The ministry that became Bethania Kids began with acts of mercy freely bestowed from the back door of the home of Dayavu Dhanapal and her daughter, Priscilla, in Kodaikanal. They provided desperate children with food and clothing and help as they could from their own modest resources, supplemented by donations from missionary friends who had returned to the US. Soon it became clear a permanent home for children was needed, where they could receive dependable shelter, nourishment, health care, schooling, and love.

In 1987, members of two American teacher missionary families (the Granners, the Hennigs and their adult children) who had worked with Dayavu and Priscilla in India for decades, gathered to address the challenge at hand. They stepped out in faith together to meet this growing “backdoor” ministry in an organized way. A 501(c)3 foundation was established and newsletters started to circulate. Visits to India were made, land was procured in Kannivadi and the new Bethania Home was dedicated to the glory of God in Christ Jesus, and became home to 9 needy children.

With God’s constant guidance, prayers and donations from supporters, and the compassionate love of staff caring for the children, the ministry grew tremendously through the years. More than 30 years later, Bethania Kids ministry serves nearly 1,000 children and families thriving in care, hope, and God’s unconditional love in 18 facilities, including residence homes, day-care and after-school care centres, rehabilitation centers, and women’s empowerment programs.

 

Founder

The founder of Bethania Kids was Dayavu Dhanapal, the child of Christian parents who were led into the faith by the family of Dr. Ida Scudder. The missionary movement which brought the gospel to India began with Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, a German Lutheran, who arrived at the Danish trade establishment of Tranquebar, South India, on July 9, 1706. The missionary movement grew in India throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, through the work of missionaries from many northern European countries. Born in India, Ida Scudder was a granddaughter of the first American medical missionary, Dr. John Scudder, who worked in India in the late 19th century, with his seven sons. In 1918, Dr. Ida Scudder founded the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, which by the mid 20th century had become one of the most successful medical educational institutions and hospitals in all of Asia.

Dayavu Dhanapal grew up in the Palani Hills of South India in a household which, through the influence of the Scudder family, became fervent in the Christian faith. Dayavu learned impeccable English and actually knew Handel’s Messiah better than most Americans. She and ten brothers and sisters were all teachers of Tamil to missionaries in South India for many decades. Her home town of Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, is a hill station about 6,000 feet above the plains, where a school for the children of Christian missionaries was founded in 1901. It was first called High Clerc, and until 1972 the school was commonly known simply as Kodai School.