Shaina, a five-year old Muslim girl from India, walked into her school. Her father had been a part of the Muslim extremist group, but had since passed away and Shaina was now living with her Muslim grandfather and grandmother. The fact that she was even going to school was against the odds given the fact that school in India cost money, and the fact that she was walking into a Christian school only happened by the grace of God.
Shaina continued in her education at this school where she not only learned English, mathematics, and sciences, but also of Jesus. The teachers and other students talked about the miracles this Jesus did while He walked the earth. Shaina heard that He healed the sick, and forgave sins. And eventually, Shaina learned that this Jesus died on a cross, and rose from the grave to defeat death and the Devil for good in order that all people could be saved from destruction. Jesus, she learned, is the only way.
She grew to love Christ and gave her life to Him. Teachers and other students would stand at attention, as Shaina, filled with the Holy Spirit, would lead her classmates in prayer.
At night, Shaina would stay up reading a bible she had kept hidden from her grandparents. One night, while she read the forbidden book in her room, her grandfather came in and caught her. Furious, he forsook her and kicked her out of her home. Shaina was less than ten-years-old.
Eventually, her grandfather told her she could return on two conditions. First, that she return to the Muslim faith, and second, that she would have to attend a different school. With no other option available, Shaina returned home. The school she had been attending did its best to keep track of Shaina during that time.
Not much time passed before Shaina’s grandfather passed away, and Shaina’s grandmother was not able to support her schooling. The school pulled together it’s own very limited funding and offered to pay for Shaina’s schooling until a sponsor came through for her.
Shaina is now in class six, and back at school. She is waiting to be baptized until she is eighteen. The school she attends is a sister school of Sielmat Christian High School that I worked at in Sielmat Village of Manipur, India. For her and other’s safety, the location of her school has been withheld. The area that she lives in is primarily Muslim and Hindu. The church’s presence, though growing, is small, and outreach to the Muslim and Hindu communities is hard-pressed because of the lack of Muslim and Hindu convert laborers.
As I said above, the school’s funding is extremely limited, and financially providing for Shaina is a stress, but it has been one they deemed worthy because of the impact it can have on not only Shaina as she grows and is given an education she otherwise wouldn’t receive, but also the community around her. Shaina is one of a very small pool of people that can reach and minister to the Muslim and Hindu community around her.
The indigenous Hmar people of Sielmat have a saying that translates to basically, “There is more than one way to kill a chicken.” One of our host coordinators, Rohny shared this with me when talking about sending foreign missionaries to these places, versus raising up indigenous, native brothers and sisters to go into the missionary field within their communities. Sometimes, the better way to kill the chicken, or in this case reach the nation of India with the gospel, is to raise up the leaders in the native church.
Though I was honored to spend my time serving and helping the church in Manipur India, what our brothers and sisters in India need more is your help in raising up these native leaders like Shaina.
Shaina is one of the children in a sponsor program ran through Bibles for the World called Parent Partnership Program. PPP aids in sending children to these schools for an education. She is still without a sponsor. For less than $40 a month, you can not only be a part of giving this child an education, but also play a role in the work she is going to do for the Kingdom in India.
If you would like more information, please contact Rohny Pakh letting him know your interest in sponsoring Shaina or other Muslim, Hindu, or Christian students at: [email protected] and cc myself as well: [email protected].
