Our History & Overview
Divya Shanthi Christian Association and Trust
It began with ‘The Sunshine Hour Saturday Club’ for poor children in the deprived area of Lingarajapuram, North Bangalore, India in May 1967. Colleen Samuel (Philipsz) began the work soon after she came to know Christ as her Lord and Saviour. The work picked up when Colleen and Vinay Samuel returned from Cambridge UK in 1975. Vinay developed the outreach congregation of St. John’s Church of which he was presbyter in charge in Lingarajapuram. It later became Divya Shanthi Church. The work in the community with families particularly women and children was developed under Colleen with a team of volunteers and by 1982 it became the Divya Shanthi Christian Association and Trust. In 1978 a primary school for children. In 1979 a tailoring unit was started. Volunteers operated a counseling unit for employment, marital problems and a variety of family needs. In 1980 a health service also began with volunteers. Till 1982 the work developed with local support.
In 1982, the first home for girls at high risk was started with the support of Redt Een Kind, Holland. The community work programme of adult literacy, community health education and care, pre-school children, non formal training for youth and micro enterprise development began in 1984 with the help of Tear Fund Holland.
The work has grown to cover six areas in the radius of 25 Kms from Lingarajapuram which became part of City Corporation in 2004. A children’s home was started in Hyderabad in 1987 and Tsunami Rehabilitation work in Tamil Nadu in 2005 The number of very low income families we work with is over 5000. Divya Shanthi has a full time staff strength of over 150. Pioneering volunteers like Prema and John Santosh, Thelma Dawson and Lily Philips continue to be part of the governance team which include business person and community leaders.
