2022-10-29T05:35:58+00:00

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

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.
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.
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.
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.

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

2022-06-16T05:38:07+00:00

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

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.

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) 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.
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.
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.

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

2022-11-05T16:31:10+00:00

Last updated on: November 5, 2022 at 4:31 pm   By

Reflections on the 40-year Ministry of Gospel for Asia

Make no mistake, this is not a story about Dr. K.P. Yohannan. This is a story of what the Lord has done with and for and through and in him. The greatest ability we can give to the Lord is “availability.” All that young man had to offer the Lord in 1979 was a willing and obedient heart.

The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. I want to be that man.D.L. Moody

No doubt that statement by the great American evangelist D.L. Moody is still true, although the Lord used him mightily.

We have surely seen “what God can do with and for and through and in” by the likes of Billy Graham, Luis Palau, Tim LaHaye, Jerry Falwell, Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie and many others. But we still don’t know if we have seen the fulfillment of the desire of Moody’s heart that each of these men shared.

The amazing thing about the people God uses most effectively is that they seek no glory for themselves, they spend hours in prayer, and they yield all that they are and all they possess to serve the Lord in whatever way He directs their paths.

Rarely, when these men were young, did they anticipate a day 40 or more years into the future when they would look back in amazement at what the Lord had empowered and enabled them to do.

They did not set out to make a name for themselves or to establish an empire. They simply made themselves available as vessels separated and set aside for the Lord’s use. They, and others like them, can look back and stand in awe of how an Almighty God has blessed their ministries abundantly and beyond imagination.

I know a man exactly like that. His name is Dr. K.P. Yohannan. He is one of the humblest and most dedicated men I have ever known. Forty years ago, he responded to God’s call to minister to the millions of people in Asia. Little did he know that in 2019 he would be able to look back at the remarkable things the Lord did over the past 40 years.

How will the Lord do with these men?

Make no mistake, this is not a story about Dr. K.P. Yohannan. This is a story of what the Lord has done with and for and through and in him. The greatest ability we can give to the Lord is “availability.” All that young man had to offer the Lord in 1979 was a willing and obedient heart.

The Lord used that available vessel to begin Gospel for Asia (GFA) and to lead the ministry with a singular focus: to take the love of Christ to people who have never heard His name before.

In a newly released video, Dr. Yohannan invites us to join Gospel for Asia (GFA) in celebrating “the 40 years of this incredible journey with our Lord.” In the video, he reminisces with effervescence because of the numerous healthy congregations the Lord has established through GFA-supported workers serving in more than 16 countries.

He shares an overview of the numbers of children that have been able rescued from lives of abandonment on the streets and in the slums, many of whom have had to beg on the streets or dig through garbage dumps simply to live another day of desperation.

“The amazing thing about the people God uses most effectively is that they seek no glory for themselves, they spend hours in prayer, and they yield all that they are and all they possess to serve the Lord in whatever way He directs their paths.”
Gospel for Asia helps provide education, meals, school supplies and health care for more than 70,000 of these children through its Bridge of Hope program—all because of a willing heart and the prayers and financial gifts of godly men and women and churches around the world.

Dr. K.P.’s vision is for the Lord to open the doors to be able to minister to half-a-million children who are trapped in the same circumstances in the developing countries of Asia.

He speaks in the video about the multitudes of women who have been rescued from poverty, prostitution and physical abuse. GFA-supported workers share the love of Christ with them and help them to find a way out of their plight, offering them literacy education and vocational training.

Who would have dreamed 40 years ago that the Lord would use the generosity of Gospel for Asia (GFA) supporters to establish a radio broadcasting system that millions of people listen to in 110 different languages and dialects across the entire subcontinent?

As Dr. K.P. says in the video, “God can do anything,” but He almost always uses us to accomplish His purposes. Alone, we are nothing. Even together, we cannot do the Lord’s work without His leading and empowerment.

I want to share this video with you so that you, personally, can hear Dr. K.P. share his thanks for your prayers and support of Gospel for Asia (GFA) over the years. It is your trust in the Lord and in the mission of Gospel for Asia (GFA) that has made the amazing ministry possible.

Check out the video and join us in celebrating 40 years of God’s amazing and abundant blessings.

To learn more about what the Lord has done throughout these 40 years, follow this link to our webpage “Gospel for Asia Celebrates Its 40th Year of God’s Faithfulness!”

Gospel for Asia has been serving the “least of these” in Asia since its beginning in 1979, often in places where no one else is serving. GFA supports national workers who are serving as the hands and feet of Christ by ministering to people’s needs so they can understand the love of God for them for the first time. GFA is engaged in dozens of projects, such as caring for poor children, slum dwellers and widows and orphans; providing clean water by funding wells; supporting medical missions; and meeting the needs of those in leprosy colonies. Through GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program, tens of thousands of children are being rescued from the generational curses of poverty and hopelessness.

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

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

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2022-11-12T09:56:51+00:00

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

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.

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.

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.

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2022-11-30T18:14:15+00:00

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

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.

Is There Really Hope in Gospel for Asia's Bridge of Hope Centers? - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

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.

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2022-12-10T14:34:00+00:00

Last updated on: December 10, 2022 at 2:34 pm   By

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

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

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

The Slums: An Explanation

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

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

The Ministry of the Faithful

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

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

A Mother’s Heart Touched

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

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

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

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

The Millions Untold

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

[1] U.N. Slum Almanac

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

[3] U.N. Slum Almanac

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

Image Source: Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day

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2022-09-22T22:08:00+00:00

Last updated on: September 22, 2022 at 10:08 pm   By

Wills Point, Texas – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Special Report Part 3 – Discussing the impact of quality education on the eradication of extreme poverty and illiteracy.

More than 250 million women in Asia are illiterate - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
More than 250 million women in Asia are illiterate. The women pictured learned how to read for the first time through Gospel for Asia supported literacy programs.

Gospel for Asia Introduces Quality Education to Families in Poverty

Remember hardworking Dayita and her roaming children? Their story also serves as an example of the powerful gift of education.

One day, some staff members from a local Gospel for Asia-supported Bridge of Hope center met Dayita and her family. Upon hearing of her struggle and seeing the condition of the family, the staff members offered Dayita’s 7-year-old daughter, Kasni, the chance of a lifetime: the opportunity to go to school.

That day changed the course of Dayita and Kasni’s family: The cycle of poverty and illiteracy began to break.

Dayita’s 7-year-old daughter Kasni is now enrolled in a Bridge of Hope center - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Dayita’s 7-year-old daughter Kasni is now enrolled in a GFA-supported Bridge of Hope center and is learning skills that will enable her to leave the cycle of poverty behind.

At the Bridge of Hope center, Kasni began learning skills that will empower her to escape poverty, subjects such as arithmetic, science, language skill and history. She also had opportunities to learn about art, dance, respect and self-discipline. She thrived in her new environment, and her joy spread to her family.

Dayita had never dreamed she would be able to send her daughter to school, yet now her little Kasni was developing and growing into a bright young student. Kasni’s future would hold more hope than her own had held at age 7, and hopefully Kasni would be spared from many of the trials Dayita had experienced from her illiteracy.

The Bridge of Hope center impacted the family in additional ways, too. Kasni received a nutritious meal every school day, which helped ease the financial burden of the family. She and the other Bridge of Hope students participated in health awareness programs and medical checkups, and all their books and school supplies were provided by the center. In addition, special programs were held regularly to help cultivate students’ social skills and character.

Kasni continued to care for her younger siblings for a portion of the day, and with her new skills of respect and responsibility, she was better equipped in her role as an elder sister.

Many of the things Kasni learned through the center benefited her mother as well. Special programs for the parents helped Dayita grow in knowledge, too.

Kasni is just one among 75,000 children enrolled in GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program. Through Bridge of Hope, these children and their families are finding a new way of life—a life that leads to hope and a door out of poverty.

Teachers at GFA-supported Bridge of Hope centers teach with love and care - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Teachers at GFA-supported Bridge of Hope centers teach with love and care, which helps the children enjoy class and excel in their studies.

Efforts to Reduce Poverty Through Quality Education

Overwhelming evidence of education’s effectiveness in reducing poverty has prompted massive efforts around the world to make quality education available to everyone—especially to the poor.

Efforts to Reduce Poverty Through Quality Education - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
An instructor plays with kindergarten children at an Internally Displaced Persons camp in Haiti. (Photo credit UNICEF)

These efforts range from large-scale endeavors like those of UNICEF and Global Partnership for Education, to family-run schools and volunteer-led tutoring. Although the groups are different in size, they have one significant component in common: people who are doing what they can to help the needy children in their sphere.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) is just one of those players, yet God is using this one organization to impact thousands of lives. GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program began in 2004 and was designed to help transform the lives of children who live in poverty.

“These children have learned to dream, and their education equips them to pursue those dreams, contribute to society and raise their children-to-come with the same life-changing values they have embraced.”
Recognizing the broad reach poverty has on families and children, Bridge of Hope takes a holistic approach to education, investing in the minds, emotions and bodies of the students. Food, clothing, encouragement, medical care and times of childhood fun all work together to build into the students’ lives and prepare them to be valuable citizens in their countries.

Stories abound of the transformations taking place in these little children—children who are growing up to be well-equipped adults who know they have value and potential. Children who were painfully shy or woefully behind in their studies when they started at Bridge of Hope later dream of becoming doctors, engineers or teachers.

Others aspire to design clothing or to help poverty-stricken families climb out of poverty. Some will grow up to hold positions of great influence in their society, others will help their family farms prosper in improved ways, and still others will invest into the lives of their children the way Bridge of Hope teachers invested in their own lives. These children have learned to dream, and their education equips them to pursue those dreams, contribute to society and raise their children-to-come with the same life-changing values they have embraced.

Just one life changed in a village can multiply to impact hundreds of other lives - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Aayush joined Bridge of Hope at 10 years old. Now a capable young man equipped with a quality education, he is pursuing his goal of becoming a teacher.

As far as which comes first, poverty or lack of education, the answer isn’t clear. But the solution is clear. And when you address one issue, you also address the other. The “magnetic draw” between poverty and education doesn’t only have to pull people down; it can also give the leg up needed to escape both perpetuating cycles.

Despite the magnitude of the task and the global scale at which quality education is needed, we’re talking about individual human lives, each one precious and full of potential. While the statistics of need can be overwhelming, we must stop and celebrate the lives that are being touched and the futures that are being transformed. Just one life changed in a village can multiply to impact hundreds of other lives.

It is good to ask ourselves what our part is in these global efforts. Not everyone is meant to be the leader of a large-scale movement to bring education to the world. Some people need to be teachers; others need to be financial backers for those who are on the frontlines; and others can be advocates for quality education in their own spheres of influence.

What is your part?

Solutions to Poverty Line Problems of the Poor & Impoverished: Part 1 | Part 2

This Special Report article originally appeared on gfa.org

To read more on the need of quality education worldwide on Patheos, go here.

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2022-09-23T00:48:14+00:00

Last updated on: September 23, 2022 at 12:48 am   By

Wills Point, Texas – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Special Report Part 2 – Discussing the impact of educational development on the eradication of extreme poverty.

Education’s Holistic Impact on Family Life, Income

God’s creation of the human mind is a marvelous thing. It has the capacity to imagine, dream, create, cherish, remember, deduce, learn and use logic.

When given opportunities through education to learn, cultivate skills and dream, we are capable of accomplishing extraordinary things. To name a few, these include sending human beings into space, discovering medical breakthroughs, crafting new written languages and rebuilding crumbled economies.

This woman works alongside her husband to make bricks, bringing her infant with her - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
This woman works alongside her husband to make bricks, bringing her infant with her. Both men and women work hard in rural villages to try to make ends meet.

We’ve glimpsed snapshots of what happens when mankind lacks the necessary opportunities to cultivate the amazing mind God has granted him.

Underdeveloped minds and absent opportunities steal much of the influence people could make if they only had a chance.

What does it look like when people with little or no opportunity to receive an education are at last given that chance?

An article posted by Schools & Health states,

“Education is fundamental to sustainable development, it is a powerful driver of development and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health; it enables people to be more productive, to earn a better living and enjoy a better quality of life, while also contributing to a country’s overall economic growth.”[1]

The impact of education on children, families and entire communities affected by poverty is vast and multi-faceted. Let’s consider just a few of the most prominent outcomes of education.

Education’s Impact on Income

Poverty Line Problems of the Impoverished - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Girls study in a UNICEF-supported ‘tent school’ in Afghanistan. Many of their families have been displaced by conflict. (Photo credit UNICEF)

The strong connection between education and income is easy to identify. For every year of primary education received as a child, a worker’s earnings experience a 10 percent increase.[2]

Knowledge of a skill empowers breadwinners to find jobs with better pay and better hours. A literate person in Pakistan earns 23 percent more than an illiterate worker. And in the female workforce, a woman with high literacy skills can earn 95 percent more than an illiterate woman or one who has low literacy skills.[3]

In rural Indonesia, those who finish lower secondary education are twice as likely to escape poverty. In addition, their chances of descending into poverty are reduced by a quarter.[4]

In one study done by an EFA Global Monitoring Report team, findings revealed,

“If all students in low income countries left school with basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty, which would be equivalent to a 12% cut in world poverty.”[5]

Increased education doesn’t only open new job opportunities for breadwinners; it also enables workers to succeed in their inherited family businesses. Farmers who receive an education are more likely to implement the use of fertilizers and be better equipped to understand the needs of their crops and soil.

Equipped with mathematical skills, a parent can wisely make choices on purchases, contracts and family budgets. And in any business, an increased understanding of finances and mathematics helps guard business owners against being taken advantage of.

If a mother can read, her child is 50 percent more likely to live past the age of 5.

Education’s Impact on Health

By learning how to wash his hands - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
By learning how to wash his hands, this young student in GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program helps his family to be more healthy.

The increase in pay a literate person receives also increases their chance for a healthier life. The extra income buys food for children who might otherwise suffer from malnutrition; it gives the family the option of visiting a doctor for medical treatment—and even better, it enables them to undergo preventative medical care such as regular checkups or vaccinations.

A healthy breadwinner misses fewer days of work than a sickly one, and medical bills demand less from the family budget. But education’s impact on a family’s health extends beyond their improved financial situation.

Education also empowers parents to make wise, healthy choices for their families.

If a mother can read, her child is 50 percent more likely to live past the age of 5.[6] The mother is able to read warning labels and follow those simple instructions intended to protect her family from diseases or accidents.

“Education also empowers parents to make wise, healthy choices for their families.”
In places where education is absent, superstitions abound. Misconceptions on proper health practices endanger grown adults and children alike—especially children in the womb. In the case of one mother in Asia, her lack of education tragically resulted in her child perishing before birth.[7] Sadly, her story is repeated in villages across the globe. Simple health care classes for women who never received education can mean the difference between lost pregnancies and healthy, full-term babies.

One of the most common hygiene practices—hand washing—is virtually unknown in some parts of the world. According to UNICEF,

“Rates of handwashing around the world are low. Observed rates of handwashing with soap at critical moments—i.e., before handling food and after using the toilet—range from zero percent to 34 percent.”

As a result, easily avoided illnesses are claiming millions of lives. Every year, diarrhea claims the lives of more than 1.5 million children under the age of 5; proper handwashing practices can reduce diarrhea by more than 40 percent.[8]

A person’s health impacts their education as well: A study among primary schools in China with active hand-washing promotions and distributions of soap identified that students missed 54 percent fewer days of school compared to students whose schools had no such program.[9]

No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.Nelson Mandela

Education Development and It’s Impact on Society

There is power in education. “No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated,” said Nelson Mandela.[10]

“Education inspires dreams and equips citizens to pursue their goals.”
Education inspires dreams and equips citizens to pursue their goals. The resulting entrepreneurial efforts help boost economies and create jobs, which aids in global efforts to eliminate poverty.

Literacy is also key to being informed about what is taking place around the world. It builds global awareness into a person’s heart and enables them to engage with others in ways that are impossible without literacy.

The UN states that “quality early education provides children with basic cognitive and language skills and fosters emotional development.”[11] Alternatively, an estimated US$129 billion is lost each year due to the 250 million children globally who are not learning basic skills (and thus have less potential).[12] The importance of quality education on society is revealed by its inclusion in the UN’s global Sustainable Development Goals.[13]

Ashima once faced punishment at school and scolding at home - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Ashima once faced punishment at school and scolding at home because her family could not afford the school supplies she needed. After she enrolled in Bridge of Hope, which provided for all of her school needs, plus many other gifts to support Ashima’s development, she shares, “My future ambition is that I want to become a medical doctor. Especially I want to serve the poor from our society.”

Beyond influencing the economy of a society, education also touches the fibers of morals and lifestyles in a region.

According to Professor W. Steven Barnett, author of Preschool Education and Its Lasting Effects: Research and Policy Implications, a child’s academic success can be impacted by early childhood education, which can also reduce incidences of crime and delinquency.[14]

“Beyond influencing the economy of a society, education also touches the fibers of morals and lifestyles in a region.”
The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child confirms that a person’s childhood heavily influences their mental, physical and emotional development, with children raised in secure, loving environments thriving more than children who have experienced trauma even one time.[15]

Do you remember the joy you felt as a child when you did something well in school? The sense of accomplishment and the praise from a teacher or parent give courage and confidence to approach other challenges in life. In the same way, the shame felt when encountering failure can hinder children in life. If a child grows up with a constant sense of failure and insufficiency, that can result in low self-esteem and lack of confidence.

Training children at an early age to pursue their goals and giving them the tools they need to succeed prepare them to thrive in the future challenges they will face as adults.

Solutions to Poverty Line Problems of the Poor & Impoverished: Part 1 | Part 3

This Special Report article originally appeared on gfa.org

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

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2019-10-26T21:14:51+00:00

Last updated on: October 26, 2019 at 9:14 pm   By

literWills Point, Texas – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Special Report Part 1 – Discussing the impact of education on the eradication of extreme poverty and illiteracy.When considering the issues of poverty and lack of education, an old saying comes to mind: “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

Poverty and low education are each self-perpetuating: Those born into poverty (or illiterate households) often live the remainder of their lives in that same condition and have nothing more to offer their children.[1] What’s more, it is as if poverty and low education have a magnetic attraction, relentlessly pulling those who are caught in one cycle deep into the other too.

Why is that?

Solutions to Poverty Line Problems of the Poor & Impoverished Part 1 - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

Kristina Birdsong, a writer for Scientific Learning, sums up the relationship between poverty and education by saying,

“Today more than ever, education remains the key to escaping poverty, while poverty remains the biggest obstacle to education.”[2]

Let’s look at one example:

Dayita was forced to become the sole provider for her four children - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
With her husband out of the picture, illiterate Dayita was forced to become the sole provider for her four children.

Dayita is a mother in Asia living with four children. Poverty and illiteracy permeated her village and her life. Dayita’s husband had consumed so much alcohol that he became too sick to work or even get out of bed, which meant Dayita had no choice but to be the family’s sole breadwinner.

But she was illiterate.

What job opportunities did she have? Manual labor. She and many other illiterate women in her area collected firewood from nearby forests and sold it to provide for their families. It was physically taxing work that kept her from being with her children and still paid very little. But it was all she could do.

Education remains the key to escaping poverty, while poverty remains the biggest obstacle to education.

Dayita’s illiteracy and poverty set the trajectory of her children’s lives, too. The fight to obtain morsels of bread for their hungry tummies consumed all her strength; sending her children to school was not even something to dream about. And Dayita couldn’t teach her children anything of the alphabet or of mathematics, knowing none herself. Instead of going to school, her four kids roamed around the village, “cared for” by the eldest child, 7-year-old Kasni.

The cycles of poverty and illiteracy were continuing in Dayita’s family, and there was nothing she could do to arrest them.

These women are working on road construction project in Asia - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
These women are working on road construction project in Asia. Around the world, women are more likely to be paid less than men and to face unemployment.

Poverty and It’s Pervasive Stranglehold

Dayita was not alone in her plight.

An estimated 767 million people lived below the poverty line of $1.90 per day in 2013, according to the UN.[3] In 2014, some 263 million children and youth were not attending school, and more than 70 percent of the out-of-school children who should have been in primary or secondary education lived in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.[4] In the United States, a report revealed that in 2014, “approximately 15 million children under the age of 18 were in families living in poverty.”[5]

Living hand to mouth
KILLS DREAMS.

Many impoverished families know education is the long-term solution to their financial troubles, but it is out of reach. A family’s financial position influences more than you might think upon initial consideration.

The father who works from sunup to sundown seven days a week will have little time to mentor his children. The same could be said of the mother who labors in the fields all day.

During their most formative and vulnerable years, millions of children are left alone during the day to wander in their villages. Many will adopt poor social habits and learn nothing of respect or self-discipline. School is out of the picture for them; all the family’s energy must be focused on providing food and shelter.

A young boy in Pakistan. One in three Pakistanis lives below the poverty line - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
A young boy in Pakistan. One in three Pakistanis lives below the poverty line. Photo Credit Muhammad Muzamil / Unsplash

Often, a family’s financial plight is so desperate that even young children must contribute to the family income. For the roughly 150 million child laborers in the world,[6] there is no school, no delving into their nation’s history, and no adventuring to museums to learn about science and art.

No money means no food, which means malnutrition and increased health problems. No money means no doctor visits, and in the case of a medical emergency, no money may mean indenturing a child to work off the incurred debt after receiving critical treatment.

“Living hand to mouth kills dreams. For many, ambition becomes unrealistic amid the ever-present fight against starvation.”
Living hand to mouth kills dreams. For many, ambition becomes unrealistic amid the ever-present fight against starvation. How many of us have asked a young child what they want to be when they grow up? In many poverty-stricken areas, however, a child might respond to that question with a look of confusion. The only future they can see is following their parents in becoming a farmer, a daily laborer or, if they’re lucky, maybe a skilled tradesman.

For the majority of children raised in poverty-stricken communities, the fruit of their harsh childhood is more of the same. When they become parents, they will raise their children as they themselves were raised—unless they can manage to find a way out, into a new way of life.

Both men and women work hard in rural villages to try to make ends meet - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
This woman works alongside her husband to make bricks, bringing her infant with her. Both men and women work hard in rural villages to try to make ends meet.

Solutions to Poverty Line Problems of the Poor & Impoverished: Part 2 | Part 3

This Special Report article originally appeared on gfa.org

To read more on the ongoing worldwide problem of Poverty on Patheos, go here.

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

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2018-12-01T23:26:37+00:00

Last updated on: December 1, 2018 at 11:26 pm   By

Often times, people will argue the pros and cons of different methods of sharing Christ’s love. I used to be that way, but after reading articles from various missionary organizations, I’ve learned there is no method that is effective for every individual.

For many people in other countries, illiteracy is a problem. In India more than 34 percent of the population is illiterate.[1] Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have a literacy rate higher than 75 percent, but that still leaves portions of the population illiterate.[2]

This is why digital media, such as films, are such great tools. It shares the Good News with those who can’t read a Bible or literature. Plus, who doesn’t like a good movie, especially when the good guy ultimately wins?

Struggling with Sweat on Their Way

Technology Shares Christ’s Love with a Village - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Aadit (pictured) is part of a GFA-supported film team and seeks to share Christ’s love through showing films about Jesus’ life.

GFA-supported film teams often travel on foot, from village to village, with sweat running down their faces. Unless they travel by bus or have their own vehicle, they have no other way to haul the projector and generator, which they use for power in rural areas that have no electricity.[3] Aadit, a GFA-supported missionary and his team walked and carried a projector on a narrow path leading to a village.[4]

An Unexpected Treat

I can’t imagine how heavy film projectors are, yet these men believed it would be worth carrying so those who have never heard of God’s love would finally have the chance.

Many in the West take movies for granted. Movie theaters are just a few minutes from home. Almost every house has a DVD or Blue Ray player. Movies are no longer a novelty. But in many rural villages across the globe, films are a rare occurrence. In the village where Aadit was showing the film about Jesus, villagers had no way to visit a movie theater. So when the team arrived with equipment in tow, excitement stirred around the village.

The film team prayed for the work of the Holy Spirit to be present and for changed hearts. That night, as the film was shown, the audience grew to around 95 people.

As villagers watched the film displaying what Jesus had done for them, 10 people were moved and embraced the Lord’s love in their lives.

Movies Share Christ’s Love with Others

You never know how the Lord will work in people’s lives to draw them to Himself. For people who are illiterate, it may be as simple as watching a movie. Through the work of national missionaries such as Aadit, families are coming to love Christ and people are seeing His message of hope for the first time.

Whether you use literature, prefer conversations or showing a movie, people will react to the message of Christ’s love and sacrifice in different ways. The Holy Spirit is able to work in our feeble efforts to bring people to Himself.

[1] The New Leam, Alarming Illiteracy Rates in India: Accountability and Action

[2] Discovery DCODE, How Did Southeast Asia Achieve 99% Literacy?

[3] Gospel for Asia, Provide gifts that help missionaries bring Christ’s love to the lost

[4] Gospel for Asia: Reports from the Field, A Surprise Film

To learn more about the National Missionaries, visit this page on the GFA website.

Learn more about the GFA Film Ministry in Asia and how you can be involved, go here.

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

Go here to know more about Gospel for Asia: Flickr | GFA | GFA.org | Facebook | Youtube

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