Overcoming Obstacles to Girls’ Education for a Brighter Future

Overcoming obstacles to girls’ education is crucial in a world plagued by oppression. Something as simple as a nourishing meal can improve their daily lives as malnutrition hinders cognitive development[1] and makes education challenging. Sadly, females account for 60 percent of the world’s undernourished population.[2]

Access to clean water is another significant barrier affecting girls’ safety and health globally. Contaminated water sources harbor diseases like cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, and leptospirosis, placing girls at great risk.[3] Recognizing the urgency of this issue, Christian agencies like GFA World, driven by their commitment to share God’s love with those in need, embraces the profound impact that access to clean water can have on girls’ lives. As Randall Mains, the agency’s development strategist, poignantly states, “Sometimes showing God’s love starts with a cup of clean water.”

Since 1979, GFA World has been responding to this need in two ways: drilling wells at no charge for villages in need and providing free BioSand Water Filters for individual families.

GFA World’s Jesus Wells tap into previously unavailable water sources, often deeper than existing wells, benefiting villages. The organization utilizes local materials and labor, keeping costs low, while training villagers to maintain the wells for long-term access to clean water.

BioSand Water Filters are a simple innovation that purifies tainted water quickly and easily, fitting into most homes and providing clean water for entire families for years. Access to clean water empowers girls to prioritize education, personal growth, and community development, fostering a brighter future.

Randall Mains highlights yet another transformative solution that directly enhances the lives of girls in impoverished communities: the construction of enclosed bathrooms. In many underdeveloped areas, females encounter numerous challenges while attending to their hygiene needs, often resorting to open fields or secluded areas. This exposes them to significant risks, including potential harm from human predators and wildlife, while also subjecting them to humiliation and embarrassment.

Through the construction of enclosed bathrooms within these communities, organizations like GFA World make an indelible contribution to the health, safety, and dignity of girls. These secure and private facilities not only protect girls from harm but also empower them to prioritize their hygiene, promoting their overall well-being and fostering a sense of self-worth and dignity.


Click here, to read more about this article.

Click here, to read more blogs in Gospel for Asia.Net

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

Our Attitude Towards Suffering

Image
In 2 Timothy 2:3, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Everyone, at some point or another, faces suffering, the soldier especially. However, it is not so much what we suffer, but how we suffer that matters. The way our heart responds to suffering is crucial, because by it we will either advance or become stagnant. To suffer like a good soldier is to willingly endure all for the sake of the call. To suffer like a bad soldier is to grumble when difficult situations and hardship arise. Instead of throwing our lives into what God has called us to, we can try to hold on to our lives, wanting to get away with as little suffering as possible, paying as little price as possible. We have forgotten that we are under the orders of our Master and that we willingly gave up our lives. Christ’s Example of Suffering Christ lived with the expectation of suffering. Throughout the Gospels, He repeatedly referred to ...
Read more

Where Can I Learn How to Break the Cycle of Poverty?

Image
There are many methods for how to break the cycle of poverty which one can learn about. From education assistance to income-generating gifts like sewing machines or farm animals, there is hope for families who have been poor for generations. GFA World works in communities in all these ways through sponsorships and gift distributions, and one by one, we see lives changed as families escape poverty. Raina’s life had been dominated by poverty. She was part of a highly underprivileged people group that faced discrimination and deprivation from others in the region. Despite that, Raina had been able to attend school up until tenth grade, but she discontinued her education when it became too much for her parents to afford. Rather than receiving her certificates of completion, she had to join her parents in the field to earn money to put food on the table. After she married Ander, Raina continued to work in the fields to supplement his income with her own. In search of better job opportunitie...
Read more