WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to help the poor and deprived worldwide, discussing Gaetane, her longing to read and write, and her dream fulfilled through a literacy class for women led by GFA World Sisters of Compassion workers.
Gaetane, 45, looked wistfully at her children, wishing so desperately she could help them with their homework. She constantly felt ashamed of her inability to read and write and dreamed of one day being able to read God’s Word to her children. But Gaetane felt her desire was just that—a dream.
One day, Gaetane met Raisie, Abarne, Pakuna and Abbatha, four Sisters of Compassion who were taking a community survey to see if there was interest and a need for a literacy class for women in the area. The Sisters explained to women in the community the importance of being able to read and write.
By the end of the class, Gaetane was able to read and write the alphabet and her name! She was also given a small book that she began reading every day to practice her new reading skills.
Gaetane was thrilled to finally be able to read and write. She began actively serving in her church and reading the Holy Scriptures in the Women’s Fellowship meetings she attended. Her shame over not being able to read and write was gone—replaced by joy and confidence in her newfound abilities. But the most rewarding aspect of Gaetane’s new abilities was her ability to help her children. Her ultimate dream had been fulfilled at last!
Through the ministry of Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers, Gaetane and countless other women are learning to read and write, learning about God’s love for them, and building confidence and hope for their futures.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia World stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
Learn more about the Sisters of Compassion – those who are specially trained woman missionary with a deep burden for showing Christ’s love by physically serving the needy, underprivileged and poor.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, whose heart to love and help the poor has inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to serve the deprived and downcast worldwide – Discussing Kassia who grew up illiterate which brought the compounded cost of extreme poverty throughout her adult life, and the GFA World Sisters of Compassion bringing a double blessing through a Literacy Class.
Kassia’s mother passed away when she was young, setting off a series of consequences in the young girl’s life. Beyond dealing with the grief of losing her mother, Kassia was forced to give up her education to become “mother” to her younger siblings. She grew up illiterate, and when she married, had children and needed to care for her own family, Kassia worked the only jobs afforded to an illiterate woman: miscellaneous agriculture jobs.
Then, when Kassia was 45 years old, her health began to decline. For six months, she experienced swelling in her body and constantly felt weak and lightheaded. Her condition left her unable to serve her family as she had since she was young.
The family spent time and money seeking advice from a variety of doctors, who eventually diagnosed Kassia with low hemoglobin. Kassia’s family purchased the prescribed treatments in hopes they would restore the ailing woman to health. However, none of the solutions worked as intended, and Kassia continued to suffer.
In her pained state, Kassia’s worries were compounded by her family’s financial woes. She was all too aware the family was spending money they didn’t have in search of a solution to her health condition, and she was unable to add to the family’s income.
Invitation to Learn
It was during this difficult time, as Kassia struggled to complete daily tasks, that she met four GFA Sisters of Compassion. Sister Morela and her companions listened to Kassia’s predicament, and they recognized one need they could surely meet: The Sisters offered literacy classes in the village and invited Kassia to attend.
Kassia was delighted with the prospect of finally learning to read and write. It was a small joy in the middle of a despairing situation. She didn’t know it yet, but it would lead to a blessing she had been looking for.
Unexpected Blessing
Not long after Kassia began attending the class, the Sisters invited her to a Sunday worship service. Kassia had noticed that each literacy class opened with prayer and decided to see what occurred during a worship service. Just as in her literacy class, Kassia absorbed the lessons she learned during the service. As she continued to learn about Jesus and His power, she discovered she could put her trust in Him for her physical healing—and she did.
The Lord honored Kassia’s faith and healed her body completely from the weakening effects of low hemoglobin.
The family’s matriarch no longer suffered from the debilitating illness that limited her ability to care for her family. With renewed strength, Kassia joyfully resumed her daily work in taking care of her family.
“I am very thankful to the Lord for healing me completely,” Kassia said. “I trust in Him … as the Savior of my life.”
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia World stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
Learn more about the Sisters of Compassion – those who are specially trained woman missionary with a deep burden for showing Christ’s love by physically serving the needy, underprivileged and poor.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing the struggles of women like Preshti who grew up illiterate, and the literacy classes by Gospel for Asia missionaries that opened business opportunities for women.
Was this the bus Preshti needed? Or was it that one? Visiting her mother in another city always proved to be a challenge for the 45-year-old mother of four. She couldn’t read the signs.
Growing Up Illiterate
Preshti was among the two-thirds of women in her area who are illiterate. Growing up, Preshti was not able to attend school because of her parents’ poverty. As the eldest, Preshti took care of her siblings and the home while her parents worked. The money they made put Presthi’s younger siblings through school. For Preshti, school seemed out of reach, and she carried this belief into her adult years.
Grasping the Skills to Change through Gospel for Asia Literacy Classes
Then Preshti enrolled in a literacy class organized by Gospel for Asia (GFA)woman missionaries. Some challenges arose, however. If she took the classes during the day, she couldn’t work. The missionaries moved the classes to evening, but even then, Preshti could barely focus after a hard day’s work. Then, after class, she would come home and cook dinner, and her alcoholic husband would be angry if she was too late getting dinner on the table.
But Preshti pushed on. She needed these classes.
After some months, Preshti “graduated.” Her confidence soared; she finally could read and write!
Armed with her newfound abilities, Preshti joined other women in a local small business plan. Taking a loan, the women started small businesses and used the earnings to pay the loan and provide for their families.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are GFA stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the life of a widow, and many like her, robbed by illiteracy, and the gift and blessing the door of literacy unlocks even to learn about the Great Physician who heals and gives new life.
Jeni studied the curling lines and shapes on her grandson’s homework paper. With a sigh, she handed it back, knowing a great treasure lay within those squiggles and loops, but she lacked the key to unlock it.
Robbed by Illiteracy
Years earlier, poverty had hindered Jeni from attending school, leaving her illiterate in a world filled with written information. While many children took education for granted, Jeni longed for the opportunity to attend school.
Jeni’s lack of education impacted her childhood and adult life in a multitude of ways. Illiteracy deprived her of the joy of reading stories—both to herself and, later, to her five children. Unable to read newspapers, the current events of her nation had to reach her by word of mouth. Street signs were useless when finding her way around a new area. No reminder notes or shopping lists could be written. What’s more, Jeni could have looked straight at the written name of Jesus and never have known it.
As years passed, Jeni’s children married, and she became a grandmother. Even then, her illiteracy troubled her.
“Sometimes my grandson and granddaughter asked me to help with their school homework, but I did not know what to do.” — Jeni
Jeni felt ashamed of her inability to read or to sign her own name, and she had no idea the gift of literacy—and eternal hope—was just around the corner at a local church.
Answered Prayer Points Widow to Jesus
In addition to her problems caused by illiteracy, Jeni suffered from pain in her shoulders. Even after several doctor visits and treatments, she found no remedy for the pain—until she met a believer from a local church. Jeni accepted the believer’s invitation to attend a worship service and soon sat amidst a congregation of believers led by Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor Ajay.
When Jeni shared about her painful shoulders, Pastor Ajay and the believers joined together to lift her up in prayer to the Great Physician. Faithful and mighty, God touched Jeni and set her free from the pain she was enduring. Jeni grew to love the Lord with all her heart and began faithfully worshiping Him alongside her new family in Christ, rejoicing in God’s demonstration of mercy and compassion.
Church Provides Literacy Classes
Now a fledgling believer in Christ, Jeni was again hindered by illiteracy. She had no way to read her Savior’s words or read the stories of God’s faithfulness toward His children in the Bible.
“I am so thankful to God and our women missionaries for their help,” Jeni shared. “Though I had the desire [to learn], I never went to school.”
Jeni persevered in her lessons and diligently learned from the women missionaries. They guided her hand as she learned her letters, and soon the strange loops and lines she had seen on her grandson’s paper began to hold meaning.
Community Blessed Through Literacy
Other women in Jeni’s community observed her progress in her studies, and Jeni encouraged them to join the classes as well. Soon, a few more ladies joined the classes to decipher the same letters that had baffled Jeni for so many years.
Within six months, Jeni could both read and write. Jeni’s children happily watched their mother’s progress and celebrated her ability to do simple things that had troubled her before.
“I am very happy that my mother is able to read and write now by the help of women missionaries,” Jeni’s daughter shared. “These days, she is able to negotiate with the shopkeepers and writes her signature.”
Jeni’s excitement over her new skill soars, and she thanks God for ending the struggle that troubled her for decades.
“Today,” Jeni declares, “I am proud to say I am not illiterate.”
Share the Gift of Literacy
Jeni’s new skills enable her to perform daily life activities that were impossible before attending the literacy classes, and she is now equipped to learn more about the Great Physician who healed her and gave her new life.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) issues an extensive Special Report on illiteracy, the dominant disabler to flourishing for millions around the world, and the miraculous potential of literacy, to be able to read and write, that is able to change the lives of men, women and children for generations.
ability to hear and play with the individual sounds of language, to create new words using those sounds in different ways.”
The article breaks down how this actually happens, a process that is quite complicated and mentions digraphs, onsets, rimes and phenomes. It is a process that occurs without intentional phonetically in the natural course of a child’s learning process.
To read and speak fluently, a child must also develop an awareness of print; there’s a road sign, there’s a bathroom sign, here are words on cereal boxes, and, of course, there are books filled with print. The learner must develop an active vocabulary (words generally known and used in conversation, speech and writing) and a passive vocabulary (words that are known but the meanings of which are interpreted through context and use with others).
Achieving literacy for a child includes learning to spell (hence all those spelling tests). This means achieving a comprehension of irregular spelling, silent vowels, diphthongs, etc. He or she must not only be able to read words on a page (or a sign) but also comprehend the meaning of what has been read. This includes the ability to project meaning into the words, to pick up clues in the text, to visualize imaginatively what is occurring through the reading.
To read, to understand what one has read, to voice one’s inner thoughts, to comprehend and communicate the meaning of one’s being so that it can be heard either verbally or through thoughts committed to the page is not such a simple task as those of us who love reading might assume. But the joy, oh the gift of joy, that can be given to one other person or to a classroom of squirmy but nevertheless eager learners is incalculable.
A Lifetime of Illiteracy and the Onset of Leprosy
Gospel for Asia (GFA) chronicles the tale of a woman named Kaavya. She was given this gift of literacy that filled a lifetime of longing when she was 64 years of age. What makes her story even more impelling was the fact that Kaavya also suffered from leprosy. Now, medical knowledge informs us that leprosy is a curable disease, but the stigma of this condition is implanted on the DNA of history, with a record of scorn and communal rejection that is recorded even in the New Testament stories of Christ’s healing encounters with lepers.
Kaavya’s father contracted leprosy with the result that the community ostracized the whole family. In time, the girl’s father died, and about then she began to experience symptoms of physical pain in her extremities and also a recurring fever. The crushing news from hospital staff indicated that the diagnosis of her difficulties was that she had developed leprosy also.
“It was the worst day and the saddest day in my life,” she said. “What to do? I could not die.”
Eventually, with treatment and medications, she procured a hospital job, but then, because she was illiterate, after 22 years of work, she was let go, unqualified in the eyes of the current staff. She married and settled into family life, but only a few years had passed when she discovered that her husband had a previous family. His first wife bore him eight daughters, and he was hoping some other woman would give him a son.
This is a chronicle of human misery, repeated in the hundreds of thousands of untold stories that exist around the world. But it does not have an unhappy ending.
“After years of hardships, Kaayva came to live in a leprosy colony, making her home with those who experienced the same kind of rejection she had,” the report states.
To become literate is exactly what miracle cures are about.
To be able to read and write is a gift of immeasurable worth. It is, indeed, a miracle cure.
“When I joined the literacy class, I learned lots of things,” Kaavya explains. “I learned not only reading and writing; I learned good habits, roles of women, wife and mother in the family. Now I am very happy … I will not lose heart because I can read and write.”
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported literacy classes are taught by women missionaries who are trained in teaching reading and writing to adults. They write letters and words on chalk boards and carefully teach each student how to read and write those same letters and words. They guide their students’ hands, helping them become familiar with the feel and use of a pencil. Each woman enrolled in the literacy classes also receives a free literacy book in their local language. For tens of thousands of women across Asia, these free literacy classes have made a world of difference in their lives!
When the Word Became Flesh
I have often thought of Christ as the Great Translator who came to Earth to teach us Heaven’s language and ways.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Jesus’ life lived on Earth, and now communicated to us existentially through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, is the ultimate example of a superior language tutorial—one in spiritual literacy. By observing Him, by reading and inculcating His words, we learn to “read and write.” We become spiritually literate. And like those who conquer reading and writing in the everyday world, this too, this inexplicable capacity to know with the soul, brings light and opportunity and almost unbearable joy. Another kind of illiteracy has been overcome. To become literate is exactly what miracle cures are about. It is an intellectual healing, the acquisition of incalculable capabilities and the establishment of approval from others and from oneself. To be able to read and write is a gift of immeasurable worth. It is, indeed, a miracle cure.
WHAT CAN ONE READER DO?
Consider giving to Gospel for Asia’s literacy efforts.Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers have heightened personal exposure to the dilemmas caused by illiteracy and have daily witnessed the power of literacy training to spread Christ’s love, to lift individuals and families out of poverty, to change communities for the better. Undoubtedly, learning to read and write is one way the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. This, indeed, is a spiritual miracle.
Become intentional about the miracle of being able to read and write. Take some time to consider what it would be like if you were illiterate. Intentionally notice—even notate—the many times you read and write in a day. Then thank God that you were born in a literate culture with systemic educational programs in place to increase your reading and writing capacities.
Conduct an Internet exposure regarding the topic of illiteracy in your home country and then around the world. There is something about those online searches that embed the reality of illiteracy in your mind—more than just reading an article about illiteracy.
Pray about finding some way you can contribute to the literacy of one person. Discover what is happening in your own community regarding literacy training, and volunteer your time. Take some literacy tutoring training. Find out who is illiterate in your own community. In other words, be intentional.
Literacy — One of the Great Miracle Cures:Part 1 | Part 2
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) issues an extensive Special Report on illiteracy, the dominant disabler to flourishing for millions around the world, and the miraculous potential of literacy that is able to change the lives of men, women and children for generations.
Illiteracy in the United States
Perhaps it is easier to examine literacy and illiteracy through the lens of one country, the one many of us know best and consider one of the most literate in the world.
Since that data was collected, there has been a surge in states that aren’t normally considered high foreign population centers such as California, Texas, New York and Florida. The Center for Applied Linguistics also reports that since 2005, some 14 other states experienced a 30 percent greater increase in foreign-born residency.
36 million
adults in the U.S. cannot read, write, or do basic math above a third-grade level
They also state that the ESL (English as Second Language) population in the United States is diverse in terms of country of origin, education and individual language skills. In addition to Mexico and other Latin American countries, a growing number of non-native speakers of English come from China, the Philippines, India, Vietnam, Korea, Eastern Europe and African countries. Of these residents born outside the United States, 68 percent have a high school diploma in their native country or the U.S.
With all this in mind, consider these additional facts on adult literacy in the U.S.:
“36 million adults cannot read, write, or do basic math above a third-grade level.
“68 percent of programs are struggling with long student waiting lists, and less than 10 percent of adults in need are receiving services.
“Children whose parents have low literacy levels have a 72 percent chance of being at the lowest reading levels themselves. These children are more likely to get poor grades, display behavioral problems, have high absentee rates, repeat school years, or drop out.
“One in six young adults—more than 1.2 million—drop out of high school every year.
“2 million immigrants come to the U.S. each year, and about 50 percent of them lack high-school education and proficient English language skills
“Low literacy costs the U.S. $225 billion or more each year in non-productivity in the workforce, crime, and loss of tax revenue due to unemployment.
“43 percent of adults with lowest literacy levels live in poverty.
“$232 billion a year in health care costs is linked to low adult literacy skills.
“75 percent of state prison inmates did not complete high school or can be classified as low literate.”
According to the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy in the United States, research shows that the single greatest indicator of a child’s future success is the literacy level of his or her parents:
“A child from a highly educated family will experience 30 million more words by the age of three than a child from a low-literate home.
“Almost half of all children born to a mother lacking a high school diploma are not ready to start kindergarten.
“Students who do not read proficiently by the third grade are four times more likely to leave high school without a diploma.”
Their ambitious goal is to invest in the lives of at least 15 million children by 2020.
Although challenges of global illiteracy and gender inequality in education and their repercussions are enormous, Room to Read feels they have the tools to eradicate them.
According to their website,
“Children in grade two in our Literacy Program in India, Laos and Nepal can read three times as many words per minute and correctly answer more than twice as many comprehension questions as their peers. More than 4,800 girls have graduated from our Girls’ Education Program, and 78 percent of our 2016 graduates enrolled in tertiary education or found employment within one year post-graduation.”
Book Aid International is a UK based charity that provided nearly 1.3 million books in 2018 to people in 25 countries in Africa, the Middle east, the Caribbean, and others locations around the world. They are focused on addressing illiteracy by getting books to people who need them most though “thriving partnerships with library services and NGO’s who make books available to their communities.”
Recognizing that 1 out of 5 people in the world cannot read or write, the World Literacy Foundation is operating in over 80 countries worldwide to lift young people out of poverty through the power of literacy. Two mentionable projects they have in Australia alone include the Indigenous Learning App meant to close the literacy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous children, and the ROOP Project (Reading Out Of Poverty) designed to “enhance literacy skills and reading levels of children from low-income backgrounds. ”In The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction, author Meghan Cox Gurdon makes the point: “As we shall see, listening to stories while looking at pictures stimulates children’s deep brain networks, fostering their cognitive development. Further, the companionable experience of shared reading cultivates empathy, dramatically accelerates young children’s language acquisition and vaults them ahead of their peers when they get to school.”
After that premise, who wouldn’t want to read to their children or to their grandchildren or to their neighbor’s neglected kids on the block? But wait, according to Gurdon, there’s more.
“The rewards of early reading are astonishingly meaningful: toddlers who have lots of stories read to them turn into children who are more likely to enjoy strong relationships, sharper focus, and greater emotional resilience and self-mastery. The evidence has become so overwhelming that social scientists now consider read-aloud time one of the most important indicators of a child’s prospect in life.”
All well and good (and let’s admit it, also amazing), but what happens when the adults in a child’s life don’t read to them? What if they don’t read to their children because they can’t read? They can’t read books or newspapers or signs or legal documents or school papers or homework assignments or medical reports. Again: What if they don’t read to their children because they can’t read?
Solving the Literacy Gap
While searching for a significant role to champion while serving as First Lady of the United States, Barbara Bush decided that a whole society could be impacted for the better if enough folk were given the skills of literacy. There is less crime among the literate, more educational advancement and better opportunities for success. She not only started the Foundation for Family Literacy, but she pushed hard for the National Literacy Act, which was passed in 1991 while her husband was president.
Mostly, illiteracy is cured by an army of tutors. The opportunities to volunteer and serve to erase illiteracy (to spread the miracle of reading and writing) are numerous.
61,880
women were taught how to read and write, in one year, by GFA-supported workers
According to UNICEF, literacy rates have shown a positive trend in recent years, due to the multitude of programs and outreaches around the world to erase one of the root causes—if not the major root cause—of illiteracy, which would be a lack of educational systems.
GFA-supported Bridge of Hope centers put an ax to this root cause by providing impoverished children free educational help. Staff at these centers provide each student with the academic tools they need to excel in their studies. If they see a student struggling in a specific area, they take measures to help them learn and overcome their challenges.
I am an avid reader. It is nothing for me to go through some 35 books a month. Partly this is because of my writing profession; I am generally finishing a research deadline of some kind. The other part is that I just love to read. Reading has formed my character; exposed me to different kinds of thinking; enthralled me in the adventures of real and imaginary characters; improved my marriage and parenting capabilities; enhanced my housekeeping and gardening skills; and stimulated my intellectual, spiritual and psychological growth.
So in an attempt to have personal encounters with illiteracy, to develop an understanding I admittedly lack, I looked up literacy programs in my area for the purpose of considering what I, a solo person (who loves to read), could do to contribute to raising the literacy level of my hometown region, even if only by one or two individuals. I took a volunteer orientation class, an introductory evening of training to be followed by in-depth literacy tutor training this coming season. My $40 registration fee also bought the substantial workbook Teaching Adults: An ESL Resource Book, which I am reading. This, of course, deals with teaching those who are illiterate in writing and reading English. What gift could be more wonderful than coaching an eager English-language learner in the intricacies of speaking and writing English as a second language?
My husband and I live in the far western suburbs of Chicago. Our town is 52 percent non-white, mostly Hispanic. I can only relate to the immigrant experience of not knowing the language of an adopted country—e.g., not knowing how to read the road signs or the newspapers or the graphics that crawl across a television screen—by the times I have been plunged into a foreign culture overseas. Then I attempt to extrapolate those small and temporary situations into a lifetime of confusion due to the inability to read or write.
Obviously, knowing I would soon be returning home, or having a translator and guide shepherd me through the incomprehensible language and customs of a foreign country, renders these plunges only superficial. Due to our high Spanish-language speaking population, however, I run into literacy issues frequently enough—my own lack of Spanish-speaking facility as well as others’ lack of English comprehension. For instance, the name of the Lyft driver often sent to our door for a trip to the airport is Mariana. She makes sure we know she speaks “only little English.” I inevitably worry that she will take us to the wrong airport, but somehow, through a translation dispatcher system, we have so far been delivered to O’Hare or to Midway when needed.
While searching for a significant role to champion while serving as First Lady of the United States, Barbara Bush decided that a whole society could be impacted for the better if enough folk were given the skills of literacy. There is less crime among the literate, more educational advancement and better opportunities for success.
After my hairstylist’s departure to another state, I determined I would be part of the “new localism”—the grassroots effort of supporting the businesses and shops established by local entrepreneurs. “Oh, Lord,” I prayed. “Help me to find a decent stylist.” I walked into a hair salon in downtown West Chicago. There were five chairs and one person in the shop. “Do you cut hair?” I asked. “Si, si,” the woman responded. “Speak little English. Un pocito.”
“OK, OK,” I said, and signed an inch with my thumb and forefinger. “One inch off. All over.” Which is exactly what she did. She cut my hair one inch long all over my head. Without a doubt, it has been the easiest summer hairdo I have ever had. I wash it. Apply mousse. Then mess my hair up as it dries. No problem. But the experience gave me a baseline to imagine if every day and in every way these gaffes large and small would be part of the agony and effort of living. After time, one might just withdraw, choose silence, stop trying.
Literacy — One of the Great Miracle Cures:Part 1 | Part 3
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) issues an extensive Special Report on illiteracy, the dominant disabler to flourishing for millions around the world, and the miraculous potential of literacy that is able to change the lives of men, women and children for generations.
Resolving the Limitations Illiteracy Places on the Human Spirit
We readers have long lost the joy of discovering that the squiggly marks on a page of paper can be interpreted or that the same kinds of marks can be learned and replicated with chalk, ink, pen or pencil. We don’t understand because we read and write and often take for granted the treacherous limitations illiteracy places on the human spirit as well as on human potential.
Perhaps one story from Gospel for Asia (GFA) will help us again remember the wonder of our own unrecognized reading and writing capacities. This is about Mandeepa.
Due to the early death of her father, Mandeepa and her five other siblings were raised by a struggling mother. None of these six children were able to attend school, and at the age of 13, Mandeepa started to work as a household maid to support her single parent. Eventually, as is frequently the case, a marriage was arranged for Mandeepa, which quickly produced a son and a daughter.
At the age of 16, Mandeepa started attending a local church where the young woman received a Bible of her own—but having never learned to read and write, she, of course, only saw strange markings on the page. Her heart was filled with a longing to read the words and to learn more about the Heavenly Father the book taught about, but this was impossible, and the young woman was disconsolate.
Mandeepa’s husband was also illiterate. Their daughter was fortunate to attend school, but her growing ability to read only pointed out the lack in her mother’s education. How Mandeepa wished she could help her daughter with her schoolwork. This parental lack only increased the woman’s desire to read and write like her children.
Mandeepa was now 32 years old, and after a year of study, she could finally read the Bible she had received 16 long years before. One of the first things she did when this “great miracle cure” began to have effect on her, banishing the shame and frustration of ignorance caused by lack of education, was to memorize John 14:15: “If you love Me, keep my commandments.”
Gospel for Asia points out that there are more than 250 million women in Asia today who are illiterate. It’s impossible for them to help their children with schoolwork. In addition, the instructions on medicine bottles, road signs, notices from the government and legal papers are all indecipherable— and this in a society that is increasingly dependent upon the written word. Those who desire to read God’s Word can’t do so. Technology can’t be accessed unless a user is highly literate. One must be able to spell, to read commands, to type letters that form words if the digital world is to be accessed.
Illiteracy is more dominant than poverty,
more dominant than a chronic physical disability,
and more dominant than even an oppressive social system.
Illiteracy is a kind of intellectual limbo, and no matter how naturally intelligent a person might be, the very descriptor “illiterate” indicates inferior mental capability.
Worldwide, entire villages with increasing levels of literacy are making social and economic gains when even just a small percentage of the villagers learn to read and write. Much data (a preponderance of which is examined under the general category of education) gives good cause to make the assumption that learning to read and write is one of the “great miracle cures.”
Hopefully, this article will inspire the reader about participating in some way in the joy of giving the gifts of reading and writing to other humans. The outcomes of such literacy initiatives are far beyond the investment of a few hours on the part of a tutor or of a volunteer week or some summer months overseas dedicated to literacy training and teaching. It is well worth considering teaching others how to read and write, or attending discussion groups at the local library where ESL (English as Second Language) learners are expanding their conversational skills, or volunteering with any of a multitude of organizations that welcome short-term teachers who are able to travel overseas. The opportunities for working literacy miracles are many and far-reaching.
Volunteering with NGOs (non-governmental organizations) overseas is, indeed, not only beneficial to individual learners who with literacy skills can obtain higher-paying jobs above menial labor and have the means to educate their own children, but also to whole villages and countries where the literacy aggregate continues to grow, or what has been referred to above as “the multiplier effect.”
250 million
women in Asia today are illiterate
All statistical evidence shows that one individual who is given reading and writing skills greatly improves his/her chances of success.Increasing literacy of individuals also greatly enhances the society in which those people live. A study conducted in Charleston, North Carolina, determined that “illiteracy is a multifaceted social equity and justice problem that results in less job opportunities and low income, often poverty.”
The reporting continues to explain that employers are often careful not to allow low-skilled workers to work more than 30 hours at minimum wage, because hours accrued above this level must provide workers with benefits and paid time off. This limit means poverty or near-poverty for a certain demographic of workers, which then sets in motion the need for community government to provide welfare assistance. The Trident Literary Association of Charleston, South Carolina, notes that food and medical assistance are often necessary when someone lives below the poverty line, especially if children are present:
“Letting our people live in poverty can cost the Charleston community over $15,000 for ONE adult for only ONE year. This does not count the cost of any children each adult may have. When over 86,000 adults in the tri-county area don’t have a high school diploma or a GED, the community could incur costs of up to $1.3 BILLION in public assistance to help those people survive.”
If this is true in a mostly literate community, how does illiteracy impact countries with large demographics of people who can neither read or write? The consensus across the data is that illiteracy interferes with the flourishing of citizens within a community.
The Literacy Foundation, located in Quebec, lists:
Specific negative incomes of illiteracy on both individuals and society. For individuals, the impacts include:
“A limited ability to obtain and understand essential information;
“An unemployment rate two to four times higher among those with little schooling compared to those with bachelor’s degrees;
“Lower income;
“Lower-quality jobs;
“Precarious financial position;
“Little value given to education and reading within the family, often leading to intergenerational transmission of illiteracy;
“Low self-esteem, which can lead to isolation;
“More workplace accidents, longer recovery times and more misuse of medications due to not understanding health care resources and procedures.”
And for a community whose citizens have a high illiteracy rate, societal impacts include:
“Since literacy is essential for individuals and states to be competitive in the new global knowledge economy, many positions remain vacant for lack of adequately trained personnel;
“The higher the proportion of adults with low literacy proficiency, the slower the overall long-term GDP growth rate is;
“Difficulty understanding societal issues lowers the level of community involvement and civic participation.”
Defining Literacy
Like many topics, the meaning of literacy has nuances: Someone might say they are illiterate about opera, meaning they are uninformed, uninterested or unexposed to this art form. The same implications could be attributed to a person who is “illiterate” about immigration. At its most elemental level, however, to be illiterate means that a person cannot read or write or can only decipher words in a minimal way. Literacy Advance says the definition is even more complex:
Within ethnically homogenous regions, literacy rates can vary widely from country or region to region. This often coincides with the region’s wealth or urbanization, though many factors play a role.
Literacy — One of the Great Miracle Cures:Part 2 | Part 3
WILLS POINT, TX — Mission agency GFA World (www.gfa.org) has launched an appeal to help thousands of “ostracized widows” around the globe at risk of starvation and abuse after being abandoned by their family and neighbors.
“Millions of widows live in societies where they are blamed for their husband’s death, regardless of the illness, accident or circumstances,” said GFA World founder K.P. Yohannan (also known as Metropolitan Yohan). “They are considered a curse and are socially shunned, abused, neglected and often abandoned, along with their children.
“For those married at a young age, they may carry the stigma of ‘widow’ for decades, even their entire adult life.”
For many of the estimated 258 million widows worldwide, especially those in Africa and Asia, the only way to survive is to scavenge and beg, said Yohannan.
“Their homelessness and hunger make them easy targets for exploitation, slave labor and the sex trade,” he said.
Alarming examples of the extreme mistreatment widows often face include:
Nigerian widows were locked in a room with their husbands’ corpses and forced to shave their own heads — a ritual of shame.
In Afghanistan, outcast widows had to establish their own “colony” on a hillside above a cemetery, excluded from mainstream life.
In Kenya, during the pandemic, there were reports of widows being driven out of their homes by in-laws who considered them to be an “excess burden.”
In many countries, city streets are the only place left for widows who’ve been abandoned by their families.
In some countries in Africa and Asia, new widows may have barely buried or cremated their husbands before someone tries to take their home, land or possessions, citing loss of property rights after the husband dies.
“Though their families and society have turned their backs on these precious women, God loves them dearly,” Yohannan said. “As the Bible says, we must ‘… care for orphans and widows in their distress’.”
‘God Answers Widow’s Cry’
GFA World and its network of national missionaries provide medical care, literacy classes, vocational training for young widows, and income-generating farm animals, such as cows and goats.
Kacia lives in a remote village where the homes are made out of bamboo poles and the walls are covered with mud. When her husband died, Kacia cried out to God in desperation. Her prayers were answered when local Christians came to comfort her and pray with her.
Supported by GFA World, they were able to give Kacia a goat so she could raise a small herd, sell milk, and have a steady income. “I was very much pleased because that gave me hope and dignity that I can somehow carry my life forward,” she said. “I am really grateful in my heart.”
For more information about supporting widows like Kacia, go to http://www.gfa.org.
About GFA World (Gospel for Asia)
GFA World (formerly Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and sharing the love of God. In a typical year, this includes thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 880 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 163,000 needy families, and teaching to provide hope and encouragement in 110 languages in 14 nations through broadcast ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit the Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news/.
Learn more about the GFA World’s Widows Ministry. For over more than 40 million widows in South Asia, life is a desperate struggle for survival. Blamed for their husbands’ deaths, many are forsaken by their families, shunned by their friends and despised by their communities. You can help lift widows out of destitution and restore their dignity.
WILLS POINT, TX — A shocking number of adults around the world can’t read or write even a simple sentence, says mission agency GFA World (www.gfa.org) as it marks International Literacy Day, Sept. 8.
According to the United Nations’ education agency UNESCO, approximately 773 million adults worldwide — equal to more than twice the population of the U.S. — lack basic literacy skills.
Most of them are women, reports Texas-based Christian organization GFA World.
“The magnitude of this crisis is difficult for us to grasp in developed countries where free literacy education is readily available,” said K.P. Yohannan, also known as Metropolitan Yohan, founder of GFA World. “Yet the reality is that millions of adults around the world can’t read or write, magnifying the struggles of almost every aspect of life.”
The organization provides literacy classes for thousands of the world’s poorest adults and children.
Writing First Letters
In some of the most remote places on earth, GFA World is giving men and women who had no chance to go to school the opportunity to learn to read and write, and for many students, their slates in hand, these are the first letters they’ve ever written.
“Due to lack of money, I could not study in my childhood,” said one woman who is learning to read and write at a GFA-supported church-based literacy center in Asia. “I’m thankful to the leaders of the church for starting (classes) here,” she said.
Learning to read and write builds a sense of self-worth and achievement, and prepares adults for better employment opportunities in the future so they’re not resigned to menial labor and a hand-to-mouth existence. It also provides safeguards against financial exploitation and safety hazards, allowing them to help their family navigate daily life and ultimately thrive.
“This is a way we can show the world’s most marginalized people that they’re of tremendous value to God, that he loves them dearly and cares about their future,” Yohannan said.
“International Literacy Day puts the focus on the crisis of adult illiteracy and calls us to take action now,” he added.
About GFA World (Gospel for Asia)
GFA World (formerly Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and sharing the love of God. In a typical year, this includes thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 880 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 163,000 needy families, and teaching to provide hope and encouragement in 110 languages in 14 nations through broadcast ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit the Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news/.
Learn more about the GFA Women’s Literacy Program. There are over 250 million women in Asia who are illiterate. Even if they want to read, there is no way to learn . . . until now. With your help, women in Asia can learn to read and will be equipped to tackle life’s hurdles.
WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this first part of a Special Report on the unstoppable compassion force of national missionary workers.
A young Asian woman wearing a white robe and head covering cradles an elderly woman’s feet that are horribly deformed by leprosy and gently washes them in a bowl of water.
The old woman can scarcely believe someone is touching her, caring for her, loving her. Most people would recoil from this woman and avoid the leprosy colony where she lives. The colony is a place of disease, disfigurement and disability. Its residents are used to being treated as outcasts by others and viewed as cursed. They are used to their deformed bodies being seen as objects of ugliness.
But to the young woman dressed in white, these feet are beautiful.
She and her companions, known as Sisters of Compassion, come here regularly to clean wounds, cut hair and trim nails. They see beauty amid the truncated limbs and deeply scarred bodies that few are willing to look upon, let alone touch.
As locals and neighbors, the Sisters fully understand the culture and customs into which they pour their compassion. They appreciate and respect the historical and religious traditions, speak the local language and know the nuances of the dialect. And they’re specially trained in leprosy wound care and family counseling.
To all this, they add the unspoken language of Christ’s love.
“We do all this because of the love of God,” says Geeta, one of the Sisters trained to care for people with leprosy.
No one else could have the impact these women are having on their own people, often their own neighbors. Their roots of love go deep, and their branches of compassion reach into places where no one else goes.
While their long white robes, known as saris, might appear like unusual attire to Western eyes, the significance in South Asia is huge. The Sisters’ simple handspun uniform mirrors the traditional sari once worn by the lowliest of servants in Asia. It says to the old woman whose body has been disfigured with leprosy: “I am here to serve you. I see your worth.”
Mungeli Das, who contracted leprosy as a little girl more than 50 years ago, was treated for five years, then cured. Because of the deformity left by the disease, the leprosy colony has been her home for decades. She clings to the help and hope that the Sisters of Compassion bring her. The Sisters follow the example of Jesus who, according to the gospels, touched and healed those, like Mungeli, with leprosy.
“Before the Sisters came, there was no one to help trim our hair, cut our nails or help us clean our houses and encourage us,” Mungeli says. “The Sisters help us by cleaning our wounds, and they make us happy and encouraged [us] all the time.”
In places where outsiders, foreigners and foreign mission workers are prohibited or restricted, national workers and national missionaries have much more opportunity to serve. These women and men are welcomed and considered trustworthy counselors and friends of the community.
Outsiders may come and go. But national missionaries, such as GFA World’s Sisters of Compassion, stand the test of time.
“Each woman who serves as a Sister of Compassion is full of sacrificial love, just like Jesus,” explains Gospel for Asia (GFA World). “They do the most unglamorous things, such as bathing someone … or feeding people who’ve been affected by leprosy [and] no longer have any fingers [to] feed themselves.”
Unsung Heroes of the Frontline
While Western workers often venture to far-flung places and do amazing things, it’s the unsung heroes of the frontline—the local, indigenous people—who consistently make the greatest impact and bring true transformation to their own communities.
In the past, missions trailblazers like William Carey from England in the 1700s, and C.T. Studd in the late 1850s and early 1900s, paved the way for swarms of foreign missionaries and humanitarian workers, mostly from Western countries.
But the tide has changed.
National workers are the “new pioneers” of the 21st century, and they’re proving to be an unstoppable compassion force.
Beauty of Local Mission Workers
On a worldwide scale, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC), there were 430,000 foreign mission workers overseas in 2021, compared with 13.2 million national workers (local citizens).
That means national mission workers—those serving within their own culture and nation—now outnumber foreign workers by more than 30 to 1.
The CSGC predicts the number of national mission workers globally will explode to 17 million by 2050, while the number of foreign workers will increase to 600,000.
To be sure, Western Christians are still drawn to overseas missions in large numbers. But the exporting of expatriates to distant foreign fields can come at a high cost, potentially hindering progress.
In extreme cases, the quest of well-meaning foreigners with a zeal to exercise their faith and do good can end in tragedy, as in the headline-making case of a U.S. mission worker in 2018.
While attempting to make contact with the “unreached” indigenous people of North Sentinel Island, an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal, it’s believed David Allen Chau was speared to death. As of the date this article was published, his body had not been recovered.
Chau’s death was tragic and highlights the very real dangers facing non-nationals in remote areas. But it’s not only the safety of foreigners that’s an issue. It’s also the cost in dollars of sending Western workers and keeping them in their overseas assignment.
Counting the Cost of Foreign Workers vs National Workers
Missions Fest International, an annual global missions conference, spotlighted the financial cost of “sending” a Western mission worker compared with the cost of supporting a national worker in a provocative article on its website titled “Should We Stop Sending Missionaries?”
While stating there’s still a great need and important role for foreign workers in many parts of the world, the article points out it typically costs more than $50,000 a year to support a Western family in a developing nation such as Africa and Asia—an annual sum that could help support more than 50 national workers, the article says. For example, based on my personal experience in Uganda, an American family of four living in Africa might pay $1,000 a month for expat health insurance coverage that includes emergency medical evacuation. Because of security issues, they might have to live in a secure compound at high rent and pay hundreds of dollars every month for guards 24/7. Legal paperwork and visas can cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars every year.
Run the numbers and it’s perhaps no surprise, then, that national workers—willing and able to live far simpler and free of immigration restrictions—are increasingly seen as a wise investment.
More than 140 organizations “are now built on the premise of gathering and sending money [to support national workers], not people,” the article says.
While short-term overseas missions trips still play a huge role in the West, the merit and value of supporting local, native workers over the long haul has become widely embraced as the most effective approach in the quest for the “holy grail” of missions: to bring long-term, total transformation to impoverished communities.
Certainly, over the past couple of decades, it’s become a trend in Western nations for people, especially young people in their 20s, to travel to places in Africa, Asia or South America to volunteer in orphanages, children’s homes and the like.
Photos of young Westerners cuddling babies and surrounded by excited children in Africa and Asia have flooded social media and reinforced the so-called “white savior” label, often unfairly attached to compassionate individuals from the U.S., Canada, U.K. and other wealthy countries who simply want to make a difference in the world.
But now, it seems, this missions phenomenon—undoubtedly impacted further by COVID-19 travel restrictions—could be in decline.
An article in The Atlantic put it like this: “Among the new generation of Western Christian missionaries, the so-called ‘white savior complex’—a term for the mentality of relatively rich Westerners who set off to ‘save’ people of color in poorer countries but sometimes do more harm than good—is slowly fading.”
If this special report has touched your heart and you would like to help national workers show Jesus’ love by meeting practical needs, then make a generous one time or monthly gift to support a national missionary in Asia or Africa.
GFA World (Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
Learn more by reading this Special Report from Gospel for Asia on the Lord’s work in 2020 through GFA and the partnerships worldwide while following Him in His work in 16 nations, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.