Wills Point, Texas – Gospel for Asia Special Report (GFA) – Discussing the troubling problem of open defecation and the lack of basic sanitation facilities for millions throughout the world.
What does Christianity have to do with the open defecation problems of the world?
Gospel for Asia (GFA) is an organization close to the heart of my husband, David Mains, and to myself. We met K.P. Yohannan, GFA’s founder, when it was just an impelling vision in the heart of a young Indian man—one of those divine nudges that simply would not stop pushing at him. Since then, David has traveled to Asia at the invitation of GFA some eight times; I have visited Asia under their auspices once. We’ve watched as K.P.’s vision grew from a dream to an actuality with numbers beyond anything we could have considered possible.
GFA’s website tells its story, and its story is vast:
- In 2016, some 82,000 impoverished children were fed, clothed and schooled;
- 829 medical camps provided hundreds of people with free medical care and advice;
- 10,512 latrines with dual-tank sanitation systems were constructed.
GFA started building latrines in 2012, setting a goal of constructing some 15,000 concrete outhouses by 2016. Potable water, of course, travels hand in hand with sanitation, and in 2016, the ministry’s field partners constructed more than 6,822 “Jesus Wells” and distributed 14,886 BioSand water filters to purify drinking water. Touching vignettes on GFA’s website make the statistics personal.
“This saved the lives of people from illness,” stated one villager—and indeed, toilets, when and if they are used, do just that.
Read the Rest of the Report on Patheos.com
Saving Lives at Risk from Open Defecation: Part 2 | Part 3
This article originally appeared on gfa.org
To read more on GFA Digital Media Room on the problem of open defecation, go here.
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