Bringing Help and Hope to the Slums

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Mumbai is a city of surreal contrasts. Formerly known as Bombay, it is India's financial center, earning it the nickname "city of gold." It is also home to India's Bollywood film industry. Against this backdrop of wealth and glamour are an estimated 8 million people who live in one of the world's largest slums..
Most slum dwellers are day laborers who work in low-paying manual labor jobs. The work they do is important to the city, but these slum dwellers are considered less than human.
Devastating monsoon rains blanketed India this summer, resulting in massive flooding. The Mumbai slums were hit especially hard because they are in flood-prone areas. The floods shut down much of the city, leaving these poor laborers out of work for an extended period of time.
GFA World's Mumbai staff quickly assessed the desperate situation. Working with GFA Compassion Services, they gathered basic household, cooking and hygienic supplies.
Many families had nothing left, so GFA missionaries distributed packages of dahl, wheat, rice, cooking oil, laundry detergent and hand soap to them.
Widow Vamil Iyer is just one person who received relief supplies. When she became a Christian, her family kicked her out. She was homeless, and the flooding made it impossible for her to work. Without a place to live or a way to earn money to buy food, she feared the worst.
Vamil now lives in a tiny corner of a church building. She was extremely grateful for the relief supplies she received.
Santoshi Varghese also received a package of emergency relief supplies. Here she expresses thanks to the Lord for meeting her needs when she had given up hope.
Many others shared stories of how the supplies they received carried them though this difficult time. .
This very practical gesture of compassion and love gave the missionaries numerous opportunities to pray and share the Gospel. Many received Jesus as their Savior as a result
posted 11/28/2006