100 Million Missing Women – The Aftermath of Acute Gender Imbalance (Part #2)

Last updated on: October 29, 2022 at 5:35 am By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Part#2 Special Report on the aftermath of acute gender imbalance: Discussing the horrendous reality of 100 million missing women worldwide.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) Part#2 Special Report on the aftermath of acute gender imbalance: Discussing the horrendous reality of 100 million missing women worldwide. — Geeta’s husband used to come home drunk and beat her with the wooden cricket bat pictured. Violence against women is a major public health problem in Asia and a violation of women’s human rights. The majority of this violence is intimate-partner violence, estimated to be 30 percent worldwide.

Intimate-Partner Violence Against Women Contributes to Gender Imbalance

One of the greatest contributors to this missing-women / gender imbalance factor is violence against women—both sexual violence and violence by their own intimate partners. According to the World Health Organization, “Violence against women—particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence—is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights.”

Global estimates indicate that about 1 in 3 women worldwide (35 percent) have been victims of physical and/or sexual violence, sometimes inflicted by their own intimate partners, in their lifetimes.
“As many as 38 percent of murders of women are committed by a male intimate partner.”
“Violence can negatively affect women’s physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health, and may increase the risk of acquiring HIV in some settings.”
“Men are more likely to perpetrate violence if they have low education, a history of child mistreatment, exposure to domestic violence against their mothers, harmful use of alcohol, gender imbalance norms including attitudes accepting of violence, and a sense of entitlement over women.”

A conclusion about the above data is, obviously, that intimate-partner violence is an undeniable contributor to the missing-women dilemma. In case there is any doubt as to what exactly is meant by all this, the United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

The Coequal Value Seen in Genesis

The extraordinary message of the Christian Scriptures, beginning with the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis, affirms the value of men and women: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Biblically faithful Christianity has always been confronted by this theological premise: Man and woman are created in the image of God. It’s a huge bump in the road for those who might mistreat the female sector within its following and is a premise worthy of the moans and groans of those who hear a sermon pointing out their misconduct. How we treat one another, in Christendom, is evidence of the reality and depth of our faith.

This young woman, Maloti, was kidnapped from the tea farm she worked on as a day laborer and recently married to someone of a higher caste. Her in-laws, disgusted by her being of a lower caste, hated her so much that they poisoned her. Their murderous attempt failed and Maloti survived, but suffered damage to her vocal cords.

Do You See This Woman?

Let’s summarize again that story from Luke that began this article, “And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner … brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.”

The important religious leader, a Pharisee named Simon, was appalled by this woman who, uninvited, crashed his dinner party. In his heart he thought Jesus could not possibly be who He said He was, or He would know what kind of woman she was. Simon certainly thought he knew what kind of woman she was—an emotional type, obviously; a town prostitute, probably. A woman of bad manners and of lower class, which was not his type of person, certainly.

Jesus tells a parable about two debtors, one who owed a creditor little and one who owed the same man much. Both of their debts were forgiven. Jesus asks his host, Simon, which one he thinks loved the creditor the most—the one with little debt forgiven or the one with much debt forgiven? The answer is obvious, even to those of us reading the story many years removed from the dinner-party incident. We agree with the Pharisee’s answer: the one who was forgiven much.

At the risk of being redundant, it is here that Christ asks the question that resounds through the centuries, one that should be considered by any hostile intimate partner and any theologian or churchgoer who has a twisted, misogynies theology: “Simon, do you see this woman?”

This photo tells a story from the book of Luke: An uninvited woman, seen as a sinner, a woman of lower class who wanted to wash a religious leader’s feet with her own tears. The owner of the house was appalled by her, but Jesus “saw this woman”, intervened and provided protection, illustrating how to advocate for those longing for forgiveness.

Do you see this woman? Christ saw the woman, not her bad reputation, not her past misdeeds, not her wayward lifestyle. He saw her best potential self. He saw her broken heart. He saw the gratefulness she felt that any man could think she was something other than the role the community had assigned to her.

Jesus saw the women. If you want to conduct a study as to Jesus’ attitude toward women in a time when they were considered lower than second class, look through the stories collected in the Gospel of Luke. Here we see a man who loved women, advocated for them, healed them and welcomed them as companions in His earthly ministry.

We, too, need to see the women of the world. We need to turn our energies toward helping countries change and cure the great harms that have contributed to the extraordinary demographic imbalance of some 110 males for every 100 women. Indeed, many developing countries consider elevating women from underclass to an educated class as a means of increasing the capacity of the country to function competitively in a global economy.

This little girl, along with thousands of other children, lives in the slums of Delhi. She—and the children like her—lack access to education, nutritious food and health care facilities, to name the least. They begin working at a very young age picking up trash or working for small workshops to earn wages to provide for themselves. Realities like this lead to an increasing amount of missing women and acute gender imbalance worldwide.

A Consensual Solidarity of Concern

Let us grieve for these who have suffered such hardships, deprivation, bondage, violence, societal disfavor or low self-esteem brought on by the scornful esteem of the men in one’s social circle. Let us form a solidarity of concern and do what we can to change the capacity of others, either men or women, but for the purposes of this article, particularly women, for the 100 million missing women and fight the aftermath of gender imbalance.

In 1980, I went on a sponsored survey trip for Food for the Hungry to write about that organization’s work in the disaster areas of the world. It was an extraordinary global journey and an extraordinary exposure to the needs and crises of humanity worldwide as well. At the start of the trip, on April 1 in Hong Kong, I had time to do a study of Christ’s ministry as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, and I wrote out all the verses to remind myself of how dramatic His healing, teaching and miracle-filled ministry must have been to the masses.

Something about Christ’s response to the needy women who were part of all those crowds touched me deeply, and I wrote:

Lord, I praise You that while You are also God of the individual, You are also God of the masses. What did you have in mind for me to write about these masses of women?

Those who with little household aids, nevertheless, keep their houses (huts or tents) clean?
Those who demonstrate industry weaving or knitting?
Those who work in gardens, hoeing with homemade instruments or digging in the soil with sharpened sticks?
Those who run sidewalk cafés—little set-up carts?
Those who pour cool drips of the water have walked miles to gather over the bodies of their sweaty and dirty children?
Those who are painstakingly learning English in order to better themselves with foreigners?
Those who are raising pigs in piggeries?
Those in refugee camps who have nothing profitable to do afternoon after afternoon after afternoon?
Those who have willingly offered me their babies because the past is horrendous, their husbands are no longer alive and the future looks hopeless?
Those with wholesome, plain faces who volunteer their lives to serve the missionaries who bring some sensibility of promise into nonsensical and unpromising conditions?
Those who plant flowers in front of their settlement housing (canvas tents or ramshackle shelters)?

There is something about actually seeing the masses of needy and desperate yet often-courageous women struggling just to survive in the resettlement housing in Hong Kong, in the refugee camps in Thailand (those fleeing the Pol Pot massacres in Cambodia), in the canvas villages with dirt paths, in the milk-and-food lines provided by development organizations, or in the old abandoned ammo depots now housing a population of 20,000.

Read the rest of Gospel for Asia’s Special Report on 100 Million Missing Women & the Aftermath of Acute Gender Imbalance here: Part 1 | Part 3

Learn more about Gospel for Asia’s programs to combat the acute gender imbalance reality by helping women through Vocational Training, Sewing Machines and Literacy Training.

This Special Report article originally appeared on GFA.org

Read more on the missing women dilemma on gender imbalance and violence against women on Patheos.

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

The Most Important Resource

Last updated on: November 5, 2022 at 4:23 pm By GFA Staff Writer

Death and sickness where two things Abhijun was familiar with. Including him and his family, many in his village and the surrounding area contracted serious illnesses such as typhoid from their drinking water. “We suffered from many sicknesses,” Abhijun said. “When our relatives come to visit us from the city, looking at the color of the water, they did not want to drink. Sometimes they managed to drink it, but they suffered from cold, cough and headache.” Gospel for Asia (GFA) is working toward the improvement of situations like Abhijun’s with its two major clean-water initiatives: Jesus Wells and BioSand water filters. In places where the water sources are almost completely contaminated, such as Lhepar, BioSand water filters are the best option.

An Answer for the Thirsty: BioSand Water Filters

Gospel for Asia (GFA) is working toward the improvement of situations like Abhijun’s with its two major clean-water initiatives: Jesus Wells and BioSand water filters. In places where the water sources are almost completely contaminated, such as Lhepar, BioSand water filters are the best option. — Abhijun, pictured here with his BioSand water filter, now has pure water to drink.

For Abhijun and his family, a BioSand water filter, which purifies water up to 98 percent, was the perfect solution to their water crisis. Fortunately for them, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported worker Balash, who leads the local BioSand water filter program, happened to be in their area.

During his visit, Balash saw the water quality. Horrified, Balash asked the local Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor, Rajsari, if this was the condition of the water in the surrounding area.

Pastor Rajasri confirmed this, adding that the water in surrounding villages was significantly worse.

Motivated to help these families, Balash said,

“We will make some water filters and provide [them] to the villagers so they will be able to drink good and clean water.”

The Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported worker immediately went to work, building the filters and distributing them to the thirsty villagers.

When water is accessible but dangerous to drink, BioSand water filters enable a family to purify dirty water, making it drinkable and safe to use. These filers make water 98% pure and last up to 20 years.

When Balash finished, 150 families in total, including Abhijun’s, were blessed with BioSand water filters!

“It is nice and tasty,” Abhijun remarks of the filtered water. “These days we also do not face any problems like sickness.”

Not only does Abhijun enjoy clean water, but his neighbors do as well. They come over to collect water for themselves and for their relatives. Abhijun’s relatives also no longer worry about the water.

“Now, we can drink pure water and be able to provide pure and clean water to others who come to our home. I am grateful to the church for providing a BioSand water filter to me. I appreciate the work of the church.”

There are millions more with stories like Abhijun’s. You can help provide a BioSand water filter to a thirsty family in Asia. Not only will you give them clean water for many years, but you’ll also provide them with the opportunity to hear of the Living Water.

Source: Gospel for Asia Features, Villages in Danger

Read the “Dying of Thirst”: The Global Water Crisis Special Report — The Crucial Quest for Access to Clean Water.

Learn more about how to provide clean water to families and villages through Jesus Wells.

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

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Healthy Bodies Lead to Healthy Spirits

Last updated on: November 5, 2022 at 4:25 pm By GFA Staff Writer

Rita traveled more than seven miles to attend the medical camp, which she heard about through Pastor Ganesh’s flyers. She had suffered numbness in her hands and legs for more than a month, forcing her to abandon her work in the fields. Even household chores such as cleaning and cooking became impossible. Desperate to see a doctor, Rita made a difficult journey.

On the morning of the medical camp, a brightly colored tent covered the courtyard of Pastor Ganesh’s church. A throng of people gathered under it. Sisters of Compassion patiently checked in fathers, mothers and small children wanting to see the doctors. Pastor Ganesh went from group to group helping volunteers and ministering to the sick.

That day, Dr. Aarpit Nipun and his colleague saw more than 200 patients and gave out free medication to those in need. When it was Rita’s turn to see the doctor, she told him the history of her symptoms. Dr. Nipun asked many questions and prescribed medications for her pain. He counseled her to seek treatment in the hospital if her condition worsens.

Giving careful, thorough examinations, Dr. Nipun (pictured) prescribes medication donated by a hospital. Dr. Nipun was impacted by the poverty and sickness he saw at the remote medical camp and offered to come free of charge to future GFA-supported medical camps in the area. — Giving careful, thorough examinations, Dr. Nipun (pictured) prescribes medication donated by a hospital. Dr. Nipun was impacted by the poverty and sickness he saw at the remote medical camp and offered to come free of charge to future Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported medical camps in the area.

Because of the medication prescribed to Rita at the medical camp, the pain in her limbs subsided. Rita was soon able to gather water and complete household chores that she had previously been unable to do.

“I feel very different,” Rita says.

“After taking the medicine, I don’t feel that much pain in my body. … We need this kind of medical camp organized in many [rural] villages where people do not have access to hospitals or health care centers. This is such a great help for the villagers.”

Unlike Rita, many other women waiting to see Dr. Nipun was too shy to share their symptoms.

“In rural villages, treating a female patient is very challenging for us because [there is still a] misconception that we should not allow any stranger, especially a male, to examine our bodies,” says Dr. Nipun.

“There were a few patients who had gynecological disorders and abdominal pain … and when I asked them, ‘What is your problem?’ they don’t openly tell us. … It is very difficult to find out their problems.”

Rita is grateful for the free medication she received at the medical camp. Because of the medicine, her pain subsided, and she is able to accomplish daily tasks that had been impossible before.

Because of these cultural obstacles to women seeking medical attention, Sisters of Compassion were available to listen to women’s more sensitive symptoms and complaints. They would then relay this information to the doctor on behalf of the patient. This helped many women get their health needs met while retaining their dignity.

At the end of the day, the doctors had seen more than 200 patients—patients whose basic health needs are often neglected. Medical professionals distributed medication, including vitamins for pregnant women and children. Dr. Nipun, touched by the poverty and sickness of the patients, volunteered to serve again.

“It’s my wish that in the future, wherever you happen to conduct a medical camp, and if I am around, I will be more [than] willing to be available and give free service,” Dr. Nipun said. “Thank you very much.”

Pastor Ganesh rejoiced that so many received the medical care they desperately needed. Grateful that God provided for the medical camp, he prayed God would touch many people’s hearts with His love. Pastor Ganesh also prayed people would experience the gift of eternal healing by the Great Physician, of which the free medical camp was a perfect picture.

Source: Gospel for Asia Features, Doctors at the Doorstep

Learn more about the need for Medical Ministry. GFA-supported medical ministry is helping thousands who are in need of medical care and attention, all while displaying the love of Christ.

Learn more about the Sisters of Compassion – the specially trained women missionaries with a deep burden for showing Christ’s love by physically serving the needy, underprivileged and poor.

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

100 Million Missing Women – The Aftermath of Acute Gender Imbalance (Part #1)

Last updated on: June 16, 2022 at 5:38 am By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Part#1 Special Report on the aftermath of acute gender imbalance: Discussing the horrendous reality of 100 million missing women worldwide.

One of the stunning stories from Scripture tells about the uninvited woman who crashed a VIP party at the home of an important religious leader. This is a gal whose bad reputation preceded her—a “woman of the city” reports the account in the book of Luke. Some versions even say that she “was a great sinner.”

Humph, thinks the very important dignitary whose party has been so rudely disrupted by this emotional female basket case. If he [Jesus] was a true prophet, he would know what kind of woman this is, for she is a great sinner.

This is a powerful story of male intervention, protection and advocacy, and in this case, it is Jesus who intervenes for a weeping woman, provides protection and clearly illustrates how to advocate for those wounded and longing for forgiveness.

“Simon,” Jesus asks, “Do you see this woman?”

Do you see this woman? What a question!

Do you see this woman? This is a question that needs to be asked regarding the astonishing demographic figure that is being forced upon our contemporary discussions regarding the status of women in the world today. Indeed, demographers are telling us that there are as many as 100 million women unaccounted for, 100 million missing women in the projections made by statisticians whose job it is to analyze and project the populations of the nations.

Simply stated, the devaluation of women and the often societally approved discrimination against them are creating a global crisis. This article examines this reality and seeks to propose that there are attitudes and actions we can all take to decrease and eventually eliminate this outrageous discrepancy. But first, we have to “see the women.”

These village women are widows, and often endure threats and distress simply because of their social status as a “widow”. What Happened to the Missing Women? — These village women are widows, and often endure threats and distress simply because of their social status as a “widow”.

What Happened to the Missing Women?

My husband, David Mains, tells the story of being in Asia with Dr. KP Yohannan, the founder and director of Gospel for Asia (GFA). They were attending a conference with some 300 men in attendance in an open-air pavilion. Dr. K.P. was preaching on how these men treated their wives, saying something that memory recalls as being to the effect of, “You treat them like servants [by saying], ‘Do this; do that. Take care of me.’ You get angry and yell. Some of you even push them around. But you are not freeing them to be the women God created them to be.”

The power of this exhortation and of the Scriptures verifying his instruction manifested itself in a loud groaning that began to rise out of the group of men sitting on wooden pews.

“At first,” David remembers, “I thought it was a thunderstorm. I had never heard anything like it in my life. Then I realized these men were groaning in repentance and remorse.”

Here you see a family that has been transformed through the love of God. This man used to beat his wife and child, but after listening to KP Yohannan’s words through a GFA-supported radio broadcast, they found God’s love and are living happily in their journey with Christ. — Here you see a family that has been transformed through the love of God. This man used to beat his wife and child, but after listening to KP Yohannan’s words through a Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported radio broadcast, they found God’s love and are living happily in their journey with Christ.

The devaluation of women in marriage, which those men repented of many years ago, is merely one symptom of what causes the 100-million-missing-women global crisis. If we choose to “see the women,” to study the plight of women worldwide and to pay attention to their distress, we will quickly conclude that women’s lives are threatened from the womb through widowhood.

Indeed, the whole world needs to be groaning in remorse and repentance when we realize that 100 million women who should be alive according to statisticians’ projections are nowhere to be found.

The reasons for this are varied and tragic. Even the numbers vary somewhat. In a 1990 essay published in The New York Review of Books, Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen claimed there were 100 million missing women. Through the following decade, Sen continued to expand his exploration and discoveries, which were published in many subsequent academic works.

Though estimates of between 90 and 101 million missing women, as well as the various causes for the phenomenon, have been studied, debated and analyzed by demographers and social scientists in the years since Sen’s original announcement, most agree now to the reality that roughly 100 million women, worldwide, are missing.

This number is determined by what is called the sex ratio—a means of measuring the number of males born in a society against the number of women. Generally, the male-female birth ratio is slightly biased toward the masculine sex. Due to some kind of disequilibrium matrix, nature allows for some 105 male births for every 100 female births, on average.

These numbers tell us, quietly, a terrible story of inequality and neglect leading to the excessive mortality of women.

Demographers propose that this is because men are at a higher risk of dying of a variety of causes—violence, accidents, injuries, war casualties—and in time, the sex ratio of a given population for any particular age set begins to equalize. Today, however, when what should be a normal equalized sex ratio is measured in many current populations, particularly in developing countries in Asia, as well as in the Middle East and in parts of Africa, results show a divergence from the norm.

The current sex ratio reveals not a ratio that is beginning to become even between the sexes, but an expanding ratio of men to women of 1.06 (1.06 men per 1 woman), which is far higher than in most countries.

Researcher Amartya Sen concludes: “These numbers tell us, quietly, a terrible story of inequality and neglect leading to the excessive mortality of women.”

Evaluating the Sex-Ratio Disequilibrium

It is here when those of us who care about the state of the world and the suffering and the well-being of the people who inhabit it should begin to groan, loudly and insistently, like a thunderstorm. We need to read the articles that disclose the state of women around the world; we need to do personal research. We need to seek for understanding.

34 million

women and girls are trapped in the sex trade, contributing to the missing women dilemma.

There is now a general consensus as to the reasons why sex ratios are teetering on a wild gender imbalance in various countries of the world. Sex-selective abortions, female infanticide, inadequate health care and nutrition for female offspring, lack of pregnancy and childbirth education, and the now booming sex-slave trade industry all contribute to the missing women dilemma.

In their comprehensive book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn report, “Far more women and girls are shipped into brothels each year in the early twenty-first century than African slaves were shipped into slave plantations each year in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries.”

This horrendous reality is verified by the Foreign Affairs journal, and the above husband-and-wife writing team estimate some 34 million women and girls worldwide are trapped in the sex-slave trade.

This newborn infant from South Sudan lies in an incubator, suffering from sepsis and jaundice and struggling to survive. His mother died giving birth. Photo by Mark Naftalin, UNICEF

Maternal Mortality and Maternal Morbidity

The issue of malnourishment also takes a generational toll. When girls are malnourished—and historically, girls often live on subsistence diets while their brothers receive the family’s available food—they give birth to underweight babies whose bodies are then more susceptible to disease. Malnourished girls become malnourished women, prone to childbirth losses—miscarriages, stillbirths, infant deaths—and multiple pregnancy complications resulting in mortality.

This young girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo brought her younger sister to a health center to have a malnutrition screening, after being driven from their home and community during a violent conflict between the government and anti-government militia. Photo by Vincent Tremeau, UNICEF

In India, for instance, demographers find that, by and large, the main cause of female deaths is cardiovascular disease—diseases of the heart and blood vessels that can lead to heart attacks or strokes. Medical researchers have discovered a close relationship between low birth weight and eventual cardiovascular diseases at a later age.

Maternal mortality refers to the number of women who die in childbirth. Some 99 percent of women in the world who die giving birth are from poor countries. This is determined by another ratio—the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), the number of maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. The MMR measures the potential of death per pregnancy. Another ratio measures death probability over a lifetime of multiple pregnancies. The lifetime risk of dying in childbirth is 1,000 times higher in a poor country.

“This should be an international scandal,” Kristof and WuDunn write.

To sketch out this global crisis, Kristof and WuDunn quote some alarming statistics:

The highest maternal mortality risk in the world is in the African country of Niger.
There the lifetime risk of death is 1 in 7.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the lifetime risk of death in childbirth is 1 in 22.
India is 1 in 70.
The United States is 1 in 4,800, a high ratio for a developed and wealthy country.
In Italy, the lifetime risk is 1 in 26,000.
In Ireland, the chance of dying in childbirth is 1 in 46,000.

Morbidity is different from mortality. Maternal morbidity deals with injuries during childbirth, and they occur even more frequently than maternal mortality. Again, Half the Sky concentrates pages on occurrence of morbidity, particularly fistulas—in this case, rectovaginal fistulas, which are often the result of trauma in childbirth. Here a tear between the vagina and rectum (also caused by rape) is left untreated in places where there is inadequate health care. These women, many now mothers, having successfully delivered an infant, become outcasts in their villages because they cannot control the flow of urine or feces.

“For every woman who dies in childbirth, at least ten suffer significant injuries such as fistulas or serious tearing,” Kristof and WuDunn write. “Unsafe abortions cause the deaths of seventy thousand women annually and cause serious injuries to another 5 million. The economic cost of caring for those 5 million women is estimated to be $750 million annually. And there is evidence that when a woman dies in childbirth, her surviving children are much more likely to die young as well, because they will have no mother caring for them.”

The lifetime risk of dying in childbirth is 1,000 times higher in a poor country.

All these factors are symptoms of one major toxic cause: female discrimination. Simply stated: Women in a cross section of wide-ranging cultures are not valued. In fact, they are actively abused, neglected and abandoned through countless ingrained cultural practices that deem women as inferior to men and ensure they stay in subsistence-like conditions.

The conglomerate of all these causes contributes to the overall demographic reality of 100 million missing women. To repeat Amartya Sen again: “These numbers tell us, quietly, a terrible story of inequality and neglect leading to the excessive mortality of women.”

The Irony of the Skewed Sex Ratio

The irony of the missing-women demographics—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 1.06:1 sex ratio (again, 1.06 men to every 1 woman), and multiply it by the thousands. Imagine what that means. Imagine the implications.

This photo is just one depiction of a once-looming human rights catastrophe. Because of the skewed sex ratio in Asia, many countries are now experiencing such high female shortages that there are no longer enough women to mate in marriage with the existing male population. In 1990, a cultural preference for male children had caused South Korea's sex ratio to be at the world's highest, but after campaigns and restrictions on ultrasounds, the ratio is back to normal. — This photo is just one depiction of a once-looming human rights catastrophe. Because of the skewed sex ratio in Asia, many countries are now experiencing such high female shortages that there are no longer enough women to mate in marriage with the existing male population. In 1990, a cultural preference for male children had caused South Korea’s sex ratio to be at the world’s highest, but after campaigns and restrictions on ultrasounds, the ratio is back to normal.

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 if trends continue, 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, by 2035 there will be as many as 186 single men for every 100 women. In India, by 2060 the sex ratio could curve even higher: 191 men for every 100 women.

A cultural preference for male children [is] not just human-rights catastrophe, it is also a looming demographic disaster.

The governments of both countries have established means and laws to correct this extraordinary deviation. Fetal ultrasound imaging has been restricted (at the least, the reporting of the sex of the child while in utero), and legislation aimed at gender equality, to address gender imbalance 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 would be around 15 percent.

Can this rampant and damaging sexism be altered? Remember South Korea, once Exhibit A? Now, partly because of the political insistence of a growing body of educated women, it is beginning to reduce its sex ratio through a variety of 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.

Read the rest of Gospel for Asia’s Special Report on 100 Million Missing Women & the Aftermath of Acute Gender Imbalance here: Part 2 | Part 3

Learn more about Gospel for Asia’s programs to combat the Missing Women reality by helping women through Vocational Training, Sewing Machines and Literacy Training.

This Special Report article originally appeared on GFA.org

Read more on the missing women dilemma on gender imbalance and violence against women on Patheos.

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

10 Things Gospel for Asia Wants You to Know As We Reflect on World Malaria Day

Last updated on: September 13, 2023 at 10:24 am By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – According to Dr. Seth Barkley, the CEO of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, “Malaria is still one of the biggest killers of children worldwide, taking the lives of over 200,000 children each year.”

April 25 is World Malaria Day. Because the disease is still widespread in large regions of the globe, Gospel for Asia (GFA) has shared 10 facts to remind us about this life-threatening disease:

1. The Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation estimates that more than 720,000 people die of malaria each year. This is significantly higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) estimate of 438,000.

2. Malaria is still one of the leading causes of child mortality.

3. More than 70 percent of malaria fatalities are children under the age of 5.

4. Ten percent of all child fatalities in 2016 were caused by malaria.

5. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 90 percent of all malaria deaths.

6. Countries with the highest malaria death rates currently include:

Country	Deaths/100,000
Niger	138.76
Sierra Leone	136.28
Togo	111.32
Mali	99.62
The DRC	99.25
Guinea	97.21
Cameroon	93.98
Benin	88.39
The CAR	84.18

7. A 2015 study published by Nature.com quantifying the most effective means of malaria prevention to date indicated that insecticide-treated mosquito nets provided the most widespread intervention.

a. The report cited treated mosquito nets to be the “largest contributor” to averting malaria at 68 percent of cases.

b. Numerically, treated mosquito nets averted 451 million of 663 million cases.

8. There is a dynamically growing number of children under 5 who sleep under treated mosquito nets in malaria-prone regions.

9. It is estimated that 66.6 percent of children in India sleep under the protection of treated mosquito nets.

10. The malaria virus is becoming increasingly more drug resistant. One doctor specializing in malaria prevention has described drug resistance as “one of the biggest threats we face.”

The BBC reported on April 23 that Dr. Kate O’Brien, director of Immunization and Vaccines at WHO, announced “a large-scale pilot program of what has been called the world’s first malaria vaccine to give partial protection to children has begun in Malawi.”

a. The vaccine is administered in a series of four injections over a period of 21 months.

b. The pilot phase of the trials should be complete by 2023.

The pilot project will end in 2023, but the trials will continue until the vaccine has been proven effective and approved for worldwide distribution.

In the meantime, mosquito nets remain the best prevention against mosquito-borne disease.

Between 2016 and 2018, Gospel for Asia (GFA) distributed more than 1 million mosquito nets to homes throughout Asia. An entire retinue of NGOs and FBOs are working in harmony to provide mosquito nets in countries across the 10/40 Window where the need is the greatest.

To learn more about malaria and the battle to prevent it, read Gospel for Asia’s special report “Fighting Malaria – A Chilling Disease.”

Other recent Missions Box reports on the scourge of malaria include:

Learn how you can help Gospel for Asia to provide mosquito nets – the most effective preventive measure against contracting malaria – to improve life for families across Asia.

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

Sources:

Our World in Data, Malaria
The World Health Organization, This year’s World malaria report at a glance 2018
The World Health Organization, Short overview of the malaria vaccine implementation programme
The World Health Organization, Malaria vaccine pilot launched in Malawi (April 23, 2019)
Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance
Nature, The effect of malaria control on Plasmodium falciparum in Africa between 2000 and 2015
Gospel for Asia Special Report, Fighting Malaria – A Chilling Disease

What Is One Child Worth? Ponders Gospel for Asia

Last updated on: November 5, 2022 at 4:42 pm By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the state of a billion children in the world who live in extreme poverty who are worth every effort and measure to be given love, care, education – a Bridge of Hope.

The world has more than 7 billion people. More than 2 billion of them are children. Half of these little ones live in poverty the likes of which is difficult to understand. Extreme poverty affects every aspect of life, from physical and emotional health to education and the possibility of a better future.

So many people are in need of love, care and compassionate help. Solving their complex problems might seem like an insurmountable task. But not if we all work together. Every child who receives life-saving care and access to education is precious in God’s sight. Each one is worth the effort.

With tens of thousands of children in developing countries dying every day, often from preventable diseases, education might not seem like the most important problem to focus on. But the devoted workers at Bridge of Hope centers see it differently. They help care for the whole child, and that can affect broad and sweeping changes that ripple out for generations.

The Poorest Children Begin Life at a Disadvantage

So many children in the world are born into an environment with roadblocks between them and even the most basic needs and goals. Clean water isn’t at the tap. Vaccines to prevent disease aren’t readily available. No school bus arrives down the street each morning, and books for learning aren’t given to them freely.

“Bridge of Hope centers strive to share the love of Christ and remove roadblocks for the most innocent and needy of His children, one boy and girl at a time.”

These impoverished little ones, many of them living in Asia, can’t take anything in life for granted. The complicated barriers to success can dash all hopes of a life-changing, good education. This is a heartbreaking realization, as education can empower them in so many ways.

The poorest of them may have parents who don’t have an education. When a child of illiterate parents does attend school, no one at home can assist with homework, even if they did have the time after a day’s labor to sit with their child and help. Learning barriers can encourage children to quit school altogether. Many of the children that Bridge of Hope centers help have lived on that fragile edge.

Some of these little ones may have only one parent who labors to provide for their family. Education for girls is viewed as less important than for boys (for myriad reasons), which also means girls are more likely to quit school early. They may help with chores and earn what little money they can, or a lack of safe, sanitary facilities might be the root of the problem. Nearly 33 percent of girls living in parts of Asia quit school after they reach the age of 14. The majority of girls are expected to work, whether or not they attend school.

Bridge of Hope centers strive to share the love of Christ and remove roadblocks for the most innocent and needy of His children, one boy and girl at a time.

What is a Day in the Life of a Poverty-Stricken Child Really Like?

In the Western world, a typical Monday morning for children begins with breakfast, a hug from one or both parents or guardians and shuffling off to school. In class, boys and girls have equal access to education and educational tools.

At noontime, there may be a break for meals and physical exercise or extra study time. They may bring a meal for lunch from home or buy lunch at school. Less fortunate children may have access to a free or reduced cost meal. But usually, every child has access to something to eat.

“Poverty and a lack of education can bury all hopes of a better life. But with generous hearts, the workers at Bridge of Hope centers can make an incredible difference.”

At the end of the school day, these children return home. They may study. They may play games. They may have their evening meal with family, have a warm bath and sleep in a safe bed. The next day, the cycle begins again. But this is not the life of a child living in extreme poverty.

For the least fortunate children in the world, the day may begin with work. If there’s no clean water nearby, girls may be tasked with fetching it. The journey, usually on foot, can take hours or even all day. If so, it leaves no time for school. If there is clean water at home and girls can attend school, barriers still exist.

Upon waking, there may or may not be a nutritious meal for breakfast. There may be no clean clothes to wear. Mom and Dad may leave home early to labor and support the family. If so, elder children, especially girls, may have additional tasks, such as household chores and caring for younger siblings.

If these unfortunate children attend school, and not all of them do, help and support at home might not exist. Perhaps their parents come home late after working all day. And perhaps Mom and Dad lack the education necessary to help their children with their studies, which can easily lead to falling behind.

Who is there to help these at-risk children move forward in life with love and support? Anyone? Or will their future be the same as generations before? Poverty and a lack of education can bury all hopes of a better life. But with generous hearts, the workers at Bridge of Hope centers can make an incredible difference. They offer children nutritious meals, a quiet place to study, tutoring, and even basic medical care. Most of all, they offer much-needed encouragement.

Every Child is Precious and Worth the Effort

“It doesn’t matter if a child is born into the best or worst of circumstances, they all have worth and are all worthy as individuals. Every child has potential and is worth whatever it takes to help them succeed.”—Dr. KP Yohannan

Dr. KP Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA), says it doesn’t matter if a child is born into the best or worst of circumstances, they all have worth and are all worthy as individuals. Every child has potential and is worth whatever it takes to help them succeed.

He explains that while nutritious food and educational help are important parts of what Bridge of Hope centers offer, the heart of it is something both simpler and greater: kindness.

“The kindness of the staff, who in many cases are giving up better-paying jobs to be able to serve these children and help them develop their true potential; and of the administrative staff of Bridge of Hope, who work behind the scenes out of love for the children; and of the children’s sponsors, who give and pray for them and write to them, telling them of their value, is what is changing their lives.” —Dr. K.P. Yohannan

This short video gives a peek into the love, care and hard work that goes into every Bridge of Hope center.

Bridge of Hope centers have an invaluable staff that includes cooks, social workers, project managers, tutors and more. They provide medical services, one-on-one help with studies, books, beautiful uniforms that children are proud to wear, and special programs.

Some children may become active in sports. They may have time for art and music. All of this combines to give children a well-rounded education with a full tummy, a healthy body and a mind that’s eager to learn.

But none of this can happen without help.

How often have you had the opportunity and power to transform the life of a child? When you sponsor a child, you join with others to share the love of God through healthy food, medical care, support and the educational tools to reach their full potential.

Learn more about how to sponsor and help children from families stuck in generational abject poverty who need a Bridge of Hope. Each of them are worth whatever it takes to give them hope and help them succeed.

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

For more information about this, click here.

Gospel for Asia Supported National Workers Do What Needs to Be Done

Last updated on: November 12, 2022 at 9:56 am By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing what national workers do daily to spread God’s love across Asia. “They need to think about what is needed, not what is possible because possible can change. A major problem I see . . . is not having visionary leaders.” —R.D. Thulasiraj, Director of Operations, Aravind Eye Care System

Mr. Thulasirai’s sage observation, although having nothing directly to do with missions, might be worthy of our consideration of what it really means for indigenous, national workers to be supported by Gospel for Asia (GFA) and its generous donors.It is difficult for us to imagine the role of pastors and other national workers in Asia because we have not seen what they have seen, nor have we experienced what they have. One thing is for certain, these pastors and workers do not have the same routine that most Western pastors do.

Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor Marty grew up in an Asian slum where, as a young boy, he often dug for food in the bottom of dirty garbage bins to avoid starvation. He describes life in the slums as a vicious, generation cycle.

Garbage litters the streets. Dirty drinking water and the absence of simple hygienic practices like hand-washing cause disease rates to soar. Prostitution, sex trafficking, and other crimes hold countless people in bondage with no escape. ^[1]

Now, Pastor Marty and his family minister to families in the slum where he was raised. One believer in his church said, “He is a great example for us as he represents Jesus. He does what Jesus would have done. Helping the poor and needy and loving people. He is always willing to help people.”

Another Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor, Kanak, witnessed people in his village drinking from the same pond in which they bathed and washed their livestock and dirty dishes. He’s seen mothers unable to feed their children because they have no source of income. He ministers to children and adults who have no education. He works among people who barely have what they need to survive let alone prosper.

“When I see the condition of [these] people, their poverty, . . . it hurts me. It pains me to see them suffering. I wish I could bring changes in their lives.” —Pastor Kanak ^[2]

Like Pastor Marty, that’s exactly what he is doing. He spends time with the villagers and becomes acquainted with their struggles, assessing what would help them the most and show them Jesus’ love. These men, and multiple others like them, spend their days considering the needs of the people to whom they are called to serve.

They demonstrate spiritual leadership by “thinking about what is needed.” Because they understand the people’s needs, they are able to discern what they can do to help those individuals, families and villages according to what they need most.

If people need clean water, the pastors may arrange for the installation of Jesus Wells or distribution of BioSand water filters. If the people need education, national workers help establish Bridge of Hope centers for children and literacy classes for adults. If a rural household needs a source of income, they may arrange for the most appropriate farm animals for the individuals in need. In the slums, they may organize vocational classes to train women to generate income to provide for their families.

People with vision are those who see a need and then make every effort to meet that need. Vision in ministry is all about seeing the need, then doing something about it.

Once we see their needs and minister to them, they will already begin to see Christ in us.

To read more about these national workers, click on the their stories below:

^[1] GFA World, “A Slum Child’s Return,” March 2016

^[2] GFA World, “A Heart Burdened for His People,” July 2015

Learn more about National Workers and Missionaries – the men and women the Lord God is raising up living in Asia to be His ambassadors.

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

Sources:

GFA World, A Slum Child’s Return
GFA World, A Heart Burdened for His People

From Crisis to Celebration: The Life-changing Impact of Jesus Wells

Last updated on: November 12, 2022 at 9:58 am By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the life-changing impact of Jesus Wells on families in Asia who lack any access to safe drinking water.

You need to get some water for a family meal so you head for the kitchen sink. It’s almost automatic; you do it every day. Probably several times a day. You turn on the faucet, but you feel “a sinking sensation” when no water pours from the tap.

You panic.

Yes, you panic. What am I going to do? We need water. Your mind races as you subconsciously understand you may not be able to make food for your family if you can’t get water. You wonder how long you will be without water. A call to the utility company frustrates you because you hear a recorded message: “Our operators are busy assisting other customers.”

While you are on hold, you ask your spouse to run to the store to buy some bottled water. After waiting 20 minutes or so, you learn from the water company that a major main has been severely damaged. They say it might take three months to repair it. Everyone in town is affected.

Adding insult to injury, your husband is late returning home. He has visited all the nearby stores in your small town only to discover they had all sold out of bottled water and has confirmed what you already learned after waiting on hold: You weren’t the first family to learn of the crisis.

Crisis: Lack of Water

The local news will report that the crisis is the damaged water main.

The true crisis, however, is that families are without water. And at least for a while, you don’t know where to find water fit for drinking.

You will be facing a crisis that defines everyday life for 163 million people in Asia. That is approximately half the population of the United States.

Many of those people live in rural villages where there are no water-delivery systems and no safe drinking water nearby. And they have no access to the convenience of bottled water.

They live in a constant state of crisis. Every single day. And it’s not just a matter of quenching thirst. Based on reports from the World Economic Forum (WEF), more than 200,000 people in South Asia die every year—547 every day—because of limited access to safe water close to their homes.

When the people in these villages awake in the morning, they already know someone in their family will be walking to a water source, often several miles away, at least once that day. That someone is the woman of the household (and sometimes her children), who is also responsible for tending family crops, doing laundry and preparing meals.

Do you think that NGOs and FBOs such as Gospel for Asia resort to hyperbole when they relate the monumental burden that Asian women have to fetch water for their families? The WEF report says, “On an average, a rural woman walks 5 kilometers to 20 kilometers (3–12 miles) a day just to fetch water.”

Making matters worse, the water they fetch is either polluted or contaminated or both.

Celebration: The Gift of a Jesus Well

Gospel for Asia recently released a five-minute video that explains the clean water crisis in Asia at the personal level. This video explains the impact of the annual three-month drought season. For many, this season is just the same as any other day of the year.

One villager explains, “Wells, rivers, ponds . . . everything dries up.”

Two women from the village explain their exhaustion from carrying heavy loads of water over long distances.

Though many people in other parts of the world may get water from taps and have access to a virtually limitless supply, these families have only the supply that the women can carry. Asian families regard water as a precious commodity that must be used—and often reused—sparingly.

When Gospel for Asia-supported workers respond to a village’s need for readily accessible clean water, everyone celebrates.

The villagers become healthier. Children stop missing school, and their fathers stop missing work because they are sick. Vimal, a villager in Asia, explained that his daughter had to help fetch water so she was unable to pass her school exams—yet another portent of the long-term impact of not having access to clean water.

Tens of thousands of Jesus Wells dot rural Asian villages, providing a source of all the clean water they need. The wells are dug and maintained at no cost to the villagers through the financial support of Gospel for Asia (GFA) donors.

Words are inadequate to express the appreciation and the joy of Jesus Well recipients. For the first time in many of their lives, they have access to all the clean water they need near home. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the footage during the last minute of the video is priceless. When you begin to see how grateful these people are, you will want to celebrate with them.

You can learn more about Jesus Wells by visiting Gospel for Asia’s webpage about its clean water initiatives.

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

Sources:

The Third Pole – Understanding The Clean Water Crisis in Asia, Can South Asian rivers be ‘regional public goods’?
Business Connect, The Clean Water Crisis In India: Everything You Need To Know
South Asia Journal, Water crisis spells misery for Bangladeshi villagers
Inter Press Service, Water Scarcity: India’s Silent Crisis
Young Bhartiya, Necessity of Water Governance in South Asia
World Economic Forum, India’s water crisis is hitting women hardest. Here’s why
Gospel for Asia, YouTube, Vimal’s Story: A Jesus Well Was the Answer to Their Clean Water Crisis
Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day

For more information about this, click here.

Curing Openhomeaphobia

Last updated on: November 12, 2022 at 10:52 am By Karen Mains

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing openhomeaphobia — its symptoms and remedies.

Open-home-a-phobic, noun (op-en-hom-a-fo-bick) From Latin phobicus; Greek phobikos;
1. Someone terrified to open his or her home to guests.
2. Someone filled with anxiety due to the overwhelming feelings that his or her home is not good enough for company, the rooms not large enough, the food not tasty enough.
3. Someone who panics at the thought of fitting hospitality into a schedule jammed with deadlines, timelines and bottom lines.

Symptoms include:
• Gagging at the word “guest”.
• Uncontrollable urges to hide when the doorbell rings.
• Sweating when the church bulletin pleads for people to include internationals for holiday meals.

If there ever was an age in which the beneficial, healing properties of scriptural hospitality were more needed than in this one, I don’t know which age that might be. The AARP Bulletin reported,

“Social isolation has become such a problem in Great Britain that Prime Minister Theresa May appointed a ‘minister of loneliness’ to measure it, determine its impact and develop a strategy to address it.”

In addition to watching what we eat, exercising daily and developing an overall strategy of attempting to be healthy, researchers on aging are discovering it is also important to focus on realizing a sense of purpose, developing positive mental habits and developing meaningful social connections.

What an opportunity for the church in society and for the Christians who follow Jesus to reach out with antidotes to overcome the social isolation that exists and is growing in our contemporary world.

At the Gospel for Asia (GFA) campus in Wills Point, Texas, we actively promote hospitality in various ways by encouraging staff members to open their homes to one another for times of prayer or fellowship, to have people over for dinner, meet ups or get-together, and to build a community among-st ourselves that cares about the needs of our colleagues and neighbors in practical and substantive ways.

Yet a majority of Christ-followers don’t seem to understand that the One they follow was without a home of His own or a place where He knew he could lay His head. And yet He was the most hospitable human ever to walk the surface of this planet. We are not aware that we have developed a raging neurosis, which I term openhomeaphobia, the fear of inviting people into our homes.

For instance, how many of us have recently invited a small group from our church, a few neighbors from our apartment or condo-complex, colleagues from work, even members of our own extended family into our home for a dessert evening or for a meal? How many of us have prayerfully considered who around us are alone, who are suffering from social isolation (maybe we ourselves are part of that statistic!) and have asked, “Lord, what can I do about it?”

Sometimes—often, in fact—it is fear that keeps us from doing what it is our hearts are telling us to do. Long ago, as a young woman, I learned that if fear popped up in the face of any venture that was challenging me to do what I thought I should, it was a sure sign that was exactly what I should be doing.

So, let’s look at some of the cures for this neurosis.

Here are 20 practical remedies for overcoming openhomephobia.

No matter what, always greet people warmly at the door.
NEVER apologize for the condition of your home.
If you are insecure with hospitality, be as SIMPLE as possible.
Do only coffee, tea and dessert. Hold a pie party and let the bakers in the group bring the pies. Serve baked potatoes with toppings and a salad. Have a soup-pantry supper. Buy from a local grocery. Serve from pans off the stove.
Hold a potluck.
Have everyone who comes bring something.
Plan a leftovers party.
Have guests share their leftovers and add them to yours. Ask, “What’s in your refrigerator? This is what’s in mine.”
Never do an in-depth cleaning before people come.
Just pick up, light candles, put out flowers. Clean after they go.
ALWAYS accept other people’s offer to help.
Bring people home after church.
Let them set the table. Serve pancakes. Serve French toast. Serve frozen waffles.
Extend hospitality as a team.
Team with your husband or wife. Team with your housemate. Team with friends. Team with church members or work colleagues.
Pray before you invite anyone into your home.
Ask God to provide the guest list.
Develop a list of standard conversational questions to rely on.
Think about each guest before he/she comes. Try to decide upon one thing you really want to know about him/her.
Include some element of silliness, like holding an evening when everyone brings one funny story to tell. Or eat the meal backwards, beginning with dessert (a healthy one!).
Hold a “craving potluck.”
Everyone brings something he/she really craves. Do this without pre-planning.
Organize a work-together exchange.
“We’ll help you with this house project if you’ll help us with this home project.”
When children are included, build some part of the event around them.
Then everyone participates in the activities. Everyone plays musical chairs. Everyone dances (even the toddler) around the piano player.
Do things for the purpose of healing and welcoming—not to impress.
What kind of background music will soothe people after a busy day, a busy week? What is something nice you can put on the table for a centerpiece?
Figure out some follow-up.
Most likely, people will not write thank-you notes. Can you call and tell them how much you enjoyed their being in your home? Can you write a note?
Make SURE everyone is introduced.
Don’t assume people know one another. This can be done informally, but in larger groups it is better to have everyone tell his/her name and one thing about themselves.
Declare the purpose of the evening:
“We invited you tonight so you could have an opportunity to get to know one another better.”
It is perfectly appropriate to set time limits. Invite people for dinner from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. You can say (as you stand),
“Well, this has been a wonderful evening [or afternoon or breakfast], but many of you have busy schedules tomorrow [or today], as do we, so we don’t want to go late [or long], but we want to tell you before you leave how much we have loved having you all in our home.” (David has often threatened to come down in his pajamas with a similar message: “You all must be getting tired…”!)

As a last neurosis cure, remind yourself that the very act of welcome and invitation is a God-like act. When we extend welcome, we are showing to others what God is like.

Romans 15:7

“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God” (RSV).
“Accept one another, then just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (NIV).
“Therefore, receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God” (NKJV).

Do you think, could it be possible, that if one Christian conquers a neurosis of openhomeaphobia, that one single individual could impact a lonely, socially isolated society? What if tens of folk live a life of hospitality, hundreds of welcoming folks, thousands of inviting folks, ten thousand of accepting folk were cured? What impact, exactly, do you think that would have on this world?

Image Source: Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day

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

Is There Really Hope in Gospel for Asia’s Bridge of Hope Centers?

Last updated on: November 30, 2022 at 6:14 pm By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) — The Bible speaks of hope specifically as a “confident expectation,” not a wish or a maybe. Dr. KP Yohannan’s vision for establishing Gospel for Asia’s (GFA) Bridge of Hope Program was not simply an idea of something nice to do for the underprivileged children of Asia. The vision was to provide a bridge to the confident expectation of a fruitful and productive future.

I take it for granted that most readers already understand what Bridge of Hope centers do. Faithful supporters have read many stories of individual changed lives of current and former Bridge of Hope students. Many readers, however, may not realize the measurable impact that Bridge of Hope centers have on students achieving the confident expectation of a brighter future.

Remember What We Do

Bridge of Hope centers serve marginalized and underprivileged children throughout the Asian nations of India, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. The purpose is to provide students with the necessary tools and opportunities for success through faithful, qualified staff who provide benefits and programs for each child.

Bridge of Hope centers liberate underprivileged children from the darkness of illiteracy, ignorance and exploitation by complementing formal school education.

They help students to grow emotionally so they do not base their future expectations on the past. Emphasizing a value-based education, students are taught moral values and manners that will prepare them to become good and responsible citizens.

The centers provide social awareness about important health and life issues for both the children and their families. Furthermore, they help to ensure the students’ physical health and growth by providing daily, nutritious meals.

Realize the Results

A recent study of enrichment centers similar to Bridge of Hope revealed some interesting insights into the general efficacy of and impact of our programs.

The overarching finding of the study was that education, in the sense of school attendance, does improve quality of life. Rather, “the major challenge in education today [is] poor learning outcomes.” (Vivek, 2018)

All the evidence indicated that these centers are more effective than public education because children are taught at the level where they are with a view to bringing them to a higher level that will give them the ability to lead productive lives.

A comparison of Grade 5 children indicated a clearly distinguishable difference in reading and math between students at enrichment centers (like Bridge of Hope) and those who attend only a public school.

	Public	Private
Can read at least a Grade 2 text	41.6%	62.9%
Can divide	21.1%	37.9%

Digging deeper into the educational details, the progress made in reading results at multiple grade levels were even more astounding.

	Beginning of Year	End of Year
Can read words – Grade 2	16.94%	29.51%
Can read paragraphs – Grade 3	6.98%	13.82%
Can read a story – Grade 4	5.10%	10.37%
Can read and comprehend a story – Grade 5	1.85%	6.22%

The progress in each discipline is double, nearly double, or more than double. Apply that percentage of improvement to 10,000 children, or 50,000 children or 70,000 children.

Statistics tell the story at Bridge or Hope, not only of the present but also of the progress of helping children toward a sure and certain hope for their future, the future of their community, and the future of their country.

Faithful sponsorships make the enrollment in Bridge of Hope centers possible for tens of thousands of children who have no other hope. We will never know this side of heaven how many lives have been changed and how much they have been changed—but we know they are being changed.

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

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

Go here to know more about Gospel for Asia: Facebook | Sourcewatch | Flickr | GFA | Lawsuit

Sources:

Bridge of Hope India, What We Do and About
India Spend, Crisis In Adolescent Learning In India’s Rural Schools Is Revealed, (Vivek, 2018)

Image Source:

Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day