Last updated on: December 8, 2022 at 2:46 pm By GFA Staff Writer
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the tragic realities those who are widowed or orphaned face, crippled by loss, grief and fear, and the impact of the love and care Bridge of Hope centers bring.
Gnana clearly remembers the day her granddaughters moved in. The burden of caring for them became a heavy weight on her elderly frame. At age 70, how was she possibly going to provide for and look after a 3-year-old and a newborn?
Less than two months earlier, the little girl’s father had finally succumbed to cancer. His death was a severe blow to their mother, who was still pregnant with her youngest. With no husband or father to provide for the poor family, fear compounded their grief.
Three-year-old Masara watched her mother mourn the death of her father. Masara’s mother prayed day and night to give birth to a son who could one day become the man of the house. Only a son would bring a glimmer of happiness to the family, she believed. But 15 days after her father’s death, Serena was born, a beautiful girl who shattered the little hope of happiness the family still had.
The family did not know how things could get any worse.
After the death of their parents, Masara and Serena, now orphaned, went to live with Gnana, their grandmother. Gnana owned a small nut shop and worked hard to provide for her granddaughters; she even borrowed money from neighbors when she just didn’t have enough. At a time of life when she should have been cared for by her adult children, tragedy turned everything upside down.
Grandmother Finds Hope to Raise Orphaned Granddaughters
Then, when it was least expected, a ray of hope and relief came into Gnana’s life. Spots in the local Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Bridge of Hope program were offered to Masara and Serena. Both girls and their grandmother were elated! Gnana enrolled the girls right away. From that time on, Bridge of Hope provided all the necessary items for the girls to attend school.
The burden Gnana had carried since opening her home to her orphaned granddaughters began to dissolve. She never borrowed money from neighbors again. Hope for the future is beginning to grow in her heart. Her precious girls are thriving under the love and care of the Bridge of Hope staff, and happiness has entered their life once more.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are GFA stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing families, just like Divya’s, struggling through life because they do not have the peace of Jesus, and the woman missionary like Sangeeta who help rebuild families by sharing His love.
Divya and her mother, Apurva, stepped inside their home. The residual smell of alcohol from the open and empty bottles spread across the floor assaulted their nostrils as soon as they crossed the threshold. When Divya made eye contact with her father, Mukul, she could nearly predict what he was going to say.
“Give me the money”, he demanded, “I am in need of a refill.”
When they refused, Mukul picked up the nearest pan and threw it against the wall. The clanging as it fell to the floor barely covered the sound of Mukul slapping Divya’s mother. Then he began throwing their belongings from the house. They begged for him to stop, but nothing changed.
Father Demands Family’s Wages for Alcohol
Divya was 10 years old when Mukul began drinking alcohol. He became so addicted he couldn’t eat without it.
Because he refused to work, Divya and her mother worked all day to provide for their needs. And when they came home, Mukul constantly demanded money from them solely to get his fill of alcohol.
Apurva and Divya asked him to stop throwing the household items when he was angry, but Mukul never listened. Often, Divya and her mother had to leave for two or three days until Mukul calmed down.
One day, Divya couldn’t take the cycle anymore. She left home, and this time, she wasn’t going back.
Daughter Flees Father’s Abuse
Divya stayed with a friend for three weeks before her father realized she had gone. Mukul accused Apurva of sending Divya away and insisted she bring their daughter home that day.
Apurva visited Divya and asked her to return home, but Divya asked her mother to stay the night with her instead, hoping their absence would help Mukul change. The following day, Apurva arrived home without Divya, and Mukul became enraged. He lashed out against Apurva and began to beat her daily. Unable to handle the increased abuse, Apurva once more went to plead with Divya to return home.
Seeing her mother in so much pain overwhelmed Divya. She loved her mother, but that wasn’t enough for her to return home and endure her father’s mistreatment.
Daughter Confesses Suicidal Thoughts to a Woman Missionary
When Gospel for Asia (GFA) woman missionary, Sangeeta, learned of Divya’s situation, she came to see Divya and comfort her.
“I never had peace and joy in my life,” Divya told Sangeeta. “Many times, I thought, ‘Why was I born on this earth?’ Sometimes I’ve thought to end my life. When I look at my mother and see that nobody is there to take care of her or even my father, my mind becomes restless.”
Sangeeta replied, “Please do not worry. Today, we will go together and meet your parents.”
Divya went home with Sangeeta and talked with her parents.
Sangeeta shared the Word of God with the family and explained to Mukul the struggles he was causing for his family by drinking. She urged him to turn away from drinking and prayed for the family.
Father Changes His Ways
Sangeeta continued to visit the family, and within a month, Mukul changed his ways. The Holy Spirit worked in his heart as he witnessed Jesus’ love through the missionary and saw how the Lord answered her prayers. He stopped drinking, and his abuse of his family ceased.
Peace filled their home, and now, Mukul and Apurva attend church each week. Sangeeta still visits with the family, encouraging them to live according to God’s Word.
Many families, just like Divya’s, are struggling through everyday life because they do not have the peace of Jesus in their homes. You can help rebuild families by sending a missionary to their village to share His love.
*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.
Last updated on: September 3, 2022 at 6:34 pm By GFA Staff Writer
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the despair of women, and even baby girls, victims of discrimination and acute gender imbalance, and the missionaries who bring hope, healing, and salvation through the grace of God.
At last, the baby began to crown, and with him came the fulfillment of his parents’ wishes. Five years of barrenness, five years of bitter arguments—this baby would put it all in the past. He would bring pride to the family, reap a dowry from his bride and help provide for the family. He would restore his family’s joy.
As the baby took his first breaths, however, something wasn’t right, and hopes built up over the last nine months quickly died away.
Mayuri and Rafat’s little boy turned out to be a little girl—and that was nothing to celebrate.
Drunken Father Abuses Family, Steals Wages
Five years earlier, Mayuri’s hope hadn’t been for a baby boy but for a harmonious family life. While Mayuri’s father, Ekaling, spent his days drinking, gambling and chasing after women, Mayuri went to work every day with her mother, Olimani. Together, they earned enough to feed the family of five—except for when Ekaling demanded their wages.
If Mayuri and Olimani refused, Ekaling would beat them. Sometimes, he’d beat Olimani without any excuse.
Olimani worshipped all the deities she could, especially the local goddesses, in hopes that they would change her husband, but Ekaling remained the same. Finally, she decided to give 14-year-old Mayuri the escape she couldn’t have herself and arranged Mayuri’s marriage and a new life for her.
The abuse women face for bearing daughters is so great that many have resorted to gender-selective abortion and infanticide, resulting in millions of “missing girls” in Asia. Discover more about this and other issues facing South Asian women in Gospel for Asia’s new film documentary, “Veil of Tears.”
But before Mayuri’s 20th birthday, she would wish for a second escape.
Husband Abuses Young Wife for Infertility
Life with Mayuri’s new husband, Rafat, seemed promising in the beginning, but within a few years, the young couple’s infertility created tension in the family. In South Asian cultures, women are blamed when a couple can’t produce children. For more than four years, Mayuri bore the couple’s failure alone.
When Mayuri finally became pregnant, happiness returned to the home, but it only lasted nine months. Rafat expected a son, and when a daughter came, he refused to celebrate. He made certain to fully punish his 19-year-old wife for their child’s gender.
A few years later, a second daughter followed, and Rafat’s abuse doubled, and his mother joined in on the torment. Rafat spoke badly about Mayuri in front of the family, and just like Mayuri’s father, he began beating his wife.
Rafat threatened to leave the marriage, but in the end, it was Mayuri who fled. Her in-laws rejoiced at her departure.
Daughter Returns Home, Finds Questionable Work
With nowhere else to go, Mayuri returned home. After all Olimani had dreamed for her then-14-year-old daughter, she grieved to see Mayuri now. The child had years of marital abuse to match her own, and now she had two daughters to provide for alone.
Mayuri’s father was gone. He had married another woman, and now both his wife and daughter could cross off the men who abused them from the long list of struggles they faced.
Mayuri set out to find work and came across a liaison who said he could get her work as a maid in another country, as long as she paid her own way there. The cost was more than she had, so she found people to lend her the money. Once again, however, Mayuri’s hopes were crushed.
The man was a fake, and after he took Mayuri’s money, he left her carrying a load of debt—with interest. Like her mother did before, Mayuri begged every deity she knew to save her life, but night after night, she and her daughters went to sleep hungry. She only saw one option left: become a prostitute to keep her children from starving.
Although Olimani didn’t approve of the new job, she could hardly tell Mayuri to stop—not with her two daughters to provide for and large debt to pay off. The neighbors, however, were less merciful and made clear how much they despised the whole family.
Years later, when a doctor discovered a tumor in Mayuri’s abdomen, she had no one to tell but her gods, and if history was any indication, they would offer her nothing.
Daughter Agrees to Visit Church
In search of healing, Mayuri visited many temples and offered sacrifices, but her condition continued to worsen. One day, however, Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor Patakin offered her the chance to pray to a different God.
It wasn’t the first time Pastor Patakin had told Mayuri about Jesus. While other villagers did their best to avoid her, Pastor Patakin had dared on numerous occasions to visit the prostitute’s home. Normally, Mayuri ignored the pastor’s words, but when he invited her to a Christmas service at his church, she decided to go.
Years of being shunned had taught Mayuri to expect the worst when she walked into the church. But instead of condemnation, the believers gave her true, unflinching love. Mayuri left full of joy, and she eagerly returned each Sunday afterward.
During one Sunday service, Mayuri was touched as Pastor Patakin shared Psalm 91:15-16: “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”
Pastor Patakin spoke of many women whom Christ had healed from deadly diseases.
“If you pray to God, He will heal you and give long life to you,” he said.
Mayuri believed and put her trust in God. Then, like all the women Pastor Patakin had talked about, she experienced the Lord’s healing touch.
Treasured after 35 Years
As Mayuri watches her two daughters grow older, she is grateful to know their lives will be very different from the first 35 years of her own life. Their father is gone, but they have an entire church congregation that loves and supports them. And as they attend Sunday school each week, they are growing in their relationship with a heavenly Father who provides for every need.
After God healed Mayuri’s cancer, she continued to see His faithfulness as He provided respectable work as a daily wage laborer, which lets her send her daughters to school.
“Today, I am living; that is only by the grace of God,” Mayuri said. “I was totally healed from my sickness by the blood of Christ. … Now I am living by faith in Jesus Christ.”
By the grace of God, Mayuri’s life has been transformed, but millions of women in South Asia still wait for a glimpse of hope. Bring these women hope by sending a woman missionary.
*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.
Last updated on: September 6, 2022 at 6:32 pm By GFA Staff Writer
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the real struggles and discrimination women and girls face, and the difference missionaries can make, whether young or old, to rescue the hurting, poor and needy.
Since 2012, the world has celebrated International Day of the Girl Child on October 11. According to the United Nations General Assembly, the day was established to shine a spotlight on “the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.”
For far too many girls in the world, the process of growing into womanhood can not only be difficult, but it can also be dangerous. Unfortunately, danger played a role in Waida’s story.
Waida’s Story Begins
Ziah’s gift of friendship, as shown between these girls, has made a world of difference in Waida’s life.
Waida was born into a happy family that worked hard to meet their daily needs. Sadly, Waida’s father died when she was young.
Eleven years after her father’s passing, Waida’s mother, Gitu, married a man she met at work. At first, Gitu’s second marriage was a happy one, like her first. However, her new husband’s attitude soon changed.
A Shocking Request
One year after they were married, he admitted he wanted to marry his teenage stepdaughter and asked Gitu to give Waida to him. Gitu was shocked by his confession. She refused his request and asked him to leave.
Later that evening, he left as she asked—but he took Waida with him.
When Gitu learned her daughter had been kidnapped, she fainted. Onita, a believer from the local church, heard what had happened and took Gitu to the hospital. Onita also told the local Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor, Kasu, about the situation.
Praying Her Home
The community of believers sprang into action. Onita stayed with Gitu, offering comfort through prayer and God’s Word. Others joined Pastor Kasu to search for Waida, but they could not find her or her stepfather anywhere. When there was nowhere else to look, they continued to pray fervently for Waida’s safe return.
While Gitu was surrounded by support from believers in the community, she conversely faced intense ridicule from some of her neighbors. The verbal abuse she endured while waiting, hoping and praying for her daughter to come home was almost too much for Gitu to bear. She nearly left her home to escape the hurtful words of some in her village. Thankfully, Pastor Kasu and a few believers from the church encouraged Gitu to stay.
Two months after being kidnapped, Waida miraculously returned home. Her stepfather brought her back, and then he left the village. The distressed mother’s tears turned into smiles at the sight of her daughter.
Although the mother and daughter were reunited, they were alienated by many in their village. Waida was troubled by the way her neighbors now looked at her, and her mother continued to face condemning words.
A New Beginning
Not everyone acted this way, however. One girl from the local church, Ziah, befriended Waida. She told Waida stories of Jesus’ love and His forgiveness. Soon, she invited her new friend to the Sunday school class at church.
“I thank my friend, Ziah, because when I was in a painful situation, she became a good friend for me,” Waida said. “Though she knew about the situation, she didn’t hesitate to make a friendship with me. She encouraged me a lot; I could see the love of Jesus Christ through her attitude. Now, I have peace listening to the stories from the Bible. So, I believed in Christ. Please pray for me that I would walk in His path constantly.”
Waida’s mother also chose to begin a relationship with the God in whose words she found comfort while her daughter was missing. However, she fears the villagers who already mistreat her will harass her even more if she attends church. Please pray for God’s favor and courage to rest upon her.
Waida’s story depicts the very real struggles some girls face around the world. By the grace of God, this story also shows the power girls possess to be a friend even when it isn’t popular. It can change someone’s world.
Discover another life-changing story of friendship between two women in Bhandura’s story.
*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.
Last updated on: September 6, 2022 at 6:38 pm By GFA Staff Writer
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the life of a widow named, Amey and her family who, through a life exposed to lack, danger and desperation, found refuge in God’s grace who provides all that they needed, business, protection, peace and joy.
Riots swept through the small village, causing upheaval in every way. Those behind the riots began to extort every local business, attempting to further their cause. Gair, as a dry-fish vendor, was one of them. The activists gave him an ultimatum: Pay a sum upwards of $60,000 or face the consequences. Gair refused; he did not have the money. He was murdered in his own house. He left behind a wife and four daughters. Amey, Gair’s widow, wondered what to do.
Left Adrift, Unsafe
“I had to go through lots of problems after my husband passed away,” Amey recalled. “I had to protect my children.”
To ensure her daughters’ safety and future, Amey began to sell her belongings.
“Our economic situation went from bad to worse and most of our house belongings had to be sold,” Amey shared. “I was mentally drained …”
Another Attempt
When money ran out and there was no more to sell, Amey decided to revive her husband’s business. Things started to look up as the business began to thrive. But others businessmen looked upon her success with jealously. They harassed the widow, even attempting to kill Amey.
“One day, two men came on a motorcycle and followed my scooter while I was on my way to the market, and they shot at me,” Amey remembered. “The first bullet passed somewhere, and the second hit my scooter … and I fell on the road. This was a great escape, but I immediately decided to stop this business for the safety of myself and my daughters.”
Amey found herself back at square one. This time, she didn’t know what to do.
Truly Desperate
Anxiety, worry and uncertainty gnawed at Amey’s heart. What would happen to her and her daughters? Was there any hope at all? Who could help them?
A neighbor of theirs, who often helped the beleaguered family, suggested Amey and her daughters attend church services led by Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor Maran. When they visited, the believers instantly welcomed the widow and her daughters. Amey immediately felt peace.
“When we went back home that day, I asked my daughters what they felt,” Amey said. “All of them felt so great as they could experience peace and joy.”
A New Business and Blessing
Soon after, the Lord inspired her to open a spice business. The new venture, blessed and prayed for by the pastor, brought in the much-needed income to support Amey and her daughters.
“I have no words to thank my Lord Jesus for the miracles that He has done in my life,” Amey says. “I am so thankful He has saved me and also protected me in order to be the strength for my daughters. Now we are living with God’s grace, and our lives have been blessed immensely.”
Think About It
Like Amey and her daughters, there are many women and their families left to pick up the pieces after their husbands pass away. If you would like to help them, visitgfa.org/gw/widows
Last updated on: September 29, 2022 at 6:13 pm By GFA Staff Writer
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing Samali and her family as they suffered through abandonment, fear, sickness and discrimination, and the Sisters of Compassion whom God used to turn their sorrow into gladness.
Samali felt Ceyone’s forehead. It was hot with fever. For Samali, life couldn’t be much worse. She had already been abandoned by her husband who had left her for a life of crime, she was badly treated by her in-laws, and anxiety for her children’s future filled her heart. Now her eldest son, no older than 5 years old, had a critically high fever that wasn’t going away.
Samali quickly dialed a number on her phone. On the other end, women dressed in white saris with a gray band answered. They dropped everything they were doing to rush to Samali’s home. The Sisters of Compassion prayed earnestly for Ceyone once they saw the helpless little one seriously ill.
By God’s power and grace, Samali’s son was healed completely! It was a miracle. That night Samali’s anxious heart experienced a miracle, too, as she believed in Jesus—the God who healed her son.
Quit School and Married Young
Samali, pictured here with her youngest son, experienced the love and power of Christ through answered prayer.
Samali grew up very poor. Her family was unable to support her all the way through her schooling, so she quit school after the fifth grade and later got married young. Samali moved into the home of her husband’s family. Life was contented and happy—until her husband, Kairav, began to drink.
Kairav’s drinking problem grew into a critical addiction. He started drinking in the morning. Eventually, after his two children were born, Kairav stopped going to work, and he began to steal his wife’s jewelry to buy alcohol. But Kairav didn’t just take his wife’s possessions; he also began to steal from his family members, his neighbors and shops around his village to feed his addiction.
Soon Kairav became a sought-after thief. His neighbors would sometimes catch Kairav and beat him, but nothing changed Kairav’s heart. He went from village to village so he wouldn’t get caught by the authorities. Innocent Samali bore the brunt of her husband’s poor decisions as her angry neighbors threatened her while they searched her home to find Kairav.
To make matters more painful, Samali’s in-laws started to mistreat her. Hurt and with no support from her runaway husband, Samali left her in-laws and returned to her parents’ home to find refuge. But Samali’s troubles traveled with her in her heart. Anxiety, fear and abandonment seemed to have victory over her life and emotions.
Sisters of Compassion Minister to Samali
In the village where Samali’s parents lived, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Sisters of Compassion served the men and women around them. One day Samali made her way to a friend’s house. There, she found the Sisters of Compassion having a prayer meeting with her friend. Samali silently joined them. She sat and listened to God’s Word for the first time in her life.
After the prayers, the Sisters of Compassion chatted with Samali and taught her sad story. The sisters gave her their phone number and told her she could call them whenever she needed prayer.
Throughout the following weeks, the sisters began to visit Samali from time to time to check on her and to bring some joy and comfort into her life. When they received the anxious phone call from Samali the night of her son’s high fever, they willingly came to pray for him. Healing took place that night—not only in Ceyone’s body, but also in Samali’s heart. One found new health; the other found new life in God’s love.
New Hope, New Life
As Samali’s faith in Jesus grew, she began to attend church with the Sisters of Compassion. She started to see how the Lord answered her prayers and the prayers of the women missionaries. The Lord provided a job for her, which enabled her to send Ceyone to school. She also began to pray for Kairav’s life to be turned around.
By God’s redemptive power, Samali received word from her in-laws that her husband had returned home after being gone for an entire year. When she and her children went to visit Kairav, Samali could see a change in his life. He wasn’t drinking so heavily or stealing as much as he had been. It was another answer to prayer.
‘God Removed My Sorrows’
Samali’s life now has true hope for the future, and though she still faces difficulties, she is no longer alone or anxious about the future. She knows Jesus is with her. As the Sisters of Compassion bear Samali’s burdens and join her in prayer for her husband and the well-being of her children, Samali knows the Lord will answer.
“I am so very thankful to God and the Sisters of Compassion team for introducing Jesus to me,” she says.
“I was going through a tough time in life, but God removed my sorrows. I have overcome the sad situation.”
Please pray for Samali and her children. Pray also for her husband, Kairav, to come to know the hope and peace she has found in Christ.
*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.
Last updated on: October 27, 2019 at 2:37 pm By Karen Mains
This unfortunate widow lost her husband to a tiger attack in Asia.
Wills Point, Texas – GFA (Gospel for Asia) – Use Mother’s Day to Honor Remarkable Moms & Educate Needy Girls
I have this gnawing intuition that Mother’s Day might be utilized as a day to contribute positively and substantively to the plight of women worldwide.
Originally, in fact, Mother’s Day was organized for just such a purpose. Started in 1908 by Anna Jarvis to honor her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, the daughter wanted to continue the work her mother had started.
I have this gnawing intuition that Mother’s Day might be utilized as a day to contribute positively and substantively to the plight of women worldwide.
Ann Reeves Jarvis had been a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. She had also created Mother’s Day Work Clubs to address public health issues and to teach local woman how to properly care for their children. In 1868, Ann Reeves Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” where mothers gathered intentionally with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.
In 1870, Julia Ward Howe, the abolitionist and suffragette, wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” which asked mothers to unite together in promoting world peace. Anna Jarvis, the daughter, was appalled by the eventual commercialization of her original idea of Mother’s Day, which Woodrow Wilson proclaimed a national holiday in 1914 by presidential proclamation.
In May of 1968, Coretta Scott King, the wife of Martin Luther King Jr., hosted a march on Mother’s Day in support of underprivileged women and children. Incredibly, she did this one month after her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, was assassinated in April of that year.
I think we can safely assess that the original intents for Mother’s Day were to honor our individual mothers in some way but to also leverage the day into meaningful altruistic enterprises.
Certainly, there must be a portion of that $23,000,600,000 that retailers wouldn’t mind sharing in order to prevent the swelling demographic of 100,000,000 or so missing women. I wonder if we could possibly redirect our attention (or at least part of it) on this day to honor the remarkable mothers of the world, those who despite untold and unbelievable circumstances have survived.
I get frustrated when I am inconvenienced if the electricity in my house goes out after a storm (and which the electric company soon fixes even if I don’t make a phone call of complaint). I do not have to plod across enemy lines in war-torn territory while balancing a small bundle of possessions on my head, cradling a nursing infant in my arms and dragging two other frightened and weary children by my side. I do not have to cook inside a hut where the smoke fills my lungs and brings on chronic pulmonary distress. These are inconveniences.
I think we can safely assess that the original intents for Mother’s Day were to honor our individual mothers in some way but to also leverage the day into meaningful altruistic enterprises.
Let’s see if we can’t discover ways to honor the truly remarkable moms and mothers of the world—those who scrape gardens out of depleted soil, spend hours a day hauling water, eat whatever meal remains after the men have left the table, find ways to keep clean and to organize their living spaces, put up with abusive mothers-in-law (with whom many are forced to live with), find the energy despite their own disabilities to raise children with love, insist that their daughters as well as their sons attend school to receive at least a modicum of education, and find ways to supplement their subsistence incomes.
There are an estimated 350,000 Protestant churches in the United States. (I know because our ministry used to send direct mail to most of them.) According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), there are some 17,156 Catholic parishes in the U.S. Most of these Christian centers have charities and mission outreaches they support. What if these congregations could find a way to honor remarkable moms in need. I can’t help dreaming of the impact a coordinated effortto sustain the mothers of the world—those who are now mothers, those who will be mothers, those who have lost their children and have outlived all or some of their offspring.
A loving mother in India poses for the camera with her newborn baby.
Certainly, these churches understand those rolling commands spoken by the prophet Isaiah centuries ago. He speaks for the Old Testament YAHWEH who expresses displeasure with the Israelites’ pseudo-religion:
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide from your own flesh?”
—Isaiah 58: 6,7
The irony of the missing-women quandary—enabled by entrenched cultural attitudes and systemic discrimination against the female sex—is that many places in the world with a skewed sex ratio are now experiencing such high female shortages that there are no longer enough women to mate in marriage with the existing male population. Think about that 1:06 sex ratio (l:06 men to every one woman); multiply it into the millions. Can you imagine what that means?
The Wall Street Journal focused an article on this topic that dealt with South Korea:
“A cultural preference for male children has cost Asia dearly . . .
“Not just a human-rights catastrophe, it is also a looming demographic disaster. With Asian birthrates already plummeting, that means millions of women will never be mothers, and the economic and social impact on some of the world’s largest countries is incalculable.
“For decades, South Korea was Exhibit A in this depressing trend. By 1990, as medical advances made prenatal sex selection routine, the ratio of male-to-female babies soared in South Korea to the world’s highest, at 116.5 males for every 100 females.”
Projections made by the Population Council, a New York City-based research center, indicate that there will be an increase to 150 million missing women by 2035.
The world is just sensing the demographic wave that was set into motion years ago. This means that in China, in 2035, there will be as many as 186 single men for every 100 women. By 2060, in India, the sex ratio could curve even higher: 191 men for each 100 women.
The governments of both countries have established means and laws to correct this extraordinary deviation, and some progress is being felt. Fetal ultrasound imaging has been restricted and legislation aimed at gender equality has been enacted. China even offers financial incentives to couples with daughters and announced it was abandoning its one-child policy. But demographers warn that even if both countries brought their sex ratios to normal, the damage has been done. Hundreds of millions of Asian men in their 50s will still be unmarried in 2070. In India, the result is projected to be around 15 percent.
I would suggest we find ways to emphasize the education of girls (our future mothers) in all the countries of the world and particularly in those that are high on the missing-women list.
South Korea, once the Exhibit A in the “depressing trend,” is now—partly because of the political insistence of a growing body of educated women—beginning to reduce its sex ratio through a variety of intentional national policies. By 2005, the ratio had become 110 males for every 100 female babies. Five years later, the ratio became 107, finally normalizing at the natural level of 105.
So, if I, a one-woman bandwagon, were going to organize some sort of national solidarity movement with the remarkable mothers of the world who are surviving circumstances that would have sent me screaming into the bush like a banshee, I would suggest we find ways to emphasize the education of girls (our future mothers) in all the countries of the world and particularly in those that are high on the missing-women list.
Why education when other immediate needs are so great? Education first because it changes the whole trajectory of one child’s life, and when women are educated, it ensures economic advantages for the whole nation.
The World Bank maintains, “The power of girls’ education on national economic growth is undeniable: a 1 percentage point increase in female education raises the average gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.3 percentage points and raises annual GDP growth rates by 0.2 percentage points.”
The World Bank stresses that girls’ education goes beyond getting girls into school. It is also about ensuring that girls learn and feel safe in school. One research study in Haiti indicated that “one in three Haitian women (ages 15–49) has experienced physical and/or sexual violence, and that of women who received money for sex before turning 18 years old, 27 percent reported schools to be the most common location for solicitation.”
The World Bank maintains, “The power of girls’ education on national economic growth is undeniable…”
The fact sheet on girls’ education provided by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) explains:
Some 31 million girls of primary school age are not in school, 17 million of which are expected to never enter school.
Some 34 million female adolescents are missing secondary schools, which often offer vocational skills that are essential for procuring future jobs.
Two-thirds of the 774 million illiterate people in the world are female.
I love this beautiful story from the archives of Gospel for Asia’s field reports:
One day a cook at a Bridge of Hope center noticed an elderly woman begging on the street. Some 75,000 children from the lowest levels of poverty in Asia are each being sponsored for $35 per month so they can receive education in the Bridge of Hope centers, one meal a day, school supplies and periodic medical checkups.
The cook was distressed because the older woman had a child in tow: a little girl, filthy and ragged. Often adult beggars use children as bait to receive monies, then pocket the funds and do nothing for the child.
“Why are you exploiting this child?” the cook challenged, and to his surprise, the older woman broke into tears and wept.
She wasn’t a professional beggar but the grandmother of the little girl, Daya, who had been abandoned by both her mother and father. Without income and desperate, the grandmother had begun begging at bus stops, train stations and on the streets. With a change of heart, the cook invited the grandmother to enroll Daya in the Gospel for Asia-supported Bridge of Hope center, which was a building wedged between a railway station and a slum, consequently available to children without a future.
A young Southern Indian holds an orphan child, depictive of so many abandoned girls like little Daya, who need a remarkable mom.
The little girl was enrolled in the learning center but was so filthy that other parents complained, and the Bridge of Hope staff did an intensive scrub session to relieve the child of dirt and germs and the same filthy clothes she wore unwashed each day. They introduced her to soap and taught her to use it when she washed. Indeed, Daya’s future hung in the balance. If rejected from the Bridge of Hope center, she would return to the streets as one of the hundreds of thousands of child beggars in Asia. At some point, she would likely join the 20 to 30 million other boys and girls who are exploited as child laborers. Or worse yet, she would be entrapped in prostitution.
So cleaned up and scrubbed, little Daya, 8 years of age, was enrolled in the Bridge of Hope learning center and the same cook who had challenged her grandmother begging on the streets now provides the child (and the other children in the center between the railroad and the slum) one nourishing and well-balanced meal per day.
More than six years later, Daya knows how to use a bar of soup. She wears the beautiful dress the other girls wear: a school uniform. She is doing well at school and wants to become—no surprise—a teacher herself.
This Mother’s Day, you might want to consider inviting your extended family to help sponsor a future, potentially remarkable mom for $35 a month—that’s $420 a year—well within the range of the accumulated income of a American nuclear family. Or perhaps your civic group or your whole church would like to create a “solidarity unit,” a united front of some kind and take on 10 little girls, dirty and hungry, some without even an aging grandmother to look out for them. Think of this as a preventive strike: Sponsor them now before they become part of that tragic 100-million-missing-woman statistic. I’m no mathematician, but 10 multiplied by $420 is $4,200—well within the donor capacities of a church, or a civic group or a neighborhood association or a women’s club.
The millions of children in Asia who are caught in bonded labor are not just numbers or statistics—they are real children.
My sister is 10 years old. Every morning at 7 she goes to the bonded labor man, and every night at 9 she comes home. He treats her badly. He hits her if he thinks she is working slowly, or if she talks to the other children, he yells at her. He comes looking for her if she is sick and cannot go to work. I feel this is very difficult for her. I don’t care about school or playing. I don’t care about any of that. All I want is to bring my sister home from the bonded labor man. For 600 rupees I can bring her home—that is our only chance to get her back. We don’t have 600 rupees…we will never have 600 rupees [the equivalent of U.S. $14].
The GFA website explains: “The millions of children in Asia who are caught in bonded labor are not just numbers or statistics—they are real children. Though nameless and faceless on the streets where they live, each one was created with love and is known by God.
“It is doubtful they’ve ever held a toothbrush or a bar of soap; they’ve probably never eaten an ice-cream cone or cradled a doll. The child laborers of Asia toil in fireworks, carpet and match factories; quarries and coal mines; rice fields, tea plantations and pastures; and even brothels. Because they are exposed to dust, toxic fumes, pesticides and disease, their health is compromised; their bodies are crippled from carrying heavy weights.”
What if our Mother’s Day expenditures had something to do on a grand scale with little Dayas all over the world, who with a helping hand, could become remarkable moms instead of missing mothers?
I have a granddaughter who is 10 years old. Four mornings a week, I pick up Eliana and her brother, Nehemiah, to drive them to school. This is to help their mother who was married to my son who passed away. She is raising three children alone and has a full-time job. Our son, her husband and their father, died five years ago at age 41 of blastic mantel cell lymphoma.
According to the studies on children raised without fathers, they are vulnerable. So we live close, are on-call when babysitters fall through and try to do lots of one-on-ones. I am certain my granddaughter Eliana, age 10, will never have to worry about entering bonded labor or be forced to go begging on the streets. But for so many young girls in Asia, this will be their fate … unless we intervene.
What if our Mother’s Day expenditures had something to do on a grand scale with little Dayas all over the world, who with a helping hand, could become remarkable moms instead of missing mothers?
WILLS POINT, TX — U.S. mission organization GFA World (www.gfa.org) is responding to deadly floods in the South Asian nation of Nepal — a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Helene in the U.S.
As the Southeastern U.S. reels from the devastation and death toll caused by Helene, the landlocked nation of Nepal — famous for Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak — has also suffered deadly flooding on a massive scale.
In Nepal, torrential monsoon rains triggered floods and landslides that have claimed nearly 200 lives with dozens still missing, including in the capital, Kathmandu.
In Lalitpur, a city with 300,000 residents south of the capital, rescue teams were digging with their bare hands around the clock to reach people buried under thick mud and rubble, according to reports.
‘Heart-Wrenching’ Situation
“The situation in Nepal is heart-wrenching right now,” said Bishop Daniel, president of GFA World, a faith-based ministry that supports national missionaries across Asia and Africa.
Thousands of people are in desperate need of food and shelter after flood waters and rivers of thick mud barreled through the Kathmandu valley, the Texas-based organization reported.
“Our local partners in Nepal are providing relief aid such as food for those affected, and reports are trickling in of church members who’ve lost their homes,” Bishop Daniel said. “We’re asking people to keep all those suffering in Nepal in their prayers, along with those suffering in the southern U.S.”
Located between India and China, Nepal is used to heavy annual monsoon rains, but experts say the scale of this flooding is unprecedented, causing chaos across central and eastern parts of the country.
National missionaries trained and supported by the organization trek through the Himalaya Mountains to share the love of God with people in remote villages and pray with those who are sick.
About GFA World (formerly Gospel for Asia)
GFA World is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping thousands of national missionaries bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and sharing the love of God. In a typical year, this includes thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in hundreds of villages and remote communities, and helping more than 150,000 families break the cycle of poverty through income-generating gifts. More than 40,000 fresh water wells have been drilled since 2007, hundreds of thousands of women are now empowered through literacy training, and Christ-motivated ministry takes place every day throughout 18 nations. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit the Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by KP Yohannan, issued this final part of the GFA Special Report update on the desperate plight of widows in both affluent and developing nations.
Widows like these from across South Asia need assistance to alleviate their difficult circumstances.
Persistent Superstitions
Many might think such marginalization only happened in centuries past, but these recent stories illustrate that ancient cultural customs, superstitions and prejudices persist. According to the Global Fund for Widows, not only do many nations prevent widows from inheriting her rightful assets when her husband dies, some allow women to become part of his estate.
This widow is living with her son, and his family in West Bengal India. Her husband was killed by a tiger while working. Some widows even witness those attacks and experience post-traumatic stress disorder while grieving.
Such realities emphasize the need for International Widows Day, 15 years after the Loomba Foundation established the first observance to draw attention to widows’ experiences and galvanize more public support.
They are “stigmatized, shunned and shamed” the UN says. “And many of these abuses go unnoticed, even normalized. International Widows Day is an opportunity for action towards achieving full rights and recognition for widows.”
Then there are the problems caused by war and other conflicts. To examine this, the UNHCR—the UN Refugee Agency—dispatched a reporter to Mosul, Iraq, near the end of the government’s three-year-long, on-and-off battle to overcome militant extremists.
The agency examined the impact of fighting, which continued long after the battle ended. Among the victims were Asmaa Mahmood, captured along with her husband and their two young daughters. Two weeks after their capture and separation, Asmaa learned her husband had been killed. As would be expected, she suffered from shock, psychological trauma and grief.
Policy reforms that can help address disadvantages to widows, the World Bank says, are regarding property ownership, inheritance rights, registration of customary marriages and widows’ pensions.
More than 900,000 fled after the final military operation began to retake the city in late 2016. At one camp operated by the UNHCR and its partners, female-headed households made up more than a quarter of the total: 1,250 out of 4,463 families.
Widows like 25-year-old Asmaa faced desperate straits. She hadn’t even told her children of their father’s death after arriving at the refugee camp, evading the truth by telling her girls he had been working and would soon return.
“I am so exhausted worrying about the future of my children,” she said. “Now I have no one to rely on. All I want is to provide a good living for my two daughters. I don’t worry about myself. I just don’t want my daughters to feel any different from other girls who have a father.”
These widows living in the slums of Mumbai gather together for support, prayer and practical assistance from the local pastors and Sisters of Compassion serving with Gospel for Asia (GFA World).
Given such earth-shaking situations, the 2019 release of a widow-linked television series may seem like a trifling thing. Yet, despite the six-hour series being primarily an adventure tale, the airing of The Widow on Amazon Prime shows a symbolic consciousness of the situation.
Co-produced by Amazon and Britain’s ITV, the eight episodes drew a critical review in the influential The Atlantic magazine. Yet reviewer Sophie Gilbert noted star Kate Beckinsale gave the main character a “confidence in her action scenes that’s intermittently thrilling.” In real life, widows’ courage is indeed something to behold. While a TV mini-series highlights their plight before viewers, widows require real substantive action by governments, NGOs and individuals like you and me to help them survive financially and emotionally, even as they suffer through their grief.
Quiet Help
While International Widows Day places a spotlight on the problems facing widows, much of the work being done to alleviate their suffering and deprivation occurs in quiet ways.
In 2018, Gospel for Asia (GFA) had 32 teams working across South Asia, where 22 percent of the global population of widows lives, to address widows’ specific needs.
In Asian cultures, many widows are seen as a curse and may be shunned by society, including close relatives.
The following facts show a sampling of what desperate widows face in this part of the world:
Widows are often forcibly evicted from their homes and extended families by the husband’s family after his death.
Widows are often erroneously accused of having caused the deaths of their husbands.
Since widows’ education level is typically much lower, 19 million of them live in extreme poverty, earning less than $2 a day.
Remarriage by widows in this part of the world is low, so street begging or prostitution often becomes a way of life for younger widows.
Many widows are left to care for their children with little help from relatives.
And sometimes children are forcibly removed from their moms.
When not removed, children from low-income families often have to enter the labor force to support their widowed mothers and other siblings.
Consider these practical examples of the impact of widowhood on real people in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and other parts of South Asia—home to 57.8 million widows. There’s Riya, who at 57 became shrouded by the shame of widowhood when her husband died from an unknown illness. Overwhelmed by sorrow and guilt, for three years she struggled to leave her bed.
Then there is Prema, the mother of two young children who suddenly found herself widowed and without a source of income.
And Amey, who struggled to overcome nearly insurmountable odds when riots touched her small village and those responsible tried to extort a fortune from her husband, a dry-fish vendor. When he refused, they killed him in his home. That left Amey with four children to raise by herself, forcing her to sell their belongings in a desperate struggle for survival. When she ran out of money and revived her husband’s business, her success sparked jealousy from other merchants, who harassed her and even tried to kill her.
I had to go through lots of problems after my husband passed away,” Amey (above) recalled. “To protect my children, I had to sell my belongings … Our economic situation went from bad to worse … I was mentally drained …”
In each case, help from Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers brought light and hope and shared how much God loved and cared for them. Thanks to a Gospel for Asia (GFA) initiative teaching women to develop skills and become self-supporting, Prema learned how to sew and received a sewing machine to help her generate income. After a neighbor invited Amey to attend church, she and her daughters found the inspiration and support to start a new spice business.
“I have no words to thank my Lord Jesus for the miracles that He has done in my life,”Amey says. “I am so thankful He has saved me and also protected me in order to be the strength for my daughters. Now we are living with God’s grace, and our lives have been blessed immensely.”
Besides income-generating gifts, Gospel for Asia (GFA) supplies widows with clothing and other essentials, comfort, encouragement and the vital link of prayer support. Gospel for Asia (GFA) also maintains a website, www.mygfa.org, that equips those who want to conduct grassroots fundraising campaigns. Those funds help the poor, including widows, and equip missionaries in the most difficult areas of Asia—where millions have yet to experience His love.
“The Bible says that true religion is to care for orphans and widows in their distress,” Dr. Yohannan says. “The challenge facing the Church around the world today is to not just read the Bible, but follow its teachings.”
These teachings apply the same today as they did thousands of years ago.
If you would like to do something now to help widows around the world, please consider one, or more, of the following ideas:
Raise awareness of the plight of widows by sharing this article with your friends and family via social media, email or a link on your blog.
Interview a GFA World representative on this topic for your podcast or radio show. To facilitate that idea, email [email protected].
Make a donation to help widows in Asia through a gift to GFA World.
Identify a widow that you know personally and invite her to lunch or dinner, with the goal to understand her and her needs better. Act on what you learn to make a difference for that one person.
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 KP Yohannan, issued this Special Report update on the desperate plight of widows in both affluent and developing nations.
After two decades of fighting to eliminate the U.S. military’s “widow’s tax,” Cathy Milford finally succeeded, but she won’t benefit from that change for another three years. That’s how long it will take until she receives full survivor benefits instead of only partial. Though the U.S. Congress passed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the bill only phases out the tax by 2023.
Cathy Milford successfully fought to eliminate the U.S. military’s “widow’s tax”. Photo by Doug Jones, Medium
“This is just an awful thing to do,” Milford said at a Capitol Hill rally in May 2019, recalling her 25 years of pushing for repeal; her late husband, Harry, suffered a fatal aneurysm soon after retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard. “Every time I talk about this, I have to dig my husband up and bury him all over again.”
The dispute revolved around awards given to survivors of veterans who die of service-related causes (the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation program, or DIC) and a separate, life insurance-type program known as the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). While individuals who qualified for either have received full payouts, those getting income from both saw SBP funds reduced by one dollar for every DIC dollar since 1972. The difference of up to $1,000 a month affects 67,000 surviving spouses.
“This problem goes back decades, but this year we finally solved it once and for all,” said Maine senator Susan Collins after the bill’s passage in December 2019.
That securing additional benefits for military survivors took such a protracted fight symbolizes the plight of widows worldwide. Whether husband-less females in Nigeria who have been branded “witches,” women in Asia blamed for their husbands’ deaths and other calamities, or those in South Africa who can lose inheritance rights when in-laws object, the world’s 258 million widows often face an uphill battle.
Women who lose a spouse can face difficult and complicated problems even in affluent societies, as the U.S. military widows’ battle illustrates.
Nearly one in 10 lives in extreme poverty, says the United Nations (UN). While widows have specific needs, their voices are often missing from policies affecting them.
“In some Asian cultures, when a woman’s husband dies, she is often stripped of her dignity, her worth and her human rights,” says K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA). “Many of these widows are deprived of their home, their property and their possessions—leaving them destitute. Lacking the ability to earn a living, and with no access to savings or credit, millions of widows all across Asia fight every day for their survival, all the while shunned and shamed.”
As the military widows’ battle illustrates, women can face problems even in affluent societies. Another example of the slighting of American widows surfaced in a 2018 report. The Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reviewed cases of dual eligibility, where a widow can receive her benefit or a deceased spouse’s. The OIG found that 82 percent of the time the Social Security Administration failed to follow its own procedures for spelling out maximum benefit options.
According to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Loomba Foundation’s most recent World Widows Report:
The United States ranks third in the world for the most widowed women with more than 14 million.
Forty-nine percent earn less than $25,000 a year, meaning “widowhood is often a ticket to poverty.”
In practical numbers:
More than 740,000 widows are unable to provide food, shelter and basic necessities for themselves.
Secondary losses often crush widows, who subsequently may lose homes, jobs, insurance or credit.
In giving 100 stress points for losing a spouse, the Holmes and Rahe Social Readjustment Scale ranks loss of a spouse at No. 1. Other losses can push a widow’s stress level near 300 points, meaning an 80 percent chance of serious illness.
Three Sisters of Compassion from Gospel for Asia (GFA World) were photographed for this disheartened widow who had recently lost her husband to a tiger attack — a common occurrence in the Sundarbans of West Bengal, India.
Worldwide Problem
Problems for widows exist worldwide. According to the World Bank, it is especially bad in much of Africa, where marriage is the sole basis for women’s access to social and economic rights, which often vanish after widowhood or divorce. Policy reforms that can help address disadvantages to widows, the World Bank says, are regarding property ownership, inheritance rights, registration of customary marriages and widows’ pensions.
Widows: Invisible & Excluded – Asli Demirguc-Kunt Photo by Worldbank.org
“In the face of divorce or widowhood, women often struggle with serious economic hardship,” said Asli Demirguc-Kunt, director of research at the World Bank.
For example, women frequently inherit nothing when a marriage ends. They can be shut out of labor markets, own fewer productive assets and bear more responsibility for caring for children or the elderly.
“Just as widows are often hidden from view in their own communities, the absence of data limits broader public awareness of the issue,” said the story “Invisible and Excluded.” “Quantifying the prevalence of widowhood and divorce requires information on both current widows and divorcees as well as the marital history of currently married women, and this is only available in 20 countries.”
Nearly one in 10 lives in extreme poverty, says the United Nations. While widows have specific needs, their voices are often missing from policies affecting them.
Such disregard can cut deeply, which one 49-year-old Nigerian discovered after her husband committed suicide in 2014. Four months after his death, Christiana came across his bones after searching through forests for three days. Afterward, his relatives summoned her and questioned her intensely, seeking evidence her husband did not die because of her witchcraft.
“They said that I killed my husband,” she told freelance reporter Orji Sunday, “and declared me a witch.” Sunday went on to chronicle how numerous Nigerian widows face similar challenges rooted in cultural practices. Many traditions force women to take an oath to prove her innocence when her husband dies.
“Others confine the widow in place for [a] specific mourning period and others shave her hair, yet others insist that the widow drink the water with which her late husband was washed. Some are given to the brother of the deceased,” Sunday wrote. “Legislation protecting widows is lacking in many states in the country, and in regions where the laws exist implementation is far from convincing.”
The earthquakes in Nepal left this woman as a widow with young kids. Like many others in her nation, she doesn’t know how to start her life again.
Similar stories appear well beyond Africa. In Nepal, a middle-aged woman was blamed for her husband’s death in 2014. Five years later, people in her village accused her of causing the death of a buffalo and beat and tortured her.
“This is a representative example of how a widow is mistreated and traumatized in the country, how widows are looked down upon and treated as inauspicious,” wrote Prakriti Sapkota in a 2019 report. “Widows are among the most vulnerable categories of people in the country. The social stigma attached to them deprive them of their basic human rights and freedom of speech. They are [the] prey of physical and sexual assaults and harassments, accused of various sexual misdeeds and are socially marginalized.”
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.
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