Over 50,000 baby girls are aborted every month in South Asia – just because they were girls – Gospel for Asia

According to writer and gender-activist Rita Banerji, “Females are being killed in India at every stage of life, before and after birth, only because they are female” It has been said that the three deadliest words in the world are “It’s a girl”. The birth of a girl is not celebrated. It leads to infanticide or trafficking.

UNICEF states that the killing of baby girls has reached genocidal proportions. It is a practice that has gone on “in central India for a long time, where mothers were made to feed the child with salt to kill the girl.” Various other gruesome methods of murder are employed, many dating back to the 18th Century: stuffing the baby girl’s mouth with a few grains of coarse paddy causing the child to choke to death is one, poisoning, using organic or inorganic chemicals, drowning, suffocation, starvation and breaking the spinal cord, as well as burying the child alive.

What possible reasons could families have for murdering their baby girls?

Extreme poverty. The inability to afford raising a child.
The dowry system. This practice was supposed to have been abolished but it still exists. Poorer families in rural regions fear being unable to raise a suitable dowry and being socially ostracised.
Children conceived from rape
Deformed children born to impoverished families
Unmarried mothers not having reliable, safe and affordable birth control
Relationship difficulties
Low income
Lack of support coupled with postpartum depression

A girl is seen as an economic burden to her family–an unwanted expense while the boy is seen as their source of income. What about the women who have generated income for their families through the use of a sewing machine? Girls can be and are sources of income for their families. All they need is to be given the opportunities.

The girls are murdered for two reasons–the dowry, as mentioned earlier and the unwillingness of their families to marry them to men from a rival caste/tribe. Parents would rather murder their daughter than to allow her to marry someone from a lower caste. And the girls who survive are mistreated and neglected. They are unloved, uneducated and kept at home where they are forced to do household chores. For them the future is bleak and hopeless.

From the time they are born, South Asian women face pain, rejection, cruelty, suffering and discrimination. The Veil of Tears: Hope is on the Way is a documentary film which gives us a glimpse into the lives and hearts of these women for whom adversity is the norm. Take a look at the behind scenes video of “Veil of Tears: Hope is on the Way”.

I was deeply affected when Natalie Grant shared what she saw when she went to the Red Light District in Mumbai. Little girls as young as 5 were for sale. She and her husband had an opportunity to tour a brothel where they saw tiny rooms with beds lined up and one of them had a rope tied at the end of it. At first she was hesitant to ask about this but when she did, she was told that there was no daycare . These were working women but there was no where for them to drop off their children. “This woman has her 18 month old daughter that she tetters to the end of the bed while she’s forced to work so that she knows where she is. These are the things my husband and I say wrecked us for life” As a mother, can you imagine working in a brothel and having your child right there in the room with you? Yet, women are forced to turn to prostitution i order to take care of their children. And there is no one who will take care of their children while they work.

On CBN, Natalie shared another heartbreaking story, “I was walking down the street in Mumbai, in broad daylight, when my eyes locked on a little girl, maybe 6 or 7 years old, peering out of a cage, looking at us on the street below. It was beyond my imagination. I’ll never forget that moment. That was her life. Every day people walked by, and they didn’t even notice her.”

Can you imagine you or your daughter being kept in a cage like an animal and people are just walking by as this is nothing out of the ordinary?

When we see how these girls and women are treated by society, we realize that the problems we face are nothing compared to what they have had to endure. This why God has brought their stories to our awareness so that we can tell others. We can be the voice of the voiceless.

“Veil of Tears” tells the stories of women who are just like every other woman in the world, except that these women are brutalized, they’re despised, they’re persecuted culturally, simply because they are women and this has been going on for generations – Kenny Saylors

Thankfully, there is hope.

…God is restoring dignity to the women who have been utterly just downtrodden – Kyle Saylors

And God is not just changing their hearts, He’s changing their lives. He’s changing their everyday lives – Kenny Saylors

We can bring hope to the girls and women of South Asia–the hope they can find only in Jesus by supporting the Veil of Tears film. Here are ways you can make a difference. Take action today. Get the word out about the plight of women in Asia.

The most overwhelming part of the whole trip was visiting a village and seeing women who had been restored and seeing what true hope actually does in the life of someone that it actually can make them new, that no matter how broken, no matter how desolate, there is still hope – Natalie Grant

Sources: Gospel for Asia; World and Media; Wikipedia; Counterpunch

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“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition. For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right…. Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”
― Kofi Annan

Tuesday, September 8, 2015 was an important day for lots of parents and their children. It was an important day for my family. It was my son’s first day back to school. This year he will be in grade 2 . It was wonderful seeing parents and their kids filing into the school. The halls were crowded and noisy as we squeezed our way to the gym where the children were to line up before heading to the auditorium for the greeting and morning prayer. As I looked at the children in their uniforms, I thought of how what a blessing it is to be able to go to school.

September 8 was an important day for another reason. It was International Literacy Day, a day first proclaimed as such on November 17, 1965 by UNESCO. It was first celebrated in 1966 and its objective has always been to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. The theme for this year was Literacy and Sustainable Societies and the Day marked the 50th anniversary of the World Congress of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy. It is a day when the world is reminded of how important learning is.

International Literacy Day gives children and communities a chance to rediscover the joys of reading while raising awareness for those without access to education.

Can you imagine being a mother and unable to read your child’s school report or help him with his homework because you can’t read or write? What if you couldn’t read the Bible or a bedtime story to your child or a Mother’s Day or birthday card? Sadly, there are women in South Asia who can’t read or write. Can you believe that over 30% of Asian women are illiterate? In fact, more than one out of every three women in Asia are illiterate!

There is hope, thanks to Gospel for Asia’s Literacy Program. Through literacy classes held by GFA supported local Women’s Fellowships, women are learning how to read, write, do basic math, some of life’s most basic lessons, and, most importantly, they are learning how to read and study God’s Word on their own. What a joy it must be to be able to read about a loving God and a Savior who gave His life for them. And better yet, they can read to their children.

So women volunteered to teach literacy classes to other women. The program expanded into several states and two countries, so a standardized curriculum was developed.

In this day and age, it is hard to believe that there are so many people who still cannot read or write. Last year, Gospel for Asia supported the work of missionaries who saw International Literacy Day as an opportunity to raise awareness of the value of women’s literacy and to share the Gospel.

I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure – Psalm 119:162

Do you want to bring hope to women by helping to make it possible for them to read and study God’s Word? Find out how you can do so here. Reading and writing are basic necessities of life that everyone should have. Women who learn how to read, write and do basic Math will be able to provide for their families. You will be helping a woman to keep her children safe because she can read the warning labels or from being cheated at the marketplace because she knows basic Math. Think of how different your life would be if you couldn’t read your Bible, recipes, emails or letters. Then think of the freedom you enjoy from being literate and how you can help to liberate these women too.

Literacy is not a luxury, it is a right and a responsibility. If our world is to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century we must harness the energy and creativity of all our citizens – President Bill Clinton on International Literacy Day, September 8th 1994

Sources: Gospel for Asia, International Literacy Day, UNESCO

Ruth’s Story

Posted by notestowomen on April 8, 2015

You Should Have Been a Boy!

One of my favorite Biblical characters is Jethro. He was a wise man, loving father and friend. He had seven daughters and never once did he ever make them feel unloved or unwanted. Not so, with Ruth. Ruth is a young Asian woman who lives in a world where being a girl can stir hatred, abuse and neglect and even lead to death.

As the youngest of three girls in my family, I cannot imagine my father hating me because I turned out to be a girl instead of a boy. Yet, this was Ruth’s experience. Her father displayed exceptional hatred toward her until finally she had to find out why. Why did her father hate her so? What had she done to stir such toxic feelings in him? She asked and his response was, “You should have been a boy!” Afterwards, he stopped speaking to her altogether. Not once did my father ever mistreat me or make me feel unloved or unwanted because he his third child to be a boy and got another girl instead. I grew up with my father’s love unlike Ruth…

All Ruth knew was hatred. Both of her parents hated her because before Ruth, the couple had three daughters. Another daughter meant that the family name will not be carried on, there will not be enough income provided for her parents and it meant another marriage dowry which would sink them into debt. They were so desperate for a son that they sold one of their fields and gave the money to a priest. They asked him to pray to his gods so that they could have a baby boy. They truly believed that they were going to have a boy this time and when they didn’t…

For more of Ruth’s story, watch the video and see how God changes her circumstances from pain and heartache to triumph and in the process, change her father.

Ruth’s story has a happy ending. Thanks to the women missionaries of Gospel for Asia, she learned that there is a Father who loves her. God showed her that she has value and He called her to serve Him. You can help other girls like Ruth—sponsor a woman missionary today.

God’s kingdom will be made up of sons and daughters and we will reign one day as co-heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ who died for everyone.