During my time in India, I worked for India Christian Ministry’s Covenant Children Development Center (CCDC). CCDC is a program which ministers to the most impoverished village children in Andhra Pradesh. CCDC provides daily homework help, tutoring, and a meal for 25 poorest families in hundreds of villages. They use education to share the love of Jesus Christ with children who come from predominantly Hindu families. When my team would come to these villages for CCDC, we were a fun night for the kids. We had the privilege to play games, sing songs, teach english, and most importantly share Jesus with the children. While doing this night after night, God placed on my heart how lucky I am.
I am lucky because I am an educated woman. Each night the room would be split down the middle boys on one side and girls on the other. The boy’s side of the room would always be louder and much more vocal. They commanded the room, and overshadowed the milder mannered girls. Through talks with Cathy, my team’s translator, she shared about the lesser position face in Indian (especially Hindu society). Since CCDC pays the education fees and for meals for the children in the program, CCDC enables many girls to receive an education. Even with CCDC, these girls will most likely not get an education past a middle school level if they are lucky. The girls will most likely be married off young and start families of their own by the time they are 16.
Women in India are not valued and their education is considered a waste in the opinions of Indian society. The amazing thing is to see how the LORD has been able to transform this inequality to bring freedom. Cathy told me that many more women come to Christianity in India than men. This is because women gain worth in Christ instead of being valueless in Hindu society. Women flock to Christianity in India and they are the strength of the Christian movement.
All this to say, I implore all of women to value your education. To see your education as a powerful tool and blessing. Use your education to change the world around you. As a Youth Leader, I often heard my teenage girls complain about their myriad of homework assignments. My youth would share their woes about papers, final exams, algebra equations, science projects, and the like. To be fair, I understand the tremendous strain these academic procedures can stir. However, it is just such an incredible gift that each and every young woman has. It is easy for our American culture to overlook, just how blessed we are to be pursuing education and how it is not the norm for the people around the world to have access to education. It is precious.
