This week we have been spending
time in some of the schools GEMS has established. These particular schools are
positioned outside of the main campus, near local villages where the children
had no previous education options. We have spent time in two different schools,
as well as visited the villages that the children come from. The living
conditions are astonishing. Homes are made of brick that is now crumbling down,
and insulated during the cold season with cow-pies. The children are very rarely
bathed, and their hair is not combed. Many are not even fully clothed.
However,
the worst part of this situation is that the villages are heavily immersed in
prostitution. Girls are forced at the age of 6 to learn to dance. They are
trained until they are 12, when they are thrown into the industry. Because
there are no education options, the girls see this as the only way to make a
living. Young boys are forced to sell alcohol illegally, and exposed to
extensive gambling and drinking.
GEMS
has provided schools near a few of these villages. It’s almost impossible to
believe that the same innocent faces that our team has been spending time with,
go home to such disgusting circumstances. So many of the young girls don’t want
to dance or sell themselves, but they cannot convince their mother’s that there
is any other way. There are many who have received Christ as their Savior
through their experience at the school. Then, they go home and are forced to
live in the same way. These children are very convicted and torn about the
lifestyle of their villages.
In one of the young girls
testimony, she shared the following: “I like coming to school but I don’t like
going for dances. My mother and sister force me to go for dances every Saturday
along with a group. Sometimes men pull my hand, and my mom says we have to bear
with such men as we are living in such society. I wish my mom was like aunty
and uncle {what the children call the missionaries who teach at the school}.
Then I and my village people would all be free but my mom never listens to
me…Using me they earn a lot of money. My mom takes all the money…I feel very
bad when I go because I don’t want to dance. I want to do something. I want to
become something for God. God has brought me this far so I want to do something
for Him. If it is God’s will, He can bring me out of all this.” This girl was
12 when she shared this testimony. Even after growing up in these
circumstances, she followed all of this by saying, “I tell God that ‘my village
is dipped in sin. Please have mercy and save it from sin.’ I believe God will
definitely deliver these people…I want to become someone great and do something
for my village.”
I have witnessed stronger faith
here in Bihar than I have ever seen. These people are not only survivors, but
they do it with joy, contentment, and a wonderful sense of anticipation. Their
prayers are fervent. The staff commits their entire life to equipping and
informing the underprivileged both professionally and spiritually. Please pray
for GEMS efforts, and contact me if you would like more information for any
reason that you are led to.
