WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Bindhiya, her ministry in the slums alongside her husband, GFA pastor Sachitan, amid the Coronavirus lockdown.
Bindhiya leads a busy life serving Christ in partnership with her husband, Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor Sachitan. When the COVID-19 pandemic kept Bindhiya at home, she felt powerless—but not for long.
Bindhiya gave face masks to children in a nearby slum.
Bindhiya obtained a degree in nursing, but since marrying her husband, she takes care of people in very different ways. She faithfully serves the women of her congregation and community and leads the local Women’s Fellowship group. As an accomplished tailor, Bindhiya teaches girls in her church and women in her village how to sew. Many can now sew their own clothes.
This girl told Bindhiya, “Thank you, didi [older sister], for this mask.”During the lockdown, compassion filled Bindhiya’s heart as she watched children wandering in her village and in the nearby slum. They played together without face masks, and she knew they risked transmitting the virus. Concern prompted her to action.
Bindhiya gathered all the cotton scraps she could find and sewed 100 face masks. Then she went to her village and the nearby slum and handed out the masks to children in need. She gave each child an extra mask to give to a friend. Soon, when other children saw their friends receiving face masks, they came and asked for masks too.
The children covered their mouths with the face masks right away, but Bindhiya could still hear grateful words spilling from their lips.
“Thank you for this mask,” said one boy. “I wanted one, but my parents could not buy it for me. Surely, I will wear a mask when I go out.”
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Gospel for Asia Disaster Relief, the chaos and disaster the 7.8 magnitude Earthquake brought in Nepal in 2015, and the unflinching practical love through relief work and education through Bridge of Hope.
“A
ll the believers began to scream and weep. I told them not to be afraid and also not to run outside,” said Pastor Pahil.
The Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor thought their village, surrounded by hills, was experiencing a landslide. But when the shaking continued, he began to understand the reality of the situation.
Pastor Pahil and his congregation of believers were worshiping together when the first earthquake struck the country of Nepal on April 25, 2015. The frightened believers huddled together inside their simple church building, which was made of tin sheets and wood. Even nonbelievers ran inside the doors of the church, hoping to find safety. Pastor Pahil encouraged the people to pray as they waited for the chaos to end. Eventually it did—but not without overwhelming loss.
Rumors and Anxiety
The earthquake registered as a 7.8 in magnitude and was the worst earthquake to hit Nepal in decades, resulting in devastation for much of the central regions of the nation. It took its toll on nearly all of the homes in Pastor Pahil’s village, causing cracks in the walls and shifts in the foundations. Four homes belonging to believers and two school buildings were destroyed. Six people died and 17 more were injured.
Many in Pastor Pahil’s village lived in fear after the first earthquake subsided. Rumors spread among them that the world was coming to an end and that another earthquake would finish the job. Pahil encouraged the people with Scripture verses, such as ones in Matthew 24, to calm their anxieties.
“[The earthquake] is just the sign of the last days. It is not the last day,” Pahil told them.
He assured them of God’s goodness and that He is the protector of His people.
When people in Pastor Pahil’s village started to fear the possibility of another earthquake, Pahil encouraged them with the Word of God.
As multiple smaller tremors continued to trouble the nation almost daily for the next few weeks, Pastor Pahil and many of the villagers moved temporarily to the grounds of a nearby hospital. There, in safety, the people became accustomed to the frequent, ground-shaking tremors. When another large earthquake hit the nation on May 12, they were unalarmed. The constant unrest and instability had become the most consistent part of the villagers’ lives.
Gospel for Asia Disaster Relief Work Begins
Eventually the aftershocks died down. As people moved back to their villages and tried to pick up the pieces of their lives, Pastor Pahil and the congregation reached out to their neighbors through prayer and encouragement.
Compassion Services teams were able to provide Gospel for Asia (GFA) disaster relief, administering food, shelter and other items to the earthquake victims. Pastor Pahil and the believers also did what they could to help the many in need.
As the villagers began to make a new start, Pastor Pahil and the other believers ministered to those in need by providing food and shelter.
“We got more opportunities to meet, encourage and share [Christ’s love] with them,” Pahil said. People from the surrounding areas traveled to Pastor Pahil’s village in search of safety as well. Many of them had been forced out of their own communities by landslides triggered by the quakes. The believers shared their clothing, food and shelter with those around them. As time passed, people slowly began to rebuild their lives, yet the definite need for schooling still remained.
Bridge of Hope Provides a Future
With both school buildings destroyed and classes out of session, children were left with no way to continue their education. When Pastor Pahil recognized the need, he helped establish a Bridge of Hope center in the village. The center provided many children with tutoring, school supplies, uniforms and nutritious meals.
Two young boys, Sejun and Badal, joined the center. After the earthquake, Sejun and Badal had traveled with their families to Pastor Pahil’s village with nothing but the clothes on their backs. All of their belongings had been destroyed in a landslide. Everyone in their village was forced to relocate.
Sejun and Badal’s families lost nearly everything in the earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015, but Bridge of Hope helped give them a fresh start.
As the boys attended the center, the kindness and compassion of the Bridge of Hope staff greatly impacted the families’ lives. Soon Sejun’s and Badal’s families began to realize Christ’s compassion toward them. They are grateful for the help they received from the Body of Christ, especially after having lost much of their livelihoods in the earthquake.
Practical Love Offers Hope in Trial
Though the earthquake’s destruction was catastrophic, Pastor Pahil has an optimistic outlook on the situation. He’s seen the people in his village respond to God’s love and faithfulness in the midst of trial and tragedy. Through the believers’ tangible example of Christ’s love in their relief work, six villagers have decided to follow the Lord.
“The villagers’ attitude toward Christians . . . has been totally changed since the earthquake,” Pastor Pahil says. “Now they take us positively.”
Much of the damage caused by the earthquake in Nepal is long-lasting, but our workers are continuing to help as the nation recovers.
God has shown His goodness in the aftermath of this tragedy, and He will continue to bring people to Himself as the nation recovers. Though the first earthquake to strike Nepal in 2015 occurred years ago, our workers are still on the ground helping communities and individuals rebuild.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
Every part of God’s creation is distinct. Every person, every animal, every tree is unique and different than all others of their kind. The same can be said of every church, every business and every organization. Something about each is distinctively different. Often, it is not one thing that makes something distinct and different. It may be a combination of distinctives that makes that entity unique in its own right. Gospel for Asia (GFA) cites five Gospel for Asia (GFA) distinctives that describe its function as a faith-based organization (FBO).
1) Focusing on the “Least of These”
Like so many faith-based organizations (FBOs), Gospel for Asia (GFA) distinctives focuses its mission on ministering to people Jesus referred to as “the least of these”—the approximately 3 billion people who are disadvantaged, disabled, uneducated and often disenfranchised and ostracized. Gospel for Asia (GFA) ministers to the physical needs of slum dwellers and people living in abject poverty in remote villages throughout Asia.
Meeting the physical needs of these people is a way to demonstrate the incomparable love of Jesus Christ and to share the good news of what He has done for us.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) expresses God’s love and care by providing food, clean water, sanitation, education, vocational training, health care and disaster relief so people may discover a life of hope beyond their experience of despair.
2) Supporting National Missionaries
“Change happens at the personal, family and community level when people with true servant hearts labor unselfishly to bring real hope and change and encouragement.”
Gospel for Asia was founded 40 years ago by Dr. KP Yohannan, a native of Southern India who had come to the United States to further his education in theology, and his wife, Gisela. Yet, Dr. Yohannan was unable to shed his passion for his own people. But he could not do it by himself.
Dr. Yohannan also understood that there was a revolution happening in world missions as developing countries began to look upon Western missionaries as persona non grata.
His passion and his prophetic insight contributed to creating Gospel for Asia (GFA) as a means for supporting, training and equipping national missionaries who would live and work among their native people.
Many FBOs today ascribe to the practice of supporting national missionaries. Not that these faithful servants are without resistance—that is a product of unbelief. However, they have an enormous advantage when it comes to knowing the language, the culture, the customs and the perspective of their fellow countrymen.
3) Developing Better Communities for Children and Families
Gospel for Asia is about loving the Lord and loving others to see communities changed, both for this life and eternity.
The Lord transforms communities where GFA-supported national missionaries serve the least of these in places where no one else is serving.
Leaders of groups that advocate for the marginalized on a global level are slowly beginning to realize that true change does not happen by making broad declarations and setting global goals. Change happens at the personal, family and community level when people with true servant hearts labor unselfishly to bring real hope and change and encouragement.
“When we are willing to come and die to self, the Lord is able to abundantly bless us beyond all we are able to ask or think. That is exactly what He has done through Gospel for Asia for 40 years.”
Everyone at Gospel for Asia understands that the Lord does not impact people’s lives by might and power, but it is by His grace. His grace empowers national missionaries to have life-changing impacts as they minister in His name to meet the needs of the least of these.
The Lord proves daily that He is faithful to supply the needs of local workers on the field as they demonstrate His loving kindness by being, as it were, His hands and feet.
5) Loving the Lord and Dying to Yourself
Whether on the Gospel for Asia (GFA) campus in Wills Point, Texas, or in Asia, the godly men and women engaged in the Lord’s work commit themselves to maintain a Christ-centered lifestyle described by Jesus in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
When we are willing to come and die to self, the Lord is able to abundantly bless us beyond all we are able to ask or think.
That is exactly what He has done through Gospel for Asia (GFA) for 40 years. We trust He will continue to do so regardless of trial or tribulation, sunshine or scandal, communion or criticism.
Our mission is to be devout followers of Christ and to live lives fully pleasing to Him. God has given us a special love for the people of Asia, and it is our desire to minister to them and help them through ministries such as education, health and practical gifts, or through the spiritual transformation of peaceful hearts, restored relationships and mended lives.
We connect you with a national worker (or multiple workers) in Asia—these simple, humble servants of God minister to people’s deepest needs both physically and spiritually, in communities throughout Asia.
More than 82,000 children from impoverished families are being given hope and a brighter future through GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program. This sponsorship program provides a way for children in India, Nepal and other parts of Asia to receive an education, medical checkups and more in Jesus’ name.
Many families in the communities we serve do not have the basic necessities needed for healthy living. We meet these needs by providing things like clean water, income producing farm animals, sewing machines and vocational training.
GFA-supported national workers serve victims of natural disasters and those who are often rejected by society, like widows and leprosy patients. Our Compassion Services teams love the Lord and serve the needy from that same heart.
Since 1979, Gospel for Asia (now GFA World) has been committed to serving the “least of these” in Asia, often in places where no one else is serving, so they can experience the love of God for the first time. GFA supports national workers serving as the hands and feet of Christ in four main ways. Sponsoring national missionaries to minister to people’s needs, sponsoring children, investing in community development, and helping families in need of care or during disasters.
Gospel for Asia is about changing communities—both for this life and for eternity. We serve the Lord in more than a dozen Asian nations including India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Laos, and Thailand. We have also recently launched our first-ever Mission in Africa, particularly in Rwanda.
Programs
National missionaries
GFA’s main focus is to train and equip national missionaries who come from different cultures and languages rather than nation-states. This selection provides GFA with people within a single nation-state who are specialized in the particular village that they are ministering to. Some of these missionaries actually belong to these villages which makes it easier for them to share the love of Christ. In 2018 GFA reported that they have over 16,000 missionaries and church planters in 18 Asian nations.
Church buildings, Bibles, and gospel literature
Part of GFA’s program for discipleship is the establishment of Christian worship centers in small villages. These centers also provide a visible meeting place for Christians. In major cities, GFA builds large cathedral-type buildings to cater to bigger congregations. Similarly, GFA distributes native-language bibles and evangelical Christian literature to the region.
Radio and television broadcasts
GFA provides biblical content through its radio program, Athmeeya Yathra (Spiritual Journey) and its YouTube channel, Athmeeyayathra Television.
Bible colleges
GFA has established 56 bible colleges in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. These institutions train native missionaries within their own dialects and cultures so that they will be effective ministers. The program includes three years of instruction, including field instruction and experience.
Bridge of Hope
Bridge of Hope is a child sponsorship program for poor families in underserved communities, especially lower-caste families and Dalits. The program offers education, physical and spiritual care, including healthcare training and vocational training for women.
Wells
This is a Jesus Well in a remote village in Asia.
In response to water shortage problems in communities, GFA digs wells for long-term use near churches, bible colleges, or Bridge of Hope centers. These wells are turned over to the local church and are maintained by a local pastor.
Leprosy Ministry
This ministry is also called “Reaching Friends Ministry” to help people suffering from the disease through social and relief work, medical aid, and health and hygiene awareness.
Expansion to Africa
In 2020, GFA started World Child Sponsorship in the slums of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. It also include training national missionaries, clean water projects, medical ministry, education for the underprivileged, women’s empowerment, and community development projects.
Affiliate Offices
GFA has or had 14 known affiliated LLCs registered in Willis Point, TX as well as national offices in various countries in which they operate mission efforts.
Believers Eastern Church
Believers Eastern Church is administratively based in the state of Kerala in southwestern India. It was reorganizd in 2015 into 33 dioceses. Its membership includes over 3.5 million people in 10 countries speaking a hundred languages. The Church currently has 30 Bishops, and the current Metropolitan Bishop is Athanasius Yohan I.
GFA Canada
The GFA Canada office is registered with the Canadian government. It was established in 1986 and is located in Ontario. As a charity office, it provides disaster relief among other humanitarian efforts to communities.
History
Dr. K.P. Yohannan founded Gospel for Asia as a Christian NGO in 1978. In the US, the organization is located in Wills Point, TX. In 1981, a branch was established in Kerala, India. Another headquarters was set up in Tiruvalla in 1983. GFA has also established bible colleges, compassion and community development projects, and disaster relief operations. GFA is supported by donations and has been considered to be “one of the most financially powerful mission undertakings in India in the 1980s.”
Controversies
In 2014, a group of over 10 former Gospel for Asia staff members called the GFA Diaspora wrote two letters. While their concerns were mostly regarding GFA leadership,[44] they were also concerned for GFA’s donors. More info about this is provided here.
What Others Are Saying About Gospel for Asia
George Verwer shares why he stands with Gospel for Asia
“Gospel for Asia is not a movement but a phenomenon. GFA has become one of the most significant mission organizations of this century.
“I praise God for the great love and commitment of K.P. and Gisela Yohannan for the people of Asia. Millions have received the Word of God because of them and the ministry of Gospel for Asia.”
—George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization and world missions advocate
Ajith Fernando, teaching director of Sri Lanka’s Youth for Christ
“I am grateful for the training that Gospel for Asia has given to many evangelists who are effectively reaping the ripe harvest fields of Sri Lanka.”
—Ajith Fernando, teaching director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka
Paul Louis Cole, president of Christian Men’s Network
“Dr. K.P. Yohannan is a missionary statesman, a pastor to pastors, a mission leader to mission leaders, and a father to the fatherless. At Christian Men’s Network, we look for deserving men around the world to highlight as role models for our Global Fatherhood Initiative. My introduction to Dr. Yohannan was reading Against the Wind, Finishing Well in a World of Compromise, which stirred me deeply. In a unanimous decision, the CMN board presented Dr. Yohannan with the first annual Reggie White Fatherhood Award, to honor his demonstration for over 40 years of what it means to be a father by providing leadership to compassionate workers of faith and hope to the defeated.”
—Rev. Paul Louis Cole, D.Th., president of Christian Men’s Network
Francis Chan, pastor and author
“K.P. has been a mentor to me for years. The way that he speaks to God and about Him is different from anyone else I know. His words and actions have led to me loving Jesus more consistently and deeply. He continues to be an example to me. For this, I am eternally grateful.”
Gospel for Asia is also a community inspiring others in the West to be committed to Christ
GFA’s first Core Value is knowing the Lord Jesus more fully and intimately. This value is lived out daily by GFA staff and since its inception; GFA has provided ways for people to live out their commitment to Christ.
GFA School of Discipleship in Texas
GFA created an immersive, authentic discipleship program for youth ages 18 – 27. Daily students are challenged to “die to yourself” while living in a community of believers who love Christ and serve others.
The foundation of GFA’s ministry is prayer. We know nothing is accomplished without prayer, and therefore, we give it a place of priority. GFA-supported missionaries and GFA staff around the world pray consistently and with great fervor for those who have yet to comprehend the depth of God’s love and grace.
WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this 1st part of a Special Report update on the extraordinary pressures and hardships of widows intensified by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) Sisters of Compassion visit Asian widows regularly to talk, help and provide hope and prayer.While visiting a famished, poor widow living among huts in this slum area in Telangana, Gospel for Asia (GFA) provided a food packet consisting of mixed vegetables, rice and oil to sustain her, and ten others, during the pandemic. She said: “From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for providing these food supplies.”
As I conveyed in a previous Special Report, the plight of widows, whether in affluent or developing nations, can be a desperate struggle. In this update, I share how the coronavirus has compounded their hardships even further.
For women worldwide who have lost husbands during the COVID-19 pandemic, grief and pain are an overwhelming experience. But for many of these women, their sorrow has been multiplied to an unbearable level due to isolation, expulsion from family, loss of property rights, and other extraordinary pressures that are often overlooked.
In America, while pandemic fears started to ease as vaccine distribution ramped up in the spring of 2021, for widows who lost spouses during the past two years, the pain is only beginning. Many young widows forged support bonds through Facebook, Zoom or other electronic means even as lockdowns and social distancing practices prevented them from gathering in person. A recent NBC News investigation discovered the following:
Among the newly grieving spouses is Pamela Addison of Waldwick, New Jersey. She became a widow in April 2020 at age 36 after her husband was exposed to the virus while conducting swallow evaluations on speech pathology patients.
“All my friends had their husbands, they were healthy,” Addison told a reporter from NBC News. “I knew only me. I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, nobody else is going to understand what I’m going through—and that was a whole other part of my grief.”1
The Modern Widows Club provides various services for widows, including one that helps locate support groups in person or online for ongoing empathy. Photo by Modern Widows Club
After receiving inspiration from a sympathy card, Addison launched the Facebook support group Young Widows and Widowers of Covid-19. In its first two months, it surpassed 80 members from the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
Another member, Kristina Scorpo, 33, of Paterson, New Jersey, commented: “We didn’t plan to be widowed at 36 or 33. We didn’t plan to raise our kids without our partners that we saw our lives with and we saw a future with. It was like [people in the group] knew exactly what the other was going to say, because we had been through all the same things, and it’s a really great thing that life brought us together.”2
Some who have lost spouses find common identity in their ethnic background, like those who are part of Black Women Widows Empowered. It was launched by Sabra Robinson of Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2015 after she lost her husband to cancer in 2012. Last year, the more than 700 members included at least 20 who had lost spouses to COVID-19.
“I feel for all these ladies, black or white,” Robinson said. “There’s so many COVID widows now, and they don’t have to be COVID widows.”3
Nepal: Having lost her husband, Esther’s life is difficult, although she’s grateful to still have her land. She sows corn manually by hand to grow a life-sustaining crop for her family during the rainfed conditions from April to August.
Yet there is strength in their affinity, says member Erika Taylor-Ruffin of Apple Valley, California, who credits the group with “saving her life.”
“When you’re an African American widow, it’s like you still have to be strong,” Taylor-Ruffin said. “We can’t show weakness. This group allows us to be vulnerable and to show our pain without being judged. [There] is something about being around women who understand your pain.”4
While the grief and sorrow of COVID-19 widows is profound in developed countries like the United States, in developing countries of the world, the painful losses widows experience are amplified to an entirely different level.
“COVID-19 is a widow-maker,” Karol Boudreaux, chief program officer at the land rights charity Landesa, said in a webinar organized by the Land Portal online platform. “[The virus] exacerbates an already unequal situation for men and women.”
Boudreaux referred to a Tanzanian widow who was unable to stop the illegal sale of her property in another city due to limited land rights and COVID-19 travel restrictions as an example of this inequity.
It’s been a decade since the United Nations organized International Widows Day, which is observed annually on June 23. The UN says there are 258 million widows worldwide, with a ratio of nearly 1 in 10 living in extreme poverty.
On last year’s International Widows Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said when countries build back from COVID-19, they must also work to dismantle laws that discriminate against women. He said the isolation and economic hardships brought on by the pandemic can further compromise widows’ ability to support themselves and their families and cut them off from social connections during their greatest time of grief.
“The death of a partner at any time can leave many women without rights to inheritance of property,” Guterres said. “In times of a pandemic, these losses are often multiplied for widows and accompanied by stigma and discrimination.”5
The UN also says that the actual number of widows is likely to grow much higher and expand further as the coronavirus and its related impact on health continues: “The pandemic has just worsened the situation during the past several months with a devastating human loss, and one that is likely leaving tens of thousands of women newly widowed at just the time they are cut off from their usual socio-economic and family supports.”6
Uttar Pradesh, India: When a husband is lost to COVID-19, for example, the remaining widow will often need to mobilize her remaining family to survive. This family, fortunate to have land, is planting an entire field completely by hand.
Widows Rights Routinely Violated During Pandemic
An article reported from Johannesburg, South Africa, on the same Tanzanian story referenced by Karol Boudreaux—written by Kim Harrisberg for the Thomson Reuters Foundation—said that women often only earn legal or socially recognized rights to land and property through a husband or father. These rights are regularly violated during times of disaster, whether that be a war, the HIV/AIDS crisis or the coronavirus.
She quoted Patricia Chaves, head of the women’s rights charity Espaco Feminista, as saying that in Brazil when a man dies, women are approached at the funeral about selling their land.
Kenya: Because polygamy is practiced widely, when a husband dies from COVID-19, he often leaves behind several wives with multiple children. These vulnerable women are frequently preyed upon. The Widow’s Might program of Kenya Hope supports these women by providing them with food assistance each month, giving them five goats in the first year to start their own self sustaining herd, and by training them with marketable skills, all in God’s love. Photo by Kenya Hope, Widow’s Might Program
Chaves said that poor women have been particularly vulnerable during the pandemic because they are forced to put themselves at risk to feed their families while isolating in poor housing conditions.
In Kenya, there are reports that widows were forced out of their homes by their in-laws during quarantine because they were seen as an extra burden and not really part of the family, said Victoria Stanley, a World Bank land specialist.
“Widows depend on their (deceased) husbands for their property rights. There may be pressure from families to return properties or they may be forced into marriages with other family members. This could be devastating if we aren’t paying attention,” said Stanley, who called for a moratorium on evictions to protect women’s rights during the pandemic.7
Of course, when it comes to suffering, widows have experienced this long before last year’s lockdowns.
Afghanistan: A widow begs for food on a busy road in Kabul; the two loaves of bread she has are the entire dinner for her family of eight. According to Sharia teachings, widows only get an eighth of the inheritance from their spouse’s death if the husband has children (if not, then one quarter). The rest is distributed amongst other family members. Photo by Lacuna Magazine, Widowhood in Afghanistan
One example is in Afghanistan, home to “the hill of widows.” The term refers to women who eke out independence in a society that shuns them and condemns them as immoral. The first residents settled on a stony slope outside Kabul in the 1990s, hoping to escape the stigma attached to women who have lost their spouse.
The war-torn nation was home to approximately 2.5 million widows in 2017. Often uneducated and shuttered away at home, the women have few options when their husband dies. According to a report by a French news agency, “At best, they receive $150 a year from the government if their husband was killed in fighting. They survive by doing household chores, a little sewing, or by sending their children to beg in the bazaar.
“Women are perceived as being owned by their father before becoming their husband’s property. Widows are often rejected as immoral or regarded as burdens: they suffer violence, expulsion, ostracism and sometimes forced remarriage, often with a brother-in-law, as reported by the UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a rare study published in 2014.”8
Nigeria: Deborah’s husband was shot and killed in raids by Muslim extremists. After her husband’s death, her in-laws wanted her to leave her home so they could profit from it. They consistently abused her and pressured her to leave. Soon, she gave in, left her home and rented a house. She was hopeless, alone, and filled with grief. And ready to give up on life, until she received help to survive from an Open Doors trauma center. Photo by Open Doors USA
Similar difficulties face widows in Nigeria. In one state in the geopolitical region of South East Nigeria, legislators enacted laws in 2001 prohibiting widows from being compelled to do such things as shave their heads, be locked in the room with their husband’s corpse, or be compelled to remarry a relative of her late husband’s. Yet nearly two decades later, some of these practices were being kept alive through sociocultural norms, said an early 2020 report by a group of health researchers.
“There are often frictions between cultural practices and state policies/laws, as well as human rights, which obstruct policy implementation,” they wrote. “The lack of resources in low-resource regions adds to the difficulty in enforcing laws and policies, especially in rural areas, giving room for abhorrent cultural practices to thrive. These conditions prolong and intensify the traumatic experiences of widows.”9
If this special report has touched your heart and you would like to do something today about the plight of widows around the world, please share this article with your friends and consider making a generous gift to GFA World to help widows in South Asia and other locations.
GFA World (Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by KP Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this Special Report on the ongoing fight against open defecation, and how using outdoor toilets helps to improve sanitation.
Karen Burton Mains, author
Since I first wrote about open defecation a few years ago, efforts to combat the problem have gathered momentum. A report compiled by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in June shows the percentage of people practicing open defecation declined from 21 percent (1.3 billion) in 2000 to 9 percent (673 million) by 2017.
While this is encouraging news, there is much more to be done. The United Nations (UN) says “some 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely-managed drinking water, while 4.2 billion go without safe sanitation services and three billion lack basic handwashing facilities.”
“Mere access is not enough,” said Kelly Ann Naylor, UNICEF’s associate director of water, sanitation and hygiene. “If the water isn’t clean, isn’t safe to drink or is far away, and if toilet access is unsafe or limited, then we’re not delivering for the world’s children.”
In addition to the UN, this multi-faceted effort includes governments, non-governmental organizations and various Christian and non-Christian charities. All have launched initiatives that include long-term goals for ending this threat to the world’s health. The UN’s global sustainable development goals include ensuring that everyone has a safe toilet and that open defecation ends by 2030.
Children in Cote d’Ivoire investigate their community’s newly improved toilets, one of the UNOCI’s “quick impact projects” (QIPS) which supported the rehabilitation of schools and toilets in Abidjan. UN Photo/Patricia Esteve
People using the bathroom outdoors with no toilet nearby nor sanitary treatment of their discharge has fueled disease, created serious health problems and endangered female safety by exposing them to possible rape or other abuse. Then there is the particularly stomach-turning incident from July 2018, when a 3-year-old South African boy drowned in a pit latrine—a type of crude toilet that collects feces in a hole in the ground. Four years earlier in the same province, a 5-year-old boy drowned in a school toilet.
Such horror stories help explain the need for “World Toilet Day,” which falls every year on November 19. Inaugurated in 2013, the UN-sponsored observance urges member states to encourage behavioral changes and implement policies to increase access to sanitation among the poor. Despite progress in recent years, the situation is serious, as shown by the June UN report.
GFA World supporters get the opportunity to visit an outdoor toilet installed by Believers Eastern Church for the benefit of multiple families in this neighborhood around Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. During 2019, 5,428 toilets like these were installed by GFA across South Asia to help improve the sanitation challenges in many developing communities.
Hanging Out with “Renegades”
For much of my adult life, I have hung out with the “renegades” of Christian missions. Namely, the relief-and-development crowd that rushes to help during natural disasters, struggles to alleviate the suffering and abasement of refugee displacement, and pays concerted attention to the struggles of people in developing nations. My first trip around the world came at the invitation of Food for the Hungry; I traveled with Larry Ward, the executive director at the time, and his wife, Lorraine.
The purpose of the trip was an international field survey with an emphasis on the world’s refugee crisis, which in the l980s was the largest since World War II. We started in Hong Kong and ended seven weeks later in Kenya, Africa. My assignment was to observe with fresh eyes and write about what I had seen. I wrote my book, The Fragile Curtain, with the help of daily briefings from the U.S. State Department and the excellent international reporting of The Christian Science Monitor (and some generous coaching from a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper reporter). It won a Christopher Award, a national prize for works that represent “the highest values of the human spirit.”
“I never realized,” he said, “that I would eventually measure the impact of the Gospel by how many toilets had been built in a village.”
Eventually, I brought the accumulated exposure of my world travels—some 55 countries in all—and the learning I had gathered through research and dragging through camps and slums to the board of Medical Ambassadors International (MAI), a global faith-based health organization.
Women and girls are often at risk when open defecation is the only option for relieving themselves. Thankfully, these precious faces can smile because a toilet facility was recently built in their village.
GFA’s Story, Helping to Improve Sanitation in Asia
As I mentioned earlier, Christianity has a vital role in ending these problems. One of the organizations involved is Gospel for Asia (GFA), long close to my heart and that of my husband, David Mains. We met K.P. Yohannan, GFA’s founder, when the ministry was a mere vision in the heart of a young Indian man. It was a divine nudge that would not let up. Since then, David has traveled to Asia at the invitation of Gospel for Asia (GFA) eight times; I have visited once. We’ve watched as K.P.’s vision grew from a dream to reality, with numbers beyond anything we could have considered possible.
GFA’s website tells its vast story: In 2018 the ministry fed, clothed and schooled some 70,000 impoverished children, operated 1,128 free medical camps and constructed 6,431 toilets with dual-tank sanitation systems.
This family stands in front of a latrine or “squatty potty” that was installed by GFA-supported national workers.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) started building latrines in 2012, setting a goal of constructing some 15,000 concrete outhouses by 2016. It long ago surpassed that mark. Figures for 2016 alone: 10,512 toilets installed, with another 6,364 following in 2017, and another 6,431 in 2018. Potable water, of course, travels hand in hand with sanitation. In 2018, the ministry’s field partners constructed 4,712 Jesus Wells and distributed 11,451 BioSand water filters to purify drinking water. Touching vignettes on GFA’s website make the statistics personal.
“Our family is blessed both physically and spiritually,” said one villager in Asia. “We are free from problems and sickness.…It is because of the people who have spent their money to drill a Jesus Well in my place.”
“This saved the lives of people from illness,” said another—and indeed, toilets, when and if they are used, do just that.
There, indeed, is a thread that runs through Gospel for Asia’s stories of toilets: The pastor of the church in this village or that hamlet seems to be the catalyst for health improvements.
Organizations Tackling the Sanitation Crisis
Matt Damon, the founder of Water.org (photo credit Water.org)
Much of the world is in a war against the perils caused by inadequate or non-existent sanitation. People as diverse as Matt Damon, a Hollywood celebrity, award-winning actor and producer/screenwriter, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi are battling uphill against open defecation (in the sewers, in running streams, by the roadsides, in the fields and the forests, on garbage dumps, etc.).
Damon, driven by a desire to make a difference in solving extreme poverty, discovered that water and sanitation were the two basic foundations beneath much of what ails the world. Through his charity, Water.org, he and his business partner, Gary White, use microfinance loans to help underserved people connect to a service utility or build a home latrine. By 2020, more than 30 million people in 17 countries have been affected by this approach.
Prime Minister Modi campaigned to end open defecation and build latrines for India. Photo by narendramodiofficial on Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
During his campaign for office in 2014, Modi spoke of “Toilets Before Temples.” His party’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) campaign has undoubtedly made progress, thanks in part to the $28 billion (U.S.) originally allocated, plus World Bank loans totaling another $1.5 billion.
After a Reuters News Service story last May portrayed the government as using overly optimistic results about the initiative, India’s Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation issued a release, saying its program had “succeeded in lifting more than 550 million people out of open defecation in a short period of less than 5 years.” His re-election last year may be partly due to the progress of the initiative he organized to curtail the practice.
Talking Openly About Open Defecation
Another key dilemma in this discussion—open defecation, hardly a dinner-table topic or a missions committee agenda item—is that accessibility to toilets does not always indicate usage. Changing habits is mostly a matter of changing mindsets in the face of deeply entrenched beliefs.
Some 1.5 million people die globally each year from polluted water diseases alone.
Elizabeth Royte, in a comprehensive August 2017 National Geographic magazine article, reported visiting Parameswaran Iyer, India’s secretary of drinking water and sanitation, in 2016. A hand-numbered sign on his wall tracked progress.
“You see that?” he asked. “One hundred thousand is the number of villages that are ODF today.” (ODF is the acronym for open defecation free.)
Royte, a sanitation expert traveling widely and reporting extensively, noted that Modi aimed to build more than 100 million new toilets in rural areas alone by 2019. But she added that “deep-seated attitudes may present an even bigger barrier to improving sanitation than a lack of pipes and pits.”
Echoing that observation, on World Toilet Day in 2018, The Washington Post reported: “Although increasing the number of toilets and improving their quality is important, the larger challenge is how to ensure that they actually will be used. … In our survey of 810 households in Delhi’s slums, where private toilet ownership is rare, we found that many people do not regularly use nearby public toilets, known as community toilet complexes, built specifically for slum dwellers.”
Facing the Facts about India Toilets
That being said, let’s look at data regarding the state of toilets and open defecation in Asia. Then let’s examine what development organizations, sanitation technologies and mission groups, namely Gospel for Asia, are attempting to help Asia become ODF.
Although Modi has emphasized improved sanitation, it’s worthwhile to note that India struggled with these issues even before winning independence from Great Britain in 1947. In fact, Gandhi insisted, “Sanitation is more important than temples.” Now, due to population growth, a conundrum exists: While the percentage practicing open defecation has dropped substantively, birth rates are creating an environment where more people live in geographic locations where fecal exposure is increasing, not decreasing.
37%
of the urban population—some 157 million urban dwellers—lacked a safe and private toilet, according to UK-based charity WaterAid in November 2016.
Even sewers are no guarantors of healthiness: In the capital city of Delhi, pipes are corroded; they ooze waste; and nearly a third of the booming city isn’t connected to underground lines. Many latrines flush into open drains.
700,000
—4 percent—of this urban population still defecated outdoors.
56%
only of the sewers are safely managed.
Just 1 gram of feces can contain:
100 million viruses
1 million bacteria
1 thousand parasitic cysts
These can be absorbed through cuts in the flesh, the porous nature of skin itself, or by drinking unsafe water and eating contaminated foods. Flies carry disease from roadsides and open fields.
Health figures are consequently staggering.
2,195 children
worldwide die from diarrhea each day, with the disease the second-leading cause of death for children under 5, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The chronically distressed digestive system doesn’t absorb nutrients or medicines well. Underweight mothers give birth to underweight babies.
149 million
children worldwide under the age of 5 are affected by stunting, according to the World Health Organization in 2018. And all of the above and much, much more could be cured and eliminated by the installation and use of proper sanitation systems in slums, hamlets, rural villages and large cities across India.
For only $540, you will help reduce the risk of common diseases by providing a family with an outdoor toilet.
About Gospel for Asia
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially to those who have yet to hear about the love of God. In GFA’s latest yearly report, this included more than 70,000 sponsored children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
Read the rest of Gospel for Asia’s Special Report: Fight Against Open Defecation Continues – Using Outdoor Toilets to Improve Sanitation —Part 2
Learn more by reading these Special Reports from Gospel for Asia:
WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to help the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this second part of a Special Report update on Malaria making a comeback amid the worldwide impact of the COVID 19 Pandemic.
Progress Ebbs and Flows in the Fight to Beat Malaria
Recent developments in the fight against Malaria have placed a heightened spotlight on World Malaria Day, observed on April 25. Fortunately, despite the high death toll and other troublesome signs lately, not all the news about malaria treatment is bad. There are gains amid the setbacks.
This woman in West Bengal was very grateful to Believers Eastern Church and its leaders for providing her with a mosquito net to protect herself and her family from vector borne diseases like malaria.
One positive example is Myanmar, where the annual malaria death toll of 3,800 a decade ago has decreased to approximately 170. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria credits the efforts of 17,000 community volunteers who provide rapid testing and treatment, with serious cases referred to health facilities. Volunteers also educate the public through national antimalaria campaigns.14 Unfortunately, it’s unknown if the recent military coup in Myanmar will adversely impact the recent progress it’s achieved in the prevention of malaria.
News of another positive development appeared last October in Legion. About the same time the United States revealed a COVID-19 vaccine would be ready by the end of 2020, the Canadian magazine reported that a noted medical journal announced a new approach to fighting malaria.
Legion reported a clinical researcher for the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has developed a vaccine for mosquito-borne diseases, based on mosquito spit. It causes the immune system to recognize mosquito saliva proteins and produce antibodies. The antibodies promote immunity by binding to pathogens to prevent them from damaging cells, plus coating pathogens and alerting other immune cells to attack and remove them.
“Those antibodies recognize the proteins the next time they’re encountered, sparking an immune response that goes into action to impair or prevent infection—and not just to malaria, it turns out,” wrote author Sharon Adams. “In animal studies, saliva vaccines impaired development of mosquito-borne Zika virus and sandfly-borne leishmaniasis.”15
In the first human trial of this vaccine in 2017, Adams said a strong immune response was observed among 49 volunteers, with only minor side effects. Next it will be tested on larger groups; if clinical trials continue to prove successful, the first effective malaria vaccine may be just around the corner.
Maya from a village in Uttar Pradesh was given a mosquito net as a Christmas gift by Gospel for Asia. She can now protect her family from mosquito bites that transmit vector-borne diseases like malaria, Zika, dengue, encephalitis and more.
In addition to this promising development, a European magazine carried a report from a healthcare company official saying there are antimalaria positives to be gained from the COVID-19 fight. Hogan Bassey, a Nigerian native who experienced several bouts with malaria as a child, noted that the pandemic highlighted system failings in global healthcare. He said if we are able to address those problems, the world will be better positioned to eradicate malaria and other diseases.
The chief innovation officer and founder of LivFul said his company is working with others—including nonprofits—to develop a repellent that it hopes will prove an efficient control tool. It has been working on a project in Ghana with a pharmaceutical company to improve one of the repellant’s ingredients, using LivFul’s technology to drive access.
After moving to the USA from Nigeria, Hogan Bassey began to work on an insect repellent formula to change the world. The true breakthrough for his new company, LivFul, came after partnering with a physical chemist to create a brand-new technology which allows insect repellent to remain on top of the applicant’s skin for 14 hours at a time. Photo by Terry News
“When we developed a revolutionary family-friendly insect repellent to halt the transmission of diseases like malaria and Dengue fever, we knew we could have a significant impact on insect-borne disease,” Bassey wrote in EPM Magazine. “If people in malaria-prone areas can purchase and use our repellent, these diseases can be stopped before they destroy lives, families, communities and industries.”16
Such a product won’t be the first tool developed. National Geographic recently reported hundreds of thousands of children across Kenya, Malawai and Ghana have been receiving the RTS,S vaccine, whose development has taken 35 years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. While some African health professionals have asked if the expense and logistics of multiple vaccinations are worth it, the magazine said some Chinese scientists have been utilizing a new approach: preventing malaria from even occurring.
It goes back to 1972, when the Chinese discovered Artemisinin, a drug used to treat malaria. Now, scientists there believe Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) can be delivered to an entire community simultaneously, through Mass Drug Administrations. The goal is to reduce levels of the malaria parasite in human blood, so mosquitoes won’t contract it and spread it.
“The life cycle for a mosquito is 30 days,” explains Ethan Peng, senior manager in Kenya for the Chinese company New South, which manufactures ACTs. “So by mass medication, we can clear the source from all human beings (so) the mosquitoes cannot pick up on the malaria parasite again with their short lifespan.”17
People in rural villages in West Bengal often suffer from malaria, but these folk were very happy to receive mosquito nets for their families. Over eight hundred mosquito nets were gifted to the villagers who come from economically poor backgrounds, and might not have been able to afford to buy them on their own.
Mosquito Nets Still the Leading Tool for Protection
Vandana and Vaibhav are sleeping peacefully on their bed in Maharashtra under their mosquito net which protects them from mosquito bites. They received their bed nets from a Christmas gift distribution from Gospel for Asia.
When it comes to fighting malaria, the bed net still appears to be the leading tool. When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, WHO malaria scientist Pedro Alonso expected the biggest malaria disaster in 20 years after African countries temporarily suspended bed net campaigns.
That didn’t seem to be happening, the scientist said five months later. He credited lobbying by WHO’s Global Malaria Programme and its partners, which persuaded countries to resume their net distribution campaigns. Despite concerns over continuing COVID-19 problems, Alonso said, “We probably stopped the first big blow.”18
Among the many non-governmental organizations doing their part to distribute mosquito nets is Gospel for Asia (GFA).
Since 2010, GFA has distributed more than 1.3 million nets to at-risk residents in mosquito-prone areas, including 380,000 in 2019 (many are treated with insecticide, with availability depending on local conditions).
These efforts are augmented by distribution of malaria pills at GFA’s medical camps. In 2019 the organization hosted nearly 1,300 camps, which are free to attendees.
The difference net distributions make can be seen in the stories of people like Baharupa, a 55-year-old farmer and father of three who felt pressured to drink alcohol at many village-wide events. Not only did he often wind up drunk, he developed an addiction. That all changed after Satyam, a GFA worker, organized a distribution of 4,000 nets.
After 71 years, Bhranti, a widow, no longer has to worry about mosquitoes biting her in the night thanks to the new bed net she received from a distribution event.
“Who can give us mosquito nets without money?” Baharupa wondered. “This shows [the believers’] love towards us.”19This experience so touched Baharupa that it began a transformation in his life.
Another story of relief involves a 71-year-old widow whose husband had died more than a decade prior. With four daughters all married, Bhranti spent evenings alone, worried about the tattered net providing her only protection from mosquitoes. She received a new net through a distribution organized by a GFA worker.
“I am so grateful to the [GFA workers] for their love and care and for providing a mosquito net,” Bhranti says. “Now I do not need to worry about buying a mosquito net as I have been provided a new one.”20
Even amid the problems COVID-19 has caused in poorer parts of the world, GFA’s supporters have been able to help local workers in the field save lives and prevent more tragedies during the pandemic, says Gospel for Asia (GFA) founder, Dr. K.P. Yohannan.
Dr. K.P. Yohannan, GFA World Founder
“Without proper prevention or treatment, the consequences of a simple mosquito bite are very serious in many places of the world,” Yohannan says. “But for just $10, we can protect numerous lives, one net at a time.”
One simple way to fight mosquito-borne diseases like malaria, is to consider giving a needy family a simple Mosquito Net. For only $10, Gospel for Asia’s field partners can distribute one of these effective nets to an at-risk family in Asia and provide them with safety from insects during the day and at night.
GFA World (formerly known as Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. In the years ahead, GFA World expects to launch programs in numerous African nations, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
WILLS POINT, TX – Texas-based Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada, founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan) and Body of Life are leading hunger relief efforts to help thousands of families in Texas struggling with COVID 19 hardships.Humanitarian agency Gospel for Asia (GFA World) — a faith-based organization headquartered in Wills Point, 50 miles east of Dallas –has rushed to help starving people on the other side of the world as the pandemic spreads.
But after the coronavirus hit hard in its own backyard, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) jumped into action to help its Texas neighbors, too.
The organization — partnering with Texas-based ministry Body of Life — is helping to feed hundreds of Texas families every month by distributing “Farmers to Families” fresh produce boxes.
Every month, more than a thousand Farmers to Families boxes — supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) — are being handed out to Texans in need at GFA World’s Wills Point campus.
The organization’s Texas hunger response has caught the attention of local leaders.
Mayrani Velazquez, a member of Terrell City Council, described the COVID-19 food relief as a “blessing,” adding: “We’re all grateful for GFA World’s willingness to host these events.”
OUT OF THE JAWS OF HUNGER: Texas-based humanitarian agency Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is releasing hundreds of thousands of families from the jaws of hunger amid crippling COVID-19 hardships at home and overseas. Food relief efforts are under way in Texas and across Asia.
Help, Hope for the Hurting
“Our desire is to bring help for today and hope for tomorrow wherever we are,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA World) that’s also feeding hundreds of thousands across Asia in the throes of the pandemic.
In Asia — the world’s most populated continent, home to six out of every 10 people on earth — many families face starvation as COVID-19 has shuttered factories and other businesses, leaving desperate parents with no income or safety net.
Thousands more would be in dire straits without grassroots food relief efforts, led by local churches. One aid recipient said: “I will never forget such an act of kindness in my life.”
Gospel for Asia Rescuing People Out of the Jaws of COVID 19 Hunger
The organization’s Bridge of Hope program and local church-run efforts in Asia continue to release thousands from the jaws of hunger — children like Samsundar, an orphan, and Sunita, whose mother hasn’t been able to work for months.
Aid packages — including rice, cooking oil, salt, and other essentials — have been a lifeline for nearly 200,000 people, including children.
In northeast India’s tea-growing region of Assam, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) workers are delivering aid in the midst of a “double disaster” — COVID-19 and devastating floods. They use homemade paddleboards to get around their rain-lashed communities, where some churches are under several feet of floodwater. In one area, church members also gave out face masks.
In India’s densely populated West Bengal region, people are calling the church-led relief effort a godsend. “It’s as if the Lord suddenly sent manna from above,” one parent said.
Texas-based Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially to those who have yet to hear about the love of God. In GFA’s latest yearly report, this included more than 70,000 sponsored children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing a despised widow Bidya and her daughter, the disaster that rendered them utterly helpless, and the Gospel for Asia Compassion Services teams that displayed Christ’s love in action.
Wind and rain swooshed across the Asian landscape, as a fierce cyclone raged through the village. A small bamboo hut collapsed. Now the poor and despised elderly widow, Bidya, and her unmarried daughter had less than they ever had before. Just as their dignity left them years before, now their shelter disappeared, too.
After Cyclone Phailin hit Bidya’s home, it was completely demolished, much like this home was destroyed by the cyclone in 2013.
Living Through the Worst Storm
In 2013, Cyclone Phailin devastated the southeast region of India. Around 38 people lost their lives and it left another million people wondering about their future. Cyclone Phailin was the worst storm the people of this region had seen in 14 years, but its destruction left a pathway of God’s mercy behind as Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services teams ministered to the suffering.
Workers provided cyclone survivors with food rations, clothing and cleaning supplies. They stayed behind for many months to help rebuild thousands of homes that were lost or greatly damaged. Together, they strived to bring relief to the victims of the disaster—people like the widow Bidya.
Rejected Widow Receives Aid
The villagers despised Bidya after her husband died. Impoverished and alone, she had to earn her living by working as a daily wage laborer. Because of her situation in life, no one would marry her daughter. They both toiled hard every day, finding whatever jobs they could to simply keep themselves alive. When Cyclone Phailin roared through their village, their bamboo house couldn’t withstand the high-speed winds. After it was destroyed, Bidya and her daughter were helpless. They had no means to build a new house for themselves.
Surprisingly, when a Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services team surveyed their area, the entire community, even the leaders, requested that Bidya have her home rebuilt. The team went to work and built Bidya a more substantial home than she had in the beginning—a cement one.
Bidya was given this home after Cyclone Phailin ruined her bamboo house. She and her daughter are very poor and were unable to rebuild a home for themselves. But Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services built her a brand new one, this time one made of cement!
Villagers are Blessed by Gospel for Asia Compassion Services
When the villagers saw what the believers had done to help the poor widow, their minds began to change. Before, they strongly opposed Christians and were very unhappy when a church was built in their area. But now, they thought maybe Christians weren’t so bad after all. Maybe the God they worshiped really cared for the world, and maybe the church building in their village wasn’t the curse they once thought it to be.
Maybe Christians weren’t so bad after all. Maybe the God they worshiped really cared for the world.
Bidya and her daughter were so blessed by the new house. After her home was constructed, the villagers grew to respect Bidya, and her daughter has even received a marriage proposal. Bidya and her daughter also have grown curious about Jesus, and have attended special services at a local Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor’s church. They are learning more about the compassionate God who provided them with shelter and a sense of worth.
Christ’s Compassion Put in Action
God is using Compassion Services to extend hope to those who have endured much destruction and heartache. Just like Bidya was helped and the villagers were impacted through the love of Christ, many others in desperate need have observed the gentle and practical love our brothers and sisters pour out in Christ’s name to help alleviate their suffering.
Recently, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services teams provided food, pots and pans, cleaning supplies, tooth brushes and soap to flood survivors in Sri Lanka. You can be part of helping in times of crisis like this. By giving of your resources and by praying, you can be the hands and feet of Christ in troubled times.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
![Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan: This girl told Bindhiya, “Thank you, didi [older sister], for this mask.”](https://wp-media.patheos.com/blogs/sites/792/2020/07/INF-JM-20-PH0052.jpg)
On last year’s International Widows Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said when countries build back from COVID-19, they must also work to dismantle laws that discriminate against women. He said the isolation and economic hardships brought on by the pandemic can further compromise widows’ ability to support themselves and their families and cut them off from social connections during their greatest time of grief.
Since 2010, GFA has distributed more than 1.3 million nets to at-risk residents in mosquito-prone areas, including 380,000 in 2019 (many are treated with insecticide, with availability depending on local conditions).
These efforts are augmented by distribution of malaria pills at GFA’s medical camps. In 2019 the organization hosted nearly 1,300 camps, which are free to attendees.
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