Corina School, Brundavanam, Bapatla, the first project undertaken by Pastor Gamaliel, opened in 1997. The rented house started with 32 children, rising to 70. Children from Kindergarten to 2nd Class were taught by 3 teachers through English medium in a Christian atmosphere to give them a good start and a wider choice of senior schools as they progressed. Funded by CAMA, Holland, and SalGO Assist. Closed end of May 2007, on the opening of a nearby government school.

Pat Smith Tailoring Training Scheme (Jan.1999 – Dec. 2003) provided a six-months course in basic garment making for three unemployed women. Ten courses were held during the 5-year life of the scheme, providing valuable skills for 30 women

Vedullapalle Tailoring Training Scheme (Oct.2004-Oct. 2007) The one-time nomadic Yanadi Tribe had settled just 2 miles from Pastor Gamaliel’s home, where the sewing machine from the Bapatla-based training course was now stored. 24 women from the tribe, virtually all of whom were illiterate and employed only in agricultural labour or as rat catchers in the fields, wanted to learn tailoring. The new scheme for them, and others, opened in October. At the end of the course, each trainee received a sewing machine, towards which she had paid half and SalGO Assist the other half.

Palm leaf food plates & Wire basket making projects (1999-2003) gave training to women on four months’ courses, during and after which the finished goods were sold in the market.

Bowring Feeding Programme (BFP) (Feb.2002-Dec. 2006) 100 children from 45 families were supported with rice three times a week in return for the children attending school. The project was shared between the local Narasayapalem Pentecostal Church and SalGO Assist. Meanwhile the families suggested that if they owned 3 & 1/2 acres of land to grow rice they could be self supporting. With agricultural training from an experienced farming couple, BFP became…

The Land purchase scheme (2006-7) through which the fields were purchased, in two stages, for £2050 per acre. Now, not only have the families been successful in growing, harvesting and distributing the rice, they have developed in self reliance and concern for other poor communities.

G. Ummadivaram Bore wells (2005) Ten bore wells were sunk in the arid fields outside the village. Each well in the 50-acre site serves the needs of 15 families. Crops of rice, tomatoes, chillies etc. have improved the economic life of the village, and increased employment opportunities, including widows whom we support in that village.  

Mike Revans Old People’s Home, G. Ummadivaram. (2002-2006) for 15 elderly destitute and homeless people, occupied a simple house, with one room for men and one for women. Part-funded by SalGO Assist, it closed when local families, better off since the bore wells improved the yield from the land, took the residents into their own homes.

Lellapalle Village Water supply (2010) A few miles from G. Ummadivaram, Lellapalle women described how difficult life was with broken water pumps and a bore hole only 150ft. deep, whereas they needed drilling down to a depth of 400ft. SalGO sent £742 to provide a deep bore hole and electric water pump and storage tank.

B.B. Gudem Sanitation Project (2010) Few villages in India have modern toilet facilities. The women in BB Gudem, who usually had to go into fields at night to find any privacy, invited us to install toilets and bathrooms, and a room for a watchman/ attendant. SalGO Assist provided a 3-cubicle system where the recycled waste could be used to fertilizing the fields, bathrooms and a surrounding wall, in which a community garden now flourishes.

Corina School, Vedullapalle, opened in 2009, closed in April 15, on the opening of a newly-built government school able to absorb all the Corina children, and with the added advantage to poor families of providing a free midday meal. Former Corina pupils met together in October 2014 to express their appreciation of the education they had received, which had prepared them well for their subsequent educational progress. The school building, owned by SalGOERCO, is now occupied by three previously homeless families.

The Hostel, opened on 1st April 2008, was in a rented property in Brundavanam, Bapatla. It was home for the older boys before the new home opened in March 2015. In accordance with Indian custom, boys reaching the age of 14 or so transfer from the CSO Home to the Hostel, but continued their education without interruption. They pursued their hobbies, shared household duties and remained in contact with the Home.