STONEY CREEK, ONTARIO – One of the core values of GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like GFA World Canada, is being a people who work together with the body of Christ. In the week of November 15-22, 2021, GFA World was able to demonstrate this value by partnering with Believers Eastern Church and Samaritan’s Purse to share the joy of Christmas with children around the world by participating in the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child National Collection Week as a shoebox collection center.
Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is a project of Samaritan’s Purse that is a hands-on way Canadians can bless struggling children around the world by filling shoeboxes with school supplies, hygiene items, and toys. Each and every gift is an opportunity for a child to hear that God loves them, and many shoeboxes have met real and specific needs in children’s lives, showing them how much God cares for them. For many of these children, the gift-filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received.
Each of the shoebox gifts that was received at the Gospel for Asia (GFA World) office, located at 245 King St E in Stoney Creek, ON, during National Collection Week was lovingly packed by someone in the Stoney Creek community to bless a child in need. Local churches also participated as they encouraged their members and affiliates to pack shoeboxes and collected these gifts prior to and during the National Collection Week. These boxes were then brought to the collection center as the next step in being put into the hands of children in need. Shoeboxes from Canada will travel around the world to countries such as El Salvador, Costa Rica, Sierra Leone, and Gambia.
Though the Gospel for Asia (GFA World) office remains closed to visitors due to the current covid-19 restrictions, the staff have been faithfully serving those in need around the world in various ways from the office in Stoney Creek. The staff were excited to have this opportunity to partner with Believers Eastern Church – which shares a building with Gospel for Asia (GFA World) – Samaritan’s Purse, and the local community by serving as a collection center for OCC shoebox gifts.
2021 was the fourth year that Gospel for Asia (GFA World) has served as a collection center, and staff and church members joyfully volunteered their time in the evenings and weekends, braving the crisp and windy weather, to receive the shoeboxes. In order to follow local covid-19 guidelines, contactless and drive through drop off was available.
A total of 18 volunteers, ranging from age 12 to 69, volunteered over 50 hours, and 805 shoeboxes were collected from local churches and individuals. The boxes were carefully packed into cartons and then taken to Church of the Rock in Hamilton, Ontario, from whence they were shipped to Samaritan’s Purse’s Canadian ministry and shoebox processing center in Calgary, Alberta.
Since Operation Christmas Child began in 1993, more than 188 million children have received shoebox gifts in over 170 countries and territories. Gospel for Asia (GFA World) and Believers Eastern Church were honored to be a part of this incredible ministry to bring Good News and great joy to children around the world.
About Gospel for Asia – GFA World
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) 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://gfanews.org/news.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to help the poor and deprived worldwide – Discussing Salestia, a mother who struggled with her family against poverty, the blessing and confidence brought by GFA World Sewing Course and the gift of a sewing machine.
Tailoring classes like this one helped empower Salestia (not pictured) to provide for her family.
A skill cannot be properly utilized if the tools to use it are absent. So why did Salestia continue taking the tailoring course? She didn’t own a sewing machine; she and her husband could not afford one. What was the point of finishing the classes?
A Mother’s Fight for Her Family
Both Salestia and her husband, Shandon, worked as daily laborers in their rural village. Their earnings barely covered their living expenses and their four children’s school fees. On top of financial constraints, Shandon spent a good portion of their money on drinking excessively. Salestia appeared to be the only one who cared for her family’s future—not even Salestia’s close relatives offered any help.
One day, Salestia heard about a course where anyone could learn how to sew and provide for themselves. Organized by Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers, the free course was designed to help impoverished families better their circumstances by offering them teachable skills—like sewing. Salestia resolved to not let her family fall deeper into poverty, so she put her name down for the program.
Salestia joined several others in their shared journey of learning valuable tailoring skills. She absorbed each lesson and followed her teachers’ every action, stitching every thread just as they illustrated. As the months progressed and Salestia approached the course’s end, an anxious thought interrupted her joy of finally having the skills to better provide for her family: She had the knowledge, but she didn’t have a sewing machine.
A Surprise Gift
The funds for a sewing machine had continued to remain out of Salestia’s reach. She didn’t know how she would continue sewing without a machine. Were the classes all for nothing?
To her surprise, the Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers had anticipated this need. Upon her completion of the course, Salestia received her very own sewing machine! The workers made sure Salestia not only had the knowledge, but she also had tools to use that knowledge.
“I learned tailoring for free of cost,” Salestia said. “And now I got a new machine. … Now I have confidence to run my family.”
Because of the workers, Salestia could continue to send her children to school and feed and clothe them. With her new sewing machine, Salestia was fully equipped to earn money for her family.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia World stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to help the poor and deprived worldwide – Discussing villagers in extreme poverty counted among the millions without access to proper health care, and GFA World aids that brought free medicine that they may be healthy and whole.
Volunteer doctors examined every villager who attended the GFA World medical camp.
Dozens of voices jumbled together as men, women and children patiently waited to be seen by one of the workers stationed at the front of the line. In those workers’ hands, and on the tables, lay objects most of those present could never afford on their own: bottles of medicine.
Not Enough Money
These villagers are among the millions without access to proper health care. The World Health Organization estimates nearly half of the global population does not have full coverage of essential health services because they do not have access or they cannot afford it.[1]
In the villagers’ case, whenever sickness struck, they waited for it to pass. They could not afford to become some of the 930 million people worldwide who are projected to fall into extreme poverty as their finances become drained by expensive hospital visits or medication.[2] For the villagers, the risk of falling deeper into poverty outweighed finding medical relief. It was better to endure pain than to whittle away their finances.
Treatment Freely Given
Nealy, a 55-year-old farmer, couldn’t afford treatment for his leg pain and acid reflux. For six months, Nealy had endured the pain to keep his family afloat, not possessing extra income to receive treatment.
Another villager, Pakuna, a 60-year-old mother of three, had suffered with high blood pressure and diabetes for the previous four years.
They both could not purchase medicine on their own.
But then, in celebration of World Health Day, the villagers were invited to a medical camp organized by several Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers and volunteers. Nealy, Pakuna and the other attendees received medicine according to their needs, free of charge. In total, around 400 men, women and children received medical attention. Beneficiaries thanked the workers, grateful they could receive such care.
Through the medical camp, Nealy, Pakuna and hundreds of others in similar situations were blessed with medical care. Without it, the villagers may never have been able to see to their medical needs or may have gone without ever seeing a doctor. Because of the medical camp, they did not have to choose between falling into extreme poverty or pain—they could be healthy and whole.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia World stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
Learn more about the GFA World Medical Ministry — helping thousands who are in need of medical care and attention, all while displaying the love of Christ.
Learn more about the GFA World National Workers who carry a burning desire for people to know the love of God. Through their prayers, dedication and sacrificial love, thousands of men and women have found new life in Christ.
WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, whose heart to love and help the poor has inspired numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to serve the deprived and downcast worldwide, issued this second part of a Special Report update on Taking the Toilet Challenge, where resolving Open Defecation continues to confound the world.
In West Bengal, a local Gospel for Asia (GFA World) pastor who identified needs of people in his community, including this woman and her child, was able to facilitate the construction of low-cost outdoor toilet to provide a safe, sanitary facility for her family. Gospel for Asia (GFA World) has helped to construct over 32,000 toilets to date in remote, impoverished communities throughout South Asia.
Open Defecation Still Persists Worldwide, Even in America
While places like South Asia, Nigeria and Indonesia are noted for problems with open defecation, this poor health habit exists worldwide. In late 2019, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said 15.5 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are forced to practice open defecation. Calling it an “unhealthy practice,” PAHO official Marco Espinal said, “Improving access to water and sanitation through multisectoral policies and actions is critical to prevent disease and save lives.”8
After attending the toilet expo in China, NPR reporter Katrina Yu noted that toilet innovations may be a hard sell in other countries.
Katrina Yu, NPR reporter Photo by Katrina Yu, Facebook
“Sanitation just isn’t sexy,” Yu wrote. “In fact, it stinks. According to the World Health Organization, governments, including many of those in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, often neglect to consider safe sanitation when drawing up budgets and policies. ‘To have any hope of solving sanitation problems,’ said [Jim Yong] Kim of the World Bank, ‘we have to break taboos and get over our discomfort in talking about poop.’”9
The public declarations against open defecation stretch back for two decades. The Singapore-based World Toilet Association established its special day in 2001, with the United Nations General Assembly officially declaring November 19 as World Toilet Day in 2013. The observance aims to inform, engage and inspire people to achieve the goal of ensuring the availability of clean water and sanitation for all by 2030.
Yet as the UN and numerous governments, non-profits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work to eliminate the problem, it even exists on the streets of prosperous America. An October 2019 report by Environmental Justice said without sanitation when and where it is needed, the human right to sanitation for the homeless population has not been realized, leaving valid concerns about the risks of infectious disease transmission.
“The experience of Street Medicine physicians has yielded significant insight into how and why people experiencing homelessness resort to open defecation: the lack of public resources, perceptions about public toilets and the feelings of being unwelcome at them, concerns about safety, and physical and mental illness—including addiction—are all factors that contribute to OD,” the report said.10
A family in Maharashtra received this low-cost outdoor toilet as recipients of GFA World’s Christmas Catalog campaign to supply safe, private sanitation facilities to impoverished communities through South Asia.
The concerns raised by lack of access to sustainable sanitation and proper handwashing facilities have taken on new importance during the COVID-19 outbreak that engulfed the world in 2020. A report late last year from the World Bank placed the global costs of inadequate sanitation at an estimated $260 billion.
“Even before the COVID outbreak, our research conducted in 18 countries around the world showed that it’s poor children who suffer the most from inadequate sanitation,” said a summary issued on last November’s World Toilet Day. “Intestinal diseases related to poor sanitation, along with malnutrition and infections, contribute to stunting—one of the most serious and irreversible developmental problems facing children and impacting their future livelihoods as productive adults. In many countries, poor sanitation catalyzes a vicious cycle of poverty.”11
Children in India supported by Gospel for Asia (GFA World) sponsors also participated in India’s five-year-long Swachh Barat Abhiyan (“Clean India”) campaign by drawing images like these to emphasize the basic message.
Long-term Progress is Producing Slow but Steady Results
In addition to 128 comfort stations, Seattle Public Utilities has deployed 14 toilets and handwashing stations around Seattle to help the most vulnerable in their community stay healthy through these shelter and hygiene centers. Photo by SEA Mayor’s Office, Twitter
Yet, in spite of such gloomy realities, there has been long-term progress in the battle. Between 2000 and 2017, the number of people practicing OD was reduced from 1.3 billion to around 670 million, or 9 percent of the world’s population.12 The UNICEF South Asia Progress Report for 2018–2021 said the proportion of people practicing OD fell from 65 percent to 34 percent in the region as a whole, with India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan all achieving more than 30 percent reductions since 1990.13 There is a financial advantage to toilet installation: the World Health Organization estimates a return of $5.50 for every dollar spent on sanitation.14
Improvements have been steadily moving in the right direction, says one report: “The global population using safely managed sanitation services increased from 28 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2017, with the greatest increases occurring in Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, and East and South-East Asia. In the period from 2000-2017, 2.1 billion people across the globe gained access to at least basic services and the population lacking basic services decreased from 2.7 billion to 2 billion.”15
More Direct Aid Needed to Sustain Progress
Ms Hing, 31, and her 4-year-old daughter, Than, stand outside their new latrine installed by UNICEF and partners in Namdeau village, Bolikhamxay province, Laos, where 38 percent of households have no sanitation facilities at all. Photo by UNICEF USA, Saving Lives, One Toilet at a Time
Amid these encouraging developments, though, a reality remains: As of 2020 only one in five countries with greater than 1 percent OD reported being on track to achieve near elimination of it among the poorest fifth of rural populations by 2030.16 That and the still-high numbers of OD mean direct aid is still vital in many regions of the world.
Last year, UNICEF helped nearly 19 million people gain access to safe drinking water and 10.8 million with basic sanitation. Among them were residents of Cote d’Ivoire on the western coast of Africa, where less than 10 percent of people living in rural areas have access to clean, functional toilets. One woman who—along with her neighbors—used to defecate outdoors said that it was not only dangerous but not hygienic. While sharing her toilet with those nearby, she adds, “When they’re done, they have to clean it. I want to keep my toilet nice and clean.”17
Another woman in a village in Laos – Ms Hing – said, “I have a new toilet, and I don’t need to go to the bush anymore.”18
GFA World is another NGO working to eliminate open defecation. In 2019, GFA installed more than 5,200 toilets in needy communities. That boosted its cumulative total to more than 32,000 toilets installed, built in some of the world’s most underdeveloped areas.
While going to the bathroom is a privilege those in affluent societies often take for granted, for those living in out-of-the-way places, a toilet is one of the best gifts they can receive.
One example is a man named Laal and his wife, who live with four of their five children and their daughter-in-law. They are one of only three families still living in their village; many have moved away because of isolation and the lack of basic facilities, including a sanitary outhouse. The construction of a sanitation facility, facilitated by two Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers from a nearby community, literally changed their lives. Not only did they benefit from the health advantages of their new toilet, but they also established a new circle of friendships in the neighboring community.19
The installation of an outdoor sanitation facility, like this toilet from GFA World, proved to be, in numerous ways, a life-changing blessing for Laal’s family in South Asia.
In another, more densely, populated area with 1,600 families spread over eight villages, the majority of families still live in poverty. With most of their money going for survival, it leaves little for anything else, including hygiene or basic sanitation facilities. Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers came to their aid, collecting supplies and manpower needed to install facilities. More than 250 of the families received not only a toilet but instruction in their proper use and cleaning to keep people safe from disease.
“All the beneficiaries were ecstatic at the gift,” reported a Gospel for Asia (GFA) worker. “The women were especially happy; they no longer needed to put themselves in danger every time they needed to use the toilet. They finally had a safe place to privately relieve themselves. No more would they need to venture out into the fields to do so.”20
Hopefully, many more such reports will surface in the months and years to come.
If you’d like to assist in providing outdoor toilets for underserved communities around the world, connect with GFA World to make a donation. Your contribution can be a life-changing one for many families that live in a community without proper sanitation, by providing them with safety from disease and dignity through privacy. And you will feel good to have made a contribution that helps families in developing nations without access to things we can take for granted.
Safe, sanitary outdoor toilets typically cost around $540, to build in Asia, and benefit multiple families in remote, impoverished communities. You can help provide one for a needy village, by donating a portion of the construction costs through GFA World.
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) 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 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 – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, whose heart to love and help the poor has inspired numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to serve the deprived and downcast worldwide, issued this first part of a Special Report update on Taking the Toilet Challenge, where resolving Open Defecation continues to confound the world.
In a previous special report entitled “Fight Against Open Defecation Continues,” we discussed the need for a caring response from the world to the problem of open defecation (OD) —a worldwide health crisis. In this report, I highlight ongoing long-term progress, while also contrasting the continuing challenges this issue presents to much of the developing world.
Why are Bill and Melinda Gates Spending $200 Million on Toilets?
Prof. Ravi V. Bellamkonda, “Advancing technologies for public health…” Photo by Duke University, Pratt School of Engineering
In regard to government funding and foundation grants, the $4.5 million awarded to Duke University last November represented a modest sum. Still, the stipend for Duke’s Center for Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Infectious Disease (WaSH-AID) represented another small step in reducing open defecation by furthering testing of “reinvented toilets” and other hygienic technologies in the world’s neediest areas.
“We are grateful for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s investment in our (center) to lead collaboration with experts at Duke, across the industry and around the world to address this critical societal challenge,” said Ravi V. Bellamkonda, dean of the university’s school of engineering. “Advancing technologies for public health is particularly germane to control the spread of preventable diseases, and in this case also a fundamental human right—dignity.”1
Symbolically, the award came on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the foundation’s “Reinvent the Toilet” challenge, which asked researchers to devise toilets that can sanitize human waste with no water, electricity, sewer or septic system. The waste treatment goals include cleaning the waste and reclaiming water to safe drinking standards and harvesting nutrients for other uses. That can be a game-changer for those living without sanitation.
Duke’s WaSH-AID team focuses on the development of onsite waste treatment solutions to meet the needs of resource-constrained environments in many disadvantaged communities around the world, but also in parts of the United States, including North Carolina. Photo by Duke University, Center for WaSH-AID
About halfway into this initiative, one inventor produced a system called the Omni Processor. Although technically not a toilet, the Omni is an off-the-grid fecal sludge treatment plant that outputs purified water and may one day also produce electricity. A working prototype has been operating in Dakar, Senegal, in Africa, for a few years, with the latest version licensed to companies in countries including the U.S. and China.2 Project director Brian Arbogast believes the technology will eventually influence sanitation in the developed world, such as green buildings, septic systems and off-the-grid cabins.
After spending a day at the foundation’s office in early 2019, a Business Insider reporter waxed enthusiastically about the toilet technology and other initiatives addressing such problems as extreme poverty, child mortality and malaria: “Hearing about their work was inspiring and gave me hope for the future …” wrote Julie Bort. “And the reason is simple. These people are taking on some of the world’s hairiest, most complex and seemingly intractable problems. And they are winning.”3
Some of the best solutions for communities in need of low-cost sanitation are just simple outdoor toilets like these built by Gospel for Asia (GFA World) to serve this entire snake charmer village in Uttar Pradesh.
A Formidable Problem: High-Tech or Low-Tech Solutions?
Not everyone is as impressed with the foundation’s efforts. Two years after the initiative’s unveiling, an environmental engineer whose business focuses on developing low-cost toilets said communities that desperately need sanitation will be unable to afford the advanced technology promoted by the initiatives.
We “should be investing more in low-tech rather than high-tech toilets,” said Jason Kass, founder of Toilets for People. “But high-tech solutions and research projects are sexier and more eye-catching, so they are more interesting for universities.”4
The fact that in its first seven years the Gates Foundation invested $200 million in the toilet challenge demonstrates the formidable nature of ending open defecation. Yet it is a battle that must be waged.
Open defecation(OD)
is a disease-producing practice that contaminates drinking water and spreads diseases such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhea, which is particularly fatal among children. The incidence of such disease can disrupt young people’s education. In addition, females who engage in open defecation are more vulnerable to sexual violence.
The problem has generated widespread responses, such as India’s five-year-long Swachh Barat Abhiyan (“Clean India”) campaign that installed 110 million latrines by October 2019, with accompanying claims of success by Prime Minister Narenda Modi.
One of the NGOs helping PM Modi in this campaign is GFA World, which has worked tirelessly to help install over 32,000 toilets to date in some of the most remote and difficult-to-reach locations across South Asia..
In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared a “Toilet Revolution,” calling on local governments to improve sanitation in hopes of attracting more tourism since a bad “toilet landscape” had harmed the Asian giant’s image.5
Open defecation is still a problem in Nigeria where over 46 million people defecate in the open and over 120 million people do not have a decent toilet. Photo by WaterAid Nigeria, Twitter
Not coincidentally, in November 2018 the city of Beijing played host to the “Reinvented Toilet Expo,” which Gates projects could create a $6billion-a-year market by 2030. Kinya Seto, the president of Japanese exhibitor LIXIL, said innovative companies have a golden opportunity to do well by doing good: “We can help jump-start a new era of sanitation for the 21st century by developing solutions that can leapfrog today’s existing infrastructure, functioning anywhere and everywhere.”6
The latest nation to attack open defecation is Nigeria, where fewer than half the households have their own toilet. In 2016, the government launched an action plan aiming to end the practice by 2025 by providing equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene services, and strengthening community approaches. However, three years later the government had failed to release funding for the initiative. In November 2018, with parts of the country facing high levels of water-borne diseases, President Muhammadu Buhari declared a state of emergency.7
In Dimbroko, Cote d’Ivoire, Habitat for Humanity implemented a community-led pilot project to end open defecation. Habitat successfully worked with the government, private sector and community representatives to create sanitation facilities and promote proper hygiene practices. Photo by Habitat for Humanity, Ending Open Defecation in Cote d’Ivoire
Safe, sanitary outdoor toilets typically cost around $540, to build in Asia, and benefit multiple families in remote, impoverished communities. You can help provide one for a needy village, by donating a portion of the construction costs through Gospel for Asia (GFA World).
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) 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 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 – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide – Discussing Palila and her family’s struggle with poverty, and the sewing machine gifted by GFA World that helped bring new hope to their life.
Through the sewing machine gifted by GFA World, Palila was able to provide for her family and experience the love of Jesus.
Palila glanced at her three children, and her mind welled with worries that they would not be able to receive a proper education. Though her husband worked hard as a daily laborer in the agricultural fields near their home, his meager income, equating to less than $9 per day, was not enough to fully support the family. Palila knew something had to be done to bring in more money, but what?
An Unexpected Gift
The village where Palila lived with her family was also home to Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor Taggart, who served a small church there. One December, after hearing about Palila and her family’s financial needs, Pastor Taggart submitted Palila’s name to receive a gift from a Christmas gift distribution conducted by his church. Palila was given a sewing machine that, for her, was a beautiful symbol of hope and possibility. Overcome with gratitude, she knew that by using this gift she would be able to better provide for her family.
Stitching a Future Together
Palila used her sewing machine to repair items for her fellow villagers as needed and earn an income. After only one year, Palila’s new job provided additional income to fully support her family when combined with her husband’s! Through her sewing, Palila could pay her children’s tuition for a good school and relieve the family’s financial stress.
Seeing their most pressing needs provided for through the gift of a sewing machine, Palila and her family obtained new hope as the pieces of their life were stitched together through the grace and mercy of God.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia World stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
Learn more about GFA World programs to bring value, hope and love to women and their families, and break the cycle of poverty by helping through Vocational Training, Sewing Machines and Literacy Training.
WILLS POINT, TX — COVID-19 is making a heart-wrenching situation even worse for abused and outcast widows around the world, says a new report for International Widows Day, June 23, an annual awareness event. The COVID pandemic is a widow-maker for thousands of the world’s most vulnerable women, causing them an “unbearable level” of sorrow and suffering, says the report — Coronavirus Intensifies Hardships for Widows — by Texas-based humanitarian agency GFA World.
‘Our Hearts Go Out’
TRAGEDY OF COVID ‘WIDOW-MAKER’ ON INTERNATIONAL WIDOWS DAY: COVID-19 is making a heart wrenching situation even worse for abused and outcast widows around the world, says a new report for International Widows Day, June 23. The COVID pandemic is a widow-maker for thousands of the world’s most vulnerable women, causing them an “unbearable level” of sorrow and suffering, says the report — Coronavirus Intensifies Hardships for Widows — by GFA World.
“The pandemic is crushing widows around the globe, and our hearts go out to each and every one of them, wherever they live,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA World), an organization that helps thousands of widows in desperate circumstances — providing food, sewing machines to help them generate income, vocational training, and other aid.
“Our goal is to bring them comfort, encouragement, and God’s love,” said Bishop Danny Punnose, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) vice president. “We want them to know that God is always with them and loves them.”
The report — which also highlights the heartache and grieving of young “COVID widows” in America — describes the tragic ordeal widows are facing in different parts of the world where they’re viewed as objects of shame and treated with contempt. The pandemic, the report says, is “multiplying” their pain.
Shocking examples include:
In Nigeria, widows were locked in a room with their husbands’ corpses and forced to shave their own heads — a ritual of shame.
In Afghanistan, outcast widows established their own “colony” on a hillside above a cemetery just outside the capital, Kabul, where they live in mud homes they’ve built themselves, disowned by their families and excluded from mainstream life.
In Kenya, during COVID quarantine, there were reports of widows being driven out of their homes by their in-laws who considered them to be “excess burden.”
Globally, the United Nations warns, the pandemic “is likely leaving tens of thousands of women newly widowed” and exposed to rejection and mistreatment by their families and neighbors. Rampant hunger fueled by lockdowns and soaring unemployment makes life even harder for widows totally dependent on menial work or begging to survive.
In some countries in Asia and Africa, new widows have barely buried or cremated their husband before someone tries to take their home, land or possessions, citing loss of property rights after the husband dies.
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) 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://gfanews.org/news/.
WILLS POINT, TX — A global humanitarian organization is helping combat the world’s “stinkiest” health emergency — people defecating in the open — a new report reveals. Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is installing thousands of toilets in some of the world’s remotest and least developed areas — places where people typically relieve themselves in the bushes, by the local river, or in the street.It’s part of a global effort to curb deadly diseases spread by people practicing open defecation, known as OD, says the agency’s new report Taking the Toilet Challenge.
SOLVING A DEADLY STINKY PROBLEM: Texas-based humanitarian organization Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is helping combat the world’s “stinkiest” health emergency — people defecating in the open. The agency just released a new report, Taking the Toilet Challenge.
OD spreads cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, typhoid and leads to chronic diarrhea — killing millions of children worldwide every year.
OD is not just a health crisis in the developing world — it’s also a serious issue in the United States, where cities such as San Francisco and Seattle are battling to find solutions among their growing homeless populations.
Up and Running: 32,000 Toilets
So far, GFA World has helped install more than 32,000 toilets in OD-prone locations across Asia.
““For millions around the world, the humble toilet is the best gift they can imagine,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder of the Texas-based organization that helps millions across Asia and has just launched projects in Africa. “Giving people the most basic necessities of life is one way of sharing God’s love with them.”
Global Progress
Citing progress, the organization’s report says OD has been cut in half globally in recent years. In South Asia — home to one quarter of the world’s people — the number of those practicing OD has dropped sharply from two-thirds of the population to one-third.
But, the report says, about one in every 11 people worldwide still doesn’t have access to a toilet.
The report also spotlights efforts to “reinvent the toilet” — designing toilets that process human waste without water, sewer or septic systems.
About GFA World
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) 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 – GFA World — one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies founded by K.P. Yohannan, whose heart to love and help the poor has inspired numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to serve the deprived and downcast worldwide — is sending oxygen equipment and supplies to help people fighting for breath amid devastating second wave of COVID-19 in India.
FIGHTING FOR BREATH:GFA World — one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies — is sending lifesaving oxygen equipment and other vital supplies to help people fighting for breath amid India’s devastating second wave of COVID-19. People can support the agency’s COVID-19 relief efforts by going to its website.
The Texas-based organization is readying the first shipment of lifesaving medical supplies as India remains in the grip of a worsening crisis. Demand for oxygen has increased sevenfold since last month. Reports say two people are dying of COVID-19 every single minute in India — gasping for air as oxygen and equipment runs out at hospitals across the nation.
“We cannot stand by and watch thousands suffer and die, gasping for breath,” said GFA World Founder K.P. Yohannan, as the nation’s official COVID-19 death toll approaches 250,000. “India is literally suffocating to death. I’ve never seen anything that compares with this tsunami of suffering.”
‘Third Wave’ of Compassion
Along with other organizations, GFA World is “helping launch a ‘third wave’ of compassion, prayer and humanitarian aid to India,” said Yohannan, as the agency announced efforts to ship oxygen equipment as quickly as possible.
The organization is partnering with indigenous local hospitals in Southwest India to get aid to those suffering.
“We’ve been serving the poor in Asia for more than 40 years and we’re able to get help fast to those who need it the most,” Yohannan said. “The government of India is doing all it can to help us and other organizations bring urgent relief right now.”
The U.S. State Department has urged all Americans in India to leave the country immediately as the nation of nearly 1.4 billion people continues to shatter global records for new daily COVID infections. A deadly new ‘double mutant’ variant in India is also raising alarm.
Dying in the Streets
“We’re all weary of the pandemic and ready for it to end, but we cannot forget those in the thick of the battle right now,” Yohannan said. “Seeing people dying in the streets in India — and suffering elsewhere in Asia and Africa — surely must move us to show God’s love through compassion and action.”
GFA World has set up a way for companies and individuals to donate urgently needed medical equipment and supplies in support of the agency’s COVID relief efforts. Those interested in donating equipment and supplies can visit www.gfa.org/press/AirforIndia and email responseteam@gfa.org.
About GFA World
GFA World 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 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 – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by KP Yohannan, issued this Special Report on the massive challenge of reducing extreme poverty worldwide, mainly through providing education, transmitting values.
Chain Reaction
One individual whose values have enabled him to rise from poverty and whose children are benefiting from his foundation can make an impact that expands his society.
Integrity is one of the qualities employers look for most. Billionaire Warren Buffett explains,
“Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.”
The workplace quickly turns dark when negative ideologies are present. But on the flipside, business benefits mankind in beautiful ways when positive values define the scene.
A business owner’s upright values will dictate the way he treats his employees. He will not stop exploiting any of the world’s 24.9 million forced laborers
or 152 million child laborers.
On the other hand, an employee with positive values will not take advantage of his boss. His honesty will strengthen the company, which in turn will strengthen their local economy.
Values also determine whether a person will be marked by crime. Education alone helps people to respect justice, and their values will only solidify that position.
A report examining the correlation of education rates and crime reduction in the U.S. revealed that increasing the male high school graduation rate by just five percent would:
“By selling the piglets, we have bought a goat and chickens, which will be another source of income for our family. We do not have any problems now paying the school fees for our children. We also purchased roofing sheets to construct our house. I thank God for all the blessings this pig has brought.” —Kanal from Arunachal Pradesh
Kanal, a father in Asia, experienced this very thing.
After years of desperately struggling with poverty, he received a piglet at a Gospel for Asia (GFA)gift distribution organized by the local church. Later, the pig had a litter of eight piglets. He sold seven of them for a sizable profit and finally had the financial breakthrough he needed to start rising out of poverty.
Over the following months, Kanal’s pig bore another 10 piglets. Each one propelled the family farther out of poverty.
Kanal’s children saw how one person’s generosity changed their family—and then they saw their father do the same thing. Even though his family had many needs, Kanal’s gratitude for his amazing gift led him to donate one piglet back to the church so another family could receive a life-changing gift. Then Kanal approached one of his neighbors who also struggled with poverty and gave them a piglet as well. His neighbor would raise the piglet, and when it was ready to go to market, they would share the profits. Kanal is on his way out of poverty, and he plans to bring others out with him, too.
Ashima, a young girl in Asia, received help much as Kanal did. Her help, however, came in the form of tutoring, moral lessons, food and school supplies through GFA World’s Bridge of Hope Program.
Bridge of Hope teachers, like this gentleman in West Bengal, typically serve children from impoverished situations, including those kids whose parents are affected by leprosy. They provide their students with a quality education, a daily nutritious meal, loving care and practical supplies like soap, schoolbags, and school uniforms.
“Before coming to the Bridge of Hope,” Ashima said, “I was not able to study seriously because of the problem and inconvenience at home, and the financial problem that we are going through.”
But then through Bridge of Hope, Ashima received the guidance she needed to develop positive character traits and values, which enabled her to excel in her studies—and in life. Less than a year later, Ashima’s story was quite different.
A person looking for ways to fight extreme poverty will find countless organizations to partner with through donations. That is the easy part.
But each person must, in addition, consider the following: What values are they promoting? What are their children and co-workers learning from them? Do their daily activities uplift others? Or are they reinforcing negative values, even if those values are a few steps removed?
In recent years, more people have become aware of the human rights issues present throughout many supply chains. And because people are choosing to live in accordance with positive values, they are supporting the companies that reflect those same values, such as treating employees well and paying them an honest wage. Taking steps as simple as supporting companies with ethical supply chain practices can diminish the world’s poverty.
Zaid Adil Sultan, a manager at a refugee camp in Iraq, relates a sobering example. When a militant group gained control of the region, its leaders inserted new teachers and programs into schools. The ideologies held by the group infiltrated curriculums, teaching children as young as 6 or 7 to use weapons.
“They gave them ‘courses’ that encouraged violence,” Sultan said. “In math, instead of teaching them that one plus one equals two, they taught them that one bullet plus one bullet equals two bullets.”
Education transmits values. As individuals and nations, we bear the responsibility to teach the next generation the ideas and values that will promote upward movement, not deeper poverty. This Bride of Hope teacher in Karnataka is assisting this student to improve in his studies and in building his character.
He went on to explain how children have been severely scared by indoctrination. Specialized workshops have opened to help children recover, but removing the damaging ideologies from young minds has proved difficult.
“The hardest age to treat is boys from 14 years old to 17,” Sultan said. “People have told me that before their sons went to those schools, they were okay, but after they went, they were coming home hitting their siblings and threatening to kill them.”
Education transmits values. As individuals and nations, we bear the responsibility to teach the next generation the ideas and values that will promote upward movement, not deeper poverty. Amazing teachers and professors around the world are helping children learn the skills and values necessary to thrive in life—and we thank them for their dedication. Yet many children live in places where negative values dominate ways of thinking, even among educational staff, and where poverty abounds.
Every culture is susceptible to damaging ideologies and to the poverty those ideas can generate. But great change is possible as individuals examine what values they are reinforcing and partner with educators who promote the positive values every child, family and community needs to rise out of extreme poverty.
“Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals…
The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.”
Provide a Values-centric Education to Children at Risk in 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: Fighting Global Poverty with Ideas — Uprooting poverty requires education that transmits values —Part 1
Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is a project of Samaritan’s Purse that is a hands-on way Canadians can bless struggling children around the world by filling shoeboxes with school supplies, hygiene items, and toys. Each and every gift is an opportunity for a child to hear that God loves them, and many shoeboxes have met real and specific needs in children’s lives, showing them how much God cares for them. For many of these children, the gift-filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received.
Though the Gospel for Asia (GFA World) office remains closed to visitors due to the current covid-19 restrictions, the staff have been faithfully serving those in need around the world in various ways from the office in Stoney Creek. The staff were excited to have this opportunity to partner with Believers Eastern Church – which shares a building with Gospel for Asia (GFA World) – Samaritan’s Purse, and the local community by serving as a collection center for OCC shoebox gifts.
A total of 18 volunteers, ranging from age 12 to 69, volunteered over 50 hours, and 805 shoeboxes were collected from local churches and individuals. The boxes were carefully packed into cartons and then taken to Church of the Rock in Hamilton, Ontario, from whence they were shipped to Samaritan’s Purse’s Canadian ministry and shoebox processing center in Calgary, Alberta.
Yet as the UN and numerous governments, non-profits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work to eliminate the problem, it even exists on the streets of prosperous America. An October 2019 report by Environmental Justice said without sanitation when and where it is needed, the human right to sanitation for the homeless population has not been realized, leaving valid concerns about the risks of infectious disease transmission.
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