Taking the Toilet Challenge – GFA World Report Part 1

Last updated on: September 11, 2021 at 4:30 am By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, whose heart to love and help the poor has inspired numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to serve the deprived and downcast worldwide, issued this first part of a Special Report update on Taking the Toilet Challenge, where resolving Open Defecation continues to confound the world.

In a previous special report entitled “Fight Against Open Defecation Continues,” we discussed the need for a caring response from the world to the problem of open defecation (OD) —a worldwide health crisis. In this report, I highlight ongoing long-term progress, while also contrasting the continuing challenges this issue presents to much of the developing world.

Why are Bill and Melinda Gates Spending $200 Million on Toilets?

Prof. Ravi V. Bellamkonda, “Advancing technologies for public health…” Photo by Duke University,
Pratt School of Engineering

In regard to government funding and foundation grants, the $4.5 million awarded to Duke University last November represented a modest sum. Still, the stipend for Duke’s Center for Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Infectious Disease (WaSH-AID) represented another small step in reducing open defecation by furthering testing of “reinvented toilets” and other hygienic technologies in the world’s neediest areas.

“We are grateful for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s investment in our (center) to lead collaboration with experts at Duke, across the industry and around the world to address this critical societal challenge,” said Ravi V. Bellamkonda, dean of the university’s school of engineering. “Advancing technologies for public health is particularly germane to control the spread of preventable diseases, and in this case also a fundamental human right—dignity.”¹

Symbolically, the award came on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the foundation’s “Reinvent the Toilet” challenge, which asked researchers to devise toilets that can sanitize human waste with no water, electricity, sewer or septic system. The waste treatment goals include cleaning the waste and reclaiming water to safe drinking standards and harvesting nutrients for other uses. That can be a game-changer for those living without sanitation.

The WaSH-AID Team — Duke’s WaSH-AID team focuses on the development of onsite waste treatment solutions to meet the needs of resource-constrained environments in many disadvantaged communities around the world, but also in parts of the United States, including North Carolina. Photo by Duke University, Center for WaSH-AID

About halfway into this initiative, one inventor produced a system called the Omni Processor. Although technically not a toilet, the Omni is an off-the-grid fecal sludge treatment plant that outputs purified water and may one day also produce electricity. A working prototype has been operating in Dakar, Senegal, in Africa, for a few years, with the latest version licensed to companies in countries including the U.S. and China.² Project director Brian Arbogast believes the technology will eventually influence sanitation in the developed world, such as green buildings, septic systems and off-the-grid cabins.

After spending a day at the foundation’s office in early 2019, a Business Insider reporter waxed enthusiastically about the toilet technology and other initiatives addressing such problems as extreme poverty, child mortality and malaria: “Hearing about their work was inspiring and gave me hope for the future …” wrote Julie Bort. “And the reason is simple. These people are taking on some of the world’s hairiest, most complex and seemingly intractable problems. And they are winning.”³

Family in front of outdoor toilets built through GFA World donations — Some of the best solutions for communities in need of low-cost sanitation are just simple outdoor toilets like these built by Gospel for Asia (GFA World) to serve this entire snake charmer village in Uttar Pradesh.

A Formidable Problem: High-Tech or Low-Tech Solutions?

Not everyone is as impressed with the foundation’s efforts. Two years after the initiative’s unveiling, an environmental engineer whose business focuses on developing low-cost toilets said communities that desperately need sanitation will be unable to afford the advanced technology promoted by the initiatives.

We “should be investing more in low-tech rather than high-tech toilets,” said Jason Kass, founder of Toilets for People. “But high-tech solutions and research projects are sexier and more eye-catching, so they are more interesting for universities.”⁴

The fact that in its first seven years the Gates Foundation invested $200 million in the toilet challenge demonstrates the formidable nature of ending open defecation. Yet it is a battle that must be waged.

Open defecation (OD)

is a disease-producing practice that contaminates drinking water and spreads diseases such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhea, which is particularly fatal among children. The incidence of such disease can disrupt young people’s education. In addition, females who engage in open defecation are more vulnerable to sexual violence.

The problem has generated widespread responses, such as India’s five-year-long Swachh Barat Abhiyan (“Clean India”) campaign that installed 110 million latrines by October 2019, with accompanying claims of success by Prime Minister Narenda Modi.

One of the NGOs helping PM Modi in this campaign is GFA World, which has worked tirelessly to help install over 32,000 toilets to date in some of the most remote and difficult-to-reach locations across South Asia..

In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared a “Toilet Revolution,” calling on local governments to improve sanitation in hopes of attracting more tourism since a bad “toilet landscape” had harmed the Asian giant’s image.⁵

Young boy practifing open defecation — Open defecation is still a problem in Nigeria where over 46 million people defecate in the open and over 120 million people do not have a decent toilet. Photo by WaterAid Nigeria, Twitter

Not coincidentally, in November 2018 the city of Beijing played host to the “Reinvented Toilet Expo,” which Gates projects could create a $6billion-a-year market by 2030. Kinya Seto, the president of Japanese exhibitor LIXIL, said innovative companies have a golden opportunity to do well by doing good: “We can help jump-start a new era of sanitation for the 21st century by developing solutions that can leapfrog today’s existing infrastructure, functioning anywhere and everywhere.”⁶

The latest nation to attack open defecation is Nigeria, where fewer than half the households have their own toilet. In 2016, the government launched an action plan aiming to end the practice by 2025 by providing equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene services, and strengthening community approaches. However, three years later the government had failed to release funding for the initiative. In November 2018, with parts of the country facing high levels of water-borne diseases, President Muhammadu Buhari declared a state of emergency.⁷

Two women and child outside of outdoor toilet — In Dimbroko, Cote d’Ivoire, Habitat for Humanity implemented a community-led pilot project to end open defecation. Habitat successfully worked with the government, private sector and community representatives to create sanitation facilities and promote proper hygiene practices. Photo by Habitat for Humanity, Ending Open Defecation in Cote d’Ivoire

Donate to Sanitation Projects »

Safe, sanitary outdoor toilets typically cost around $540, to build in Asia, and benefit multiple families in remote, impoverished communities. You can help provide one for a needy village, by donating a portion of the construction costs through Gospel for Asia (GFA World).

Read the rest of this Gospel for Asia – Transforming Communities (GFA World) Special Report: Taking The Toilet Challenge — Part 2

About GFA World

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World expects to launch programs in numerous African nations, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.

Read more blogs on GFA World, Toilet Crisis, Poverty and Open Defecation on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Learn more by reading this Special Report from Gospel for Asia: Fight Against Open Defecation Continues — Using Outdoor Toilets to Improve Sanitation

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Read what 25 Christian Leaders are affirming about GFA World.

This Special Report originally appeared on gfa.org.

Gospel for Asia Calls on People to Pray, Fast Now for ‘Theater of Fear’ in Afghanistan

Last updated on: September 6, 2021 at 6:18 pm By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX — One of the world’s largest mission organizations is calling on Christians around the world not to carry on “like normal” while people in Afghanistan face terror, rape, and execution. “I pray that no church in the world worships and prays like it’s just another normal day over the coming weeks while the innocent in Afghanistan await the Taliban’s knock on their door,” said K.P. Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan), founder of GFA World, a Christian organization that helps millions of vulnerable people globally.

"We need to be on our knees in prayer now" for Afghanistan 'Theatre of Fear', says KP Yohannan, GFA World missions organization founder — **PRAY FOR AFGHANISTAN ‘THEATER OF FEAR:’** Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is calling on Christians in the West not to carry on “like normal” while people in Afghanistan face terror, rape, and execution. “We need to be on our knees in prayer now,” says K.P. Yohannan, the mission organization’s founder. Join GFA World’s prayer effort for Afghanistan: http://www.gfa.org/press/PrayNow

As U.S. and allied troops complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan, Yohannan pleaded with people to “pray and fast” for the desperate situation.

“I can tell you now that many innocent people, including Christians, are likely going to die very soon in Afghanistan — and in other countries — at the hands of emboldened terrorists,” he said.

“These precious men, women and children need our prayers more than ever before.”

‘Theater of Fear’

“All the Afghan people — not only Christians — are living in a theater of fear,” Yohannan said. “I just heard first-hand reports that many people — and entire families — have been wandering in the desert wilderness for over a week, desperate to escape the country.”

According to reports, the Taliban are going door-to-door, hunting for Christians as well as Afghans who’ve assisted the United States. Males face execution on the spot, while women are raped and girls taken and forced into sexual slavery.

“Many in Afghanistan genuinely fear they will not see tomorrow,” Yohannan said. “The knock on their door could be the last they hear.”

“None of us should be acting like life is ‘normal’ while our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan wait in dread for the Taliban to come to their door. God moves when we choose to enter into the suffering of others. We need to be on our knees in prayer now.”

For information about GFA World’s prayer effort for the suffering people of Afghanistan, please visit this website: http://www.gfa.org/press/PrayNow

About Gospel for Asia – now GFA World

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. Gospel for Asia has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news/.

Media interested in interviews with Gospel For Asia should contact Gregg Wooding at InChrist Communications @ 972-567-7660 or [email protected]

Join the GFA World Prayer Team as we lift up in prayer the people of Asia and their needs. Receive prayer requests for Asia with a special focus each month. You can have a part in ministering to those in need—through our most powerful tool: prayer.

Read more blogs on Afghanistan, Prayer and Christian Persecution on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Read what 25 Christian Leaders are affirming about GFA World.

Source: GFA World Digital Media News Room, Afghanistan: GFA World Calls on People to Pray, Fast Now for ‘Theater of Fear’

K.P. Yohannan: Afghan Christians Are Going to Die Soon, Pray Now

Last updated on: September 6, 2021 at 6:23 pm By KP Yohannan

WILLS POINT, TX — The founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA World) and Metropolitan of Believers Eastern Church, K.P. Yohannan, issues the following urgent statement calling for global prayer on behalf of Afghanistan’s small Christian minority:

“As an Indian, I am a child of this region. I’ve also spent my entire life supporting the persecuted church in various ways throughout many countries in it. Most of that work—made possible by our supporters—I can never speak of. But, I can tell you now that many secret Christians are likely going to die very soon in Afghanistan and in other countries at the hands of emboldened terrorists. These brothers and sisters in Christ need our prayers more than ever before. Churches in every country of the world must unite their hearts in intense prayer for all those Christians in harm’s way. They are relying on us. I pray that no church in the world worships like normal over the coming weeks while Christians in Afghanistan await the Taliban’s knock on their door.”

About GFA World

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news.

Media interested in interviews with K.P. Yohannan about Afghanistan should contact 714-457-6489 or [email protected]

Read more blogs on Dr. KP Yohannan, Prayer and Persecution on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Read what 25 Christian Leaders are affirming about GFA World.

Source: GFA World Digital Media News Room, K.P. Yohannan: Afghan Christians Are Going to Die Soon, Pray Now

Gospel for Asia Summons Next Generation to ‘Fight Back’ Against ‘Chaotic’ Culture

Last updated on: August 24, 2021 at 6:37 pm By Dr. David R. Mains

WILLS POINT, TX — One of the largest mission organizations in the world — Gospel for Asia (now GFA World) — is challenging the next generation of young Christians to “fight back against the cultural attack on your faith” — as recent research shows an alarming drop in the number of under-30s embracing Christianity. From October 8-10, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is hosting the Kyrie Experience, a retreat at its Wills Point, Texas, campus — 50 miles east of Dallas — that aims to help young people “reset” their lives in a “chaotic culture” and discover their God-given purpose in the world. A radical call to step away from the busyness of life and seek God, the event draws its name from the millennia-old prayer, “Kyrie Eleison” – Lord have mercy.

As young Americans abandon their faith in alarming numbers, GFA World is hosting the Kyrie Experience to help young people reset their lives — **FAITH RESET:** As young Americans abandon their faith in alarming numbers, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is hosting the Kyrie Experience in October, a weekend retreat at its Wills Point, Texas, campus — 50 miles east of Dallas — that aims to help young people “reset” their lives and discover their God-given purpose in the world. Go to www.gfa.org/press/FaithReset.

“Staggering numbers of young Americans who’ve grown up in a Christian environment are leaving the faith and turning their backs on the church,” said Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founder, K.P. Yohannan, author of Revolution in World Missions with more than four million copies in print.

“They’re under the constant bombardment of distractions that keep them from God’s presence and His will for their lives.”

Religion ‘Not Important’

According to a Gallup poll published earlier this year, for the first time less than 50% of Americans view religion as important to them, and only 36% of Millennials — those born between 1981 and 1996 — belong to a church.

A report by Barna research last October revealed only 10% of 18-29 year olds — Millennials and Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2015 — who grew up in a Christian home or going to church were considered true Christian adherents, or what Barna defined as “resilient disciples.”

Hand On The Exit

Nearly four in every 10 of the 18-29 year olds who grew up going to church — a group Barna label “habitual churchgoers” — have “their hand on the door” and were “ready to leave the church if they do not find the connection and support they need during the pandemic.”

“Right now, ministry leaders have the opportunity to help Millennials and Gen Z realize how the silence and solitude of the current moment can be leveraged to deepen their spirituality and encourage resilient faith,” Barna’s report said.

Seeking ‘Real Experience of God’

“It’s clear that in our chaotic culture young Americans want a real experience of God,” said Yohannan. “Gospel for Asia (GFA World) has always been about equipping young people to impact their world with Christ’s love, even as they have experienced it for themselves.”

“More than ever, young people need to be effectively equipped to deal with the seductive and spiritually debilitating forces of our consumer culture.”

For details about the Kyrie Experience, visit www.gfa.org/press/FaithReset, and for young people interested in participating in this youth retreat weekend, email us at [email protected].

About GFA World

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news/.

Read more blogs on GFA World, Youth Ministry and Discipleship on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Learn more about the GFA World Youth Ministry and the young men and women that are ready for change, passionate about the Lord and eager to see more hearts surrender to His love.

Read what 25 Christian Leaders are affirming about GFA World.

Source: GFA World Digital Media News Room, GFA World Summons Next Generation to ‘Fight Back’ Against ‘Chaotic’ Culture

Water: ‘Biggest Crisis No One Is Talking About’ Says Gospel for Asia Report

Last updated on: September 10, 2022 at 6:52 pm By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide – Published a new report for World Water Day saying two-thirds of planet may face crisis shortages by 2025, 30 million in U.S. lack safe water.

The world is on the brink of a devastating water crisis that could be “much more worrying” than the COVID-19 pandemic, says a disturbing report.

Gospel for Asia report for World Water Day, March 22, says 2/3 of planet may face crisis shortages by 2025, 30 million in US lack safe water — **‘BIGGEST CRISIS NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT:’** A new report [http://www.gfa.org/press/WaterCrisis] — released by GFA World (Gospel for Asia) for World Water Day, March 22 — says two-thirds of the planet may face water shortages by 2025, 30 million people in the U.S. lack safe drinking water, and several megacities are on the verge of “running out of drinking water.”

Citing global forecasts, the report — published by GFA World (Gospel for Asia) — suggests the toxic mix of poverty, hunger and lack of safe drinking water around the world could be “potentially much more worrying than the virus spreading.”

“Two-thirds of the world’s people could face water shortages by 2025,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA World) that has clean water projects across Asia. “It’s been described as ‘the biggest crisis no one is talking about.'”

Several megacities are on the verge of “running out of drinking water,” says the report, titled Water Stress: The Unspoken Global Crisis, as World Water Day — an annual awareness event — spotlights the rising global threat.

According to BBC News, cities such as Mexico City, Mexico; Beijing, China; São Paulo, Brazil; Cairo, Egypt; Cape Town, South Africa; and even London, England, already have massive stress on their water supplies and could run out of drinking water in a few years.

Global agencies UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) place Mexico and nine African and Asian countries in the “top 10” nations with the “worst drinking water.” In the African country of Uganda, 40 percent of the population has to trek 30 minutes or more to find safe drinking water, says the report.

Two Billion Drink From ‘Feces-Contaminated’ Sources

Around the world, some 785 million people — more than double the U.S. population — don’t have basic water service, the report says. A staggering two billion people — mostly in Africa and Asia — get their drinking water from feces-contaminated ponds and watering holes, leading to often-fatal diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and dysentery.

Organizations like Gospel for Asia (GFA World) and World Vision have made clean water a top priority. Gospel for Asia (GFA World) drills about 4,000 new community wells — called “Jesus Wells” — every year, providing safe drinking water for entire villages. Over the past two decades, we have drilled more than 30,000 wells and distributed more than 58,000 home kits, called BioSand filters, that remove 98 percent of water impurities.

“Our goal is to bring people life-giving clean water,” Yohannan says, “and also to show people that we care about their most vital needs, such as water, because God loves them and values them.”

U.S.: 30 Million ‘Without Safe Water’

Americans are not exempt from the worldwide water crisis, with more than two million people in the U.S. without access to running water, and 30 million Americans lacking “safe” drinking water, according to the report.

School officials in Ohio and Pennsylvania announced last year they had found legionella — the bacteria that can cause Legionnaires’ disease — in their local water supplies. Some Texas residents were scooping water out of swimming pools after their taps ran dry following the state’s “Big Freeze” this past winter.

Those interested in supporting GFA World’s COVID 19 relief efforts in Asia, should go to: http://www.gfa.org/press/covid-19.

Media interested in interviews with Gospel For Asia should contact Gregg Wooding at InChrist Communications @ 972-567-7660 or [email protected]

About Gospel for Asia

GFA World (Gospel for Asia) 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 World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and 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.

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Read more on the World Water Crisis and the COVID 19 Crisis on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Source: GFA World Press Room, Water ‘Biggest Crisis No One Is Talking About’ Says Gospel for Asia Report

Gospel for Asia Responds as Hunger Grips COVID-Ravaged India

Last updated on: September 15, 2021 at 7:07 pm By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX — India’s devastating “second wave” of COVID-19 is overshadowing another deadly tsunami of suffering — rampant hunger. GFA World (Gospel for Asia) reported growing desperation across India as we support efforts to feed those facing starvation amid the pandemic’s continuing onslaught. We have helped feed hundreds of thousands since the pandemic began.

On World Hunger Day, May 28, GFA World reports growing desperation in India as it supports efforts to help thousands starving amid COVID 19 — **HUNGER’S DEEP SILENCE:** On World Hunger Day, May 28, Texas-based humanitarian agency Gospel for Asia (GFA World) reports growing desperation in India as it supports efforts to help thousands starving in “deep silence” amid the pandemic’s continuing onslaught.

“As COVID-19 ravages India, we’re seeing hunger on a massive scale,” said Bishop Danny Punnose, vice president of Gospel for Asia (GFA World), spotlighting the accelerating crisis on World Hunger Day, May 28.

In the nation’s pandemic hotspots, so-called “corona curfews” and lockdowns make it very difficult to get groceries — even if people have cash to spend.

‘Deep Silence’ Everywhere

“Markets are closed… no shopkeepers are willing to open their shops. People are struggling to get grocery items. (There’s) deep silence at all places,” local relief workers reported.

In India’s densely populated Uttar Pradesh state, local church members are going door-to-door, delivering free meals to COVID-impacted families in strict quarantine.

Many day laborers — among the poorest of the poor — have lost their jobs because of the pandemic, have no source of income, and no other way to get food.

Fear Grows

“The fear of going hungry, for many, is as great as the fear of the virus,” said Bishop Punnose. “Working alongside the government of India, we’re doing all we can to help relieve suffering and show people the love of God.”

Heartbroken parents were watching their children “starving to death before their eyes,” he said.

World Hunger Day — an annual awareness event — says 690 million people worldwide face chronic hunger, reportedly killing more than malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis combined.

For the latest information on GFA World’s COVID-19 efforts, visit: http://www.gfa.org/press/WorldHunger

About GFA World

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.

Media interested in interviews with Gospel For Asia should contact Gregg Wooding at InChrist Communications @ 972-567-7660 or [email protected]

Read more news on the COVID 19 Pandemic and World Hunger on Patheos from GFA World.

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Source: GFA World Digital Media News Room, Hunger Grips COVID-Ravaged India; GFA World Responds

GFA World Reports Growing Tragedy of COVID-19 ‘Widow-Maker’

Last updated on: September 22, 2021 at 7:49 pm By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX — COVID-19 is making a heart-wrenching situation even worse for abused and outcast widows around the world, says a new report for International Widows Day, June 23, an annual awareness event. The COVID pandemic is a widow-maker for thousands of the world’s most vulnerable women, causing them an “unbearable level” of sorrow and suffering, says the report — Coronavirus Intensifies Hardships for Widows — by Texas-based humanitarian agency GFA World.

‘Our Hearts Go Out’

Tragedy of COVID 'widow-maker' on International Widows Day — **TRAGEDY OF COVID ‘WIDOW-MAKER’ ON INTERNATIONAL WIDOWS DAY:** COVID-19 is making a heart wrenching situation even worse for abused and outcast widows around the world, says a new report for International Widows Day, June 23. The COVID pandemic is a widow-maker for thousands of the world’s most vulnerable women, causing them an “unbearable level” of sorrow and suffering, says the report — Coronavirus Intensifies Hardships for Widows — by GFA World.

“The pandemic is crushing widows around the globe, and our hearts go out to each and every one of them, wherever they live,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA World), an organization that helps thousands of widows in desperate circumstances — providing food, sewing machines to help them generate income, vocational training, and other aid.

“Our goal is to bring them comfort, encouragement, and God’s love,” said Bishop Danny Punnose, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) vice president. “We want them to know that God is always with them and loves them.”

The report — which also highlights the heartache and grieving of young “COVID widows” in America — describes the tragic ordeal widows are facing in different parts of the world where they’re viewed as objects of shame and treated with contempt. The pandemic, the report says, is “multiplying” their pain.

Shocking examples include:

In Nigeria, widows were locked in a room with their husbands’ corpses and forced to shave their own heads — a ritual of shame.
In Afghanistan, outcast widows established their own “colony” on a hillside above a cemetery just outside the capital, Kabul, where they live in mud homes they’ve built themselves, disowned by their families and excluded from mainstream life.
In Kenya, during COVID quarantine, there were reports of widows being driven out of their homes by their in-laws who considered them to be “excess burden.”

Globally, the United Nations warns, the pandemic “is likely leaving tens of thousands of women newly widowed” and exposed to rejection and mistreatment by their families and neighbors. Rampant hunger fueled by lockdowns and soaring unemployment makes life even harder for widows totally dependent on menial work or begging to survive.

In some countries in Asia and Africa, new widows have barely buried or cremated their husband before someone tries to take their home, land or possessions, citing loss of property rights after the husband dies.

For the latest information on GFA World’s COVID-19 relief efforts, visit: www.gfa.org/press/COVID-spike

About GFA World

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news/.

Read more blogs on GFA World, Widow, World Missions and the COVID 19 Pandemic on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

Learn more by reading this Special Report from Gospel for Asia: Widows Face Uphill Battle After Losing Spouses — The plight of widows, whether in affluent or developing nations, can be a desperate struggle

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Read what 25 Christian Leaders are affirming about GFA World.

GFA World Continues Battle Against ‘Stinkiest’ Global Health Crisis

Last updated on: May 21, 2021 at 7:23 pm By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX — A global humanitarian organization is helping combat the world’s “stinkiest” health emergency — people defecating in the open — a new report reveals. Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is installing thousands of toilets in some of the world’s remotest and least developed areas — places where people typically relieve themselves in the bushes, by the local river, or in the street. It’s part of a global effort to curb deadly diseases spread by people practicing open defecation, known as OD, says the agency’s new report Taking the Toilet Challenge.

OD spreads cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, typhoid and leads to chronic diarrhea — killing millions of children worldwide every year.

OD is not just a health crisis in the developing world — it’s also a serious issue in the United States, where cities such as San Francisco and Seattle are battling to find solutions among their growing homeless populations.

Up and Running: 32,000 Toilets

So far, GFA World has helped install more than 32,000 toilets in OD-prone locations across Asia.

““For millions around the world, the humble toilet is the best gift they can imagine,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder of the Texas-based organization that helps millions across Asia and has just launched projects in Africa. “Giving people the most basic necessities of life is one way of sharing God’s love with them.”

Global Progress

Citing progress, the organization’s report says OD has been cut in half globally in recent years. In South Asia — home to one quarter of the world’s people — the number of those practicing OD has dropped sharply from two-thirds of the population to one-third.

But, the report says, about one in every 11 people worldwide still doesn’t have access to a toilet.

The report also spotlights efforts to “reinvent the toilet” — designing toilets that process human waste without water, sewer or septic systems.

About GFA World

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.

Media interested in interviews with Gospel For Asia should contact Gregg Wooding at InChrist Communications @ 972-567-7660 or [email protected]

Read more news on the Toilet Crisis, Open Defecation on Patheos from GFA World.

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Source: GFA World Digital Media News Room, GFA World Joins Battle Against ‘Stinkiest’ Global Health Crisis

Open Defecation Fight Continues: Using Outdoor Toilets to Improve Sanitation – Part 2

Last updated on: May 29, 2023 at 2:33 am By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by KP Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this Special Report on the ongoing fight against open defecation, using outdoor toilets to improve sanitation.

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) reports on the ongoing fight against open defecation, using outdoor toilets to improve sanitation. — In this part of the slums in Mumbai, India, many people live in close proximity in unhygienic surroundings—lacking facilities like toilets and proper drainage.

What Do the World’s Sanitation Problems Have to Do with Us?

For those of us with indoor flush toilets—and clean ones at that—with sewer lines that carry waste to treatment facilities, and who live in places where waterborne and airborne bacteria are not a hazard, our response to this crisis is probably, So what? We don’t say this out loud, but like so many other dire extremes jockeying for our attention, it doesn’t really touch our lives.

However, in a majority of places, America is starting to suffer from failing infrastructure. Most of us think of that in terms of roads and bridges needing repair or major overhauling, a transportation issue. Yet infrastructure means water service, too.

Just two years ago, reporters from the Chicago Tribune conducted an exposé of the high bills being charged for water in underserved metro area neighborhoods. Maywood residents in a western suburb paid one of the region’s highest water rates, because older pipes allow major seepage. Of the 946 millions of gallons that Maywood bought from neighboring Melrose Park in 2016, some 367 million gallons, or 38.7 percent, never made it to taps. That cost residents in an already cash-strapped population nearly $1.7 million more than residents paid in other towns of similar size. And the poor are tapped for a disproportionate share of the bill.

What if I had to stand in line to use a communal latrine where flies buzzed, the floor was filthy, someone had evacuated due to acute diarrhea, and no one wanted to clean the mess? Now we’re getting closer.

Water problems may be closer than we think. In a 2012 article for a Yale University publication, reporter Cheryl Colopy—author of Dirty, Sacred Rivers: Confronting South Asia’s Water Crisis—warned: “In the United States, sewage treatment has not been a problem for the past half-century, but it could become one again as infrastructure ages and fails—especially if there is a lack of government money to replace it. In addition, certain regions of the U.S. are expected to experience water shortages as temperatures rise. New, water-saving, decentralized toilet technologies may need to be adopted not only in places like South Asia, but also in parts of the industrialized world.”

Indeed, we may be thinking more about sanitation issues in the near future. And, the burgeoning technologies used to solve defecation problems and to discover clean water solutions in the developing world may be solutions we will also seek not far down the road.

Women are prone to assault, disease runs rampant, and lives are at risk: all a result of using the bathroom outdoors.

What If You Didn’t Have a Toilet?

So I remind myself of toilet scenarios I do know about, then extrapolate some personal situations. Our home, in which we have lived for 40 years, has a septic system. During that time, we have suffered power outages amid extreme storms, meaning no water could be pumped from our underground well; this disabled our showers, faucets and toilets. I used to store plastic bottles of water so when things went black we could still brush our teeth, dress by candlelight and—get this—flush our toilets. If the power did not come back on for a couple days, frozen food thawed and excess detritus threatened to overflow the toilet basin.

So I extrapolate: What if this happened all the time? What if sewer lines broke, got clogged and backed up regularly? What if I lived in poverty, with no plumbers, no money and no electric company to call to fix this? What if I had to stand in line to use a communal latrine where flies buzzed, the floor was filthy, someone had evacuated due to acute diarrhea, and no one wanted to clean the mess? Now we’re getting closer.

A Squat Outdoor India Toilet — A well-cleaned squat toilet in Asia.

In refugee camps overseas, my travel companions and I held ridiculous discussions about who had invented squat toilets: men or women? Someone shot a photo of me holding a rickety latrine toilet door upright while a woman coworker trusted me to guard her privacy while she did her business. We may laugh, but for most of the world this situation is not a laughing matter. Smelling an overflowing latrine from 20 feet away might persuade even a Westerner to think similarly, even if only metaphorically. In truth, I don’t like the few outhouses I’ve been forced to use in the States, nor many of the spooky national park public facilities. If I can help it, I certainly avoid portable potties at public events.

When Your Septic Tank Problems Bring Embarrassment

My last attempt at toilet empathy. About 10 years after we moved to West Chicago, Illinois, our neighbor knocked on the door and apologized for complaining about the standing stinking water seeping into his property.

“I think you may be having trouble with your septic system,” he reported, a bit embarrassed.

I called two septic companies. One said I needed to have the whole septic field replaced; cost: $10,000. The other service man diagnosed another problem but with a similar estimate. Then I went to the DuPage County Health Department and asked what septic firms they would recommend. I called Black Gold, whose reps complained about the septic map drawn by the company that laid our field—that was now leaking.

“Would the health department let us get away with a layout like this?” he asked his partner. They both obviously thought the field plan had been rendered by some septic idiot. Sure enough, after spending about 45 minutes prodding our three-quarters-of-an-acre lot with long poles, they said: “Lady, you don’t need no new septic field. The lines of what’s there ain’t connected to the tank.” Their fee: $3,000. I made a garden from areas torn up by their repairs.

Many people in Asia draw water from smelly, vile ponds — Vile, brown liquid that some in Asia count on as their water source.

So what if I lived somewhere that permanently seeped smelly, vile, germ-ridden, brown liquid? What if the river at the back of the land was a running sewer, and my grandchildren couldn’t romp and splash in it? What if the fields were filled not only with animal feces but the excreta of some 300 neighbors?

You can come up with your own empathy-building stories.

Communities Band Together to Improve Sanitation

A family in front of a GFA-provided outdoor toilet facility — A family in front of a Gospel for Asia (GFA)-provided local facility.

Prime Minister Modi and his teams are sold on community-led initiatives, and so should they be. Change works best when a whole population is committed to seeing it happen.

Community development often works best when it is exactly that: an idea that grows out of the mind of a local visionary, capable of strategic thinking but with compassion for those nearby—his or her neighbors. And when a whole community becomes involved in “cleaning up its act,” few powers on earth can withstand such initiative.

Now what’s interesting about Gospel for Asia’s stories surrounding sanitation is that it is the local pastor in the village, who out of concern and knowing that open defecation has deadly disease-breeding potential, exercises compassion to love his neighbors through his concern about the availability of latrines.

This is an excerpt from a Gospel for Asia (GFA) story that appeared on last year’s World Toilet Day. It concerns a family in one community forced to use the open fields to defecate because they had no other proper place.

Malak, before being touched by Christ’s love, had been an alcoholic. After reading the entire Bible from start to finish, Malak was transformed and abandoned the bottle. Some years later, he met Jaki, and they were married.Eventually, the couple were blessed with two children. It seemed as if all was right for Malak and his family. However, a singular problem arose: The family had no toilet. The nearest place to relieve themselves was a little less than a mile away. During extreme weather, the family was forced to stay indoors, rendering those facilities useless. Going outside in the open was degrading and unhygienic, and at nighttime it was dangerous—who knew what kind of wild animals lurked about?

However, Malak and his family prayed, and their requests did not go unanswered. During a GFA Christmas gift distribution, they received a complete sanitation facility. They no longer had to trek half a mile just to use the bathroom or use the outdoors in fear.

What an extraordinary example of love in practical action.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.” —Luke 10:27

For women like this tea estate laborer, having no outdoor toilet facility could mean risking assault as they go out into an open field in the dark.

“It’s not safe to send our people, our children, our wives or our daughters to the tea garden at night to use the toilet,” Iniyavan said.

Iniyavan made only 2,400 rupees a month, which was equivalent to about $37 (USD) a month. He wasn’t able to save enough money to construct a toilet.

Open defecation means there’s the risk of disease as families continually return to communal waste grounds

GFA-supported Compassion Services teams construct outdoor toilets, also known as sanitation facilities, for people who, like Iniyavan, do not have the means to do so on their own.

“Now, since I have this toilet built in my house, I don’t have to worry. My family and I don’t have to go to the tea garden for toilet, and it is very safe here,” Iniyavan said.

On the Brink of Innovations, Change in Sanitation

Toilet technology is on the edge of remarkable, cost-effective, ecologically friendly frontiers. They’re becoming self-cleaning and solar-powered. A solar-powered toilet that converts waste into charcoal can then be used as fertilizer. An indoor toilet that works like a garden composter, spinning the contents and reducing odor and the number of dangerous pathogens. Portable rickshaw toilets. A community bio-digester toilet designed to convert human waste into gases and manure. Once ideas begin flourishing, there is no limit to what can happen.

Granted, Prime Minister Modi’s ODF csampaign may take a little longer to succeed. But the hardest pull of any new effort is at the beginning. Once new ideas start rolling, they gather steam. Some new toilet technologies may become catalysts as well. In addition, there are hundreds of international organizations working on sanitation solutions. They understand that one size does not fit all the variables that make up the particulars in this vast discussion, but added all together, it is a prohibitive association with evidence of remarkable dedication.

And when a whole community becomes involved in “cleaning up its act,” there are few powers on earth that can withstand such initiative.

A Canadian doctor, one of those “creative renegades” unhappy with the condition of the world who I have come to admire and love, was appointed as a provincial health officer in the highlands of Papua, New Guinea. During an aerial survey, he and his team discovered one distinctly cleaner and healthier village. Far below lay the evidence of what turned out to be a pastor with basic health training who had taught his people those lessons; the difference could be seen from the air. Inspired, they searched for a more integral way of ministering and soon began using a community health evangelism methodology, which had been developed in Africa.

Sometimes we get lost in the details on the ground. We need to stand back, take deep breaths and find some way to gather broader assessments—an aerial view. Progress is being made; it’s just a little harder in some places than in others. I’m proud that Gospel for Asia is one of the players.

Shout Out to Toilets!

Christianity has everything to do with sanitation. We serve a God who is expecting us to help restore the world He created to its original design. That is a world, among many other things, without rampaging diseases. One day, Scripture promises, it will be a world without death and suffering. So in this interim, let’s hear a shout out for all the toilets in the world!

Donate to Sanitation Projects

For only $540, you will help reduce the risk of common diseases by providing a family with an outdoor toilet.

About Gospel for Asia

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially to those who have yet to hear about the love of God. In GFA’s latest yearly report, this included more than 70,000 sponsored children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.

Read the rest of Gospel for Asia’s Special Report: Fight Against Open Defecation Continues – Using Outdoor Toilets to Improve Sanitation — Part 1

Learn more by reading these Special Reports from Gospel for Asia:

Fighting Global Poverty with Ideas — Uprooting poverty requires education that transmits values
Winning the Ancient Conflict Between Man and Mosquito — Know Your Enemy or Succumb to Vector-borne Diseases

This Special Report originally appeared on gfa.org.

Read what Christian Leaders have to say about Gospel for Asia.

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Fight Against Open Defecation Continues: Using Outdoor Toilets to Improve Sanitation – Part 1

Last updated on: May 21, 2021 at 8:13 pm By GFA Staff Writer

Since I first wrote about open defecation a few years ago, efforts to combat the problem have gathered momentum. A report compiled by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in June shows the percentage of people practicing open defecation declined from 21 percent (1.3 billion) in 2000 to 9 percent (673 million) by 2017.

While this is encouraging news, there is much more to be done. The United Nations (UN) says “some 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely-managed drinking water, while 4.2 billion go without safe sanitation services and three billion lack basic handwashing facilities.”

“Mere access is not enough,” said Kelly Ann Naylor, UNICEF’s associate director of water, sanitation and hygiene. “If the water isn’t clean, isn’t safe to drink or is far away, and if toilet access is unsafe or limited, then we’re not delivering for the world’s children.”

In addition to the UN, this multi-faceted effort includes governments, non-governmental organizations and various Christian and non-Christian charities. All have launched initiatives that include long-term goals for ending this threat to the world’s health. The UN’s global sustainable development goals include ensuring that everyone has a safe toilet and that open defecation ends by 2030.

Children investigate new toilet — Children in Cote d’Ivoire investigate their community’s newly improved toilets, one of the UNOCI’s “quick impact projects” (QIPS) which supported the rehabilitation of schools and toilets in Abidjan. UN Photo/Patricia Esteve

People using the bathroom outdoors with no toilet nearby nor sanitary treatment of their discharge has fueled disease, created serious health problems and endangered female safety by exposing them to possible rape or other abuse. Then there is the particularly stomach-turning incident from July 2018, when a 3-year-old South African boy drowned in a pit latrine—a type of crude toilet that collects feces in a hole in the ground. Four years earlier in the same province, a 5-year-old boy drowned in a school toilet.

Such horror stories help explain the need for “World Toilet Day,” which falls every year on November 19. Inaugurated in 2013, the UN-sponsored observance urges member states to encourage behavioral changes and implement policies to increase access to sanitation among the poor. Despite progress in recent years, the situation is serious, as shown by the June UN report.

Among key sanitation facts from WHO:

In 2017, only 45 percent of the global population used a safely managed sanitation service.
Two billion people do not have basic sanitation facilities, such as a toilet or latrine.
At least 10 percent of the world’s population is thought to consume food irrigated by wastewater.
Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio.

In short, open defecation is a worldwide health crisis, one that demands a caring response from the world—especially those who profess to follow Christ.

GFA World supporters visit outdoor toilet installed by Believers Eastern Church in South Asia — GFA World supporters get the opportunity to visit an outdoor toilet installed by Believers Eastern Church for the benefit of multiple families in this neighborhood around Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. During 2019, 5,428 toilets like these were installed by GFA across South Asia to help improve the sanitation challenges in many developing communities.

Hanging Out with “Renegades”

For much of my adult life, I have hung out with the “renegades” of Christian missions. Namely, the relief-and-development crowd that rushes to help during natural disasters, struggles to alleviate the suffering and abasement of refugee displacement, and pays concerted attention to the struggles of people in developing nations. My first trip around the world came at the invitation of Food for the Hungry; I traveled with Larry Ward, the executive director at the time, and his wife, Lorraine.

The purpose of the trip was an international field survey with an emphasis on the world’s refugee crisis, which in the l980s was the largest since World War II. We started in Hong Kong and ended seven weeks later in Kenya, Africa. My assignment was to observe with fresh eyes and write about what I had seen. I wrote my book, The Fragile Curtain, with the help of daily briefings from the U.S. State Department and the excellent international reporting of The Christian Science Monitor (and some generous coaching from a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper reporter). It won a Christopher Award, a national prize for works that represent “the highest values of the human spirit.”

“I never realized,” he said, “that I would eventually measure the impact of the Gospel by how many toilets had been built in a village.”

Eventually, I brought the accumulated exposure of my world travels—some 55 countries in all—and the learning I had gathered through research and dragging through camps and slums to the board of Medical Ambassadors International (MAI), a global faith-based health organization.

Villagers from the village that received outdoor toilets — Women and girls are often at risk when open defecation is the only option for relieving themselves. Thankfully, these precious faces can smile because a toilet facility was recently built in their village.

GFA’s Story, Helping to Improve Sanitation in Asia

As I mentioned earlier, Christianity has a vital role in ending these problems. One of the organizations involved is Gospel for Asia (GFA), long close to my heart and that of my husband, David Mains. We met K.P. Yohannan, GFA’s founder, when the ministry was a mere vision in the heart of a young Indian man. It was a divine nudge that would not let up. Since then, David has traveled to Asia at the invitation of Gospel for Asia (GFA) eight times; I have visited once. We’ve watched as K.P.’s vision grew from a dream to reality, with numbers beyond anything we could have considered possible.

GFA’s website tells its vast story: In 2018 the ministry fed, clothed and schooled some 70,000 impoverished children, operated 1,128 free medical camps and constructed 6,431 toilets with dual-tank sanitation systems.

A family stands in front of a India toilet - a GFA-installed latrine or squatty potty. — This family stands in front of a latrine or “squatty potty” that was installed by GFA-supported national workers.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) started building latrines in 2012, setting a goal of constructing some 15,000 concrete outhouses by 2016. It long ago surpassed that mark. Figures for 2016 alone: 10,512 toilets installed, with another 6,364 following in 2017, and another 6,431 in 2018. Potable water, of course, travels hand in hand with sanitation. In 2018, the ministry’s field partners constructed 4,712 Jesus Wells and distributed 11,451 BioSand water filters to purify drinking water. Touching vignettes on GFA’s website make the statistics personal.

“Our family is blessed both physically and spiritually,” said one villager in Asia. “We are free from problems and sickness.…It is because of the people who have spent their money to drill a Jesus Well in my place.”

“This saved the lives of people from illness,” said another—and indeed, toilets, when and if they are used, do just that.

There, indeed, is a thread that runs through Gospel for Asia’s stories of toilets: The pastor of the church in this village or that hamlet seems to be the catalyst for health improvements.

Organizations Tackling the Sanitation Crisis

Matt Damon, founder of Water.org — Matt Damon, the founder of Water.org (photo credit Water.org)

Much of the world is in a war against the perils caused by inadequate or non-existent sanitation. People as diverse as Matt Damon, a Hollywood celebrity, award-winning actor and producer/screenwriter, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi are battling uphill against open defecation (in the sewers, in running streams, by the roadsides, in the fields and the forests, on garbage dumps, etc.).

Damon, driven by a desire to make a difference in solving extreme poverty, discovered that water and sanitation were the two basic foundations beneath much of what ails the world. Through his charity, Water.org, he and his business partner, Gary White, use microfinance loans to help underserved people connect to a service utility or build a home latrine. By 2020, more than 30 million people in 17 countries have been affected by this approach.

Prime Minister Modi campaigned to end open defecation and build latrines for India.
Photo by narendramodiofficial on Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

During his campaign for office in 2014, Modi spoke of “Toilets Before Temples.” His party’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) campaign has undoubtedly made progress, thanks in part to the $28 billion (U.S.) originally allocated, plus World Bank loans totaling another $1.5 billion.

After a Reuters News Service story last May portrayed the government as using overly optimistic results about the initiative, India’s Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation issued a release, saying its program had “succeeded in lifting more than 550 million people out of open defecation in a short period of less than 5 years.” His re-election last year may be partly due to the progress of the initiative he organized to curtail the practice.

Talking Openly About Open Defecation

Another key dilemma in this discussion—open defecation, hardly a dinner-table topic or a missions committee agenda item—is that accessibility to toilets does not always indicate usage. Changing habits is mostly a matter of changing mindsets in the face of deeply entrenched beliefs.

Some 1.5 million people die globally each year from polluted water diseases alone.

Elizabeth Royte, in a comprehensive August 2017 National Geographic magazine article, reported visiting Parameswaran Iyer, India’s secretary of drinking water and sanitation, in 2016. A hand-numbered sign on his wall tracked progress.

“You see that?” he asked. “One hundred thousand is the number of villages that are ODF today.” (ODF is the acronym for open defecation free.)

Royte, a sanitation expert traveling widely and reporting extensively, noted that Modi aimed to build more than 100 million new toilets in rural areas alone by 2019. But she added that “deep-seated attitudes may present an even bigger barrier to improving sanitation than a lack of pipes and pits.”

Echoing that observation, on World Toilet Day in 2018, The Washington Post reported: “Although increasing the number of toilets and improving their quality is important, the larger challenge is how to ensure that they actually will be used. … In our survey of 810 households in Delhi’s slums, where private toilet ownership is rare, we found that many people do not regularly use nearby public toilets, known as community toilet complexes, built specifically for slum dwellers.”

Facing the Facts about India Toilets

That being said, let’s look at data regarding the state of toilets and open defecation in Asia. Then let’s examine what development organizations, sanitation technologies and mission groups, namely Gospel for Asia, are attempting to help Asia become ODF.

Although Modi has emphasized improved sanitation, it’s worthwhile to note that India struggled with these issues even before winning independence from Great Britain in 1947. In fact, Gandhi insisted, “Sanitation is more important than temples.” Now, due to population growth, a conundrum exists: While the percentage practicing open defecation has dropped substantively, birth rates are creating an environment where more people live in geographic locations where fecal exposure is increasing, not decreasing.

37%

of the urban population—some 157 million urban dwellers—lacked a safe and private toilet, according to UK-based charity WaterAid in November 2016.

Even sewers are no guarantors of healthiness: In the capital city of Delhi, pipes are corroded; they ooze waste; and nearly a third of the booming city isn’t connected to underground lines. Many latrines flush into open drains.

700,000

—4 percent—of this urban population still defecated outdoors.

56%

only of the sewers are safely managed.

Just 1 gram of feces can contain:

100 million viruses

1 million bacteria

1 thousand parasitic cysts

These can be absorbed through cuts in the flesh, the porous nature of skin itself, or by drinking unsafe water and eating contaminated foods. Flies carry disease from roadsides and open fields.

Health figures are consequently staggering.

2,195 children

worldwide die from diarrhea each day, with the disease the second-leading cause of death for children under 5, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The chronically distressed digestive system doesn’t absorb nutrients or medicines well. Underweight mothers give birth to underweight babies.

149 million

children worldwide under the age of 5 are affected by stunting, according to the World Health Organization in 2018. And all of the above and much, much more could be cured and eliminated by the installation and use of proper sanitation systems in slums, hamlets, rural villages and large cities across India.

Photo by Kristian Bertel

Donate to Sanitation Projects

For only $540, you will help reduce the risk of common diseases by providing a family with an outdoor toilet.

About Gospel for Asia

Read the rest of Gospel for Asia’s Special Report: Fight Against Open Defecation Continues – Using Outdoor Toilets to Improve Sanitation — Part 2

Learn more by reading these Special Reports from Gospel for Asia:

Fighting Global Poverty with Ideas — Uprooting poverty requires education that transmits values
Winning the Ancient Conflict Between Man and Mosquito — Know Your Enemy or Succumb to Vector-borne Diseases

This Special Report originally appeared on gfa.org.

Read what Christian Leaders have to say about Gospel for Asia.

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox