What Are Some Challenges in South Asia: Poverty and Lack of Clean Water? What Else?

Each country has its unique challenges and problems, but the following seem to be especially difficult for people in countries of South Asia; poverty, illiteracy, and a lack of access to basic needs.

Poverty and the other issues facing countries in South Asia go hand-in-hand because the poor have less access to clean water, food, healthcare and education, which makes it very difficult for those living in poverty to break out of it.

GFA World seek to address these issues through programs like provision of income-generating gifts, vocational training, literacy training, clean water and more. Leena is one example of someone helped through vocational training.

Leena was a young mother of three children. Her husband’s small income was not enough to consistently provide enough food to eat each day. Leena wanted to earn extra money through sewing, but the cost to take such a course was astronomical for her family. Leena’s oldest daughter was part of GFA’s Child Sponsorship Program however, and she heard through the GFA missionaries about a tailoring course they were offering for women. Leena asked about the cost, unsure if she would be able to afford the class. The GFA class was completely free. After six months, Leena was a certified tailor, looking for extra work at the local shops and earning a couple of cents at a time. Then, one day, GFA gave Leena her own sewing machine. She now had the means to break out of the poverty cycle that had been hanging over her family and found much more hope.[1] It is stories like these that illustrate how impactful a small gift can be to a family living in poverty.

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