The Home of Love was born in 1992 by the initiative of the Rev. Dr. Martin Alphonse when he was serving as the senior pastor of the Emmanuel Methodist church in Chennai, what used to be called Madras, in India. When he was preparing a sermon on the parable of the sheep and the goat in Matthew Chapter 25, the thought came to him powerfully about the hundreds of children, especially girls, begging in the streets of Chennai. If they were not rescued, they would not only be begging for lifelong, even worse, many of them might be pushed into child prostitution. That thought horrified him. He shared this thought with his wife Padmini. As they pondered over it prayerfully for sometime, the call came to them clearly to launch on the Home of Love.

Subsequently, Yvonne Muelemeister from Belgium who was a frequent visitor to Emmanuel Methodist Church shared with Martin her desire to do some ministry for the poor in the city. Hearing Martin’s passion to start a “home” for destitute girls, she decided this was a project she could help in getting started. Martin sought further advice from two senior members in the church, namely Mr. Dhanapal Moses, and Mr. Jeyasingh Peter on the logistics of starting the home. They together decided to form a trust called the “Home of Love Charitable Trust” and run the home under its banner. With Yvonne’s help the Trust purchased 3 acres of land in a village called “Alamathi” about 25 miles west of Chennai City. Mr. Dhanapal Moses was appointed as its first Managing Trustee. Along with his wife Dulcie Moses, he led the work progressively for 19 years until his retirement in 2011.