Serving Children Who’ve Only Ever Known a Rubbish Dump
Apr 14, 2017 2309
Some of the children from the rubbish dump. They have accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
In a rubbish dump outside the “untouchable” village of Nandiwada, India, a child awakes to the smell of rotting garbage. Imagine that’s you, climbing out of a makeshift bed, forged from rejected fabric under a shelter created from rubbish you found. You look around, surrounded by the piles of garbage that make up your home. The first thing you feel is hunger, a feeling you has become intimately acquainted with. You know you must search through the rubbish for anything that can be sold to buy food.
“Home”
Regular readers may remember the story of the people living in a rubbish dump, even more “untouchable” than the “untouchable” people of Nandiwada. They have no access to fresh water, and many children have been left orphans as their parents became sick without access to medical care.
When Pr Joseph first heard about this community, they were only having one meal a week, bought from the money they made selling what they could find in the trash. He gave them clothes, as they had no proper ones, as well as food. He said,
They were born as unwanted and untouchable children and do not have anyone.
Since then, Pr Joseph has visited them with food each week. Their whole lives they have been taught they are unwanted. However, Pr Joseph has shared the Gospel with them for the first time, and through both his words and actions, they realised how much they are worth to Jesus. Many of them have now accepted Jesus into their lives.
One child said,
It is God who has sent Pr Joseph to us. Before then, we had never heard of Jesus. My family died early due to lack of health and we have been living here in this garbage dump. So now we have come to know about Jesus and we are happy now and pray daily that our lives will change. Thanks to Jesus.
– Ella Rodionoff
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