Home Sweet (Sarah's Covenant) Homes - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

In the summer of 2015, I boarded a plane and flew to India. My friends Jasmine and Mariah were living in Ongole as foster moms to 8 boys as a part of the organization Sarah’s Covenant Homes. After hearing so much about them, I was beyond excited that I was going to meet my friends’ boys in person. My trip fell together pretty quickly so other than knowing I would get to meet those sweet boys, I didn’t have many expectations or ideas of what my trip really would be like. My trip was a month long with my time split between Ongole with my friends and their boys, and the homes in Hyderabad. I had no way of preparing myself for how easily the kids at Sarah’s Covenant Home would steal such a large chunk of my heart.

A huge part of why I am currently on the World Race is thanks to my time at SCH. I love working with the people at SCH to help love so many kids who too often feel unloved. The tag line of Sarah’s Covenant Homes’ is “Because Every Life Matters.” To live this tag line out they provide homes, as well as physical/spiritual/emotional care, for children with special needs who have been orphaned. It is so sweet to see the way these kids are loved and encouraged to continue reaching new goals. It was with a heavy, yet full heart, that I said goodbye last time I was here. Heavy, because it was hard to say goodbye to such an amazing place with amazing children. Full due to the abundance of joy and love I got to witness from the staff, volunteers, and children of SCH. As I left I knew that trip could only be the beginning.

This month, I am back at SCH! My team, along with one other, is serving at Sarah’s Covenant Homes during our time here in Hyderabad. The timing of me being back here could not have been more perfect. With three months of the Race completed along with Thanksgiving this month, it could be very easy to be home sick. There are many things that I do genuinely miss about home. I miss my family and having the ability to go surprise them at home or work whenever I wanted. I miss my friends and community in Tucson. I miss going almost anywhere in Tucson and running into someone I know. I miss good tacos. All the things I miss aside, being back at SCH feels almost like being home. After so much new from three very unfamiliar countries, it’s so comforting to be somewhere familiar. It’s nice to be across the world from home and walk into a room to see someone there who I met before my process of going on the Race started. I love seeing the reactions of people recognizing me, and enjoying the mutual excitement of remembering each other from the previous year. I love having some clue of where I am in the city while driving in an auto. Above all I love seeing the kids I worked with before and getting to see first hand all of the skills they have developed as they have grown.

However, the thing I love most about SCH is so much more than just familiarity. It’s the beauty of getting to know the children living here along with all of their crazy unique personalities. It’s getting to know the people who care for and love those individuals on a daily basis. It’s the fact that this place is a home for those who need a home. It might not look the same as what you typically think of when you think of home. But that doesn’t make it any less of a home. This thanksgiving, being away from the place I typically call home, I am so thankful to be serving in a place that might be an untraditional home, but still can feel like a home for me too.

I don’t have the right words to describe how special this place is to me so here are some snapshots of my time here (in order to protect the children’s privacy I am unable to show pictures of their faces, but believe me, they are adorable):

In the mornings I help out on at a preschool for children with visual impairments on the top floor of Courage Home-