Kiron and Nalini Gaikwad have played a crucial role in GMP's work in India. That is why Colin Scott and Suzanne Hayes of COCOA felt it such a privilege to meet with them during their recent visit to Australia.  

Conversation included stories told by Kiron’s grandfather of early missionaries from Australia. “The early pioneer missionaries suffered a lot but now we see the fruit,” Kiron said.  India is a Hindu nation and the Gaikwads have witnessed an openness to Christ in recent years. “Once there were two churches in Yavatmal, but now there are altogether 12 churches,” Kiron reported.  

Kiron and Nalini, long-term partners of GMP, founded relief and development partner Hosanna Ministries. Ankoor Home was founded in the year 2000. As a residential home, Ankoor helped children from poor families access education. Children from areas with limited or no school access could stay and attend a local school. Ankoor then started their own school in English, which later expanded and became Gnyan Sampada Residential School. This was so that both residents and children outside the residential home could attend. 

Kiron and Nalini were like second parents to the children. Kiron would sit on a bench in the corner of the play area after school so that any child who wanted to, could talk to him one to one. The bench was always full. Nalini, meanwhile, was a whizz in the garden and cultivated a huge variety of fruit and vegetables in the back yard. She assigned each child responsibility for looking after their little part of the garden. 

The stories of the children who lived and were educated there are a source of encouragement for Kiron and Nalini. They shared with Colin and Suzanne stories of children who attended university. “One girl completed a Bachelor of Theology and is working as a Bible College lecturer in Gujarat State.” They shared, “Another boy is working as a computer engineer in Pune.”  

The work that Kiron and Nalini started is continued now by their son Daniel and his wife Smita. Danny and Glory, as they would rather be called, currently lead Hosanna Ministries in the Prakash Tekadi Slum in Mumbai. They’re making education and health more accessible to some of the poorest people in India. 

Hosanna Ministry also reaches out to unemployed people in their community and provides vocational courses in tailoring, computer skills and beauty services. As women and transgender people often find themselves second in line for jobs, Hosanna offers courses to help them. Many people find new hope for a secure livelihood and a sense of independence and worth through Hosanna’s programs. 

Hosanna Ministries’ Vocational Training Project is now supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). 

“You did a lot,” says Kiron of GMP’s work in India.  

Your support is an integral part of fostering these long-term relationships. It can give confidence to partners like Kiron and Nalini that the work they began will continue. With your ongoing help, Hosanna Ministries will continue to reach people in need.  

All these things warm the hearts of Nalini and Kiron, but they don’t want to take any of the credit. “We are just instruments in God’s hands,” said Kiron. 

Thank you for helping to make these things possible.