2022-08-12T22:26:53+00:00

Last updated on: August 12, 2022 at 10:26 pm   By

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Part#3 Special Report on the aftermath of acute gender imbalance: Discussing the horrendous reality of 100 million missing women worldwide.

A Little Girl’s Future Transformed

A beautiful story from Gospel for Asia’s archives tells about the day a cook at a Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Bridge of Hope center noticed an elderly woman begging on the street. The cook was distressed because the older woman had a little girl, filthy and dressed in rags, in tow.

Knowing that adult beggars will often use children as bait to receive monies, then pocket the funds and do nothing for the child, the cook challenged the older woman, “Why are you exploiting this child?”

To the cook’s surprise, the older woman broke into tears and wept.

Daya, pictured at age 8 and age 15. Once among beggars in the street, she is now a thriving teen finding her place in this world and walking in her faith.
Daya, pictured at age 8 and age 15. Once among beggars in the street, she is now a thriving teen finding her place in this world and walking in her faith.

She wasn’t a professional beggar at all, but the grandmother of the little girl, Daya, who had been abandoned by both her mother and father. Without income and desperate, the grandmother had begun begging at bus stops, train stations and on the streets. With a change of heart, the cook invited the grandmother to enroll Daya in the Bridge of Hope center, which was in a building wedged between a railway station and a slum, conveniently available to children without a future.

The little girl was enrolled in the center but was so filthy that other parents complained. The Bridge of Hope staff conducted an intensive scrub session to relieve the child of dirt and germs and to replace the same filthy clothes she wore each day with clean clothes. They introduced her to soap and taught her to use it when she washed.

As the report states, “Daya’s future hung in the balance. If rejected from the Bridge of Hope center, she would return to the streets as one of the hundreds of thousands of child beggars in Asia. At some point, she would likely join the 20 to 30 million other boys and girls who are exploited as child laborers.”

The staff was determined to see that Daya thrived in Bridge of Hope, and she grew up to be an educated young woman. However, millions of other children never get that chance.

These are the hands of a child, covered in filth from doing construction work. Thousands of children, just like this one, can’t go to school because they are caught in bonded labor. Some 31 million girls of primary-school age are not in school. Seventeen million of these are expected to never enter school.
These are the hands of a child, covered in filth from doing construction work. Thousands of children, just like this one, can’t go to school because they are caught in bonded labor. Some 31 million girls of primary-school age are not in school. Seventeen million of these are expected to never enter school.

Child Exploitation

In a fact sheet on girls’ education, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) explains:

  • Some 31 million girls of primary-school age are not in school. Seventeen million of these are expected to never enter school.
  • Some 34 million female adolescents are missing from secondary schools, which often offer vocational skills that are essential for procuring future jobs.
  • Two-thirds of the 774 million illiterate people in the world are female.
    Thousands of these children can’t go to school because they are caught in bonded labor.

“It is doubtful they’ve ever held a toothbrush or a bar of soap; they’ve probably never eaten an ice-cream cone or cradled a doll,” Gospel for Asia (GFA) states. “The child laborers of Asia toil in fireworks, carpet and match factories; quarries and coal mines; rice fields, tea plantations and pastures; and even brothels. Because they are exposed to dust, toxic fumes, pesticides and disease, their health is compromised, and their bodies can be crippled from carrying heavy weights.”

Worse still, these children could be entrapped in prostitution.

These young women are prostitutes in the red-light district; some most likely entrapped since childhood.
These young women are prostitutes in the red-light district; some most likely entrapped since childhood.

According to Reuters, “Of an estimated 20 million commercial prostitutes in India, 16 million women and girls are victims of sex trafficking, according to [data gatherers].”

Prostitution is not illegal in India so the chances of victimization are mind-blowing. In addition, many impoverished families sell their daughters to opportunists who promise a better life for their children.

ABC News reports, “Aid organizations estimate that 20 to 65 million Indians have already passed through the hands of human traffickers at one point in their lives. Ninety percent of them remain within India’s national borders, and the majority are female and under the age of 18.”

One social worker, Palavi, explained, “Human trafficking works because the victims are afraid and cannot communicate. … Many of them have children who live in constant danger of also being sold or sexually abused. They grow up under the beds where their mothers were robbed of their dignity.”

When census data is gathered, these women, mothers and little girls are not in their villages, local communities or urban settlements. They are hidden by sex slave traders (but made available to the men who seek them out).

Let me ask again the question Jesus asked Simon the Pharisee, “Do you see this woman (or child, or little girl or teenager)?”

I have a granddaughter named Eliana who is 10 years old. Four mornings a week, I pick up Eliana and her brother, Nehemiah (8), to drive them to school. Their younger sister, Anelise (5), is picked up by the preschool bus. My driving effort is to help out their mother, who was married to our son Jeremy Mains. Our son, her husband and the children’s father, died five years ago at age 42 of blastic mantle cell lymphoma.

Angela, my daughter-in-law, is raising the children by herself while holding a full-time job as the director of a local community-outreach organization. She has just completed her dissertation and received a doctorate in adult education. Nevertheless, even with remarkable mothers, studies show that children raised without fathers are vulnerable. So my husband and I live close, are on call when babysitters fall through and try to do a lot of one-on-ones with our grandchildren.

Though I watch these grandchildren grow with an attentive heart, I am certain my granddaughter Eliana will never worry about entering bonded labor or be forced to go begging on the streets. It is impossible for me, even for the sake of achieving a frightening empathy, to impose through my imagination the horror of the lives of some 20 to 65 million trafficked females on these precious little girls I love.

These Bridge of Hope students look happy during class time at GFA’s Bridge of Hope program. Education can protect a girl from exploitation—and redirect her future. This is a primary solution to begin changing the statistics of 100 million missing women.
These Bridge of Hope students look happy during class time at GFA’s Bridge of Hope program. Education can protect a girl from exploitation—and redirect her future. This is a primary solution to begin changing the statistics of 100 million missing women.

Education as a Deterrent

Education can protect a girl from exploitation—and redirect her future. An educated girl can read. She can find work. She can get training to become a teacher, a doctor or a policewoman, for instance. She can tutor other children. A social system begins to change slowly, very slowly, one educated girl by one educated girl.

The latest statistics regarding GFA’s supported work with women in 2018 include:

290,753

women received free health care training

8,812

sewing machines distributed as a means to obtain work as a seamstress

61,880

illiterate women learned to read and write

11,000+

women desperate for jobs received vocational training

Educating girls is a primary solution to begin changing the statistics of 100 million missing women. The Global Partnership for Education maintains, “The power of girls’ education on national economic growth is undeniable: a one percentage point increase in female education raises the average gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.3 percentage points and raises annual GDP growth rates by 0.2 percentage points.”

The World Bank stresses that girls’ education goes beyond getting into school. It is also about ensuring they learn and feel safe in school. One research study in Haiti indicated, “One in three Haitian women (ages 15 to 49) has experienced physical and/or sexual violence, and that of women who received money for sex before turning 18 years old, 27 percent reported schools to be the most common location for solicitation.”

Through Bridge of Hope, Gospel for Asia (GFA) offers child sponsorships for the neediest impoverished children whose families are caught in the cycle of poverty and are unable to provide education for their offspring. The sponsorship amount is $35 per month per child. This educational ministry sees that some 70,000 children (both boys and girls) are given a daily meal, regular medical checkups and training in basic hygiene.

What can we—those of us who have hearts that beat with concern about the unbelievable evils of this world—do about the women worldwide who face discrimination and violence? How can anyone make a dent in a problem with such magnified proportionality? How can that horrific statistic—100 million missing women—be conquered, overcome, defeated, reduced or even eliminated?

What Can We Do? How Can We Conquer the Horrific 100 Million Missing Women Statistic?

What can we—those of us who have hearts that beat with concern about the unbelievable evils of this world—do about the 100 million missing women worldwide who face discrimination and violence? How can anyone make a dent in a problem with such magnified proportionality? How can that horrific statistic—100 million missing women—be conquered, overcome, defeated, reduced or even eliminated?

Well, there are some things we can do, small as they seem, but mighty nevertheless in their possibility:

We can sponsor girls (and boys) so they get educated through programs like GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program. And if $35 a month is too much for you (and it is for some compassionate people), invite your small group, Sunday School class, men’s softball league, neighborhood coffee-klatch or members of your extended family to pool funds.

Think about this question: Why do more people not see this inequality and neglect, not grieve for the 100 million missing women and girls who have experienced such hardships and take action to be part of the solution? Then read the book of Luke and think about the societal shift that begins with women’s encounters with Jesus.

Remind yourself of Christ’s question: “Do you see this woman?” Write it out on a card, and then use it as a bookmark in the books you read or paste it on your bathroom mirror. Write out a prayer, like the one I included in the beginning of this article, but adapt it to this horrific dilemma: Lord, what do You want me to do about the masses of women? And if you are not a praying person, send some discontented energy into the atmosphere any way you feel fit. Just don’t forget.

Let us conclude by going back to Jesus, except now He is not eating at the table of the VIPs. He is bloody, tortured, hanging from a cross and nearing death. The Gospel of John describes the inhumanity of the Roman soldiers and the crowds standing beneath the cross.

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”

Concern for the widow. Concern for the women.

“Look at this woman. Do you now see your mother?”

So, let us also be about this work in the world.

Oh, Lord, help us to care for every human with hearts that beat like Your heart beats for them. And help us, please help us, no matter our gender, to see the women.

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 2

Learn more about Gospel for Asia’s programs to combat the 100 million 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 100 million 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

2022-10-29T05:28:41+00:00

Last updated on: October 29, 2022 at 5:28 am   By

The first time Tanul tried alcohol, it must have burned his throat and boiled in his belly. Unpleasant as it was, it would not be the last time he put his lips around the bottle. In fact—like the poverty he was born into—it became his constant companion. By the time Tanul was a teenager, he drank regularly. Like most young men in his rural village, Tanul filled his body with alcohol to erase the shame of poverty from his heart and mind. This destructive habit would follow Tanul as he began to build a life for himself.

When Tanul married, he did not lay aside his drinking. As the burden of caring for a family increased, so did his time with the bottle. Children came, and Tanul was unable to provide adequate food for his family or cover school fees—making a hopeful future for them impossible. Tanul was stuck in a vicious cycle, and the more he drank, the less hire-able he became.

The first time Tanul tried alcohol, it must have burned his throat and boiled in his belly. Unpleasant as it was, it would not be the last time he put his lips around the bottle. In fact—like the poverty he was born into—it became his constant companion.
In many rural villages plagued by poverty, men gather to gamble and drink in the absence of work.

Tanul’s journey is not an isolated incident. It’s a problem all over the world; alcoholism and poverty go hand-in-hand. Though it is not proven that one always leads to the other, there is an ugly, symbiotic relationship. As alcohol consumption increases, employability decreases. While employment dries up, many use drinking to ease the shame, which exacerbates the cycle. Often, the only work left for alcoholics in Asia is manual labor for which they are hired on a day-by-day basis. Because of the difficulty—and sometimes the impossibility—for the poor to rise above these employment options, many turns to alcohol to ease poverty’s sting. The stress of not knowing if you will find work each day inflates the problem.

Abuse Multiplied: Poverty, Alcohol, and…

As Tanul’s family fell apart, another near relation to the twin problems of alcoholism and poverty arrived: domestic violence. Coming home intoxicated and angry, Tanul began abusing his wife and children daily. The little money he earned went to supporting his addiction. This family, plagued by poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence, was living out the well-worn path blazed by many of the world’s extreme poor.

In the village pictured, 80 percent of the rice crop is used to brew homemade alcohol— resulting in a high consumption of alcohol. This leads to frequent occurrences of domestic violence.
In the village pictured, 80 percent of the rice crop is used to brew homemade alcohol— resulting in a high consumption of alcohol. This leads to frequent occurrences of domestic violence.

Step One on the Road Out of Poverty

Pastor Teja, who has a church in a nearby village, met Tanul’s family one day when he was offering prayer for families in need. The Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor saw the pitiful condition of this family, and his heart was heavy. The family invited him back to pray for them, and a friendship began. Tanul’s family began to attend Pastor Teja’s church. Then members of the church continually prayed for Tanul’s deliverance from alcohol—the thing that bound them to the poverty they lived in. Through their faithful prayers and Pastor Teja’s counseling, Tanul overcame his addiction to alcohol. The Lord completely transformed Tanul’s heart!

For the first time, Tanul’s family experienced freedom—freedom as a gift from God above that trickled down into their hearts and flowed toward each other in love. This freedom from bondage gave them hope for the future. But in the present, they are still stuck in the poverty trap.

This predicament of the extreme poor—not being able to find work that will support a family’s daily needs—is one of the basic issues addressed by world leaders and organizations dedicated to alleviating poverty around the globe. One expert working with the Borgen Project, a non-profit dedicated to fighting global poverty, is convinced the first step[1] in reducing extreme cyclic poverty is helping the poor create their own businesses. This is the very thing many Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastors and missionaries can do with income-producing gifts provided by donors all over the world.

Pastor Teja knew that Tanul needed a way to earn enough income to support his family. He arranged to hold a gift distribution and presented Tanul with a rickshaw—something he never could have afforded on his own. Tanul was overcome with gratitude at God’s provision.

Tanul's whole family has been transformed since the Lord entered their lives.
Tanul’s whole family has been transformed since the Lord entered their lives.

A New Reputation

With his new gift, Tanul loaded vegetables onto his rickshaw and began selling throughout the village—even delivering produce to customers’ homes. God blessed Tanul’s diligence and hard work, enabling him to earn a good income selling vegetables. Setting his own prices and being able to keep all his earnings, Tanul had enough money to send Maahir to school to learn a skilled trade. Maahir completed his education and started working as a carpenter. The two men now adequately support their growing family, including Maahir’s wife and two children.

Self-employment frees those trapped in the cycle of poverty from discrimination, unfair business practices and job insecurity — circumstances to which the poor and uneducated are vulnerable. Gifts like rickshaws, sewing machines and water buffalo are the means to break free from the bondage of poverty and to set thousands of families on a new course of self-sufficiency and hope for future generations.

Income producing gifts, like these goats, help lift impoverished families in Asia out of the trap of poverty.
Income producing gifts, like these goats, help lift impoverished families in Asia out of the trap of poverty.

Join the Global Effort to End Extreme Poverty

The fight against extreme poverty is not finished—736 million people in 2015 were still living on less than $1.90 a day.[2] Almost half of these people reside[3] in the countries where Gospel for Asia (GFA) supports national workers. Gospel for Asia (GFA) believes that together, we can make a lasting difference in the lives of those caught in the extreme poverty trap.

Join GFA in providing pastors, missionaries and other national workers with tools to lift those in their communities out of the harsh poverty trap.

[1] The Borgen Project, Top 10 Facts about Poverty in India

[2] The World Bank, Decline of Global Extreme Poverty Continues but Has Slowed: World Bank

[3] Our World in Data, Tree Map of Extreme Poverty Distribution

Source: Gospel for Asia Features, Rickshaw Unlocks a New Path

Learn more on Gospel for Asia’s Special Reports on:

Learn more about how generosity can change lives. Gifts like pigs, bicycles and sewing machines break the cycle of poverty and show Christ’s love to impoverished families in Asia. One gift can have a far-reaching impact, touching families and rippling out to transform entire communities.

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

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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.

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2022-11-30T18:17:29+00:00

Last updated on: November 30, 2022 at 6:17 pm   By

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” —1 John 3:2–3 Do you ever wonder how Christ would be received if He were born today? He came to Earth as humbly as the poorest child in any modern-day developing country. He didn’t live in luxury. His mother and earthly father struggled to even find a safe place for His birth. He didn’t have a pint-sized orthopedic mattress in a custom-made crib. He certainly wasn’t on a waiting list for an exclusive nursery school.

The world didn’t recognize the infant Jesus or care to help. And yet His very existence changed everything.

Beating the Odds Stacked Against Them - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

Each child is an individual who deserves compassion, love and hope. Not just for who they might grow up to be or what they might become but because of who they are now—a precious child of God. Every day, the most innocent among us live in a harsh, unkind environment where surviving until tomorrow is at the forefront. The future is so far away. It could be filled with struggles and pain. It’s not entirely unlike the world our Savior was born into, that he shared the love of God with, and that he ultimately gave His own life to save.

How much easier is it for us, as Christians striving every day to be more Christlike, to merely give compassion and love? What better time is there than now to give the hope of a full belly, clean water and a chance for life-changing education with a child who needs it?

Bridge of Hope Helps Break Down Barriers to Success

” ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” — Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

What mother doesn’t look into the eyes of her child and wish for a happy, healthy future? Mary, the mother of Jesus, surely adored her newborn son. She wanted the best for him. Children bring hope, even when the odds are against them. The world often has other plans, but through sharing God’s love, we can intercede and help.

With each new child born in each new generation, a family and community imagines what they might achieve. In the Western world, those possibilities are virtually limitless. In America, even incredibly poor children have access to state-funded education, books and transportation to school.

In developing countries, however, many children are born at an extreme disadvantage. Their potential is tethered to obstacles that are difficult to imagine, many of them beyond a parent’s control. But they are not beyond hope.

Bridge of Hope was created to help break those tethers and offer underprivileged children a chance to succeed when the odds are stacked high against them.

Why Do Asia's Children Need Help? - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

Why Do Asia’s Children Need Help?

In many parts of Asia, school is available to children, and they’re required to attend. That sounds like a good start, right? On the surface, sure. It’s a nice framework. But the challenges of severe poverty fill in the blank spaces with problems such as hunger, poor (or nonexistent) sanitation, a lack of books and school clothes, childhood disease and limited access to clean water.

In the poorest families, children may be expected to work and earn wages. That cuts into study time and can often lead to quitting school early. Parents may not have the education or the time to help their children learn. When a child stops attending school, their lifetime potential changes dramatically.

For girls, more challenges arise. Their education may be considered less important than the education of boys. Girls will one day marry into another family. As harsh as it sounds, the family sacrifice that it takes to feed, clothe and send girls to school doesn’t pay off for the family who raises them. That’s especially true where the custom of dowries still exists.

Poverty marches through every continent and every country in the world. But conditions in the poorest parts of rural Asia are different. Education is vital, not just for the life of each child, but also for the growth of a developing country. With help, these children have a better chance to learn with fewer of the distractions that poverty inflicts, and they can help create a better future for their family and the next generations.

What Exactly is Bridge of Hope? - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

What Exactly is Bridge of Hope?

GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program exists in community-based centers where children can go for help with some of their toughest problems. The program, established in needy areas throughout Asia, addresses real problems with real solutions.

The difference is amazing.

Children who enroll in Bridge of Hope get help to succeed in school, but they also get so much more. Dedicated staff provides these needy children with nutritious meals, which may be a child’s only meal of the day. They provide books, school uniforms, a quiet and safe place to study, basic medical care and tutoring.

Students can participate in sports programs, practice good study habits and learn about civic duties and community responsibility.

They also receive training on good hygiene and gifts of the basic toiletries they need. The first toothbrush they ever own may be given to them by a caring and compassionate Bridge of Hope worker.

The well-rounded Bridge of Hope approach helps children not just excel in their education, but also helps them grow and develop into strong, healthy, productive citizens. With each new generation, communities gain more and more of the hope they so desperately need.

Tens of thousands of children have been enrolled with the Bridge of Hope program. But the need is still great.

Bridge of Hope Also Supports Parents

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2

“We can’t know who any of these precious, poverty-stricken children in Asia will grow up to be. But what we do know is that God loves them as equally as he loves every other child.”
Children are the primary focus of Bridge of Hope, but the story doesn’t end there. Program workers are active in the community, sharing the gift of God’s love and supporting and teaching parents and guardians. In doing so, they broaden hope for the future to encompass whole communities.

Through home visits, parents learn about positive and uplifting childcare practices and good health and hygiene.

Because the success of parents supports the success of the child and the community, Bridge of Hope is also active in helping families achieve a better standard of living.

Workers can connect parents and guardians with vocational training for a better income through self-employment. To support that initiative further, they distribute meaningful gifts, such as sewing machines, small livestock, tools, carts for street vending and other necessities to help generate much-needed income.

Bridge of Hope supports boys, girls and families living in the poorest parts of Asia. And an important piece of the puzzle is you.

We can’t know who any of these precious, poverty-stricken children in Asia will grow up to be. But what we do know is that God loves them as equally as he loves every other child. Especially at this time of year, when we have just celebrated the greatest gift ever given to the world, hope is transformative.

Your gift can sponsor a child and give them a chance to succeed when most of the world has forgotten.

Image Source: Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day

To read more posts on Patheos on Bridge of Hope, go here.

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2018-12-24T07:57:10+00:00

Last updated on: December 24, 2018 at 7:57 am   By

It’s fairly well known that in many parts of the world, women are second-class citizens. “Second class” might be a bit generous, considering the shocking treatment so many women face. When a woman has the unfortunate experience of becoming widowed, her standing may plummet further without anyone to help or even care. And she may live that way for the rest of her days.

This is reality for widows in some developing countries. It’s inescapable unless someone steps in to speak out on their behalf, offer assistance and help them find their way back into life again.

A Public, Tragic Secret - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

God loves and cherishes every person equally. No one has an extra share of that love, especially not because of their sex, social standing or where they happened to be born. As for us, Mark 12:31 says clearly that we are commanded by God to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and there is no greater commandment.

If only the most vulnerable of women, those who have lost their husbands, could experience the same in their family and community.

Inheritance is a Right for Some, a Myth for Others

“Remember, God commanded us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.”
When a woman’s husband dies, life permanently changes. She is without her partner. If she is older or has no children, she is alone. Fortunately, inheritance laws in many countries protect her to a certain extent. Depending on where she lives and whether or not her husband left a valid will, she may inherit all or a legislated portion of her deceased husband’s estate.

Every state in America has established some type of spousal-inheritance protection for both men and women. Those protections vary, and they’re quite complicated. But the meaning is clear: Just because a husband or wife didn’t leave a will or get around to writing their spouse into a will doesn’t mean the spouse will inherit nothing. In parts of Asia and certain developing countries, that is not the case.

In Nigeria, there is no pretense of support or inheritance after a woman’s husband dies. She is, according to The Africa Report, essentially the property of her husband. As property, she has no right to inherit anything upon his death.

How should these forgotten women survive? Tragically, many of them have no one to turn to for help.

Inheritance is a Right for Some, a Myth for Others - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

Where There’s No Will, There’s No Way

One of the prevailing threads that run through the fabric of widow inheritance is the existence, or not, of a will. Legislation may plainly state how and how much a widow may inherit from her deceased spouse. With an existing will, she still has little chance of inheriting.

It doesn’t matter how clearly a will was written or who affirmed it. Tradition, not law, tends to govern who receives property. And tradition holds that male heirs take all, especially the eldest male heir.

It doesn’t help that many countries have laws that further restrict equality, inheritance and property ownership rights for women. A 2016 report by The World Bank explains that 155 of the 173 economies studied impose restrictions on women that don’t exist for men.

Without a valid will or testamentary document in place, a widow may be fully without hope. It doesn’t appear to matter what a court has held in the past or what legislation demands. If she’s lucky, her family will take her in (after first taking away her property). But even then, her life may become one of servitude. That’s true, regardless of whether she is a young woman or if she’s elderly and in poor health. Too often, elderly women face the most abuse at the hands of their adult children or extended family.

Life is already difficult when a spouse dies. Imagine, if you can, having life transformed in such a way that rights cease to exist, and the most basic necessities of life must come from a person kind enough to care.

Now imagine being blamed for all of it.

In Some Cultures, Women are Accused of Their Husband's Death - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

In Some Cultures, Women are Accused of Their Husband’s Death

What might happen in the United States if, on a man’s deathbed, his doctor turned and told his widow that she was to blame? There would be outrage, for certain. The doctor would probably face at least some sort of disciplinary action. Even so, this scenario isn’t as far-fetched at it seems.

Right now, husbands around the world are working in fields, in factories and in any number of jobs. Wives may have their own jobs, or they may be devoted solely to keeping the home and raising the children. Before the day is finished, one of these men may suffer a tragic accident or suddenly fall ill. Maybe he will never come home again. Or maybe he will return, only to die at home later. In parts of Asia, this scenario usually has one ending:

His wife is viewed as the cause of his death, no matter how or why it happened.

It’s difficult to believe, but it’s true. Certain religious traditions, cultures and social norms have long held that any time a man dies, his wife is to blame. More specifically, her sins are the real cause.

Where women in the Western world may turn to family and friends for love and support, women in other parts of the world may be shunned. They can face harsh treatment. They may be stripped of rights and property for no other reason than a supposed curse or vengeance for their sins.

Some women of any age are forced to beg in the streets just to have something to eat. But even the small charities of passing strangers can’t be counted on; not even if she has small children who are also hungry. If a woman is shunned, people may pass her by in fear, outrage or a combination of both.

GFA Ministers to These Disenfranchised Women

“In the presence of God, they learn they are His precious children, no less worthy of kindness than any other person.”
Left to survive in a world that only shows hatred, fear and distrust at every turn, it’s no wonder that many widows feel hopeless. But remember, God commanded us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. That’s one of many reasons why Gospel for Asia (GFA) offers ongoing support for the precious few who are willing to help. Sisters of Compassion are some of those few.

These special women are trained in ministering to and helping the disenfranchised. They aren’t afraid to pour out love to widows who’ve been hurt, neglected and wronged. It’s part of God’s work, and they do it with compassion. Being women themselves, it’s easier for them to minister to those who need them most.

Women’s Fellowship groups also receive support from GFA. Their work includes a range of programs, such as organizing special events for women and the distribution of gifts of mosquito netting, sewing machines, small livestock and much more.

In the care of Godly women, widows find training that can help them earn income. That’s important for a woman living on her own, and even more so for a younger widow with children to provide for. They also find fellowship and support for when the burdens of life as a family and community outcast are too much to bear.

In the presence of God, they learn they are His precious children, no less worthy of kindness than any other person.

Image Source: Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day

To read more on Patheos on the plight of widows around the world, go here.

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2019-11-21T15:16:57+00:00

Last updated on: November 21, 2019 at 3:16 pm   By

It’s that time of year again when Gospel for Asia (GFA) and many other faith-based organizations (FBO) publish their Christmas gift catalogs. Two of the seemingly ubiquitous gifts available are chickens and goats.I know what you are thinking. “Chickens and goats? How can chickens and goats really have any impact?” Altruistically speaking, we tend to see more value in things like Bibles, blankets, sewing machines, pull carts or rickshaws. I know this because I had thought that way for years. I was wrong.

My mistake was that I was perceiving the value of chickens and goats from a Western worldview. A chicken has little value to me, and my neighbors would not appreciate me owning a goat (nor would the Home Owners Association by-laws permit it).

The Amazing and Empowering Impact of Chickens and Goats - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

Consider, however, the value of chickens or goats for a family living in generational poverty in Asia. When you have absolutely nothing, a couple of chickens or goats is a big deal. They are gifts that can be life-altering.

GFA’s Christmas Gift Catalog says:

“The gift of chickens supplements a family’s income and often helps a family get on its feet financially. Families can eat or sell the nutritious eggs, or they can hatch chicks to increase their flock and later have more eggs and chicks to sell. These birds of a feather multiply quickly, taste just like chicken and are really ‘cheep!'”

Another FBO says:

“With a pair of chickens and a goat, you’ll provide a steady supply of eggs, milk, and protein to feed children and help families . . . Chickens are equally easy to raise and will naturally multiply to impact generations of children.”

If this sounds like marketing propaganda, think again. The Population Council is an international, not-for-profit NGO that was established in 1952 by John D. Rockefeller III with funds primarily from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The Council conducts programs to the most vulnerable people in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. It conducts detailed research to ensure the effectiveness of their programs.

“Because our objective is to transform one community at a time… We help them to realize that there is hope for every man, woman and child in that community.”
Would you believe that the Population Council conducted a study that demonstrated the impact of chickens and goats? They did.

In addition to addressing the overarching issue of poverty, the project focused specifically on developing sustainable approaches to help delay childhood marriage.

That raises another question. How can giving chickens and goats help reduce childhood marriages?

The plan was to offer chickens or goats to families as the significant, empowering element of the program. It had already been apparent that education alone was inadequate to change the cultural mindset or the dilemma faced by families with insufficient resources that, therefore, would sell their daughters into a forced marriage.

The empowerment to effectively reduce childhood marriage was the gifting of chickens and goats.

The empowerment to effectively reduce childhood marriage was the gifting of chickens and goats - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

In Ethiopia, families were offered two chickens each year if they agreed to keep their daughters in school and unmarried. The animals were offered in conjunction with a program of informing the communities about the dangers of child marriage. They also offered assistance with educational supplies and an understanding of good animal husbandry.

Because the chickens and goats provided a source of income, the results indicated that girls between the ages of 12 and 17 were far less likely (by two-thirds) to be offered in marriage during the time of the project. Similar results were achieved in Tanzania.

Gospel for Asia does not require a similar commitment from the families to whom you donate chickens and goats. GFA-supported workers give these gifts to demonstrate the love of Jesus to “the least of these” and provide those families with a source of income.

“Chickens and goats may not change your life, but they can make a radical transformation for the poor in Asia.”

Because our objective is to transform one community at a time, our ministry through our partners in Asia takes a holistic approach within each community. We help them to realize that there is hope for every man, woman and child in that community. Our field partners live in or regularly visit those communities to create an environment of hope, love, education and enablement for the entire community to prosper and grow.

To them, we are the hands and feet of the living God and His Son, Jesus Christ. The gifts of chickens or goats are just one of the ways you can enable us to be His representatives in the villages that are most in need.

Chickens and goats may not change your life, but they can make a radical transformation for the poor in Asia. When you give, and when you realize the impact of chicken and goats, you may discover that the Lord is transforming your heart and mind as well.

Sources:

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2018-11-05T06:52:04+00:00

Last updated on: November 5, 2018 at 6:52 am   By

Wills Point, Texas – GFA (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing how GFA-supported Bridge of Hope centers change the lives of children, their families, and in turn their communities.

7 Things You Didn't Know About Gospel for Asia Supported Bridge of Hope Centers - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

1.8 million Indian babies succumb to death annually from effects of malnutrition and diseases.

150,000 infant deaths per month
34,615 deaths per week
4,945 deaths per day
206 deaths per hour

The sad plight of the surviving children living in poverty in South Asia is impossible for our minds to comprehend unless we have seen it with our own eyes.

These children wake up every morning in squalor, waste, rubbish and odors—not unlike survivors of a tornado, hurricane or earthquake experience. The major difference for these children is that every morning is the same. For these children and their families, there is no likelihood for a better future. There is no hope.

Watch this short (1:14) video to understand what life is like for many of these children living in unspeakable circumstances.

GFA-supported Bridge of Hope centers have been changing the prospects for the lives of tens of thousands of children every year since 2004.

Most people familiar with GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program can summarize the work as education, nutrition and healthcare. Certainly, Bridge of Hope centers provide these three key elements, but they do much more than that.

Here are 7 things you may not have realized that Bridge of Hope centers provide:

1. Emotional Growth

Bridge of Hope staff seeks to help each child achieve emotional maturity and a sense of confidence that are essential strengths for a balanced life. Children are encouraged not to base their future on the past, but to move on to their full potential.

2. Building Character

Bridge of Hope emphasizes a disciplined, value-based environment, which builds character. The goal is to prepare children to become good responsible citizens of their nation. The children regularly learn moral values and manners that enable them to respect authority and care for the needs of others.

3. Social Responsibility

The children at Bridge of Hope centers are taught social awareness through participation in rallies and programs on social issues such as HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis, illiteracy, child labor and unhealthy habits such as smoking, drinking and tobacco use.

4. Assisting Parents

Staff invest not only in the children but also in their parents. Staff members visit parents and conduct special training programs for them. Topics covered include general awareness on child care, health and hygiene, good parenting, child labor and family planning.

5. Equipping Parents

Bridge of Hope offers parents literacy and tailoring classes so they can earn a better living and improve their circumstances and those of their family.

6. Vocational Training

Bridge of Hope helps parents learn how to succeed in self-employment by providing them with self-sustainable gifts such as livestock, sewing machines, bicycles and push trolleys for street vending.

7. Community Involvement

Bridge of Hope centers provide opportunities for children and their families to improve and care for their surroundings by planting trees and helping neighbors.

More than anything else, the millions of children in South Asia need to know they are loved, that someone cares about them and they can have a life filled with a real hope for a better future.

We cannot help the millions by ourselves, but each child we do help is a family impacted. Each family impacted can bring improvement and change to an entire community.

Please pray for the dedicated staff members of each Bridge of Hope center. Pray that the love of Jesus will be obvious whether they are teaching literacy, cooking meals or encouraging parents.

Please pray for the children. Pray they will be attentive and apply what they have been taught. Pray that our efforts on the Lord’s behalf will change their precious lives for the better forever.

To read more posts on Patheos on Bridge of Hope, 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

Sources:

2019-12-16T23:13:28+00:00

Last updated on: December 16, 2019 at 11:13 pm   By

Wills Point, Texas – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Special Report – Discussing widow’s plight worldwide as they face tragedy, discrimination, as well as the efforts and opportunities extended to them to give them hope.

Hope to Overcome the Challenges of Widowhood

International Women's Day (March 8) falls on the same day as GFA founder Dr. KP Yohannan's birthday - Gospel for Asia
International Women’s Day (March 8) falls on the same day as GFA founder Dr. KP Yohannan’s birthday, so it’s no wonder that he’s passionate about uplifting the lives of women around the world.

“For millions of widows in Asia, life is incredibly difficult,” says Dr. KP Yohannan, founder and director of GFA. “Many are forced into begging or prostitution to survive. There are 46 million widows on the streets and in slums. There are stories of thousands of widows committing suicide because they have no hope.”

Another widow whose story was featured in “Veil of Tears” faced rejection from her husband’s family after he died. Her nephews refused to give her food, forcing her to beg from passing strangers. Once, when she got sick and suffered from diarrhea for two days, no one would even approach her. Members of a GFA-supported Women’s Fellowship took her to the hospital for treatment, provided her food and found her a home. Most of all, they became a family.

Grassroots Aid

Such caring action demonstrates one way to address widows’ situation: at the grassroots level. This is what GFA does through initiatives such as sewing classes, providing sewing machines and training in skills like candle-making and basket-weaving. Much of this outreach is conducted by Sisters of Compassion (women who are specially trained to care for marginalized groups), leaders of Women’s Fellowship groups and pastors’ wives. As women, they are more readily received into women’s homes in the segregated society.

Grassroots Aid - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Sisters of Compassion are specially trained to minister to marginalized groups like widows, leprosy patients, and street children.

GFA-supported pastors and workers often help organize events to assist and encourage widows, too. For example, on or soon after last year’s International Widows Day, GFA-supported workers in many different regions distributed numerous sewing machines, goats, piglets, hygiene supplies, mosquito nets and other goods to help improve widows’ lives. They also offered encouragement and reminded them, “In the sight of God our Father, pure and blameless religion is helping the orphans and widows in their need” (see James 1:27).

That stirred reactions like one from Madhuri, a 35-year-old who is the only bread-earner for her children:

“I go house to house in search of work. The piglet I received from you, I will rear nicely and hope it will [provide] a great income for my family. I am very thankful to you.”

Damini, a widow with five children, said:

“I am very happy to get a piglet from the church. I never expected this type of help from the church, but I am lucky to receive the piglet.”

“In the sight of God our Father, pure and blameless religion is helping the orphans and widows in their need.” —James 1:27

In another area, a GFA-supported Women’s Fellowship gave sewing machines to 30 women.

“After my husband died, I was alone doing work in the tea garden and supporting my children,” said Upada, one of the recipients. “I am finding it so difficult to manage our family, but today I am so happy that the church has given me this gift. I believe that this sewing machine will greatly help our family.”

Another widow, Kanan, said, “After my husband’s death, there was no one to help me. I have three children and they are very small. The eldest child is going to school. I was finding life so difficult, but God took care of us and met our needs. … Through this sewing machine, I will try my best to earn money and support my children’s schooling and our family.”

When a church in another district gave 50 widows each a goat, it brought waves of gratitude. Lajita, a widow who received a goat, told of her husband dying four years earlier because of asthma:

“I have three children who are going to school. I worked as a daily laborer in others’ fields. Now, I will rear this goat at home, and she will produce milk. I hope my family’s condition will become better through this goat.”

Income-producing gifts like those found in GFA's Christmas Gift Catalog - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Income-producing gifts like those found in GFA’s Christmas Gift Catalog are game changers for widows in need.

Baijanti added, “My husband passed away some eight years ago. I stay with my children. We have no income-generating source, and this goat is going to be a great help for my living.”

An event in Nepal for International Women’s Day in 2017 prompted similar reactions. Thirteen churches organized a women’s conference, during which they provided pressure cookers to 60 widows.

A guest speaker, who had been a widow since age 15, distributed the gifts and encouraged participants:

“Being a widow, it is hard to be alone and at home in the society. Today, many widows are abused by the family and the society. Therefore, I came forward to raise my voice and help them.”

Widow’s Challenges in America

Even in the United States, widows don’t get a pass on life’s challenges. After Artis Henderson’s husband, Miles, died in November 2006 when his Apache helicopter crashed in Iraq, she spent the first year overwhelmed by grief. Without experiencing this kind of sudden tragedy, it’s hard for someone to know how difficult it is to cope when “everything in the world shifts,” she told CNN.

Artis Henderson and her late husband, Miles - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Artis Henderson and her late husband, Miles
(Photo credit Artis Henderson via CNN.com)

“I always remember so clearly, this woman—another widow who was a little further, maybe six months ahead of me in the process—saying to me, ‘You will be disappointed to find out what happens after the first year,'” Henderson said. “And I remember saying, ‘Well, what happens?’ And she said, ‘There’s another year.'”

Other widows report similar grief. At age 59, Ginny McKinney was out shopping with her husband, Dan, for a travel trailer for early retirement when he suddenly dropped dead from a heart attack at age 62.

“I took off for three months, driving a circle around Colorado,” McKinney told the New York Times. “I went to places in the wilderness and on the top of mountains, where I could stand outside and scream at the sky, and scream at God for taking my man. And scream at him for leaving me.”

If the grief isn’t enough, what elderly widows may discover later can also inflict pain. In early 2018, an audit report from the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) inspector general’s office found the agency had underpaid nearly $132 million to more than 9,200 widows and widowers age 70 or older.

The issue stemmed from a budget bill in 2015, when Congress curtailed a strategy where one spouse could suspend a monthly benefit to allow the other spouse’s benefits to increase as long as the second delayed drawing theirs. However, it still allows a widow to claim survivor benefits and delay applying for her own. The SSA failed to inform widows and widowers to consider this option. The inspector general identified 13,555 people who were entitled to claim such benefits; a random sample showed that 82 percent could have drawn a higher monthly benefit if they claimed survivor benefits and held off drawing their own retirement.

“I went to places in the wilderness and on the top of mountains, where I could stand outside and scream at the sky, and scream at God for taking my man. And scream at him for leaving me.”

However, the situation for widows in other parts of the world remains even more dire. For example, in a 2015 story, the India Times reported the majority of Indian widows are deprived of their inheritance rights, especially if they are childless or have only daughters. This happens despite a 1969 law that made women eligible to inherit equally with men.

Among other problems, widows in Asia may face:

  • Prohibition of remarriage
  • Being forced to follow certain mourning rites
  • Becoming victims of violence, much of it stemming from common accusations that they caused their husband’s death
  • Economic hardships

Sharing Hope

Given this situation, Yohannan also believes the ultimate answer will be found from more women, regardless of where they live, learning who they are in Christ and what God thinks about them as individuals. Widows like Gulika have found hope when they learned that God treasures them.

Sharing Hope - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
“We must do everything we can to alleviate suffering and do whatever it takes to help people who are forsaken in their own communities.” —Dr. K. P. Yohannan

However, Yohannan emphasizes the importance for Christ followers to provide practical assistance for widows and their children.

“God judged Israel because they did not care for the poor and suffering,” Yohannan says. “The Body of Christ is responsible to care for them. We must do everything we can to alleviate suffering and do whatever it takes to help people who are forsaken in their own communities.”

Obeying God’s command to take care of widows, GFA supports workers dedicated to ministering to widows all across Asia.

In 2017, GFA helped provided free health care training to 289,033 women, taught 50,624 illiterate women how to read and write, provided vocational training to 10,965 women desperately in need of a job, and gave out 8,763 sewing machines to vocational graduates, many of whom are widows struggling to survive. So, while widows worldwide face tragedy and discrimination, some are finding hope and a future through help from organizations like Gospel for Asia.

Gospel for Asia: Widows Worldwide Face Tragedy, Discrimination (Part 3) - KP Yohannan

To conclude on a positive note, here is a letter written by Dr. KP Yohannan to friends and donors of GFA about one widow’s journey from despair to joy:

When Kaavya’s husband died as a result of his alcohol addiction, she had to work hard as a daily wage laborer to feed her six children and look after her household. No one helped her because she lived in a society where people believed it is the wife’s fault if her husband dies before she does—regardless of the circumstances. In essence, she and her children were abandoned.

Kaavya and her children lived in a small, old hut, and life was a constant struggle for survival…

Read the rest of the letter from KP Yohannan

Widows Worldwide Face Tragedy, Discrimination: Part 1 | Part 2

This article originally appeared on gfa.org

To read more on Patheos on widow’s plight worldwide, go here.

Go here to know more about Gospel for Asia: GFA.org | GFA Reports | GFA.net | MyGFA.org | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

2019-10-27T13:47:48+00:00

Last updated on: October 27, 2019 at 1:47 pm   By

Wills Point, Texas – GFA (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing where violence against women occurs worldwide, including violence against widows.

Widows in Meru, Kenya, Africa who have lost their husbands - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Widows in Meru, Kenya, Africa who have lost their husbands and have only themselves as a group to look after each other.

If a woman happens to escape the abuse so common in marriage, what happens to her once she is no longer married and becomes a widow? Does the violence against widows end?

Violence Against Widows

“Gulika’s life drastically changed the day her husband died. … Bearing the title ‘widow’ was a heavy weight to carry. The sharp, condemning words of the villagers stung Gulika’s already broken heart. Because of this, the pain of losing her husband increased all the more. It seemed that every time she stepped out of her home she wasn’t safe from their harsh criticism.

“The villagers believed Gulika was cursed. They were even afraid that if she passed them on the street, she would bring them bad luck. This shame and rejection, on top of the reality of her husband’s death, grew unbearable. Soon Gulika fell into deep emotional despair.”

Condemnation. Shame. Rejection.

a widow has lost all “color” from her life once her husband has died - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Wearing a white sari symbolizes that a widow has lost all “color” from her life once her husband has died.

Gulika, like so many other widows in South Asia, incurred the blame for her husband’s death—even though he had died crossing railroad tracks as an oncoming train headed his way. But that didn’t matter. The cause of a husband’s death, no matter how arbitrary or natural, is blamed on the wife.

People believe the husband’s death came about because the wife is a curse, a bad omen. They may strip her of her jewelry, shave off her hair, and force her to wear a white-colored sari, signifying she no longer has any “color” and must spend the rest of her days on earth in mourning. Often, she’s cast out of the home, left with no property and no way to fend for herself. She no longer has any family unless she has dependent children. In order to survive, she may need to beg or turn her body over to prostitution.

There are more than 57 million widows in Asia—and it transcends ages and social statuses. A person can become a widow as young as 7 years old (depending on if they were forced into a child marriage) or can come from a wealthy, high-class family. But once a girl or a woman bears the name “widow,” who they were before no longer matters. They’re obligated to live out the rest of their lives forgotten, shamed and without any hope.

The cause of a husband’s death, no matter how arbitrary or natural, is blamed on the wife.

In an article published by National Geographic, journalist Cynthia Gorney was able to get an insider’s view on the plight of widows. In one interview, she noted the “fury” a social worker named Laxmi Gautam had when talking about the condition of widows:

“We asked whether Gautam had ever imagined what she would change if she were given the power to protect women from these kinds of indignities. As it turned out, she had. ‘I would remove the word ‘widow’ from the dictionary,’ she said. ‘As soon as a woman’s husband is gone, she gets this name. This word. And when it attaches, her life’s troubles start.’”

There are more than 57 million widows in Asia - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
There are more than 57 million widows in Asia

When Will the Violence Against Widows End?

From one stage of life to the next, it would seem the women of Asia hardly get any reprieve from abuse and discrimination. Violence against women is “from the womb to the tomb,” as the old saying goes.

But in the midst of such gloom, Gospel for Asia—and other governmental and non-governmental organizations working on behalf of women’s rights in Asia—is seeing a new dawn rising for hundreds of thousands of women.

As women experience the love of fellow human beings who are willing to serve and minister to them, their understanding of their worth and value in society is elevated. Gospel for Asia-supported workers, including men, treat each girl and woman they meet with respect. They speak words of life into the hearts of women who’ve silently suffered violence, letting them know they matter, they are important, they are valuable, they are loved—even if the rest of society doesn’t believe so.

Remember Aamaal, the woman who tied a noose and was planning on hanging herself to escape her husband’s abuse? She didn’t jump. She didn’t kill herself. Instead, a relative offered her hope in the name of Jesus and led her to a compassionate GFA-supported pastor. Because of that, her life changed—and her husband experienced renewal too! He no longer drinks. He no longer beats his wife, and Aamaal is no longer living the life of an abused woman.

Geeta and her two young children rebuilt their lives - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Geeta and her two young children rebuilt their lives after their abusive father left, through the support of their local church.

When Geeta’s abusive husband left her, she went from fear to despair—not relief. She faced pressure to sell her body as a prostitute, and she eventually started working as one. But one of her friends, a believer, knew there was a better way to live. She shared loving counsel with Geeta, something she had been searching for.

The hunger and poverty Geeta and her children faced remained a problem, however, until Geeta’s children were enrolled in a Gospel for Asia-supported Bridge of Hope center. The local church has also came alongside the family, helping them find a safer place to live and provided help and encouragement.

As GFA-supported workers lead their congregations to truly value women, whole portions of society are showing women respect they’ve never experienced before. Believers can be heard thanking God for their newborn baby girls. They educate their daughters to give them a future of their own. They refuse to receive dowry as a testimony to the love of Christ. And when their sisters in Christ become widows, they embrace and support them rather than reject them.

Gospel for Asia-supported Initiatives Helping to End Violence Against Widows, Women

Through various GFA-supported initiatives, girls and women have opportunities to reach heights they were once barred from reaching because of their gender.

Literacy Training - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Literacy Training is key for helping women and widows get back on their feet.

Literacy Training

provides adult women with the opportunity to learn how to read and write—skills they never had the chance to learn, most likely because in the minds of many parents, a girl’s education is not worth investing in.

Health care seminars - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Health care seminars give women and widows practical training in personal hygiene.

Health Care Seminars

teach women how to properly take care of their pregnancies, their babies, their homes and families, which empowers them inside the home.

Gospel for Asia's bridge of Hope program - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Gospel for Asia’s Bridge of Hope program helps widows with children keep them in school.

Gospel for Asia’s Bridge of Hope Program

is a child sponsorship program that helps keep young girls off the streets and provides them with an education—while teaching every student how boys and girls are created equal in God’s sight.

Vocational training and Income-generating gifts - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Vocational training and Income-generating gifts like sewing machines give widows practical skills to earn a living.

Income-generating Gifts

give impoverished women the ability to take care of themselves and their families if their husbands are struggling to provide, unemployed, or incapacitated due to alcohol or other addictions. Vocational training makes it possible for women to learn skills that will help them find good jobs—or even start their own business!

At the heart of many of these initiatives are GFA-supported women missionaries and Sisters of Compassion, specialized women missionaries. They stand beside and advocate for the rights of abused and neglected women. They show others how to love and care for the people around them, regardless of their gender. Through them—and the guidance and teaching of male pastors and missionaries who see each woman as precious, valuable and made in the image of Almighty God—violence against women is ending. Women are enjoying new life safe from hands that once sought to abuse them.

Sisters of Compassion - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Sisters of Compassion help widows in need of support, encouragement or medical attention.

As for Geeta, she has a solid group of people who have stood with her through her hardships. We, too, can come alongside women like Geeta. Through our prayers and support of national workers, we take part in helping end the violence against women in Asia.

When we come alongside GFA-supported workers, we empower them to empower others. We have seen the fruit of these efforts over and over again, and by God’s grace, we will see more and more women set free—physically, emotionally and mentally—from the abuse and neglect they’ve known their entire lives.

For more on Patheos about violence against widows, their plight and need, go here.

This article originally appeared on gfa.org.

=====

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