One Story Among Millions Suffering in the Slums

March 22, 2019 By GFA Staff Writer

“In our world, one in eight people live in slums. In total, around a billion people live in slum conditions today.”—UN-Habitat Slum Almanac 2015-2016.

Upon reading this fact, my mind almost shut down. An eighth of the world’s population?^[1] It seems absurd, but apparently, it is the truth. The reality for those living in slums is harsher than what is reported.

One Story Among Millions Suffering in the Slums - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Maisie (not pictured) is among millions living in slums. Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers seek to bring them the love and hope of God.

The Slums: An Explanation

Firstly, what exactly are slums? Merriam Webster defines “slums” as “a densely populated usually urban area marked by crowding, run-down housing, poverty, and social disorganization.”^[2] Little to no basic utilities exist in slums. Sanitation facilities, clean water, medical provision are inadequately present in these urban areas. Diseases run rampant, with little to no prevention.^[3]

Slum dwellers suffer under these harsh and brutal conditions. These people endure the hardship and poverty around them. Entire families are caught in the endless cycle, with no visible way out. Hopelessness and despair rule their lives.

The Ministry of the Faithful

What is being done to help these people? By the grace of God, many Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers toil endlessly among the slums in Asia, bringing hope and love to those in need. Whether it be through prayer, medical care, literacy and vocational classes, gift distributions, water filters, toilets, etc., brothers and sisters minister to those living in these slums.

As I perused the many reports and stories about slums, one in particular caught my attention. The story is of one woman’s return from the brink of desperation and despair. This is Maisie’s story.

A Mother’s Heart Touched

Maisie lives in one of the many slums in Asia. Poverty and destitution were all she had known. Maisie’s husband, Abhaidev, was an alcoholic. Any money he received from his odd jobs went to fuel that addiction. No money for food was left for Maisie and their child. With her stomach empty and her body bruised from the physical abuse heaped upon her by Abhaidev, Maisie couldn’t take it anymore. She decided she would take her own life.

By the grace of God, the very same day she set out for suicide, a neighbor stopped by. This neighbor was a believer and shared Jesus’s love with the desperate woman. The believer gave Maisie a booklet, and the message contained within it transformed her heart.

After learning that she was truly loved, Maisie decided to attend the local church led by Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor Mrithun. After sharing her story with him, Pastor Mrithun prayed for Maisie and encouraged her. That day, Maisie fully recognized the love of God, and no longer wished to end her life.

However, Abhaidev opposed her new faith. He beat Maisie and told her to never go to church again. Maisie refused and continued to pray for her husband. Little by little, the man’s heart softened. Not only did her let her go to church, but he eventually accompanied her!

The Millions Untold

Maisie’s story can be repeated in so many other slums. The destitution and addiction, coupled with abuse and hunger, affect not just the women, but men and children as well. The slums are unforgiving and harsh, but God’s love lifts up and transforms the hardest of hearts. Millions are suffering, but there is hope for them. To learn how you can provide those in slums with hope, visit www.gfa.org/compassion-services/slum-ministry.

^[1] U.N. Slum Almanac

^[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slum

^[3] U.N. Slum Almanac

Source: Gospel for Asia Reports, Restored by the God Who Gave Her Breath

Image Source: Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day

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7 Reasons Unsponsored Children Need Our Help

March 19, 2019 By GFA Staff Writer

“The poor do not need our compassion or our pity, they need our help.” — Mother Theresa It is almost impossible for us to understand the magnitude of the needs of the children of South Asia and their families needing the assistance and intervention of Gospel for Asia (GFA) and others. How bad can their life be?

Frankly, their lives are much worse than most of us can even begin to imagine.

Oh, you’ve heard the appeals over and over again from Gospel for Asia (GFA), Save the Children, Compassion International, World Vision, and a seemingly endless number of NGOs who are committed to reaching out to those living in extreme poverty who are considered the lowest of the low in their home countries.

But there are literally millions of precious, innocent children suffering indignities at levels we fail to comprehend. So, let us explain a few reasons these children need our help.

1. They are considered outcasts.

Our national missionaries go into the urban slums and remote villages where the most impoverished people live. The cultural climate in South Asia has regarded these people as outcasts for centuries. Those living in abject poverty were the lowest of the low in the old caste system. Hence, we get the term “outcasts.” They were considered outcasts (outside of the castes).^[1]

2. They are counted as having no value.

In any society, outcasts are regarded as having no merit. Therefore, they have no value. Anything that has no value is considered worthless. Things that are worthless are either discarded or disregarded.

3. They must scavenge to survive.

Because their parents are assigned the most menial tasks in agriculture, commerce, and industry, they (the parents) often do not earn enough wages to afford to feed their families. Children like the one in the image at the beginning of this article are often consigned to begging or scavenging just to stay alive.

4. They are made to do the most menial and repulsive tasks.

“The poorest of the poor perform the jobs that no one else wants to do. Some of the more gruesome of these include removing bits of dead carcasses from roads, and where possible, preparing and tanning animal hides to make leather goods. More disturbingly, they are the people who clear both private and public latrines, often by hand and many . . . have died in the sewers from the highly toxic fumes caused by raw sewage.”

That even includes young children.

One seven-year-old boy shared this story:

“I collect the excrement lying near the school. The excrement of dogs and cats are collected by impoverished children and thrown away. There is no toilet in the school so the human excrement lying outside the school compound is cleaned by underprivileged children. Women sit outside the school for defecation in the evening which the teachers of the school ask the children to clean.”

An 11-year-old girl shared,

“I daily do clean and sweep at a . . . house in my village. I am not paid, but to survive I have to do this. In return, I am given leftover food. I go myself to get leftover food because after the death of my father my mother has become mentally unstable. In case a dog or cat dies in my village then if I am called, I go to drag the dead animals and for that, I am paid 5 to 10 rupees. In case I do not have any work, I go for rag picking and from that money I buy vegetables.”

5. Their survival is existentially more important than their education.

Aside from the intense discrimination they endure in primary schools – which causes many to decide to drop out – if they do not eat, they will not live. So, they do what they must to survive.

6. Surviving until tomorrow means another day of the same despair.

Without outside help, unsponsored children will continue to live in these unimaginable conditions.

7. Your financial support can change their lives.

Sponsoring a child through Gospel for Asia will ensure that the child is both educated and fed. In addition, they are given regular health checkups by qualified medical staff.

Your support of poverty-stricken children is enough to radically change their lives from a foreboding destiny to a future of hope. Supported children are enrolled in Bridge of Hope centers where they learn to read and write, do mathematics, and understand the doors of opportunity that these skills can open for them.

They don’t have to pay for an education they cannot afford. They don’t have to scavenge for food or to earn money. They learn personal hygiene that helps them to enjoy a healthy life.

Perhaps most importantly, they are taught by indigenous people who demonstrate the same love that Jesus does for children. That love is filled with compassion, concern, and care that, together, restore the deeply-need sense of dignity that these children – and all children need.

Would you take a few minutes to prayerfully consider how you can sponsor at least one child through GFA? Your help may change a life. It may even save a life.

When you pray, why not do so while reading the stories of one or two of the children who currently stand in need.

That’s all we ask. We trust that you will do what the Lord tells you to do.

Sources:

Supporting Dalit Children, Who are the Dalits?
Thinking Out Loud, Who are the Dalits? What Does it Mean to be One?
International Dalit Solidarity Network, Dalit Children in India

Image Source:

By Steve Evans (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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

To read more on Patheos on the needs of the children of South Asia, go here.

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^[1] The caste system was fundamentally based on the belief that those in lower castes could hope to be reincarnated into a higher caste after death. They believed that each time a person died, they would have another reincarnation and, therefore, an opportunity to do better. The cultural belief was that most underprivileged were too low to be eligible for reincarnation.

5 Distinctives of Gospel for Asia You Should Know

March 6, 2019 By GFA Staff Writer

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.

Our Bridge of Hope program embodies these Gospel for Asia (GFA) distinctives.

4) Tremendous Impact by God’s Grace

“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.

Source: Gospel for Asia, GFA Distinctives

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Clean Hands – A Recipe for Health on Global Handwashing Day

October 12, 2018 By GFA Staff Writer

Numerous studies have shown that the simple step of properly handwashing markedly reduces the risk of disease and infection. Unfortunately, many in developing nations around the globe do not know of this life-saving fact.

For this reason, the Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) established October 15 as Global Handwashing Day. The theme for 2018 is “Clean hands – a recipe for health.” It particularly applies to this year’s emphasis on making handwashing a part of preparing to make or partake of every meal.

When the first Global Handwashing Day was introduced in 2008, the campaign focused on reducing child mortality rates by introducing behavioral changes, including handwashing. It was estimated that the simple act of washing one’s hands adequately with soap could reduce childhood mortality from respiratory disease by 25 percent and from diarrheal diseases by 50 percent. In fact, “Research shows that children living in households exposed to handwashing promotion and soap had half the diarrheal rates of children living in control neighborhoods.”

The World Health Organization recognizes World Hand Hygiene Day each May 5.

The need for each of these days is far greater than we might imagine. It is difficult for us to imagine not washing our hands. It’s just what we do. It was only about 150 years ago that washing one’s hands was not so common anywhere in the world.

It was not until 1846 that anyone recognized the value or virtue of washing one’s hands with soap. Dr. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, who held a medical degree with a specialty in midwifery, became concerned about the prevalence of puerperal fever in maternity clinics.

Despite the abundance of incorrect theories of the day, Semmelweis theorized a common link between fetal and maternal childbirth deaths and similar fatal infections in people who had undergone surgery by doctors carrying infectious substances on their hands and surgical instruments.

Semmelweis’ hypothesis-proving experiments, in which his system of hand and instrument washing were used, reduced the puerperal fever mortality rate in his facilities from 12.24 percent to 2.38 percent. Twenty years later, his findings had still not become readily accepted.

Educating people with regard to the dangers of infection caused by dirty hands has dramatically reduced birthing and surgical mortality rates. And washing hands with soap and water has become as much a part of life in developed nations as waking up in the morning. So much so that the occurrence of bacterial disease is minimal in developed countries compared to those that are still emerging.

The task before us now is to educate the people who are living in remote villages and slums who have yet to understand the need for washing one’s hands. Gospel for Asia (GFA), its partners, NGOs, businesses and governments are working together to teach the necessity for handwashing as a matter of good health and hygiene. Together, we can:

Teach people to wash their hands with soap at critical times, especially before eating, cooking or feeding others.
Model good handwashing behavior and remind them to always wash their hands before eating.
Help them to make handwashing part of their family-meal practice.
Help them to establish places to wash your hands in the household, in your community, in schools, workplaces and in health facilities.
Promote effective handwashing behavior change.

Watch this short video (3:47) featuring Dr. Daniel Johnson to learn more about how some of our field partners teach proper handwashing.

This video is shown in thousands of rural villages and urban slums every year to prevent unnecessary disease and infection and improve the health and well-being of the poor and downtrodden.

Learn more about how you can help support the GFA-supported Medical Ministry.

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Sources:

Wikipedia, Global Handwashing Day
Explorable, Semmelweis’ Germ Theory
Global Handwashing.org, Global Handwashing Day 2018: Clean hands- a recipe for health
Vikaspedia, Global Handwashing Day

Video Source:

BEC, YouTube, Believers Church Health Awareness – Handwashing

Gospel for Asia’s Children’s Ministry Is a Bridge of Hope to Kids in Asia

March 22, 2018 By GFA Staff Writer

Bridge of Hope - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Children attending any GFA Bridge of Hope program learn to read and write, gain positive study habits, are provided with a healthy meal, receive medical care as needed, are shown God’s loving-kindness, and develop the HOPE that their education will one day help them shake off the weight of poverty.

One of our Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastors said something both sad and ironic several years ago: “Nobody cares about the children of this village.”

While, in his eyes, his statement seemed to be true, the irony is that it was not entirely so. The mere fact that he said it indicated that he cared. In fact, he admitted, “I have a great burden for this village.” The reason he cared is that he knew that Jesus cares.

The village of which he spoke is home to 2,000 impoverished families whose daily need is survival. Their entire life is consumed with laboring to feed themselves and their families. Their fight for survival means their children are forced to work in laborious and tedious tasks to generate adequate resources.

Many of these families live in one-room huts, often made with only sticks and plastic. They have no nearby sources of clean water. They lack proper sanitation facilities. What food they are able to acquire does not always provide adequate nutrition. And there doesn’t seem to be a way out.

A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute found that there is a substantial difference in poverty levels beyond what we comprehend. There is a poverty level at which people can “achieve a decent standard of living,” but these villagers and their children live below that level in the realm of “bare subsistence” where hope and a way out appear non-existent.

Food, clothing and medical care are honorable and necessary charitable acts that demonstrate the love of Christ. They are gifts and services that sustain life. However, they do not, in and of themselves, create a bridge to a better life.

Food can make a destitute person less hungry, but they are still impoverished. Clothing can help provide a sense of dignity, but it does not change a person’s circumstances. Medical care can prevent disease, but it cannot break the bondage of abject poverty.

Creating a Bridge of Hope

This village is an example of how Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Bridge of Hope (BOH) centers make a difference.

Bridge of Hope centers provide an educational experience for school-age children in which they learn the practical skills that can be the bridge to a better life. Each school day, students practice reading, writing and math in an environment of Christian love where staff members guide them to the hope for a better tomorrow by teaching them life skills that will become their bridge out of the generational curse into which they were born.

Education is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. Each evening when a child goes home from a Bridge of Hope center, they return to the same existential scenario. But each evening they go with a little more hope for the future.

The centers offer each child with daily, nutritious meals to give them the energy they need to learn and grow. Regular medical checkups are also part of the program. BOH centers even provide the students’ school supplies.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) has helped touched the lives of more than 75,000 children through Bridge of Hope centers. What these children have learned and are learning gives them a bridge they can cross to pass over “the hurdles of tragedy and poverty and press on to a future bright with promises.”

The program helps the children with their education so they can one day get a good job and afford sufficient food, decent clothing, medical supplies and other necessities of life for themselves and for their families. Beyond this, Bridge of Hope provides the children with opportunities to pursue and excel in their God-given skills and interests.

Bridge of Hope staff members become the hands and feet of Christ to the students and their families, serving them with genuine love, compassion and respect. Staff members maintain relationships with the parents and children and offer them counsel, encouragement and, ultimately, give them hope.

What does a child receive at the Bridge of Hope centers?

Education. This includes tuition, books and uniforms. But even more significant is that they will get tutoring in reading and writing, which means a future of hope is guaranteed.

Nutrition. During the school day, each child receives a healthy, balanced meal.

Medical care. The Bridge of Hope leaders who care for children also monitor their health and provide care as needed. Extra attention is given in areas where malaria or tuberculosis is prevalent. In addition to periodic checkups and medical treatment, children also learn basic habits of good hygiene, such as washing hands, trimming fingernails and bathing regularly.

Development of social skills and self-confidence. From the earliest ages in kindergarten, children are given opportunities to play games and practice basic rules of courtesy.

Hope Becomes Real on the Other Side of the Bridge

While the short-term focus is on helping the children now, the long-term perspective is to enable them to become all they possibly can be as a useful servant to their community, and to one day be a blessing to many others throughout Asia.

Bridge of Hope centers are not limited to remote villages. Many are located in the slum areas of major Asian cities, where roaming through and living on top of trash heaps is a way of life and their only hope for tomorrow.

Paul encouraged Timothy to share what he had taught him with others who would then be able to show many more (2 Timothy 2:2). Following that model, the character development and social impact at work in Bridge of Hope centers is being passed on to many others throughout the community.

Bridge of Hope is not just a name for a project. It is a ministry that actually produces a product. That product is the potential for a hopeful future for children who are trapped by circumstances they did not create, in a situation they cannot escape and who would, otherwise, have no hope.

Parents and grandparents recognize the changes in their children and grandchildren, causing them not only rejoice in their hope for the future but also to realize the love of Christ in their own lives.

Even local leaders praise the work of Bridge of Hope centers for their impact on the community at large. One leader said, “I am really happy to see a social network coming up to this level of taking care of the future of children.”

The father of one of the children at the same center said, “This only can be possible through Christians. The love of Christians is great. My children are going to become well-prepared for their future. I am overwhelmed with their concern for us.”

To learn more about Bridge of Hope read “What Bridge of Hope Gives Children.”

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Can Cleanliness Lead to Godliness?

January 13, 2018 By GFA Staff Writer

Is Cleanliness Next to Godliness?

That’s a good question. It may not be in Scripture, as many people believe, but it does have an element of truth. John Wesley is generally cited as the originator of the phrase in his sermon, “Cleanliness Is, Indeed, Next to Godliness.” It is certain that he was not the creator of the concept. Similar statements have been recorded in ancient literature.

While the Bible may not specifically say that cleanliness is next to godliness, it does, however, associate the two. Those stricken with leprosy in Biblical times were required by ritual law to announce that they were unclean should they appear in public.

Jesus described the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, saying that they were more concerned about outwardly cleanliness than internal cleanliness where they were “full of extortion and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25, 26).

Job described himself as “pure, without transgression” (Job 33:9).

The Psalmist similarly used cleanliness to describe his need for a return to righteousness: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

Both Paul and John used cleanliness to describe holiness and righteousness. Paul urged the Corinthian church to cleanse themselves “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). John reminds believers that when we confess our sins, the Lord “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

There seems to be a direct connection between cleanliness and godliness, at least in comparative terms.

If we must be cleansed from unrighteousness, then unrighteousness must be dirty.

If a leper who has been healed is declared clean, he is free of his disease.

Can Cleanliness Lead to Godliness?

That’s another good question – one which the western world does not always handle well.

We like to eat from clean plates and sleep on clean sheets. We avoid hanging out with people who haven’t bathed or washed their clothes.

The western world has come to take cleanliness for granted, and we withdraw from that which is dirty.

But what if we were to live as millions around the world do—in abject poverty, especially in Asian and African countries?

What if our lives consisted of living in unclean conditions from which there was no relief?

And what if a miracle should happen and someone appeared who could change our circumstances?

What would we do? How would we respond to being able to drink clean water and use private, sanitary toilet facilities—things which we didn’t have the privilege of before?

We would be eternally grateful.

That is why the global ministry of Gospel for Asia is so effective.

The many projects GFA undertakes as ministry efforts are to provide clean water, sanitation, and similar relief. One reason is because of the great need. Another reason is because we serve the Great Provider.

Our mission in life 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 like education, providing health information or practical gifts, or through the spiritual transformation of peaceful hearts, restored relationships and mended lives. We do all this in community and in partnership with the global Body of Christ.

The impoverished to whom we minister in Asia are so grateful for the kindness and cleanliness that Gospel for Asia (GFA) offers for their physical needs, they often welcome our ministry to their spiritual needs. They respond to kindness and love expressed by the offer of cleanliness.

Cleanliness may or may not be next to godliness, but at Gospel for Asia (GFA) we know that cleanliness can lead those who think they have no hope to the sure and certain hope we have in Jesus Christ.

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Handwashing Is Inexpensive Disease Prevention Says Gospel for Asia

October 14, 2017 By GFA Staff Writer

Do you know what is the single most effective method in cutting down the contraction and spreading of diseases? You do this every day. Hopefully more than once a day. It’s the simple, life-saving method of washing your hands!

And you know what’s right around the corner? Global Handwashing Day . Oct. 15 is the day to raise awareness of how tremendously important washing hands is to saving lives.

Many of us probably grew up in homes where our parents taught us to wash our hands before we ate or after playing outside. Maybe as kids we didn’t know exactly why we had to wash our hands, but it was still a lesson engrained in us, right?

In some parts of Asia, many children don’t grow up with this common knowledge, because it isn’t so common.

Global Handwashing Day program - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Children in a Believers Church Sunday School class participate in a Global Handwashing Day program on October 15, 2016.

A report from Global Handwashing Partnership stated that “in rural areas [of India], 54 percent of caregivers washed their hands after using the toilet, 13 percent before preparing food, 27 percent before feeding a child, 85 percent after contact with a child’s feces.”

That means many men, women and children across the rural areas of Asia are eating meals cooked by hands that aren’t washed properly with soap. Think about that for a second.

Inexpensive Disease Prevention

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , “About 1.8 million children under the age of 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world. Handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea and almost 1 out of 5 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia.”

These ailments are often contracted by the germs and bacteria living on people’s hands. Teaching people at a young age about the importance of washing hands with soap can also save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention, cutting deaths from diarrhea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter .

Taking Part in Global Awareness

Gospel for Asia-supported workers are aware of the need for this vital information, so every year for Global Hand-washing Day, they conduct events throughout Asia to teach the importance of washing hands and how it can help prevent many fatal illnesses.

They put together practical workshops and demonstrate to children and adults alike how to wash their hands properly. They show educational videos on the importance of washing hands and give away soap.

GFA-supported worker - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — GFA-supported worker teaches how to properly wash your hands at an awareness event in 2016.

At one event held last year at a Bible college, a student said, “I am glad that I got this information on how to wash hands in the right manner. Most people in the villages do not care and bother about this. I know many people from my village, too, who are ignorant on this issue.”

Another student said, “I honestly never had the idea before, but this program is really eye opening for me. How I wish this program can be carried out in remote villages too.”

And Gospel for Asia-supported workers are doing just that! There are villages across Asia that now have critically important information about handwashing.

Larisa, mother of a Bridge of Hope child and attendee of a Global Handwashing Day event, said, “Before we use to wash our hands with only water, but through this program we came to know the importance of washing hands with soap. Now and then we wash our hands neatly with soap and prevent the diseases which comes through uncleanness of our hands.”

Priya, 12, attended another event and said, “I was not aware that the germs and dirt in our hands causes lots of diseases that can lead to death, but today I have learned how important it is to wash hands properly.”

Practical Measures to Save Lives

As more awareness and knowledge spreads about handwashing, we’re hopeful that the number of disease and deaths caused by communicable diseases will be significantly diminished in the years to come. It’s not just a matter of making sure people stay healthy; for us, it’s a matter of taking every measure to protect the precious lives God has created.

If something as simple as showing people how to wash their hands can prevent a premature death and help give others a more abundant life, then GFA-supported workers will go from village to village to share that information.

When we take steps to practically help people, even with seemingly small things like passing on information about how to wash your hands, it can make a lasting difference in their lives—and show them how precious they are to their Creator.

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