Healing and Hope

Posted by notestowomen on October 31, 2016

I first heard of the Bridge of Hope program when I became a blogger for the Gospel of Asia Ministry. I have read stories of children whose lives seemed hopeless until they were enrolled in this program where they were given a chance for a better future. They were provided with daily meals, regular medical check-ups and a quality education so that one day they would be able to get good jobs and provide for themselves and their families. And most importantly, they learned about Jesus.

One day an illiterate man went to the Bridge of Hope centre with a strange request. Would the staff there send the “medical doctor named Jesus” to help his sick wife? how did this man know that Jesus could heal the sick? He learned this from a little boy named Nibun, a first-grader. Nibun listened as his teachers talked about Jesus healing the sick, delivering people from evil spirits and feeding the hungry. It was Nibun’s father who came with the strange request. It was Nibun’s mother who was sick.

The family was poor. They lived in a mud hut and couldn’t afford to go to a hospital. Most of the doctors were miles away. It was too long of a trek on a dirt path through the woods, especially for a sick person. Nibun’s mother was very ill. His father tried to do everything he could. He cried out to his gods to help her but she got worse until she became critical. It was then that Nibun told his father about Jesus, but the man thought that there was a doctor with that name working at the Bridge of Hope centre.

The staff at the centre responded to the father’s desperate request and went with him to his home. They talked to the family about Jesus and His love, sacrifice and power to heal. Then, they laid hands on the woman and prayed to God to heal her. And He did. The news soon spread throughout the small village and several people came to know the Lord that week and the following week more families placed their faith in Jesus. Families are attending a local church where they are growing in God’s grace and increasing their knowledge of Jesus.

Many lives were changed because of a little boy who learned about Jesus at the Bridge of Hope centre and believed that He could heal his mother. This program not only brings hope to children like Nibun but it transforms communities. It brings the light of God’s love and the hope found only in Jesus Christ to many people.

Literacy Saved Her Paycheck

Posted by notestowomen on November 28, 2015

Literacy brings an incredible freedom to women in South Asia; helping them to take care of their families, not be cheated at the marketplace, and be able to read the Bible for themselves – Gospel for Asia

As an avid reader, I can’t imagine not being able to read. It is one of my favorite things to do. I loved reading since I was a child. It led to my other favorite thing–writing. Being able to read and write can really make a difference. You can read books, study the Bible, write letters, read recipes, directions, the labels on products in the grocery store and write checks. These are things that most of us can do but in South Asia, more than 30% of the women are unable to because of illiteracy.

Imagine that you are illiterate and have no opportunity for an education. Imagine the struggles you face as you try to make ends meet while your husband spends your earnings on alcohol. This was Dayita’s reality. She came from a village where few girls received an education. Being illiterate left her with very few options. She began sewing clothing to ease her family’s financial situation. Her husband Kaamil deposited her earnings in the bank but she was horrified when she found out that he was withdrawing her money so that he could buy alcohol. Desperate, Dayita found someone to help her to open her own bank account but managing it proved to be very difficult because she couldn’t read or write. She was unable to fill out the deposit and withdrawal forms. She had to rely on others to help her.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble – Psalm 46:1

God saw that Dayita needed help and He intervened. He sent Ashna and Neha, believers from the local Women’s Fellowship to start a literacy class in Dayita’s area. Dayita began attending the sessions because she was determined to keep her hard-earned money safe. To her surprise, Kaamil supported her. Ashna taught two hour classes on reading and writing from a Bible based curriculum. Within two months, Dayita could read and write enough to fill out her bank forms. She is able to deposit and withdraw money on her own now. She is able to get around because she can read the names of buses and bus stations. Thanks to the ministry of Ashna and Neha, Dayita is learning about Jesus and starting to believe in Him.

Thanks be to God, who sees all and knows all and is every ready to help those who are in need, Dayita can enjoy the freedom that literacy brings. Knowing how to read and write, she doesn’t have to depend on others for help. She can go to the bank and do a transaction any time she wants. She can travel without worrying about getting lost. She can also enjoy the freedom that knowing Jesus brings.

If you are interested in helping other women like Dayita, find out how at this link. Help to free the women of South Asia from the yoke of illiteracy.

Source: Gospel for Asia

Oppressed Because She is a Woman

Posted by notestowomen on November 26, 2015

Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun: And look! The tears of the oppressed, But they have no comforter—
On the side of their oppressors there is power, But they have no comforter – Ecclesiastes 4:1

It saddens me that in some countries, it is dangerous or even deadly to be a woman. Sex trafficking, bride burnings, infanticide, gender related crimes, poverty and oppression are the realities that girls and women face in Asia.

Women should be able to live in a society where their rights are protected and are not oppressed because of their gender. Gender discrimination is something that all women may encounter at some point in her life but in Asia, women are perpetual victims of violence, abuse and oppression.

Imagine that you are a mother and one Sunday evening you find your daughter lying naked on the front step of the house she shares with her husband and children. There is no one there to help her and no one wants to come to her so you are the only one she can call for help although you live quite a distance away. Imagine how you would feel when you see your daughter with burns on more than 80 percent of her body, crying in agony. She survives for three days, long enough to tell the police that she was doused in kerosene by her mother-in-law and set on fire by her husband–the father of her children. Then she dies…

This is what happened to Laxmi, a woman in Bangladore. She was a victim of bride burning which is a crime that accounts for the death of at least one woman every hour in India. More than 8000 women die in this horrendous way. This type of crime is also called, “dowry death”.

A dowry death is the death of a young woman in South Asian countries, primarily India, who is murdered or driven to suicide by her husband. This results from the husband continually attempting to extract more dowry from the bride or her family. Bride burning is just one form of dowry death. Others include acid throwing and Eve teasing. Because dowry typically depends on class or socioeconomic status, women are often subjected to the dowry pressures of their future husband or his relatives.

Laxmi was only 28 years old when she died. Hers was not an arranged marriage. It was a love marriage and she came from higher caste than her husband, Majunath. He became increasingly drunk and was unable to find regular work because most of the money Laxmi earned was spent on liquor. Pressured by her in-laws to provide, Laxmi turned to her mother for financial support. Laxmi was harassed and accused of adultery by her in-laws and beaten by her husband. It turned out that it was her mother-in-law who compelled her son to set his wife on fire. Majunath ended up dying because he suffered from burns when Laxmi hugged him in a desperate attempt to put the flames out. So, their two children became orphans. An arrest warrant was issued for Laxmi’s mother-in-law but she has disappeared.

Trafficking of minor girls – the second-most prevalent trafficking crime – surged 14 times over the last decade and increased 65% in 2014, according to new data released by the National Crime Records Bureau.

Girls and women are the main targets of immoral trafficking in India, making up 76% of human trafficking cases nationwide over a decade, reveal NCRB data.

Other cases registered under human trafficking over the last decade include selling girls for prostitution, importing girls from a foreign country and buying girls for prostitution.

Sexual exploitation of women and children for commercial purposes takes place in various forms including brothel-based prostitution, sex-tourism, and pornography.

As many as 8,099 people were reported to be trafficked across India in 2014.

In the article, Silent Slaves: Stories of Human Trafficking in India, I read about a 15 year old girl who was in a New Delhi hospital. She was frail, her face and head were bandaged. A bruised black and blue eye and swollen lips were visible. She had burn marks and scabs on her neck and down her whole body and one of her ears was disfigured. She had a wound on her skull which was rotting and filled with maggots. This caused a stench. She was in this horrific condition because of her employer who beat her everyday with a broom and a stool. Many times the woman would put a hot pan on the girl’s body and burn her skin. The skin on her skull started to peel because she was repeatedly burned in that same spot.

How could one human being treat another like this? Sadly, this teen’s case is not an isolated one. Thousands of girls like her are trafficked every year from remote villages to large cities and sold as domestic workers. Many of them are abused or sexually exploited.

Extreme poverty, lack of education and employment, and poor implementation of the government’s minimum wage system in rural India make girls more vulnerable to being trafficked. The 2013 Global Slavery Index, published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, an organization that works to end modern slavery, found that almost half of the 30 million “modern slaves” in the world are from India.

The article describes how domestic worker placement agencies operate and how they are flourishing at the expense of minor and illiterate girls. Read more.

Due to the fact that girls are seen as an economic burden and boys a source of income, girl babies have been aborted and murdered – female infanticide or Gendercide – in their millions in India. The Lancet estimates that 500,000 female fetuses are aborted in India every year. As a result according to the BBC, “an estimated 25-50 million women in India are ‘missing’, if you compare the proportion of women in the population with other countries.” Staggeringly, Unicef believes 10 million girls, were killed by their parents in the last thirty years.

Killing babies because they are girls really hits close to home. As a woman, I can’t imagine my parents ending my life because I was born a girl instead of a boy. I always remember my mother telling me that she had a dream of how I would look before I was born. My father used to take me kite flying. My parents loved my two sisters and me. I know fathers who have only daughters and no sons but they are ecstatic. They adore their girls. This is not the case for the girls in India, however. Some are aborted or killed after they are born, others are neglected or abandoned.

In India a girl is an expensive burden because when she marries, her family is expected to pay a sum of money to the groom’s family regardless of whether or not they can afford it. It’s an expense they don’t want to deal with. So, when a girl is born, there is no joy. There is no celebration, only disappointment and anxiety. In some cases, there is rage–rage of the husband toward the wife and the baby girl. The wife is blamed for the gender of the baby and the girl, if she survives, is constantly reminded that she is a mistake–she should have been a boy.

Bride burnings, sex trafficking and girl infanticide are just some of the hardships that women and girls face in Asia. The documentary film, “Veil of Tears” takes you on a harrowing journey into their lives. Their stories may make us squirm but instead of shutting them out, we ought to raise awareness and do what we can to help. Let us be the voice of hope for the oppressed.

Find out more information at this link: http://veiloftearsmovie.com/take-action/

And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him – Psalm 37:40

Sources: Gospel for Asia; The Sidney Morning Herald; Wikipedia; Scroll In; Women’s Media Center; Counterpunch

Investing in A Child

Posted by notestowomen on November 5, 2015

One sponsor can have an enormous impact in the life of a child in Asia through GFA Bridge of Hope! Their prayers, love and encouragement can make a difference in the lives of children who are constantly derided and told they are worthless by their culture – Gospel for Asia

Nothing is more wonderful than giving a child hope for a bright future. You can do so by sponsoring a boy or a girl. In Asia, parents struggle to provide for their families. Their children grow up illiterate, uneducated and taught that they are worthless. More than 20 million of boys and girls are forced into child labor and prostitution so that they can support their families.

Thankfully, Gospel for Asia is turning these terrible situations around through their wonderful program, Bridge of Hope. Children are educated and nurtured. Families experience Jesus’ love. So far, the program has helped over 74,000 children and thousand of families have come to accept Christ as their Savior.

Watch this video of a Mom as she explains why she sponsors three children.

Bridge of Hope sponsorship is not just about giving money to support a child in Asia—it’s much, much more. If you decide to pour into a child’s life, you are making a direct impact on the lost in Asia. Your child will have food, clothes, education, and most importantly, your child will learn about Jesus’ love and share it with his or her family and the surrounding community – Gospel for Asia

Read how sponsorship has made a difference in the lives of Daya and Nibun. As you read their stories, keep in mind that it takes only $35.00 a month to give a child everything he or she needs–such as school supplies, a daily meal, medical check-ups and the opportunity to attend a Bridge of Hope center. 100% or your sponsorship is sent to the field to support your child.

A child could benefit so much from attending a Bridge of Hope center. The boy or girl you sponsor will learn Bible verses, stories and songs that bring the Gospel to life, learn to read and write, receive a healthy, balanced meal, medical care and learn the habits of good hygiene.

Do you know that when you take care of a child’s physical needs you are also breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, superstition and the bondage of the caste system? And your love and care of this child will extend to his or her family because the child will take the message of God’s love home. Sponsoring a child will bring hope to the family and even the community. The Gospel will penetrate hearts that resisted it at first. You will make it possible for parents to be in the training sessions which are an integral part of the Bridge of Hope program. You will provide the child and his or her family “a future here on earth and one for eternity”.

I encourage you to prayerfully consider sponsoring a child. Help to bring the message of salvation to a child who has not heard of Jesus. You can change a life forever. Invest in a child today.

As cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a far country – Proverbs 25:25

Source: Gospel for Asia

Women’s Literacy = Women’s Liberty

Posted by notestowomen on September 8, 2015

“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

A Mother’s Hope

Posted by notestowomen on May 7, 2015

Children are our future. It is our responsibility–no, it should be our mission to provide them with the tools that will enable them to have the future that God meant for them to have. It is every mother’s hope to see her child rise above adversity, poverty and all the social ills that would oppress and impede progress. Every mother has a right to believe that her child can have the life that she wants for him or her. Nothing is impossible, especially when God is involved. Mothers, keep the faith. Teach your children to dream big and to reach for the stars.

It’s every mother’s hope for her child to have a bright future. It was Hannah’s hope that if God were to bless her with a son, he would serve the Lord all of his life. What a wonderful prophet Samuel turned out to be!

While I was carrying my son, I tried to imagine what he would look like. I dreamed that he would have huge dark eyes in a sweet face. I was right. I will never forget the day in the hospital when he looked up at me with those big beautiful eyes. My heart melted, of course. I wanted him to have the best that life could offer. I wanted to keep him safe and care for him as best as I could with God’s help. I am blessed to have a husband who is a terrific father and role model for our son.

My son is seven years old now and nothing has changed. My hopes for his future are still the same. My husband and I want him to have the best education we can afford so that he can grow up and be whatever he wants to be. We encourage him to work hard. I tell him that there are children in other parts of the world who cannot go to school because their parents cannot afford to send them or in some families only one child is able to go to school and it’s usually the boy. I tell him that he has so much to be thankful for. He lives in a house and has his own room while there are children who live in poverty.

Growing up, to me, my mother was very strict, more so than my father. I remember once I wrote a very steamy story that somehow ended up in her possession and I knew I was in big trouble. I was going to get a spanking from my father so I had to think quickly. I wrote another story and when the opportunity came, I switched it with the other one. You can imagine her surprise when she gave my father the letter and didn’t get the reaction she expected. When she read it, she saw that it was a different one. I don’t know what happened after that but the only thing that mattered to me at the time was that I didn’t get a spanking. Over the years, my mother and I became very close. I was very happy when I became a mother and watched as she held her only grandchild in her arms for the first time. It wasn’t until I was older that she said, “You have your own life to live.” Perhaps one day I may say that to my son although a part of me doesn’t want him to grow up. No matter how old he is, he will always be my baby. I take great comfort in the fact that God has great plans for his life.

It’s not easy being a mother. It’s especially hard for the mothers in Asia who are struggling to provide for their families. Imagine your children growing up illiterate, uneducated? Education is the key to alleviating poverty, illiteracy and saving children from social evils like child labor and prostitution. Children are God’s gifts and should be valued. They are not worthless as some would have them think. They are precious and deserve the best.

Although greater involvement by fathers – in all countries and cultures – is one of the most fundamental priorities for improving the care and upbringing of children, it is in practice the mothers who are the principal providers of care. And the first thing to be said is that however much a mother may love her children, it is all but impossible for her to provide high-quality child care if she herself is poor and oppressed, illiterate and uninformed, anaemic and unhealthy, has five or six other children, lives in a slum or shanty, has neither clean water nor safe sanitation, and if she is without the necessary support either from health services, or from her society, or from the father of her children.

The situation for mothers in South Asia sounds very dismal but true to His nature, God has found a way to reach out to them and their children. Gospel for Asia has a wonderful program which can change the despair of the mothers in Asia to hope. It can change the lives of children. Bridge of Hope has helped more than 72,000 children so far and as a result thousands of families have found faith in Christ. We can help a mother in Asia to have a Happy Mother’s day by sponsoring her child. She can see her child get an education, receive a regular medical check-up, wear clean clothes and eat a daily meal.

Nothing pleases me more than to watch my son head into school each morning with his father, carrying a lunch bag and wearing his nice, clean and ironed uniform. I know that he is going to school to learn so that one day, he will have a career and a future. One day, he will be taking his kids to school too. How grateful do you think a mother in Asia would be to see her child walking to school because someone decided to step in and make her hope a reality?

I encourage you to sponsor a Bridge of Hope child in honor of his or her mother. Make this a Mother’s Day a very special one for a woman in Asia. Give her the gift of hope–the hope of seeing her child have a great future.

Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man – Pliny the Elder

Hope is the anchor of our souls. I know of no one who is not in need of hope – young or old, strong or weak, rich or poor – James E. Faust

Sources: Gospel for Asia – Mothers; Hope Quotes; Unicef

Bridge of Hope

Posted by notestowomen on April 12, 2014

When your child comes to you and says, “I’m hungry,” you stop whatever you are doing and you find something for him or her to eat. Sadly, children in South Asia are crying out, “I’m so hungry, but there’s no food. Not even in the garbage.” For many of them hunger, poverty and mistreatment have become a way of life. No child should go without food or face a future without hope. Thankfully, God has heard their cries and has provided help and hope through Gospel of Asia’s Bridge of Hope program.

Parents across Asia struggle to provide for their families. Children grow up illiterate, uneducated and taught they are worthless. More than 20 million boys and girls are trapped in social evils like child labor and prostitution in order to support their family.

Gospel for Asia’s Bridge of Hope turns these situations around for good. Children are educated and nurtured. Families experience Christ’s love. More than 60,000 children have been helped so far and thousands of families have found faith in Christ as a result.

I encourage you to take a few moments and watch the Bridge of Hope video and see how children across Asia are being rescued. Find out more about the program at http://www.gfa.org/sponsorachild/

You too can make a difference. You can give hope to a child and enable Jesus Christ’s love to reach a family in Asia. You can bring hope to those in despair and help to those in need. Sponsor a child today so that he or she could have a bright future and experience the love of Jesus. May God bless you as you help these children.