How worried would you be if your children had to walk two hours to and from school every morning and afternoon? Maybe you’d be concerned for their safety and well-being. That’s the case for many mothers and fathers in Asia.
Shamita had no other choice but to send her 16-year-old daughter, Sudipti, on foot to a school located more than four miles away from their rural village. Though Shamita herself worked as an uneducated daily wage laborer, she wanted her daughter to go to school.
Ever since Shamita’s husband died five years ago, life had been very difficult for her, and she struggled hard to care for her two children. Her only hope was that Sudipti’s education would make life better for them in the future.
But Sudipti had to get up early in the morning to make it to school on time. There were times when she ended up being late for class because her legs hurt so badly from all the walking. Sudipti wished so much to have a bicycle to ride to school, but she knew her mother, being a widow, could never afford to buy her one.
Yet God did not forget this poor widow’s family. When Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor Bhajan and his church from a neighboring community held a special gift distribution to needy families, Sudipti was chosen to receive a new bicycle. The young girl was so excited and grateful for this valuable gift.
“Now I won’t be late to school,” she said. “I am excited to ride my bike to school.”
Moreover, because the bicycle saves her many hours of walking, she now has far more time to help her mother at home and take care of her younger sister.
When Pastor Bhajan and some believers visited this dear family, Shamita welcomed them gladly. She was so touched by what they shared with her about the love of Christ and by the kindness and help the church extended to her family.
“I knew that my daughter needed a bicycle,” Shamita said, “but I could not afford to buy a bicycle for her, as I hardly manage my daily needs. … You saw the need of my daughter and provided a bicycle for her; I am very happy.”
In a society where millions live far below the poverty line, people like Shamita struggle just to survive another day. They will take any job they can get or resort to begging to earn a few pennies to buy food for their families. Without the safety net of a welfare system, a parent’s sickness or death can plunge the family into further poverty or destitution.
How do gifts like a bicycle immensely help poor families achieve a better quality of life?
For many, it’s a game changer! Beyond helping children attend school, this simple but effective transportation opens up many new job opportunities:
- A father can take a higher paying job in a place that is farther away,
- A farmer can transport his produce to the market
- A vendor can sell his goods from village to village
- A launderer can expand his laundry service to new customers
- A fisherman can sell his daily catch in town
- A son or daughter can go to school or job training even if it’s more than four miles away from home.
Throughout the year, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported missionaries seek to help poor families in their communities by providing gifts that will enable them to earn a living. Bicycles are included in those gifts.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) –supported workers see the needs of those around them and want to help in whatever ways they can. By giving away a gift like a bicycle, they’ve seen lives change in big and small ways—even if it’s just the joy on people’s faces when they realize how much they are looked after by the God who created them and loves them.
This is what motivates us to do what we do—to see people and communities transformed!
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For more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia, go here.
To consider donating a bicycle to someone in need in Asia, go here.
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