Treasure Hunters, Mental Illness and Hope – Gospel for Asia Provides Kindness and Community

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Tilaka, a widow whose life was swallowed up into obscurity and isolation, and the Gospel for Asia workers that demonstrated and shared the unfailing love of Jesus.

Shocked by the news of her 7-year-old son’s murder, Tilaka’s mind whirled into a grief-laden state of confusion. If only her son had stayed with her that day; if only someone had stepped in to rescue him.

Overcome by the emotional trauma of losing her son, Tilaka (not pictured) developed a mental illness that isolated her from her community. Many women in Asia face similar rejection from society, if their husband dies.


Little Arun had been kidnapped by treasure hunters and given as a sacrifice to their gods in the hope of unearthing riches. Unbearable pain pierced Tilaka’s mothering heart when she discovered what had happened to her precious son. Grief stole her ability to think clearly, and she became labeled as a mentally challenged woman by those in her community.


Woman Swallowed Up into Obscurity

After losing her oldest son, Tilaka wandered the streets, slept on the pavement and began murmuring to herself while she gathered up dirty items alongside roadways. Recognizing that Tilaka was far from able to care for her remaining two children, the villagers sent Tilaka’s 5-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter to a children’s home in the area. Tilaka would never again be part of her children’s lives.

Millions of men and women live on the sides of roads similar to this Asian street. Tilaka (not pictured) was one of them. She would wander about and eventually suffered a severe injury after being hit by a bus.

As the years passed, Tilaka’s difficulties were compounded by her status as a widow. In a culture that often blames widows for the death of their husbands, Tilaka found little sympathy from others over her plight. She survived by begging, facing the dangers of street life all alone: crime, disease and predators watching for helpless women. But Tilaka fell victim to a different street danger. A bus struck her one day while she sat alongside the road. Badly injured, Tilaka was taken to a hospital to receive treatment for fractures in her leg and hand. She spent months lying in a hospital bed, yet she received no visitors from her family or her village. It seemed that only the kindhearted doctors cared about the mentally challenged widow.

Tilaka’s short, heavyset body mended partially, but her mind remained unstable. Physically unable to work, she resumed begging for her food, dragging her leg as she looked for a way to satisfy her hunger. Tilaka now lived in a hut instead of sleeping on the pavement, but her mental difficulties had become so well-known that no one was willing to speak or spend time with Tilaka, leaving her in a world of isolation.

Click here, to read more about the article.

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Generational Poverty: A Cycle Not Worth Repeating

Image
The cycle of generational poverty can seem impossible to break. Children inherit what their parents teach and show them. a joint report from Ascend: The Aspen Institute and Bernard van Leer Foundation affirms this. “What young children learn from the adults who raise and care for them lays the foundation for future social, emotional, language, and cognitive growth,” the report says. 1 Children raised in a generational poverty mindset often lack the tools they need to succeed or achieve a better life than that of their parents. As adults, these individuals often then raise their children in poverty similar to that of their own childhoods, and the cycle perpetuates. It’s a cycle not worth repeating, yet it does time and time again. For the 736 million people worldwide living below the poverty line, earning $1.90 a day or less, the focus is frequently on mere survival. 2 Children are disproportionately affected by extreme poverty, says UNICEF, as “children who grow up impoverished often...
Read more

What Is the Poverty Cycle?

Image
The question, “What is the poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty?” is one that must be answered to address and end poverty across the globe. Put simply, the term refers to the trend where the vicious effects of poverty and deprivation pass from one generation to the next, with no seeming way out. [1] Someone born into poverty has fewer opportunities than their wealthier peers. They must focus on survival above all, leaving little room for anything else. One illness can wipe out a family’s savings, but the unclean water sources and lack of protection available to them invite sickness. Walking to retrieve water can be time-consuming yet must be a daily priority, and many children must work alongside their parents for the family to afford food. Thus, school is often a far-off dream. Having had few opportunities to acquire skills, the kids grow up to repeat the cycle of poverty with their own children. This story was all too familiar for Nalah. His father worked in the tea fields, trying to e...
Read more

What Do I Need to Know about the Global Poverty Rate?

Image
Statisticians are getting better at measuring the global poverty rate every year. The World Bank is one group working hard to accurately measure it so that the extent of the problem is fully known and so that progress can be measured. [1] Through governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), we can more clearly see the last decade of progress and the most recent effects driving poverty rates. Sub-Saharan Africa has been one area difficult to measure, but new data shows an overall reduction in the percentage of those in poverty. Unfortunately, there is an increase in total number of people living at or below the official poverty rate of $1.90 per day. [2] That doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. With good statistics and a clear view of the problem, countries and organizations can use the proven methods to regain any ground lost. Additionally, valuable lessons have been learned about how to protect the most vulnerable and how to prevent some of the worst effects. GFA World is un...
Read more