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Global: India School Project

Background

The rural villages of the Mahbubnagar District are very poor. The children of the villages are oppressed in ways that are largely unimaginable to the people of our congregation. Many children, beginning at age 6, are put out to work by their parents for about 75 rupees/day (about $1.50 USD), making any schooling for them nearly impossible.

A number of children are sold by their parents as “bond servants” to landlords in the area for something like 7,500 rupees for a period of up to seven years. The parent can buy the child back after the seven years, but with interest charges buying back (“redeeming”) the child is very rare. For the most part the decision to sell a child means a lifetime of servitude for that child.

With the advent of the National Highway through Mahbubnagar, some parents are making their way to the city for day labor jobs. They take their children along to beg in the streets. A number of children are “let out” or “rented” to other beggars and, since injured or maimed children are thought to receive more “charity”, some of the children are purposely injured to make them more profitable beggars.

Those children who remain in the villages are often recruited into anti-government gangs (“factionalists”) and become involved in crime and violence. The government’s public education is very rudimentary and inconsistent. It rarely leads beyond about grade 4.

What Happened?

In partnership with Hope for Today, the ministry founded and led by Rev. Peter and Esther Pereira, we would like help break the cycle of poverty and oppresion for these children by providing a free, English medium school on a continuum from “lower kindergarten” through “high school”. This education prepares the children to succeed in national tests that open the door to further education and participation in other sectors of India’s growing economy.

On Sunday, December 13th we received an offering to help make this dream a reality. Our original goal of $100,000 was met, and then some. The current total stands at a little over $110,000. To read a blog post from Pastor Scott Field about the outcome of December 13th, click here.

For more information contact Laura Keefer at 630.904.1035 x134 or laura_keefer@wheatlandsalem.org.

Please consider donating online to the India school project! We are still accepting donations!