Gospel for Asia Helping to Move Poverty Out of the Picture

WILLS POINT, TX — Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada — Discussing the desperate poverty that still afflicts millions upon millions worldwide and the hope that lies beyond through gifts of hope.

Tavish’s father died when he was just a small boy. His death not only created a hole in their family unit, but it plunged them into a state of financial crisis.

Young Tavish and his mother cultivated the land they owned, leaving the boy with no opportunity to go to school. Their survival was dependent on his toil — his situation mirrored that of more than 200 million children worldwide who are involved in labor.[1]

Tavish worked alongside his widowed mother. Like this woman in Sri Lanka, Tavish’s mother labored in fields to keep her family alive.

Much of Tavish’s childhood consisted of trying to make ends meet, but he came up dry. Sometimes crops didn’t produce enough, and this caused one financial tragedy after another.

When Tavish grew older, he married, and he and his wife were blessed with two children. Tavish continued to labor in fields around his village with barely anything to show for his backbreaking work. It was as if all his efforts were one single drop in the midst of a vast ocean of needs and wants.

Faced with a Difficult Choice

Though Tavish was doing all that he could by working multiple jobs, he felt helpless to provide for his family and mother. He never gained ground on their desperate poverty. He was then faced with a difficult decision: Stay in their village and watch his family starve, or deprive his children of education and a stable home to keep them alive.

Tavish and his family, like many in his region, traveled to a neighboring country to live and work for six months out of the year, in sugarcane fields.[2] The conditions were primitive — no toilet facilities, no home, no privacy and no school. The future for his children looked as bleak as his own childhood. The toil of poverty slowly stole away Tavish and his family’s peace and joy.

Tavish (not pictured) worked from the time he was a young boy. Because of his family’s poverty, he missed out on school. He worked hard to provide for his family, but all his efforts seemed like a drop in the ocean.

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