“Tomorrow you will be working with our women’s ministry. Please encourage them. Our women need encouragement.”
These were the words one of the church leaders shared with us the first Sunday at our church in Bhaktapur. We hadn’t even been in Nepal a week and we could already see that this was in fact a great need.
In our first week we learned a lot of things that pissed me off and broke my heart. Let me share them with you. As in many places around the world sex-trafficking in a big issue. The view of the value of a women plays a large role in this issue here in Nepal. Women are regarded as a burden. It is part of the Hindu religion that is such a part of their culture; women don’t offer anything productive to society.
- When a woman gets married there is still a dowry that has to be paid to the grooms family. This is because of the financial “burden” it will be to the family to have another woman to take care of. These arrangements can become very heated. We were told of one girl who had gas thrown on her, and was started on fire simply because the arrangements weren’t going well.
- There are families that will knowingly sell their daughters to sex-traffickers for as little at 800 rupies, about $8. In their eyes this takes away the burden of having to feed and cloth her. Other times the families think their daughter is being taken into the city to be given a better job as a maid or wash girl but this never happens.
- According to Hindu tradition when a man dies they put his body in a boat, set it down the river and set it on fire. Many times they will throw the wife on top of the burning body, and she will burn to death. This is because since the woman’s husband is dead she no longer has value. She would now just be a burden to someone.
These are just three of the stories that we heard, and there are so many more that we didn’t hear. That will never be heard.
This month I got to experience three parts of our Heavenly Fathers heart for the women in Nepal. I experienced a heart that was just angry that there is so little regard for one thing that is so so precious to God; life. I experienced a heart that was broken for the women. What is it like to live in a culture that tells you every day “You have no worth?” I also got to experience the Fathers GREAT LOVE for these women.
As we worked with the women’s ministry I got to share with them about a Savior who came and loved the people society had deemed disgusting, worthless, a burden. I got to share that we serve a God who uses women for great things, like Esther saving His people from destruction. We serve a God who has created each of us with our own special talents and gifts to be used in the church and to love those around us. One of my teammates said that these women were holding onto every word. These were all words of God, I was just showing them what His word says.
The other thing that I shared with the women, I want to share with you. Do you know how important your prayers are? Really? Prayer can and does change EVERYTHING. I want to ask you to take some time today, tomorrow, next week, forever…and pray. Pray that these women will be encouraged and know their value as children of God. Pray that the atmosphere, the culture of Nepal will be changed. Pray that this women’s ministry will reach so many women in their area. Pray for the missionaries that are here full time.
But also rejoice with me! My heart was so full of joy the Sunday when we were asked to encourage the women. It was beautiful to see that the men of God in the church have had it put on their hearts that their culture is so wrong and they want their women to know they have value. God is moving in the hearts of the people and He’s not done yet.
