Joya Children’s Home and Fermont School

_{Joya Children’s Home is located in the village of Nagavedu, approximately forty miles west of Chennai in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was founded by Edwin Devadas and his wife Shashi in 2002. Edwin Devadas had been abandoned by his mother shortly after birth and put into a trash barrel where a poor widow found him. Although she herself barely had enough to live on, she felt compassion for this baby, brought him into her humble home and raised him. It was this experience that motivated Edwin to establish a home for orphans.}

_{Joya Children’s Home is presently adding on to its facilities and will be able to house approximately sixty boys and girls when completed. It is on a plot of two acres just outside the village. In addition to the facilities for the children of the home, there is also a small English speaking kindergarten and elementary school on the property. The children attending this school are day students who live in Nagavedu and the surrounding area. Joya Children’s Home also has a larger plot on the other side of the village that is presently being used to grow vegetables and fruit. As funds become available they plan to build a larger school building to enable expansion to higher grades.}