When my father and my motherforsake me, Then the LORD will take care of me – Psalm 27:10
For most parents, it is love at first sight when they see their newborn. Not so for baby Jansi. When her father saw her, instead of feeling love toward her, he felt shame. As he looked down into that tiny face, he didn’t see a beautiful baby. He saw a baby who wasn’t pretty, was too skinny and not looking right. The doctor concurred that she was abnormal. Jansi’s father didn’t want an abnormal baby nor did his wife. Filled with disgust, he threw the 2 day old baby in the dumpster and the couple walked away, not looking back nor shedding a tear.
Baby Jansi lay in the garbage, wailing until two arms reached into the dumpster and drew her out. Those arms belonged to a woman named Pranaya Chopra. Pranaya worked as a tutor to help the children with their academics at Gospel for Asia (GFA) supported Bridge of Hope center. Pranaya learned through preaching at Church and reading the Word that children are a gift from God. It was Pranaya’s sister who had Jansi and when Pranaya discovered she and her husband had tossed their newborn daughter into the dumpster, she went and found her.
Pranaya took the baby girl home with her and named her Jansi. Pranaya and Jansi’s grandparents cared for her and nursed her to health. To the Jansi, Pranaya was “mother.” Pranaya was there when the little girl crawled and when she became a toddler. She was there every step of the way, showing this abandoned child how much she loved her. When Pranaya got married, Jansi remained a part of the family, even when the couple had a child of their own. For Pranaya, “It is a great blessing for me to adopt my sister’s daughter into my family.”
When Jansi became school-aged, she was enrolled in Bridge of Hope. School work was difficult for Jansi but with the help of the staff, she soon improved. Jansi thrived and her biological parents saw how well she was doing and their attitude toward her changed. They wanted her back. They saw their daughter the way God and Pranaya did–a precious gift to be loved and cherished. It made it easier for Pranaya when she and her family had to move away. She knew that Jansi would be well cared for and safe with her parents.
Jansi lives with her parents and two younger siblings. She continues to attend Bridge of Hope center where she is learning about Jesus’ love for her and doing well in her studies. Her mother attends the monthly parents’ meeting at Bridge of Hope where she hears about Jesus. What a wonderful end to what started out as a very sad story. Although baby Jansi was discarded by her parents, God had plans for her life. He rescued her from the dumpster and placed her in the care of a woman who loved her as if she were her own daughter.
This story has taught me that we must never discard anyone because of their appearance, gender, culture or race but love them as Jesus does. He died for them too. He died for the unloved, unwanted, abandoned and rejected. It is His desire that they too may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10). Thanks to Him, Jansi is now enjoying a life filled with hope and joy and tremendous blessings.
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’swomb – Psalm 139:13.
More than 50 million people in India suffer from a mental illness. In 2011, India recorded the highest rate of major depression in the world at 36 per cent. According to doctors, roughly 10 per cent of India’s population suffers from depression – MGMH
Women with mental illness are treated as less than human. They are dumped, abandoned and abused. If there are any signs of mental illness, a woman is put in a mental hospital with no chance of getting out. Men can go back home while women are there for life. In the following video, we meet a woman whose husband had her institutionalized although she had no history of mental illness. Here’s a story of a mentally ill woman whose husband built a case against her so that he could get custody of their children after divorcing her.
It is not surprising that women suffer from depression at higher rates than men. They have to deal with gender inequality, violence, lack of paid employment, lack of education, excessive spousal alcohol use and poverty. Mothers are blamed for the birth of a female child and many face pressure to have male children. Women are diagnosed with schizophrenia later in life, oftentimes, following the birth of their children. The children are often removed from the ill mother’s care and this results in further distress for her. Indian women have higher rates of suicide than women in most developed countries and a higher rate of suicide compared to men in India. Depression is one of the most common reasons for suicide among Indian women.
Mental health in India carries with it a stigma, especially if the person suffering from mental illness is a woman. According to MGMH (Movement for Global Mental Health), in rural India, it is common to see people taking their children to temples and faith-healers instead of hospitals and doctors, especially in cases of mental health. Mental health was something that was talked about in hushed tones. Thankfully, it is no longer being swept under the rug. People are coming forward. Deepika Padukone stunned her fans last year when she admitted that she suffered from anxiety and depression.
At the time the news broke, she was one of the most sought after actresses in Bollywood. It took tremendous courage for her to disclose her illness, especially since people diagnosed with mental illness face discrimination. Deepika has since launched the Live Love Laugh Foundation to raise awareness about mental health issues and as a result many celebrities were inspired to come out in the open and address the need to talk about mental health. Varun Dhawan admitted that he was depressed during the making of Badlapur and Honey Singh revealed that he has been undergoing therapy for bipolar disorder.
Sadly, those living with mental illness are victims of a cruel fate. They are often locked away and stripped of their basic human rights in state-run institutions that are under-staffed. In an article, titled Mentally Ill Suffer a Horrible Fate in India posted on the site for Deutsche Welle (DW), most state run mental hospitals are in deplorable conditions. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported that out of the 43 government mental hospitals in India, less than half a dozen are in a “livable” condition”.
There are doctors in charge of these hospitals who have no business being there. “These doctors don’t understand the intricacies of a psychiatric illnesses and the comprehensive care the patients require,” said a psychiatrist working in a state-run mental hospital in Uttar Pradesh.
And in the midst of the crisis of hospitals not providing the conditions and care the patients need, are quack healers who are profiting from this. According to a study by Dr. Shiv Gautam, former superintendent of Jaipur Mental Hospital, 68 per cent of the mentally ill are taken to faith healers before a psychiatrist. “The reason, besides superstition, is that most general medicine doctors fail to diagnose psychiatric illness,” Gautam said. “A mentally ill patient displays symptoms which superstitious people believe are paranormal,” he added. “Such patients are tortured, chained and used for extracting money from their families.” Hema, who was suffering from Schizophrenia was believed to have an evil spirit. Her family took her to Datar Sharif Dargah where she spent a year locked up. It wasn’t until her condition deteriorated that she was brought to Dr. Gautam. In 15 days, she began to improve and a month later she was normal.
In other cases, the mentally ill are subjected to one of these horrific ordeals: whipping, caning, inhaling burnt chili smoke, having their eyes smeared with chili paste or having their eyes branded with red, hot coins. There are laws banning this practice, however, many dargahs and temples keep the patients chained. Some of them spend the rest of their lives like this. In 2001, 26 patients perished in a fire at a dargah in a coastal village because they couldn’t escape the blaze since they were chained. What a horrific and senseless tragedy.
Families of mentally ill people opt for dumping them. This means that they are dumped into an asylum where the conditions are not fit for a human. When an illegal asylum was raided, they found thirty-five men and six boys living in inhuman conditions. The stench from their unwashed bodies and the excrement drove neighbors to alert the health department. Naked and chained inmates were discovered, dumped there by their families after they paid the asylum owner. Some of these poor souls were found crawling in their excrement, some even consuming it. On their bodies were marks of torture. Some had surgical scars on their backs, leading to allegations that the asylum had links to kidney theft. 78 patients had entered the asylum but only 41 were found during the raid.
Other patients are dumped in jungles or forests ranges. Their families pay lorry drivers to drop them. Women and children are among these victims and in some cases, the females are raped by the drivers before being dumped. Social activist Murugan S. who has rescued countless mentally ill people from the streets, cautions us not to judge the families by calling them cruel. Instead we are to examine what forced them to take such extreme measures. He believes that system needs to change.
Part of the solution is raising awareness. The suffering of the mentally ill has been brought to our attention. It is out in the open. The next thing that needs to be done is to show the superstitious and fearful society that mental illness is nothing to run away from or to be ashamed of. The person suffering from mental illness needs love, support and most importantly, proper care so that he or she can live a normal life.
The government needs to put something place to ensure that patients are placed in reputable, sanitary facilities that will provide the care that they need and to ban the operation of illegal asylums and the practice of dumping. Quack healers should be banned from profiting from other people’s suffering. Husbands should not be allowed to institutionalize their wives if there is no record that they have mental illness.
No one wants to be mentally ill but it is a reality for many people and what they need is to know that they have a platform where they can talk about what is happening with them. Here in Canada, we have Bell Let’s Talk, a wide-reaching, multi-year program designed to break the silence around mental illness and support mental health all across the country. It has done so much to fight the stigma of mental illness and encourage people to get involved in educating themselves and others.
It is my sincere hope and prayer that something will be put in place in India so that attitudes toward mental illness would change and those suffering from it will have a platform where they would not be judged, dumped, abandoned or discriminated but supported and be treated with dignity and open minds. In the meantime, let’s keep talking and raising awareness.
Talking is the best way to start breaking down the barriers associated with mental illness – Bell, Let’s Talk
The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlastinglove;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you – Jeremiah 31:3
Imagine you are a South Asian woman. Every day is a struggle and a challenge to survive. All you know is oppression from the day you were born until the day you die. As a girl child, your birth is not celebrated. You feel unwanted and are constantly reminded that you should have been born a boy. You are neglected, mistreated, abused or abandoned. As a young girl, you are abducted and forced into a life of prostitution which increases your risk of dying from AIDS.
If you are a widow, you are blamed for your husband’s death. His family and your community shun you and you are forced to fend for yourself. You are forced into an inhumane existence. You are completely alone, with no one to support or care for you. Life is too hard. There is no help. There is no hope. Only despair, misery and pain. What’s the use? Tens of thousands of widows end their lives just to end the pain.
If your dowry is not enough, your husband can douse you with kerosene and set you on fire. I have read horror stories of women being set on fire by their husbands or in-laws because of their dowries. A woman’s life is not worth anything. It’s hard to believe that there are countries where it’s not safe to be a woman. It can even be fatal. Women who survive infanticide because of gender are forced to live in a society which denies them rights to equality, respect, education, etc.
Being a woman in South Asia is unimaginable and unbearable for many and it is not surprising that the suicide rate is up to 21 times higher than the world’s average. Life for these women is a never-ending cycle of misery, hopelessness, degradation and rejection. These women need to know that there is hope. They need to know that there is a God who values them. To Him they are precious. They were fearfully and wonderfully made in His image.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you – Jeremiah 1:5
Imagine the joy these women will have when they hear about Jesus for the first time through Gospel for Asia’s ministries. Help them find hope and joy in a Savior who loved them so much that He gave His life for them so that one day they could spend eternity with Him. They need to know that they are worth a price far above rubies. They need to know that although there might have been silence in their homes on the days they were born, there was a joyful noise in heaven.
Women missionaries have been bringing the message of love and hope to the women of Asia. It is crucial that women minister to women because of the Asian culture. Women are more comfortable around other women. Gospel for Asia has trained, dedicated women missionaries who are willing to risk their lives to share the love of Jesus Christ with millions of women who still need to hear the Good News. These heroic women missionaries are willing to risk persecution, beatings and imprisonment because they are passionate about giving hope to women who have lived in despair for so long. They want to offer hurting women healing and encouragement. They want to bring the Savior’s light and love into their dark and uncaring world. Many Asian woman have had their lives transformed but there are still so many who are still waiting.
Weeping may endure for a night, But joycomes in the morning – Psalm 30:5
Help Gospel for Asia send more missionaries to those who are perishing without knowing about Jesus and His love. Find out how at this link. Help bring joy to a woman in Asia.
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice – Psalm 55:17
Nothing is more powerful than prayer. Sister Mary knows that and that is why she is such a prayer warrior. After meeting Jesus more than 10 years ago, Sister Mary has shared His love with her community by praying for the sick and suffering. Sister Mary reminds me of Dorcas who showed the Lord’s love by sewing garments for widows in her community. God uses humble people like Dorcas and Sister Mary to change lives. He has used Sister Mary’s prayers to change hearts. Watch this video to see what made a simple village woman become a powerful witness for God.
God can use you too to change lives. There are so many people in the world who need our prayers but here is a list provided by Gospel for Asia to get you started:
Widows. The treatment of widows in South Asia is unimaginably horrific.
+ Abandoned Children. Countless children in Asia have been discarded and abused, but they are not forgotten.
+ Asia’s Youth. Did you know that 40 percent of India’s 1 billion people are under the age of 18?
+ National Missionaries. Everyday people who love the Lord and rely on Him for help as they give their lives to further God’s Kingdom.
Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God – 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4
Sister Mary knows what it is like to suffer and that is why she is telling the sick and the suffering how she personally experienced God’s power of healing. Is there something that God has done in your life that you would like others to experience too? Pray about it and watch God work in mighty ways. Effective, persistent and faith driven prayers can move mountains. When Sister Mary prays, God hears and He acts. The same can happen for you. Go before the throne of grace with your list and with thanksgiving, offer up your petitions and the God who is faithful will hear and attend to them.
For the eyes of the LORDare on the righteous, And His earsare open to their prayers – 1 Peter 3:12
Imagine that you are discarded, abandoned and abused. You are forced to beg or turn to drugs. Imagine being separated from your family. And if you are a girl, imagine being abandoned by your parents.
These are the sad realities for millions of children in Asia. They live in the streets where they are vulnerable or fall prey to kidnappers who sell them into bonded labor and the sex trade. Those who manage to avoid the kidnappers fall into gangs, drugs and alcoholism. Distrust and pain are their constant companions. Everyday is a struggle to survive.
I encourage you to watch this video which will help you to better understand the plight of these children and what is being done by Gospel for Asia to change their circumstances and bring them hope.
You can offer these children a safe haven by supporting Gospel for Asia who has a home for runaway and abandoned children. You can partner with the ministry so it can continue to develop programs to help these children. You can change their lives forever. Through your generosity and compassion, you can show them that there is a God who loves them and has not abandoned them.
When my father and my motherforsake me, then the LORD will take me up – Psalm 27:10
When my father and my motherforsake me, then the LORD will take me up – Psalm 27:10
Daya was like an orphan even though her parents were not dead. They abandoned her and if it weren’t for her grandmother, she would have been completely alone. Family life was terrible for her. Her father beat her mother and then abandoned them both. Her mother deserted her. Neither parent showed her any love. There is nothing worse than a child not receiving parental love.
Things didn’t improve for Daya. With no income, she and her grandmother were forced to beg at bus stops, train stations and shops. It’s heartbreaking to see an elderly woman, with her grandchild in her arms, begging for something to eat. The cook for a Gospel for Asia Bridge of Hope centre had to be cautious. He knew that there were beggars who carried small children in order to get larger handouts and they pocketed most of the money for themselves. He couldn’t tell if this beggar was on the level. He asked her a question and demanded an answer. Her response was to break down in tears and pour her heart out.
He learned that the woman was the child’s grandmother and that Daya had once been a happy child until strife tore her family apart. Realizing that this woman was telling the truth and moved with compassion, the cook invited her to enroll Daya in the Bridge of Hope centre where he would cook the young girl meals.
Daya joined the Bridge of Hope centre lodged between a railway station and a slum. Unfortunately, she stood out from the rest of the children. She was the poorest of the poor and living in the slums for much of her life, she didn’t know much about hygiene. She went to class each day in the same dirty clothes. She rarely had a bath and when she did, she didn’t use soap.
It was not long before some of the parents began to complain about Daya and they pressured the Bridge of Hope staff to drop her from the program. They didn’t want this dirty child to be around their children. They threatened to remove their children from the centre if she didn’t leave.
Daya’s future was in jeopardy. If she was dropped from the program, she would return to the streets as one of the 300,000 child beggars in India. Somewhere down the road, she would be among the 20 to 30 million boys and girls who are exploited as child laborers. If it weren’t for her grandmother’s protection, Daya was at risk of becoming one of the 1.2 million Indian children abused as prostitutes. And worse yet for Daya if her grandmother were to die. She would be lost and her future would be hopeless. She wouldn’ stand a chance in a society where evil men preyed on the innocent…
Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life – Psalm 54:4
The Bridge of Hope staff remained committed to helping Daya because they knew that God had brought her to them. They decided to keep her in the program and undertook her hygiene problem. They scrubbed the 8 year old and gave her new clothes. By the time they were finished with Daya, you could hardly recognize her. They continued to teach her and her classmates proper hygiene and other practical life skills. These wonderful people of God didn’t cave into the demands of those parents who wanted them to expel Daya from the centre. They followed the example of the apostles Peter and John in Acts 5:29 who, when the council demanded to know why they were continuing to preach in Jesus’ name after being commanded not to, replied, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” They had to do whatever was necessary to protect the welfare of this child whom God had rescued from a life on the streets.
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly – John 10:10
Over six years have passed since Daya joined the Bridge of Hope centre. Instead of dirty rags, she is wearing beautiful dresses given as her uniforms. She had gone from being a beggar to being blessed. She had gone from the streets to a sanctuary where she receives an education. She is not in bonded labor or in a brothel. She is enjoying liberty in Jesus. She can realize her dream to be a teacher. Daya, now 15 years old, has a relationship with a Father who loves her and a Savior who has given her hope and set her free from the social evils which plague young girls like her in South Asia.
Daya’s grandmother has witnessed first hand the love of God as shown through the kindness of the Bridge of Hope staff. And she too is experiencing that love.
God is using Bridge of Hope to change communities. More than 60,000 children are finding hope in Jesus through the centres but there are millions of children like Daya out there who are still living in despair. You can reach out to them by sponsoring a child. Find out what every Bridge of Hope child receives.
My heart goes out to these children who are robbed of their childhood. They are unloved, abandoned, exploited and abused. I was touched by the story of Lakshmi, a nine year old who works in a factory rolling cigarettes. She is an example of selfless love. She doesn’t care about playing or going to school–all she wants is to bring her sister home from the bonded labor man.
My sister is ten years old. Every morning at seven she goes to the bonded labor man, and every night at nine she comes home. He treats her badly; he hits her if he thinks she is working slowly or if she talks to the other children, he yells at her, he comes looking for her if she is sick and cannot go to work. I feel this is very difficult for her.
It would cost 600 rupees to buy her sister’s freedom but for Lakshmi, there is hopeless. “We don’t have 600 rupees,” she says, “…we will never have 600 rupees.” 600 rupees is only $14.00 US. This is just one story among over 10 million stories of children who are bonded laborers in India. Help Bridge of Hope to bring hope to these children. Pray that God will rescue more of them from the clutches of evil people. Pray that they will discover that there is a loving God who sees their plight and will intervene. Pray that they will come to know Jesus.
Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You – Psalm 33:22
