God is moving in India: CFA.

In an attempt to share with you about my trip, I want to go through each of the ministry sites Back2Back is working with to tell you what God is doing in India.  He's doing so much, and He's using Back2Back to do just a small part of it.  But for that small part, I am so thankful.  I believe God delights in using the little people to change the world.  It's why He chose the shepherd boy David to become a great king, the weak Gideon to become a mighty warrior, and the audacious Peter to become a rock for the faith.  Because it's never really about us.  It's about God, and the story He's writing.  So here's the part of His story that He's letting me play a part in.

Christ For All (CFA) is a feeding center that provides schooling, biblical teaching, and a hot meal to slum children in a particularly poor area of Hyderabad.  Most days the feeding center feeds around 100 children a hearty meal (most of whom this is the only meal they receive for the day), but in all they serve around 300 children.  The slums are home to trash pickers.  These are the lowest class in the caste system, and most spend their whole lives in the slums.  A trash picker can sort trash for an entire day and make the equivalent of around $5.  They've created a sort of neighborhood all around the dump, with homes and a little path that weaves throughout.  There is one abandoned building that serves as a restroom for the entire slum area, which I am fairly certain does not have running water most days.  Babies walk around pantless and without diapers.  Children run through the dump without shoes on.  Goats, pigs, and chickens roam free picking through the same trash as the people.  I was struck by the irony that both animals and humans are simply trying to survive.  I watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire on the way home from India and was struck by how clean they made the slums look in comparison to what they are really like.  I guess Hollywood didn't think we could handle the truth.

As we walked through the dirt path that wove through the "houses" I found it difficult to look the people in the eye.  I didn't want them to feel ashamed of the way they lived or how they looked.  I was suddenly keenly aware that the only reason I had shoes on my feet was because I happened to have been born where I was.  Why wasn't I born here, Lord?  What would I have been like?  What is your plan for them?  

These people are forgotten by society.  Most people don't look when they drive by, the government pretends they aren't there, and they don't get many visitors.  As I was avoiding eye contact, I began to wonder if I was doing the same thing.  Because looking them in the eye meant that they really did exist.  That they were people, and not just numbers.  

So I looked them in the eye.  I even tried smiling at them.  I wanted to give their dignity back to them anyway that I could.  They are real people-- just like me.  It just so happens that they were born where they were, and I was born where I was. 

Most of the people living in the slums are Hindus.  Kennedy, the man who began and runs CFA with his wife Goldie and two young daughters, goes to the slums every day and preaches the gospel.  There is some hostility towards him, but most people respect him and what he does for the community.  Goldie teaches at the school for the children to attend, and after school they stay for a biblical teaching and a hot meal.  After dinner, all the children wander back into the streets, and venture home.  Some are as young as 2.  From what I could see, no parents were around to pick up their child and take them home.  The children were on their own.  I couldn't help but wonder what the slums were like when the sun goes down.  

But for those few hours every day, the children are hearing about the God who created the universe.  They are getting a nutritious meal.  They are getting loved on and hugged by people who they know they can trust.  There's a very bright light shining in that dark place.  God is moving.


Click here to see the children singing!