Home Arts & Culture B.C. churches put spotlight on Indian orphans

B.C. churches put spotlight on Indian orphans

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MIA_childofmineVANCOUVER

What happens when a young person leaves a sheltered Christian home to make their own way in the city?

That question not only drove a film, but it reshaped a ministry. Mia follows a struggling graduate from a Child of Mine children’s home in India.

Transposition Films was already working on a 14-minute promotional video for Child of Mine when director Trevor Meier decided to take on the bigger challenge of a documentary.

“We chose Mia because her story was the most unfinished, and we can be involved in that story,” says Transposition Films producer Ryan Schroeder, who, along with director of photography Josh Knepper, attends Westside Church, Vancouver.

Child of Mine is a project of Westside and three MB churches in Kelowna: Willow Park, Metro and Sunridge. Child of Mine provides funds and short-term missions support to two homes in India caring for 160 orphaned or abandoned children aged 4–18.

Mentoring children into adulthood

Mia’s mother left when she was baby, and her father brought her to Dar-ul-Fazl (House of Grace) children’s home at age three when he couldn’t care for her. At 18, she left the home to work for a fashion magazine in fast-paced New Delhi.

“To me, family was this, but there has to be more,” Mia tells the camera. “I wish [the staff from the home would be] in touch with kids who have left. You want someone to talk to. It feels like something’s missing.”

“Halfway through filming, we realized she’s having a hard go of it,” says Schroeder. “We were calling home to Metro pastor Laurence East and Westside’s Chad MacDonald saying we have to put something in place for graduates!”

Out of the film grew the “2+2 program,” in which Child of Mine children are intentionally mentored for two years before they leave the home and two years afterward. The program develops spiritual disciplines, teaches healthy lifestyle choices and offers career counselling.

The promotional film asks churches to partner with Child of Mine; Mia explains why the need is so great – and goes beyond orphans in India.

“Her story is like a lot of Canadians who grow up Christian, go to school in the big city and don’t see how the gospel affects where they are now,” says Schroeder, who recalls feeling tossed between competing ideologies when he left home for film school in Vancouver. Viewers tell Schroeder they can relate to Mia’s search for family and identity.

“Child of Mine’s stated mission of ‘raising the future leaders of India’s church’ is one I’d like to throw myself behind with the gifts God’s given me,” says Schroeder. In a region with less than one percent church presence, the homes are thriving spiritually.

—Angeline Schellenberg

To sponsor a child or graduate through Child of Mine, visit childofmine.ca.

Watch the promotional video at vimeo.com/transposition/childofmine.

To find out about Mia showings, visit tfilms.co.

See also “B.C. churches care for India orphans” in “50 ways to share the gospel”

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