Meet Injash.
Two years ago, as a deaf and extremely nearsighted 3-year-old, Injash was unable to walk. If left to develop on his own, he would have had an extremely difficult childhood. As a cripple/disabled child, he was unable to perform basic personal tasks (such as bathing and dressing) unassisted. Unfortunately, for most children born here in India with mental/physical disabilities, life is pretty grim. Usually neglected and/or left to die, kids like Injash are given a new shot at life by the Community Health project here at Tezpur hospital. Like Ringkhar from yesterday, Injash (5) is now doing well, able to move with a walker and able to learn without too much difficulty in school. As I mentioned in the last post, these stories are pretty incredible reminders of how God is using EHA's Community Health projects to forward His kingdom!
India's population (1.1+ billion) is mostly (80%) Hindu, with a large population of Muslims thrown in. These are the two major religions of India. It is estimated that only 1.5% of population are Christians. This presents an interesting dynamic- while the Hindus and Muslims generally are not hostile to Christians, they also usually are not open to the Gospel. Street-corner evangelism and straight-up preaching typically are not very effective. However, the hospitals under EHA provide a channel to share the Gospel. Most Indians are surprised by the fact that EHA's primary target is the poor and marginalized. Since this is so unusual in India, it opens doors and hearts for the spread of Christianity. It is only through the hospital service that this sharing of the Gospel is possible.
The Community Health projects, however, can sometimes evangelize better than the hospitals. The hospitals serve whoever comes for treatment, but the Community Health projects actively seek out those who are the sickest and poorest.
Overall, EHA's main goal is not to evangelize, but rather to provide high-quality healthcare to the poor and marginalized. Read that again. Initially, my reaction to this concept was that the priorities need to change. However, EHA has realized that here in India, it is necessary to show Christ's love through service before people open to the Gospel.
For me, this is a reminder that actions really do speak louder than words. Often, but not always, striving to live more like Christ is the best way I can share the Gospel. EHA is an organization that uses this principle as its backbone- and what a strong backbone it is!
One a completely separate note, I've tried to put the best and most relative pictures up here on the blog. However, there are a bunch more I've taken that didn't make it here for one reason or another. You can find those pictures at the link below! It's an album on Facebook, but you don't need an account to see the pictures.
Keep checking the link (I'll put it at the bottom of every post), because it'll auto-update as I add more photos to it. Enjoy!
More pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.241610675918590.57392.100002089786762&type=3&l=4d83cb2951
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