Elida’s work in India began in the city of Coimbatore in 1971 by Elida’s founder, Lennart “Tarren” Abrahamsson.
Below Lennart’s wife, Gun, tells the story:
“It is now about 40 years since my husband, Tarren, visited Coimbatore in southern India for the first time. There he met Pastor P.K. Paul, who together with his wife, Mariamma, and an American missionary had started a boys’ home.
But when the missionary suddenly died, Paul and Mariamma stood alone with 18 orphans, apart from their own sons. It was a very difficult time, and many evenings they must go to bed on an empty stomach. They prayed to God for help.
Around this time, Tarren received an invitation to go to India for a fishing project. On strange ways, he ended up in Coimbatore and heard of the difficult circumstances of the orphanage.
Tarren just knew God had paved this way and that Elida was to step in to help.
And so we began our missions work in India, which today is headed by P.K. Paul’s son, Joy, and his wife, Annama.”