By SEETA PERSAD Wednesday, May 16 2007

He is well known in the Southland for his charity work at the Operation Smile Home for Children. Having spent 34 years of his life in service to Jesus Christ, Pastor Madho Basdeo is now enjoying the fruits of his work as he is well respected by the hundreds who attend the Gasparillo Ministry Centre.

With the assistance of his wife, Sandra Basdeo, the pastor has spent days and nights building the ministry and serving the Christian community in the area.

The pastor celebrates his 50th birthday today and his congregation has sent a message to him saying he is a genuine man of God and they are all proud of him.

Coming from modest beginnings, Basdeo has proven that it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from — it’s who you’ve become that matters.

Despite his humble background, Basdeo developed the patience to endure his troubles, and this patience has certainly paid off in cultivating the strong person he is today.

He was just 16 when he accepted Jesus as his Lord and saviour. He had many visions as a teenager and he followed the visions, and this guided him to identify his purpose and pursue it with a passion.

At 17, he became the pastor of the Hermitage New Testament Church of God, and during his ministry at Hermitage, he was guided by compassion from God for underprivileged children. At the age of 21, he was married to Sandra, whom he describes as “the love of his life.” Together they accepted the role of senior pastors at the Poonah New Testament Church of God.

As the pastor related to his congregation at a recent lecture, the church was a dilapidated shack with just a few members when he arrived.

He began his ministering work at the church and the shack was soon replaced by a concrete structure of which the community is now proud.

Having outgrown the facilities at the Poonah New Testament Church of God, Basdeo was struck by the vision of a church in Gasparillo. He followed his instincts and the Ministry Centre was built in quick time.

Not long after the establishment of the Gasparillo ministry, Basdeo set about to create the Operation Smile Home for neglected children in South Trinidad.

He demonstrated his commitment to the people by working long hours to establish the home and getting the underprivileged children to stay at the home.

His church followers are convinced that God is answering their prayers through Pastor Madho, and the congregation is actively involved in caring for the 44 children at the children’s home.

Coming from a humble background, Basdeo did not have the opportunity to get a full secondary education, but this did not stop him from earning a degree in Christian Theology from the Covalent Life Ministry School of Theology in 2001.

In the words of Christian, Dr Kenneth Boa, a careful examination of a leader’s qualifications reveals someone who has his family and public life in balance. This certainly applies to Basdeo, as even though his life’s tasks were demanding, he made and continues to make time for his wife and seven children — all of whom are Christians and are persuing careers. While many may think it is a huge task, Pastor Basdeo believes that God is in control and all thing are possible with him. In the future the pastor plans on opening room and library at the ministry for students and members. Already members are coming up with various ideas to promote academics at the ministry. The hope is to get qualified persons to teach the various subjects to students from there areas. They are also hoping to develop the youths in the different disciplines in sports. This will include cricket, netball, table tennis and football. The pastor is currently holding classes in Bible studies at the ministry.

At this 50th year of life, Basdeo is thankful to God for all his accomplishments and plans to keep working to build the Gasparillo Ministry Centre and lives of impoverished children not only in TT but in the rest of the Caribbean.