Sura Mahat Samal, as a young man, preached on street corners, slept on church floors, conducted evening cottage meetings and screened films on the life of Christ in the boot camp training of OM India. He subsequently worked with World Vision for 24 years, originating many of their projects in his home state of Odisha (Orissa).
As Sura traveled throughout the state of Orissa he met extremely impoverished families in remote rural areas who requested him to provide education for their children. Sura, and his wife Puspanjali, opened a home for boys on a piece of property in the small town of Pipli that they had originally purchased to build a home for themselves. Since 2005, this home has provided a hostel for these boys while they attend nearby government schools. They have just taken on three more boys in response to pleas from families affected by the violence in Kandhamal District in 2008.
Sura has received as many requests from impoverished families for educational opportunities for their daughters as for their sons. He has always wanted to respond to those requests. This vision grew to include widows affected by the violence in Kandhamal District.
In April 2010, Sura and Puspanjali rented a facility in the city of Bhubaneswar. Thirty girls were chosen from a large number of applicants. The girls were relieved to finally be in a safe home; nevertheless, it took some weeks for them to feel settled and adjust to life away from their villages. They have all successfully enrolled in a local government school and are developing in their studies and in the spiritual disciplines of the home, aiming to bring about all-around development among the girls.