US ON OR ae Sa = PUBLISHED BY WORLDWIDE FAITH MISSIONS PO BOX 8083, CANTON, OH 44711 TOD or ea aun Pe RVC fe Rea eR REI}UNSPEAKABLE POVERTY IN INDIA As you read this letter, | am ministering in one of the poorest cities in the world—Mumbai, India. This month we are holding revival meetings to lead those who have never heard the gospel, to the love of Jesus. When | return to America after 6 months in India and Southeast Asia, it is like a dream to reflect on the poverty and suffering these poor people endure. Most will never even see a microwave oven, a gas stove, a washing machine, ora sink with running water. The poverty in Mumbai is indescribable. More and more homeless and destitute people from the villages pack into this already impossibly-crowded city. | travel throughout the city in a 3-wheeled open rickshaw. The stench of millions of undernourished people existing with no sewer system is overwhelming. Millions of outcast people live on the streets and in crowded slums. The filth, stench, and disease are beyond descrip- tion. Rats run everywhere. The narrow paths are strewn with garbage, and human waste flows in open channels on the side of the path. Infant mortality is beyond belief, and sickness and disease are rampant. | am happy when | escape this scene with no more than some stomach pains as a result of eating with the orphans and our pastors, on a banana leaf as a plate, and drinking polluted water that | know could kill me. It is almost ludicrous to speak of poverty in America as contrasted with the hopeless situation in India, where there are no food banks, no food stamps, no anti-poverty programs, no welfare, no gov- ernment relief programs, no housing assistance. | have stood behind poor people in American supermarkets who had their shopping carts loaded with all manner of food, to be paid for with government food stamps. | could estimate their weight as over 200 pounds, while their counterpart in India struggles to keep their weight over 90 pounds. Do you get the picture? If you do, then you can in a small way understand my heavy heart as | travel through these filthy slums. Our Children’s Home is located in the midst of Mumbai's huge slum, where millions of villagers who were lured to the city by the hope of finding a job find themselves as squatters in this mass of starving humanity.It is in this context that | find my heart trying to communicate my appreciation to you for sharing with these precious people of your hard-earned finances, in order to relieve the sorrow and suffering if at least a few. To the uncaring world, it is simple a mass of humanity that is easy to avoid. But to our Heavenly Father, who sees even a sparrow that dies from lack of food in this multitude, how much more does He regard the sickness and suffering of millions of people who are made in His image, and for who he sacrificed His Son. Quite honestly, | often find myself frustrated at my inability to do more. But it is gratifying to be able to care for hundreds of needy children, and to meet their daily physical and spititual need. May the Lord bless you for your compassionate concern. —Dr Johannes Maas VISION) OF WAC