I’ve been here four times now” my new friend from Cuba tells me as we are walking away from the Delhi slum, dodging piles of cow refuse, trash and potholes in the dirt alleyways. We have just left one of 8 ministry centers for children that are situated in the middle of a glorified garbage dump. A dump that is home to hundreds of thousands of India’s poorest families in what is referred to as the Delhi slum.
If you have seen the movie, you would recognize this as a place of ministry for the “slumdogs”. Each day hundreds of children are cared for, prayed over, fed and taught how to read write and speak English- a language that may help them to find a job some day. They are taught these things as they learn the scriptures and as they experience the abundant and joyous love of Christ.
My Cuban friend tells me that every time she comes to this place she feels the sting. The sting of pain that comes to a mother’s heart as she holds little babies who are hungry and have nothing to eat. “I have five children” she says to me with her eyes tearing up, “I breast fed all of them and always fed them many times a day before they even had a chance to cry”.
She goes on to explain why it is such an important journey for her. “I come back here because I believe this is a part of the abundant life too- to come to places like this and to see the poverty and reach out and touch it and to let it sting. I never want to forget that there are little babies in places like this that are hungry and looking for their mommies and they are nowhere to be found.”
“I never want for it to not sting- because that would mean my heart has grown cold.”
I know what she means. The sting of pain that is felt when you first experience the overwhelming poverty of this slum.
A sting I believe comes from the heart of Christ.
This certainly is a place that Christ had in mind when he said “if you have not done it to the least of my children you have not done it unto me…”
For any person who would ever doubt the love of Christ and the impact of His work, this place is a shining example of how light penetrates darkness. There is no darkness as dark as this darkness. And there is no love that shines brighter than in this place. It shines brightly in the hearts of the two Indian believers who are leading the ministry. Allen and Vaneta have lived here with their young family for the past 12 years for the sole purpose of taking care of the children of the slum and to reflect the love of Christ.
And they are doing this by literally living in the garbage dump with their small children, raising them alongside the untouchables in a place that most of us would not want to bring our children for more than a few hours at a time for fear of what they might be exposed to.
Their family sleeps and eats in the rooms attached to the ministry center. Their children sleep on cots on the floor without running water or any of the conveniences that most middle class children in India enjoy. Though they are both well educated and speak very good English and could find quality jobs almost anywhere else in the world, they choose to live in the Delhi slum for the sake of the gospel.
Sheeba Subhan, our friend from Global Action tells us that several months ago she told Vaneta that she should move away and drive in every day to take care of the children. “You don’t have to live here.” She told her. Vaneta said without hesitating, “We want to live here. We would never live anywhere else, this is where our heart is. We want to live among the children.”
For most of us this kind of choice seems somewhat counter-intuitive. It makes no sense.
But somehow when you are here and experience all the bright smiles against the sadness and all the suffering alongside the joy and when you feel the sting and sense the boundless love of Christ that comes from a ministry like this, it all makes sense. Somehow you understand. they are doing what comes naturally when one is totally immersed in the gospel.
Our time at the ministry ended with a story from a 17 year old girl who has just started working on the staff. Punim first came to the slum ministry as a little girl living on the street at 5 years old. A few years ago she embraced the gospel and became a Christian. She asked for prayers as she continues to reach out to her Hindu family- many of whom are not pleased that she has left their traditional religion and converted to Christianity. She told us of how important the ministry has become to her and how it is like family. She has decided to devote her life to caring for the children of the slum. What makes Pumim’s story so remarkable is that she is presently the youngest student of the Glomas training- a kind of seminary equivelent for Indian students who are interested in fulltime ministry.
As I watch this beautiful young girl, face glowing with the joy of the Lord explain how Christ has changed her life in one of the most desperate places on the planet, it occurs to me that truly the gospel is reaching into every dark corner. The sting of pain and misery and hunger is still here.
But there is a light shining in the darkness.
SOURCE: Rick Thompson http://roadwetravel.blogspot.com/
Stories from Asia 