Bringing Christmas to Dalit Families:
Goats for Sunil
Sporting huge grins, Sunil’s children pulled the goats into their simple, tiny hut, plucked some grass from outside and tried to feed it to them. Sunil was just as excited as his children about these animals. They were not new pets. Instead, the goats represented a way for this family—Sunil, his wife, Indrani, and their six children—to climb out of their desperate poverty.
Their eyes welling with tears, Sunil and Indrani expressed gratitude for this gift, which was made possible by a caring GFA friend. “We had been hoping and praying that someday in the future we would have goats,” the couple says.
Their family is just one of the hundreds who were blessed during 2007 with gifts of livestock from last year’s GFA Christmas catalog. People’s lives are still being changed by these gifts given in the name of Jesus.
A goat, a rabbit or a chicken may seem like an unusual Christmas present. But for a low-caste or Dalit (“Untouchable”) family, neglected and scorned by high-caste society and living in poverty-stricken conditions, it is a valuable gift indeed. It is a means to better themselves and a way to show that Jesus loves them.
Many of those who received gifts last year already know Jesus, and the gifts encouraged and strengthened them in their faith. Through these gifts given in His name, others heard—many for the first time—about the Christ of Christmas who cherishes them.
Who Are The Dalits?
Asia is home to 300 million Dalits, known to the rest of the world as “Untouchables.” Treated as sub-human yet cherished by their Creator, Dalits are responding as they hear the Gospel.