Our team in India has had little to no access to the Internet, so we were overjoyed to hear their voices on the phone today! Peggy, Michelle, Chelsey, and Diane each took a few minutes to share about their experience with Oasis India in Mumbai, and now their time in Gujarat with the women leaders of Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) who have gathered from many parts of North India.
While in Mumbai, they led a training for the staff of Oasis India, and also got to see the staff in action as they ministered to women working in the red light district. Oasis India runs a childcare (pictured here) right in the red light district, where trafficked women will bring their children to spend the night while the women are on the streets “working.” This is an excellent strategy to care for the women by caring for their children.
They described one woman who is in the process of transitioning out of the red light district. Her daughter attends the childcare, and the woman has now started to work at the childcare center, which provides her a meaningful alternative. In addition to the childcare, Oasis India provides rescued women with counseling, training, job skills, safe houses, and most importantly prayer – praying with them and teaching them how to pray – so they can build a new life for themselves and their children outside of the red light district. There are many things in their physical and spiritual lives that only the power of prayer can empower them to overcome!
We learned that 70-80% of their staff are actually trafficking survivors themselves, so they deeply empathize with what the women are going through. In fact, one of them used to be a brothel “madame,” and now that she knows the Lord, she is passionate about loving and rescuing the trafficked women!
Now in Gujarat, the team is leading a Women in the Window Bible study training for 40 women leaders. It is a diverse group including women in church leadership roles, pastor’s wives, and even new believers. Over the next couple of days they will study the life of Deborah together, and have asked for prayer that this study will be transformative and empower them as women in ministry. They work in a variety of settings including villages and cities, and others also work with trafficked women.
Peggy, Michelle, Chelsea, and Diane all expressed the amazing faith of the Indian women and how they have personally experienced the goodness, grace, and kindness of God on this trip, including the outstanding Indian cuisine and hospitality of these gracious people! Praise God with us that they are healthy and doing wonderfully well, and are even a bit sad that the trip is ending soon!
In Christ’s service,
Kim