted financial and prayer support that has enabled us to educate the poor children and provide them with many happy things of childhood. Even during the time of cyclone funny when everything in the school was destroyed and during Covid 19 pandemic your prayers and financial help had helped us to overcome the dificulties and move forward. On behalf of the management, teachers, staff and dear students I want to thank you for everything you have been doing for our school. Please continue to remember our school in your prayers. May God bless you all.