Is There Really Hope In Gospel For Asia’s Bridge Of Hope Centers?

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) — The Bible speaks of hope specifically as a “confident expectation,” not a wish or a maybe. Dr. KP Yohannan’s vision for establishing Gospel for Asia’s (GFA) Bridge of Hope Program was not simply an idea of something nice to do for the underprivileged children of Asia. The vision was to provide a bridge to the confident expectation of a fruitful and productive future.

I take it for granted that most readers already understand what Bridge of Hope centers do. Faithful supporters have read many stories of individual changed lives of current and former Bridge of Hope students. Many readers, however, may not realize the measurable impact that Bridge of Hope centers have on students achieving the confident expectation of a brighter future.

Remember What We Do

Bridge of Hope centers serve marginalized and underprivileged children throughout the Asian nations of India, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. The purpose is to provide students with the necessary tools and opportunities for success through faithful, qualified staff who provide benefits and programs for each child.

Bridge of Hope centers liberate underprivileged children from the darkness of illiteracy, ignorance and exploitation by complementing formal school education.

They help students to grow emotionally so they do not base their future expectations on the past. Emphasizing a value-based education, students are taught moral values and manners that will prepare them to become good and responsible citizens.

The centers provide social awareness about important health and life issues for both the children and their families. Furthermore, they help to ensure the students’ physical health and growth by providing daily, nutritious meals.

Realize the Results

A recent study of enrichment centers similar to Bridge of Hope revealed some interesting insights into the general efficacy of and impact of our programs.

The overarching finding of the study was that education, in the sense of school attendance, does improve quality of life. Rather, “the major challenge in education today [is] poor learning outcomes.” (Vivek, 2018)

All the evidence indicated that these centers are more effective than public education because children are taught at the level where they are with a view to bringing them to a higher level that will give them the ability to lead productive lives.

A comparison of Grade 5 children indicated a clearly distinguishable difference in reading and math between students at enrichment centers (like Bridge of Hope) and those who attend only a public school.

	Public	Private
Can read at least a Grade 2 text	41.6%	62.9%
Can divide	21.1%	37.9%

Digging deeper into the educational details, the progress made in reading results at multiple grade levels were even more astounding.

	Beginning of Year	End of Year
Can read words – Grade 2	16.94%	29.51%
Can read paragraphs – Grade 3	6.98%	13.82%
Can read a story – Grade 4	5.10%	10.37%
Can read and comprehend a story – Grade 5	1.85%	6.22%

The progress in each discipline is double, nearly double, or more than double. Apply that percentage of improvement to 10,000 children, or 50,000 children or 70,000 children.

Statistics tell the story at Bridge or Hope, not only of the present but also of the progress of helping children toward a sure and certain hope for their future, the future of their community, and the future of their country.

Faithful sponsorships make the enrollment in Bridge of Hope centers possible for tens of thousands of children who have no other hope. We will never know this side of heaven how many lives have been changed and how much they have been changed—but we know they are being changed.

Learn more about how to sponsor and help underprivileged children from families stuck in generational abject poverty who need a Bridge of Hope.

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