Touching the Untouchables

And we’re off India to help out a ministry called Hope for People International (http://www.hope-for-people.org/)in a remote southeast village in India.  The ministry works with Untouchables, the poorest and most marginalized community suffering a discrimination worse than South Africa’s apartheid.

The Caste System
Born at the bottom of an ancient, rigid socioeconomic hierarchy called castes, Untouchables (also known as Dalits) are considered so cursed and polluted, their countrymen will neither look at them or even allow them to share the water. Deprived of education and medical care, their lives are lived creeping about at night, cleaning public toilets and disposing of the dead, jobs considered ‘unclean’ by the higher castes. With virtually  no hopes of advancement, men, women and children are targets of intense sex trafficking, hard labor and other forms of cruel exploitation.  Yet, every now and then there are glimmers of hope and evidence that where sin abounds, grace abound all the more…From Dirt Floors to Harvard
One such Untouchable is Solomon who learned how to read and write with a stick sitting naked on the dirt floor of mud hut that served as his first school in a remote southeastern village. Led to faith in Christ by his  grandmother, Solomon overcame staggering odds and went on to study at Harvard, teach at the University of Southern California and is today a Director at the School of Business for an international university.

Called by God to help those he left behind, Solomon returned to India off and on for ten years to build a 60-bed  hospital, a K-12 school, orphanage, church, and computer center.

Today, the Riverside School and the Subbamma Christian Hospital have transformed what was once considered a cursed piece of land into an oasis of light and learning.  The campus regularly hosts international volunteers, teachers, surgeons, dentists, and artists who help improve the lives of thousands.

More in the New Year
I’ll be sharing more about our visit there when we return in the New Year.  Till then, God bless  you and your loved ones this marvelous Christmas!

To learn more, please visit http://hope-for-people.org.

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  (Jeremiah 29:11)

“The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom from the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” (Isaiah 61: 1-2)