By Anukriti Parsai in Andhra Pradesh, India

Social activities are God’s way of reaching the poor and helping them lead a happy life. Following in the steps of Jesus good quality sarees were distributed amongst widows and older women by our one of our partner organizations, Shepherd’s Voice Ministries.

Christmas is the season of giving and sharing and the Church always aims to share the joy with the needy. Pastor Polsapalli Sekhar from the Shepherd’s Voice Ministries headed up the project of distributing 97 sarees in around 22 villages of Vishakhapatnam district.

These were distributed on December 10, 12 and 27, 2011 as well as January 3, 2012. The sarees cost Rs200/- each so about $4.50 USD. The women were very happy to receive the sarees and wore them to the church on Christmas and thanked God in their prayers.
When asked about the importance  and the need of giving the sarees Pastor Sekhar said, “ Everybody wears new clothes to the church on Christmas and these women were very happy to have a new saree to wear to the church and were proudly showing them off to the other members. You could see by the glow on their face that they felt blessed.”

We even talked to the women who received the gift. R Krupa a 30 year old widow works in the fields during the day (whenever the work is available). She has two children aged 3 and 4 years old respectively  and cannot go out to work daily because she has to take care of the children. When she received the beautiful saree she said, “The gift was given with love and when I wore it to the church I felt wonderful. I felt truly blessed and thanked the Lord on Christmas day. It makes me happy on Christmas. We pray for your ministry.”

S Marthamma and her family are suffering from Leprosy and have been outcast by the villagers and have to live in very poor conditions in a thatch roof hut at the outskirts of their village. Marhtamma is  35 year old and has embraced the love of Christ. She also received the saree as a Christmas gift and said, “I am very thankful for the gift. I wore the new saree on Christmas day when I had gone to the church to offer my prayers.”

(NOTE: GHI wishes to thank our global partners for making this happen. May each of you be rewarded for demonstrating compassion like this to these precious women.)