About Faith Welfare Trust

FWT works with young people in India…
• to provide a safe home and loving Christian
environment for deprived children;
• to provide access to education and suitable
further training to maximise their opportunity to earn a living wage and escape the poverty trap.

FWT is managed in the UK by a board of trustees comprising Alistair Coomer, Joy Smith, Tessa and Chris Sayers, Elsie and Brian Tugwell, Rachel and John Fisher and Helen Webster. They are assisted in India by the Nambikkai Illam Trust, based in Chennai, which manages the two childrenʼs homes at nearby Vengadu and Navalur villages and provides support to Faith Public School at Rajahmundry, about 350 miles further North.

Learn more

Latest Newsletter Is Available To View Online

The latest FWT Newsletter is now available to view online.  You can view the newsletter by clicking one of the links below.  Alternatively you can visit our dedicated Newsletter page where previous editions are also available for online viewing.

December 2011 (High quality – 26MB)
December 2011 (Lower quality – 6MB)

Would You Like To Send The Children Christmas Cards?

Nothing makes the children in Nambikkai Illam smile more than receiving Christmas cards!

Why not send the children some Christmas cards this year? Last year the children received 10 cards each thanks to you – our supporters, and this was one of the main highlights of Christmas Day. If you would like to send the children cards this year please remember that the last posting date from the UK is 5th December. Please write to fwt.news@gmail.com to get a list of children’s names and the address to send them to.

Thank you.

Compulsory Purchase Order – Latest News

The Compulsory Purchase Order served on the homes now appears to have been withdrawn however this may change again as we are still awaiting written confirmation.

This is welcome news, however factory building continues near the children’s homes and the original access to Vengadu (boy’s hostel) has been closed off, although we are to be granted land for a new access road to the rear (which we will have to pay for). As mentioned in our Facebook update in August we would welcome prayer that all the proposed changes will not impair safety or be too disruptive to the children.

After the NIT meeting in September Brian reported that the following work would need to be done:

1. New road and gates
2. Change watchman quarters
3. Lay out a play area for cricket behind our building on the Peromboke land
4. Paint everything
5. Clean the well

The estimated cost for all this work is in the order of £15K plus necessary work to the kitchen at Navalur (girl’s hostel). The well has now been cleaned and estimates are being sought for the kitchen work.

We will keep you updated via our webpage and newsletters of the all latest news. Thank you for your prayers and support.

You can now make donations online!

You can now make regular, or one off, donations online at

https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/faithwelfaretrust

MyDonate is a not-for-profit, online fundraising service for UK charities. This service provides a secure, easy-to-use way for millions of people to raise money for the charity of their choice. If you tick the box to confirm that you’re a UK tax payer when you make your donation MyDonate will collect the money from the government on behalf of Faith Welfare Trust.

FWT is now on Facebook

Faith Welfare Trust is now on Facebook! Prayer points and short news items will be posted to keep supporters upto date between newsletters. Longer articles will still be posted on this website. You can view our Facebook by clicking the link at the top right of this page or by going to:

http://www.facebook.com/faithwelfaretrust

Press ‘like’ at the top of the Facebook page to be kept up to date with news, prayer points and any other relevant information as it happens.

Report of visit to India, Dec 2010

The Sayers family visited the Nambikkai Illam homes in December 2010. See a report of their visit here: India trip 2010 (file is 2.8Mb)

Two new trustees for UK board

FWT trustees were delighted to welcome John and Rachel Fisher to their number at the last trustees’ meeting in October. John and Rachel have visited the homes in India on several occasions and done fundraising for FWT so they are already very committed to the FWT work at Nambikkai Illam.

New gallery page

The website now features a gallery page, wherein you can view a slideshow of pictures from the homes at Nambikkai Illam and from Faith Public School. Take a look here.

If you have any photos which you think relevant to FWT, please send them to us so we can put them up.

FWT timeline

Click the link below to see the development of Faith Welfare Trust since its inception in 1985:

FWT Timeline

Management Handover

After many years of service, Eleanor and Fergus have handed over the job of managing FWT, and the Trustees would like to thank them for all their hard work. Over the past five years they have dedicated so much time and energy to the work of FWT – from chairing and administration to fundraising and, of course, the enormous task of producing and distributing the newsletter! Through their regular trips to Nambikkai Illam they have become well loved by the staff and children who have benefited so much from all they have done. We are delighted that Chris and Tessa Sayers have agreed to take over their many roles and would like to take this opportunity to welcome them onboard. A huge thanks to Eleanor and Fergus and welcome to Chris and Tessa!

- Helen Webster, Trustee