Explore a rural village filled with people of Asia's lowes caste: "Untouchable" Dalits. Meet the missionary who is bringing hope to the broken and needy.
The Dalits are approximately 300 million people who are deemed “untouchable” and comprise the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system. Since the origin of this system 3,000 years ago, the Dalits have lived in bondage to the code of caste. They have been unable to escape their fate and are deprived of even the most basic liberties and privileges, including the freedom to decide where to live, work and worship.
Jobs allotted to the 300 million Dalits of Asia include unclogging sewers, making bricks in scorching heat, washing soiled clothing and working as meagerly paid field hands. Because of their poverty and low social status, Dalits do not have adequate access to food, housing, clothing, education or health care.
If you were a Dalit child, there is a good chance you would be sold into bonded labour and work in cramped quarters with no ventilation. You would carry heavy loads that permanently injure your growing body, or weave carpet threads until your fingers bleed— all just to receive pennies toward paying off your family’s debt. This is the plight of 150 million child labourers in India. Abuse is common, with long hours in miserable conditions and no hope of escape.
In order to earn a living as an adult, your job may be disposing of human waste, scavenging for rags or digging graves and burying the dead. As long as you live, you would have no hope of ever being free from this slave-like existence. You would know nothing of basic rights and human dignity, because you would be ‘untouchable’—a Dalit.
Every hour, two Dalits are assaulted, three Dalit women raped, two Dalits murdered and two Dalit houses burned, according to the Human Rights Education Movement of India, yet only one percent of those who commit crimes against Dalits are ever convicted.
But God has a different future in mind for these forgotten and oppressed people. He loves and values them. Today, Gospel for Asia is committed to sharing with the Dalits the message of His salvation and redemption.
The number of Dalits and other low-caste peoples in India, 700 million, is equal to the entire population of North America and Europe combined. That is 700 million men, women and children, each starving for hope . . . eager for change . . . and ready to hear about the love of Jesus Christ. This is perhaps the single greatest opportunity in the history of the Church. All we have to do is tell them.
