CARASA

As a 12-year-old living in West Melbourne and attending our church, Rachel Heard participated in a child slavery simulation at school and was shown how millions of Indian children are treated, working as slave labour in order to pay their parents’ debts.

Rachel was so profoundly impacted and discomfited by the experience, she went home and set out plans to establish a Foundation which would raise funds to address the problem and provide a better life for these children.

CARASA stands for Care for All, Reach All, Serve All. It works as a support arm for Freeset which is based in Kolkata.  It is CARASA’s aim, working initially in India, to not only to free children from slavery but to provide shelter, hospital care, education and other support to provide a fair and just economic future.

Our Bengali Gatherings

For a small church community, we have a surprising number of people who were born or have lived in Bangladesh and the Bengal region. In 2019  we held our first Bengali gathering and, as it was such a significant event, we have responded to the interest of Bengali people from Victoria to hold 3-4 of these occasions each year. These Saturday morning gatherings begin with a cup of tea and include conversation, poetry, song and prayers. They always conclude with a delicious curry and rice meal. As our welcome has been wide, we have had people attending from Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and no faith, yet all feeling much at home.